This picture is special…
…my 4-year-old steps on to the ice for his first official hockey practice.
Growing up in Canada, I’ve always loved ice hockey (die-hard Detroit Red Wings fan here),
but I’ve never really played the sport so I had a bit of preparation to do.
I spent a lot of time last week researching and purchasing the equipment we needed.
Followed by countless YouTube videos on how to dress up my son.
After a few practice rounds I was confident that day 1 was going to be a breeze.
But boy was I in for a rude shock
The dressing room experience for kids hockey is no joke!
It is one thing to dress your kid in the comfort of your own home…
…it is a totally different experience when trying to do so in a jam-packed room of over-stimulated children and anxious parents, while sitting in a squat position and racing against the clock.
We managed to get it done,
but from now on, I am bringing my son to the rink fully dressed…
…he will be “that kid”… and I will be “that dad”
…I have no shame, lol.
Here’s the thing, I grew up in a low-middle class, blue collar immigrant family.
Hockey was just not an option for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I was very fortunate growing up, as my parents allowed me to play lots of other sports… just not hockey…
…that was for “the rich families.”
Fast forward to now, my son is playing hockey, so we must be one of those “rich families.”
I don’t use the quotation marks lightly, because we are definitely not a RICH family.
That said, we are fortunate enough that I can register my kid in hockey, without “breaking the bank.”
However, I am very aware that not everybody is as fortunate…
..and very aware that hockey really is an expensive sport.
In fact, have you noticed how most kids’ activities these days are pretty darn expensive?
This got me thinking…
…the dressing room was packed this year
but if the price of everything continues to rise at the pace that it is currently at…
Will the dressing rooms continue to be as packed?
Will families need to cut off kids’ activities if their income is not keeping up with increase in inflation?
Unfortunately, the answer is, yes!
I don’t gamble but I am willing to go all in on the fact that the cost of living in Canada is going to keep going up… and here’s why…
While all the headlines are about rising interest rates and how it is necessary to “tame inflation”, our own government continues to increase the M2 money supply.
In fact, they have increased the money supply by 33% since January 2020 (this means that government has printed more money and injected it into the economy).
That’s why everything feels so much more expensive…
…because quite simply, there are just more dollars in the system to go around, making everybody feel richer, and “able to pay higher prices”.
In reality though, if your income did not go up 33% since January 2020, then your purchasing power has actually deteriorated.
Here’s the hard fact.. there aren’t many Canadians who have seen a 33% wage increase over this period… so most of us are experiencing our purchasing power deteriorating.
But not everyone has been a victim to this situation.
Hard asset owners are the ones that have benefited from all the excess money that our government has injected into the system.
And as the cost of almost everything continues to rise, so will those asset prices.
So in a way, you’re protecting the value of your hard earned money.
For me and my family, the focus over the last several years has been on acquiring income producing hard assets – particularly real estate and businesses.
This has helped us to always be ahead of the game.
And with this business, we’re hoping to help people leverage knowledge and money to acquire more hard assets that will not only allow them to protect their money but to also live the life that they always wanted!
That’s it for this week.
Enjoy the long weekend and Happy Thanksgiving
– Vince
