On what dates do the U.S. and Canada release their respective federal budgets?
In the US there is no set date. If all goes well there are multiple dates of importance. If it doesn't go well the budget process also may include continuing resolutions, shutdowns, and sequestrations. Canada does not have a set date on which a (Federal) budget plan is unveiled. In 2011 it was June 6th. In 2012 it was March 29th and in 2013 it was 21st March. To the best of my knowledge, there's no firm date requirement. The fiscal year for the US Federal Government starts on October 01, but if my memory serves me right, last time a budget was approved before the fiscal year started was during the Clinton administration.
"Yes, the ""based on"" claim appears to be true – but the Nobel laureate did not personally design that specific investment portfolio ;-) It looks like the Gone Fishin' Portfolio is made up of a selection of low-fee stock and bond index funds, diversified by geography and market-capitalization, and regularly rebalanced.  Excerpt from another article, dated 2003: The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio  [circa 2003] Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX) – 15%   Vanguard Small-Cap Index (NAESX) – 15%   Vanguard European Stock Index (VEURX) – 10%   Vanguard Pacific Stock Index (VPACX) – 10%   Vanguard Emerging Markets Index (VEIEX) – 10%   Vanguard Short-term Bond Index (VFSTX) – 10%   Vanguard High-Yield Corporates Fund (VWEHX) – 10%   Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund (VIPSX) – 10%   Vanguard REIT Index (VGSIX) – 5%   Vanguard Precious Metals Fund (VGPMX) – 5%   That does appear to me to be an example of a portfolio based on Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), ""which tries to maximize portfolio expected return for a given amount of portfolio risk"" (per Wikipedia).  MPT was introduced by Harry Markowitz, who did go on to share the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.  (Note: That is the economics equivalent of the original Nobel Prize.) You'll find more information at NobelPrize.org - The Prize in Economics 1990 - Press Release. Finally, for what it's worth, it isn't rocket science to build a similar portfolio.  While I don't want to knock the Gone Fishin' Portfolio (I like most of its parts), there are many similar portfolios out there based on the same concepts.  For instance, I'm reminded of a similar (though simpler) portfolio called the Couch Potato Portfolio, made popular by MoneySense magazine up here in Canada. p.s. This other question about asset allocation is related and informative." Watch this super late post to a 2009 thread.  Thread Necromancy in action! Yes, it's absolutely worth it to get an extended warranty because electronics just don't last as long as they used to. This is ever more prevalent in the year 2013. Is it a ripoff?  Future Shop (in Canada) and Best Buy (U.S. & Canada) offer warranties that are typically 25% of the cost of the product.  That's a huge mark-up, massive! Yet, to my knowledge they are one of the only retailers that you can walk into the store and just drop it off for exchange.  As opposed to, buying a 3rd party extended warranty that is considerably less expensive, yet it puts the burden on you to mail the product in, wait for god knows how long to receive a refurbished, repaired, or new (their choice) product.   It's a gamble, an expensive one. Yet, if you're spending top dollar on a product, wouldn't you like to have some peace of mind that it will last you at least 2-3 years. Unfortunately as I mentioned earlier, electronics (or anything for that matter) just aren't as reliable as you'd hope. The Xbox 360 gaming console was notorious for being poorly made.  In fact, many people not only had to take advantage of the extended warranty, but had to do so, more than 2-3 times. So make sure you do your homework on a product, before you even think about buying it.  What do I do? I buy at Future Shop, Best Buy or Staples for the convenience of dropping off the product in the event of an issue.  I really don't want to bother with the hassle of applying for warranty service and long mail-in / return wait period.  If the product is $100 or so, forget it..and just buy it whoever has it cheapest and cross your fingers. "The other answer has mentioned ""factual resident"", and you have raised the existence of a U.S./Canada tax treaty in your comment, and provided a link to a page about determining residency. I'd like to highlight part of the first link: You are a factual resident of Canada for tax purposes if you keep   significant residential ties in Canada while living or travelling   outside the country. The term factual resident means that, although you left Canada, you   are still considered to be a resident of Canada for income tax   purposes. Notes If you have established ties in a country that Canada has a tax treaty   with and you are considered to be a resident of that country, but you   are otherwise a factual resident of Canada, meaning you maintain   significant residential ties with Canada, you may be considered a   deemed non-resident of Canada for tax purposes. [...] I'll emphasize that ""considered to be a resident of Canada for income tax purposes"" means you do need to file Canadian income tax returns. The Notes section does indicate the potential treaty exemption that you mentioned, but it is only a potential exemption. Note the emphasis (theirs, not mine) on the word ""may"" in the last paragraph above. Please don't assume ""may"" is necessarily favorable with respect to your situation. The other side of the ""may"" coin is ""may not"". The Determining your residency status page you mentioned in your comment says this: If you want the Canada Revenue Agency's opinion on your residency   status, complete either Form NR74, Determination of Residency Status   (Entering Canada) or Form NR73, Determination of Residency Status   (Leaving Canada), whichever applies, and send it to the International   and Ottawa Tax Services Office. To get the most accurate opinion,   provide as many details as possible on your form. So, given your ties to Canada, I would suggest that until and unless you have obtained an opinion from the Canada Revenue Agency on your tax status, you would be making a potentially unsafe assumption if you yourself elect not to file your Canadian income tax returns based on your own determination. You could end up liable for penalties and interest if you don't file while you are outside of Canada. Tax residency in Canada is not a simple topic. For instances, let's have a look at S5-F1-C1, Determining an Individual’s Residence Status. It's a long page, but here's one interesting piece:  1.44 The Courts have stated that holders of a United States Permanent Residence Card (otherwise referred to as a Green Card) are   considered to be resident in the United States for purposes of   paragraph 1 of the Residence article of the Canada-U.S. Tax   Convention. For further information, see the Federal Court of Appeal's   comments in Allchin v R, 2004 FCA 206, 2004 DTC 6468.   [...] ... whereas you are in the U.S. on a TN visa, intended to be temporary. So you wouldn't be exempt just on the basis of your visa and the existence of the treaty. The CRA would look at other circumstances. Consider the ""Centre of vital interests test"": Centre of vital interests test [...] “If the individual has a permanent home in both Contracting States, it   is necessary to look at the facts in order to ascertain with which of   the two States his personal and economic relations are closer. Thus,   regard will be had to his family and social relations, his   occupations, his political, cultural or other activities, his place of   business, the place from which he administers his property, etc. The   circumstances must be examined as a whole, but it is nevertheless   obvious that considerations based on the personal acts of the   individual must receive special attention. If a person who has a home   in one State sets up a second in the other State while retaining the   first, the fact that he retains the first in the environment where he   has always lived, where he has worked, and where he has his family and   possessions, can, together with other elements, go to demonstrate that   he has retained his centre of vital interests in the first State.” [emphasis on last sentence is mine] Anyway, I'm acquainted with somebody who left Canada for a few years to work abroad. They assumed that living in the other country for that length of time (>2 years) meant they were non-resident here and so did not have to file. Unfortunately, upon returning to Canada, the CRA deemed them to have been resident all that time based on significant ties maintained, and they subsequently owed many thousands of dollars in back taxes, penalties, and interest. If it were me in a similar situation, I would err on the side of caution and continue to file Canadian income taxes until I got a determination I could count on from the people that make the rules." I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:  - [/r/talkbusiness] [What sank Sears Canada? The inside story of its downfall: It was once Canada's largest and most successful department store chain. Now, it's in liquidation. Customers are angry. Pensioners are worried. And 16,000 are out of work with no severance pay](https://np.reddit.com/r/talkbusiness/comments/783dbi/what_sank_sears_canada_the_inside_story_of_its/)  [](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))*  [](#bot) "The prices quoted are for currency pairs traded on the foreign exchange market. For currencies traded on these exchanges, the exchange rates of a given currency pair are determined by the market, so supply and demand, investor confidence, etc. all play a role. EBS and Reuters are the two primary trading platforms in the foreign exchange market, and much of the data on exchange rates comes from them. Websites will usually get their data either from these sources directly or from a data provider that in turn gets it from EBS, Reuters, or another data source like Bloomberg or Haver Analytics. These data sources aren't free, however.  In the US, many contracts, transactions, etc. that involve exchange rates use the exchange rate data published by the Federal Reserve. You might see this in contracts that specify to use ""the exchange rate published by the Federal Reserve at 12 pm (noon) on date --some date--"". You can also look at the Federal Reserve Economic Data, which maintains data series of historical daily, weekly, and monthly exchange rates for major currency pairs. These data are free, although they aren't realtime. Data for each business day is mostly updated the next business day." "The Bank of Canada does not ""set"" the interest rates. They auction government debt, and then report what the average yield/interest rate was (rounded to 25 basis points). [The average yield of yesterday's auction of 3-month Treasury bills was 0.76%](http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/interest-rates/t-bill-yields/).  I don't know why the news tries to interpret what the BOC ""is trying to say"". BOC isn't saying anything - just reporting what happened, with some filler words." Historically October has been the month when crashes happen hasn’t it? I know not every crash has happened then but I think there’s something about the September/October period that it’s the part of the year where there’s been the most down months and the months where a few crashes started (Great Depression and recession off the top of my head) "While Googling answers for a similar personal dilemma I found Mvelopes. I already have a budget but was looking for a digital way for my husband and I to track our purchases so we know when we've ""used the envelope"". It's a free app."