Lent is finally upon us, have you started making your plans? No? Me neither, I just haven’t had a heck of a lot of time to think about this kind of stuff, but something may strike me in the next day or two. Remember this is an excellent time to try out a financial concept in the short term (i.e. cash only living or paying down debts aggressively). Think about it.

Yes, that was a shocker, a Pope stepping down while still breathing? Been over 500  years since that has happened, failing health is the given reason, let’s hope that is the case. Must be serious if you let him retire 5 days before Lent? It’s kind of like Santa Claus putting in his resignation on December 20th, a little late don’t you think?

Something else that might be nice to see resign is all our appointed Senators. It has now reached the level of ridiculous, given the tom-foolery that is currently being reported. I grew up in Quebec, where cronyism and “you wash may back” is actually part of the Province’s Coat of Arms (it’s in Latin), but this has gone off the rails completely! This group of throw-backs and bag-folk (don’t want to sound sexist and say BagMAN) need to go find another career that employs them for the rest of their lives and is paid for by our taxes. The only way I’d change my mind is if I get appointed to the Senate myself, then I’d be OK with all of it. Justin Trudeau claiming it only need a few tweeks, is sorely mistaken, scrap the whole damn mess!

It’s RRSP time too! Yee-haw!!! Have you bought your RRSPs yet? OK, read that sentence again, and if you think there is nothing the matter with it, you need to go on a refresher course on Finances. You set up RRSP savings vehicle, and you BUY the constituent investment in the vehicle (the next one of my acquaintances that says that will be getting a Pious and Vitriolic rant on that very subject).

Vote Early and Vote Often : For THE Canadian Personal Finance Site (that’s me), so far I have 1 vote, let’s see if we can double that this week?

Two other notes:

1. I will be announcing the winners of the On Line Turbo Tax on a rare Saturday post, so there is still time to try to win Go Here
2. I have updated the site, but if any issues arise with the mechanics of the site, drop me a line at bigcajunman AT canajunfinances.com with your issue.

My Weekly Recap

Lent is here, the Sens are crippled (no not the Senate, the Hockey Team), and an Asteroid will hopefully fly by the Earth (real close) but I only touched on Lent:

My Writings for Week Ending February 15th Lent is not a Time to Give Money Away
Less Jobs in January in Canada Yes, less jobs, which is hopefully not the shape of things to come for Canada.	RDSP update and a TD Explanation Isn’t it great when I can keep writing about the same thing over and over and over?	Happy Lent Yes, Lent is here and hopefully you will use it to renew and restart your financial plans for the year	Happy Love Day Yeh, OK I got a real hate on for the whole Valentine’s Day machine, so sue me!

Where else am I?

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Links for the Week

The big discussion in the USA is whether Wal-Mart should sell Bazookas and Tanks or simply sub-machine guns (I jest with my over armed friends down south), but remember folks, the most important thing right now is the ECONOMY :

Top Stories of the Week of February 8th How Close Will the Killer Asteroid Get?
Passive Income Goals Michael James is not saying your goals for income should be passive, just a discussion of your dividend income goals might be.	Sports Agents Fees - A Large non-deductible Expense for NHL Players in Canada The BBC writes but for someone who claims to not care about this season he sure points that out a lot. Me thinks he doth complain too much? I wish I could make enough as an NHL player to then complain that agent fees are not deductible.	January 2013 Dividend Income Update Mark @ My Own Advisor proudly writes of his dividend income plans and his progress. A brave man, I tend to keep that information to myself.	When business owners shouldn’t make RRSP contributions Larry Mac gives some advice for those rich folk who own their own companies on when it might be better not to put money into your RRSPs. This of course is advice for the BBC and his massive holdings, but not for a simple pauper as yours truly.
When Does The New Year Of RESP Contributions Start? Mike Holman a real expert when it comes to RESPs, answers the question at hand and then elaborates on strategies to maximize your RESP grants too.	Energy Efficiency Programs/Financial Incentives in Ontario Million Dollar journey outlines for Ontarians some incentive programs that you might want to take full advantage. If you can make money and it saves you money, maybe you should sign up?	Edmund Phelps trashes rational expectations I don’t think I understand all of the logistics in this article by the Physics of Finance but it is interesting to see that folks attempt to overlay a “scientific method” into a financial model? Sounds a little obtuse to me?	RRSP Deadline is fast approaching Jim Yih points out that there isn’t much time left if you want to pack your RRSPs for tax year 2012. If you think this is a good idea, better get your tail in gear!
2 Spousal RRSP Rules to Know Gail Vaz-Oxlade knows that it is RRSP season and wants to make sure you understand all the rules behind this savings mechanism	Near-Miss Asteroid Highlights Earth’s Risk Of A Nuke-Sized Collision How close are we to being obliterated by an asteroid? Evidently 14 minutes away from doom and gloom (wow). Have I mentioned I love Popular Science?	New Chromebook: Getting Better, but Its Internet Dependence Is Limiting An interesting idea for a network based laptop, and quite cheap. I might think about getting one if it could do a little more, no this has nothing to do with money, but I like tech stuff!	Why 2.5 Billion Heartbeats Might Change The Way You Think About Money A great video by the REAL Preet (not the pasteurized one on OWN), well worth watching (in fact check the end of this post if you can’t wait ).

Tweet of the Week

Finally a tattoo that I can get behind, it is actually quite functional:

To-do-list tattoo… I need this! twitter.com/PixHumor/statu…

— Photo Humor (@PixHumor) February 10, 2013

 

Other Bookkeeping

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A Financial Video to Think About

If you have got the time, enjoy this frank presentation by our friend Preet on Money and how squandering it now might not be the best thing to do: