Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for September, 2009

Yes, another busy day, didn’t quite get an idea together so here is one of my more favorite “off the wall” posts about Is It Safe in the financial markets?

Is it Safe?

One of the most terrifying movies I have ever sat through is the Marathon Man which stars Sir Lawrence Oliver as a crazed Nazi dentist hiding jewels and Dustin Hoffman as a pawn in the entire scheme, and in this movie there is a set of scenes where the crazed Nazi dentist torments the Dustin Hoffman character with a hobby drill, drilling his teeth and the only question he keeps asking is “Is it safe?”. Just recollecting this scene puts chills up my spine, but it is actually a good metaphor for the current financial crisis.

This is going to hurt

At the macro level governments have no idea whether “It is safe” and they really don’t know what the answer to the question is, but in fact this movie is an even stronger metaphor at the Personal Finance level.

Is it safe? What does that mean? Is our money safe? Is our job safe? Is our lifestyle safe? Is what safe? Is our economy safe? Is my credit safe? Is my RRSP safe? Is it safe to retire? Is my house safe? (to paraphrase a frantic Dustin Hoffman), the question without context is very hard to answer, and there is the harder part, what is the answer? Is it safe? I have no idea, but I think we are all fighting to find out “Is it safe?”. I hope we are safe, but I guess we really won’t know what the question means and what the answer is, for a while.

Are you safe?

Stats Canada announced yesterday that the number of folks on the EI rolls have dropped a little last month (down by 31,500 to be a little more exact), which is down from the high of last month. Does this mean more people have found work and no longer are on the EI ? Maybe, that could be the case, but some of these folks may be folks whose benefits have expired as well. Hopefully it is the former reason and not the latter.

EI Graph

Fun with Maps

Stats Canada put out a funky map on their web site with this data that shows the increase in EI claims by area superimposed on a map of Canada. Some of the data is quite striking, not the least of which is just how sparse the Canadian population is in comparison to the size of our country, but also the 100-400% increases in Northern Alberta are quite scarey to see as well.

EI Map of Canada

Wild stuff, interesting also to see that the Maritimes did not really see huge increases in EI claims whereas Souther Ontario really took it on the chin.

How Many Mortgages Do I have to Buy?

Interesting things you can buy at Costco are aplenty, however, my wife informs me that on Saturday she and a friend saw that you can get a Mortgage from Costco (kind of).

My wife and Michael James‘ wife actually went to Costco to see what the Portable Massage Tables (another interesting thing that Costco sells) looked like (they don’t keep them in stock evidently, not a high number of sales of that product, but you can order it on line). Given that part of their shopping expedition was fruitless they looked around and after picking up Pizza on the way out (another interesting thing sold at the commisary at Costco), they saw a young man advertising Mortgages.

I have checked on the Costco web site, and you can’t seem to order your Mortgage on line, you must go to Costco to get it (the kiosk may not really be associated with Costco, since Primus sells their wares the same way (and they are selling Internet, Cell and home phone something else to check I guess)), but my wife was unable to get any more information on it, as the young man at the Kiosk was busy with another potential customer.

Does anybody know about this “Mortgage”? Do I get points with it? Do I have to get 10 Mortgages since it is Costco? Do I get free food samples? Do I have to buy a trailer home? Anybody has any info on this “mortgage” or on the Primus Internet stuff, please comment.

OK the film from the NFB is actually HOW they make pennies, but as I asked last weekend, the better question is, WHY do they make pennies?

Don’t Taunt the Bear

Yes, I must remember the “Mojo will get you” if you complain too much about things, and sure enough the day I write about the “Techno Vulture: Fix Your PC” business sure enough I got the Blue Screen of death (from Vista, I didn’t even know you could get a blue screen of death from Vista, but I digress). I also got a nice note from TD claiming that due to the “Credit Crunch” they were going to jack up my Line of Credit interest rate another Quarter Point to a full 1% above “Prime” (remember their Prime, not the real Prime (neither of which is a Prime Number right now either, but again I digress)).

Random Thoughts

In the Blogosphere this week aside from me tilting at Windmills and messing with the Karmic Wheel (at least my own Karmic Wheel), some interesting posts came to light:

• Michael James continued his Quixotic adventure with Credit Card Interest Personal Battle Update, he continues to keep his credit card in his pocket for fear of incurring more interest charges. If he starts singing, “To Dream The Impossible Dream”, I’m outta here.
• The Canadian Capitalist reviewed a set of Cartoons from the New Yorker in The New Yorker on Money, I have always enjoyed money humor (as long as it is at someone else’s expense).
• The Four Pillars write about their experiences with the 7-11 Cell Phone, which is good to see given I am about to give Bell Mobility the boot.
• Larry MacDonald thinks the ETF Revolution has Gone Too far, why, are they stoning Mutual Fund Managers now?
• And Gail Vaz-Oxlade puts it all nicely into perspective with Put Up or Shut Up, I really like the way Gail writes in her blog, a little grittier than her TV show, Testify Sister!

My weekend will be spent extricating my PC from the Karmic Wheel I have run afoul of…