Good morning. The financial moves that actually matter rarely happen overnight. They unfold over months and years — in a CEO's long game, a self-made billionaire's quiet discipline, or a steady decline that's leading to major financial impact.
On The Money Today
A self-made billionaire shares the wealth-building rules that took him from scrubbing septic tanks to a US$2 billion fortune
Amazon's CEO is making a bold move against Nvidia, and your portfolio is along for the ride
42% fewer Canadians are crossing the border to the U.S. and the financial impact reaches well beyond travel
Let's get into it.
David Walentas grew up milking cows after his father had a stroke, scrubbed military septic tanks 10 hours a day in Greenland and sold his blood for gas money and a meal. Decades later, he co-founded a Brooklyn real estate empire worth US$2 billion. The wealth-building principles that got him there are surprisingly straightforward — and they translate directly to Canadians using TFSAs, RRSPs and the long game to grow real money.
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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy used his 2025 shareholder letter to make the company's clearest challenge yet to Nvidia's grip on AI chips, comparing the moment to when AWS unseated Intel. Anthropic, one of the world's leading AI companies, is already running over a million of Amazon's chips, and OpenAI just signed a US$100 billion deal with AWS. If you hold a broad U.S. equity ETF in your TFSA or RRSP, you own both companies — and the outcome could shift the math on your portfolio.
University of Toronto researchers tracked cell phone data across 267 U.S. cities and found Canadians have all but stopped going — only 3 cities saw an increase year over year. U.S. hotels, restaurants and retail are feeling the absence of Canadian spending. And for Canadian companies in auto, tech and finance that rely on those trips to maintain partnerships and close deals, the friction is already costing them.
MONEY IQ
According to the Better Business Bureau, what percentage of online pet advertising links in the U.S. and Canada may be fraudulent?
ALSO MAKING THE ROUNDS TODAY
NEWS: A Loblaw closure in St. John's just signalled a bigger shift in how national chains treat heritage neighbourhoods
EMPLOYMENT: Oracle cut 30,000 workers and gave its new CFO US$26M — what Canadians with stock options need to know
NEWS: She bought her daughter a puppy and was scammed by a breeder — the financial fallout no one warns you about
LOANS: Mark Cuban calls student loans "the dumbest thing you can do." The 2-step alternative he says Canadians should follow
INVESTING: Ray Dalio says stagflation is here and wants you to hold 5% to 15% of your portfolio in this one asset
MONEY IQ ANSWER: HOW DID YOU DO?
Answer: D) 80% The BBB has flagged up to 80% of online pet advertising links as potentially fake, with scammers using stolen photos, fake websites and emotional urgency tactics to manipulate buyers into sending money for puppies that often don't exist.
Have you been a victim of puppy fraud or a similar pet scam? Reply to this email to share your story with our editors — we may feature it in a future issue.
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