- Postcall
- Posts
- Tik.... Tik.... Tik...
Tik.... Tik.... Tik...
PLUS: capital gains, microplastic pains, & Shōgun reigns
Kristen Morrison, Nicka Kalaydina, Melody Tang & Zi Y
April 24, 2024
17-year-old D Gukesh made chess history at the 2024 FIDE Candidates this past weekend as the youngest-ever winner of the Candidates. He’ll also be the youngest to play in a World Chess Championship match — where he’ll face reigning world champion Ding Liren of China.
Congratulations to Tan Zhongyi, too, who won first place in the Women’s section! ♟️
☕️Postcall’s one-sip markets update:
Our stock portfolio has us thinking harder than Hikaru Nakamura when Gukesh played 5...Be7 in the FIDE semifinals. The S&P 500 just had its worst week in more than a year due to AI skepticism (case in point: Nvidia alone lost $212 billion in value on Friday). But this week is also earnings week for Tesla (+13% yesterday), Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet. Maybe that’ll give us some positive news to turn it around.
Ready for this week’s stories?
Staying #Up2Date 🚨
American College of Physicians (ACP) updates type 2 diabetes guidelines
In a nutshell, the ACP recommends adding an SGLT-2i or GLP-1 agonist to metformin and lifestyle modifications. The SGLT-2i reduces the risk for all-cause mortality, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and hospitalization due to congestive heart failure (CHF). The GLP-1 agonist can be used to reduce the risk for all-cause mortality, MACE, and stroke.
Beta-blockers for all, no more?
A Swedish open-label, randomized trial compared long-term metoprolol or bisoprolol vs. no beta-blocker in 5K patients with a preserved ejection fraction after an acute MI (patients are status post angiography and coronary revascularization). All-cause death or recurrent MI did not differ significantly between groups at the 3.5-year median follow-up (7.9% and 8.3%), suggesting that perhaps the era of “beta-blockers for all” after acute MI is coming to an end.
It’s OctreoTIME
An open-label randomized trial from the Netherlands enrolled 62 patients with angiodysplasias and transfusion-dependent anemia. Participants either got octreotide 40mg IM q28d vs. usual care (i.e., as-needed transfusions of iron or blood) for 1 year. All patients had undergone argon-plasma coagulation previously. At the 1-year follow-up, patients in the octreotide group had required ≈10 fewer blood or iron transfusions (21.2 vs 11.0) and ≈1 fewer endoscopies per patient.
👨💻Tech Bites
1: 📱Time may be running out for TikTok, as the US House passed a bill that would require either a forced sale or ban of the app within a year. It’s expected to pass through the Senate and be signed into law as early as this week. It’s also expected that the Chinese owner of TikTok, ByteDance, will push back.
2: 🚗 Honda is close to making a multibillion-dollar deal with Canada to build EVs and their components in Ontario. The deal, which is expected to be announced within a week, would be partially subsidized by the Canadian government.
3: 📦 Amazon is closing its drone delivery operations in California. Is this a sign they’re throwing in the towel with Prime Air? Absolutely not. Though Amazon isn’t offering details about the apparent setback, they said it’s a move to “prioritize [their] resources” and plan to launch a drone program in Arizona later this year.
In Partnership with Vijay Wealth
How you feelin’ about these gains?
Source: Postcall’s survey from Apr. 20, 2024
There’s been a ton of chatter in our circles about the upcoming proposed changes to the federal budget and if we agree with how the government plans on paying for it (with increased taxes on capital gains). See below for what some of you said about it.
“Professionals without benefits and pensions depend on corporate investment returns for their retirement. Pay for physcians has not kept pace with inflation and has substantially eroded over time. These tax changes further erode our compensation. So tired of governments and the public not understanding that we are not salaried employees with benefits with additional fat corporate accounts. We depend on these accounts to fund our basic need for funding our retirements. ”
“New tax disadvantage introduced for us every year for the past 9 years. They need to stop picking on the people who pay the most tax yet benefit the least from actually paying them. Pick on corporations and the ultra rich.”
“In the group of wealthy individuals this affects (many physicians included) the impact is small and will not interfere with financial security or retirement. I argue this doesn’t go far enough and 100% of capital gains should be taxed (keep in mind the proposed changes are still lower than tax on earned income!). Physician outrage about this makes us look like greedy a**holes and I am embarrassed.”
BTW — it’s not only doctors that are raising alarms. Folks in business and technology are also discussing the impact on innovation and entrepreneurship. For example, here are opposing perspectives from 2 leaders from Shopify: Brandon Chu and Harley Finkelstein.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the government is budging on their position for now, as Trudeau is “rejecting a call from some doctors for his government to reconsider its planned capital gains tax hike” (CBC).
Since many of us are still trying to understand the tax changes, the folks from Vijay Wealth worked with us to give you some quick insights on ‘em:
Capital Gains Tax: Starting June 25th, the capital gains inclusion rate is increasing from 50% to 66.7%. This will affect all gains in your professional corporation (and trust), but only personal gains over $250,000. For real estate investments, be prepared to potentially pay a hefty tax if not restructured or sold before June. Review your investment portfolio to ensure tax-efficiency, too.
Changes to Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE): The increased LCGE will exempt a lifetime amount of up to $1.25 million. However, a significant portion of the corporation’s assets in passive investments may disqualify this eligibility.
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) rules: If you’re earning over $173,205, the AMT is applicable to you. The AMT will go up to 20.5% (from 15%). If you’re using various tax strategies to reduce your taxable income, you’re likely to be impacted.
Our partner Anant Vijay from Vijay Wealth and Raymond James has helped physicians for 15+ years with their financial planning, corporate taxation, investing, and insurance planning.
If you’re still trying to wrap your head around these changes, we got you a deal — the first 5 people to reach out to them with questions on how they might be affected by these changes will receive a complimentary 30-minute consultation with their tax planning experts.
Notable Numbers 🔢
Unmatched… except when it comes to her salary.
$76,535: the salary (in US currency) of the WNBA’s #1 draft pick Caitlin Clark. This is a) less than what some NBA mascots apparently earn, and b) considerably less than the NBA’s top pick (whose base salary last year was more than $12M). While we’re advocates of fair pay, we don’t feel too bad: she also just signed a $28M deal with Nike.
2x: the increased likelihood of people with microplastics or nanoplastics in their carotid artery tissues of having a heart attack, stroke, or die from any cause over the next 3 years, according to a study in the NEJM.
$1,500: the amount of money an 8-year-old girl raised for her brother’s autism test. This came after the family was told they’d have to wait up to 3 years for an assessment via public healthcare.
Postcall Picks ✅
🍷 Drink: European wines instead? At least, here’s why they’re cheaper than our more local vintages.
🍔 Eat: some matzo ball soup this Passover. Even if you’re not observing this Jewish holiday, you can enjoy 18 great recipes for Passover meals here.
👀 Watch: Shōgun from FX, which we’re hearing is racking up rave reviews. Here’s a preview into its masterful use of translation.
🤣 Laugh: when you’re asked to correlate clinically.
Job Opportunities 💼
Role: Anesthesiologist
University Hospital of Northern BC (St. Prince George, BC)
Compensation: $500,000
Role: Family Physician
Abbottsfield Medical Clinic Inc (Edmonton, AB)
Compensation: $500,000
Role: Emergency Physician
Location: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Toronto, ON)
Compensation: $300,000 to $400,000
Share Postcall, rack up referrals, get merch. It’s that easy. Plus, you’ll get our eternal gratitude. Maybe we’ll name our next pet Shiba in your honour! 😜
Click here or share by copying and pasting this link: https://postcall.ca/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER
It only takes a few referrals to start earning fun Postcall swag, starting with our sticker pack when you get 3 friends to sign up!
What'd you think of today's edition? |