Easter is Here and a Saturday #BestOf for the Weekend

Easter is here, the most important festival in the Christian religion (sorry, Christmas, without Easter, you don’t have Christianity). I haven’t written too much about it this year, but to me this is a time of renewal and restarting things, which I am going to try to do (both health wise and financial wise).

As a die-hard sports fanatic, this is the best time of the year with both the thrilling Stanley Cup and NBA Playoffs taking place. I can’t help but tune in to Premiership Soccer on Saturday mornings, and Formula 1 is currently in full throttle with its one-of-a-kind cars. Plus, my interest in baseball has been rekindled, having grown up just a stone’s throw away from Jarry Park, the original home of the Expos in Montreal. Although my wife isn’t the biggest fan, she knows how to keep herself busy while I indulge in my passion for sports.

Even with the delay caused by the Heartbleed bug, you still should be finalizing your taxes, get to it, you have a long weekend to get it done!

If you followed my Twitter feed you saw a very saucy discussion with Squawkfox that ended with an interesting photo with citrus and lingerie involved, see what you miss when you don’t follow me?

My Writings for Week Ending April 19th

We have seen all seasons this week in Ottawa, with snow, and 24C temperatures, Spring is never dull around here that is for sure.

Spring Financial Cleaning

Quicken is a very useful tool, but you must be diligent keeping your accounts up to date, or you will end up with a lost weekend the way I did, last weekend.

Are We Running Out of SIN ?

Not sure if we are or not, but I did learn a great deal more about how Canada’s Social Insurance Numbers are coded, but it will be interesting to see how long only 9 digits last.

Tax Confusion and Delays

Thanks to the Heartbleed bug we have a little longer to pay our taxes (if we owe money), and I found a nifty picture on the CRA site showing their electronic archives for all of our returns (OK only a geek like me would think it was cool).

DIY Balanced Funds for Investing

Can you actually justify being charged a 2.55% Management Fee? Why not make your own Balanced Fund?

Good Friday

You got a preview of my FAVES page with this post as well.

Cornucopia Section

Evidently Preet is spending his long weekend designing a web site, Michael James is chuckling somewhere:

• I am really liking this new Pope and for Maundy Thursday he kept up his tradition of not cow towing to the Catholic establishment when he washed the Feet of the Elderly and the Disabled, good on you Francis!
• Saw Larry MacDonald wandering around town a while back so I was glad to see him post Why you shouldn’t borrow to invest right now, the market can only go up, or down or maybe it could just stay where it is.
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade wonders are you Getting a Tax Refund? What are you going to do with it?
• Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter continues his cathartic writings with Confessions of a Tax Accountant -2014- Week 3 you mean I can’t claim my cat as a dependant? How about my boob job as a work related expense?
• Rick Ferri at Forbes has a very interesting take on Index Funds with 5 Lies About Index Funds (and Index Funds cause impotency in men is not even mentioned).
• My brother is still having a lot of fun with Real Estate in Toronto so go to 2nd Career Search and check out Lost in the Toronto Real Estate Bermuda Triangle (trust me it is well worth a read).
• Million Dollar Journey gives us a useful tutorial with Preparing for the Income Tax Deadline (2013-2014): Personal Taxes
• Mark from My Own Advisor goes very philosophical with Financial Advice for my younger self. My advice is NORTEL SUCKS!!! (so does BRE-X and Mullets too).
• Did you realize just how many Junk Bond ETFs there are out there? Holy cow!
• Barry from Money We Have asks How Much Does Prom Cost ? Bloody expensive from a parents’ point of view, however a tasty Chicken Corsage looks pretty cheap.
• With Spring we look at our old clothes and like Kerry from Squawkfox ask Repair or replace: When does it make sense to mend the threads you‘ve got?
• Do you realize that 44% of Twitter accounts have never tweeted? Luckily I have made up for them.
• Michael James asks Is it OK to Pay Off Your Mortgage before Saving for Retirement? Guess which one he did?
• Think we Financial Bloggers are immune to fraud? Think again, Preet writes about If you are a victim of financial fraud (like he was) here is what to do. Better get that new website up good buddy!

Peeps Ahoy

Chris Pirillo gives us how to destroy Peeps, an Easter tradition:

British Pathe on Youtube

Amazing to think that we used to only get our news from newsreels, and British Pathe was the Google of their time for media, so here are a few very interesting Pathe shorts for your enjoyment:

Did you realize that a bomber once flew into the Empire State Building? This is 56 years before 9/11.

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Random Thoughts for 2014

Lots of these kinds of Best of articles in 2014. Here is a list of them.

• Cuba, Rubles, Christmas and #BestThisWeek – getting close to Christmas but Ian McKellen can teach us about impulse control.
• Snow, Christmas, Enhanced and #BestThisWeek talk of more festive ideas, like how to save money at Christmas.
• A Gentleman, Day of Disability, Christmas, Rugby and #BestThisWeek noted the passing of Jean Beliveau and John Oliver’s views on Lotteries.
• Black Friday is Here, Advent, and #BestThisWeek speaks of the blessed Black Friday and associated sales but also includes a Fanfare for the Common Man.
• Lake Effect Snow, Web Cameras, Travel Insurance and #BestThisWeek November brings snow in Toronto, as we see, and other financial ideas.
• Asteroids, Tax Cuts, Lemurs and #BestThisWeek how many times has the Earth almost been hit by an asteroid? Too often to remember.
• Lame Ducks, Financial Literacy, Working for Free and #BestThisWeek lame duck leaders never really get that much done, no matter how they negotiate.
• Happy Halloween, Income Splitting and #BestThisWeek a wonderful financial time of the year is Halloween? Maybe income splitting is a better subject.
• Ottawa We Shall Remember, Bank of Canada and #BestThisWeek after a bad week in Ottawa, with senseless violence.
• Crashing Markets, Ebola, Low Loonie, Cheap Gas and #BestThisWeek even in 2014 the markets were a little volatile.
• Hockey, Turkey, Leaves, Carry On Bags and #theBestFin4TheWeek is it right that the hockey season starts before Thanksgiving?
• October, Hello Ebola, Give Blood and #theBestFin4TheWeek October arrived unexpectedly this week, almost unnoticed. As we have entered the final (calendar) quarter of the year 2014, it may be time to start considering a year-end review of your financial plans.
• Autumn , United Kingdom, Beer Money, and #theBestFin4TheWeek the colours in Ottawa during Autumn are truly spectacular.
• Pins, Alibaba , Apple Pay , Lecosse , and #theBestFin4TheWeek remember when Alibaba the IPO happened, those were heady days.
• Home Despot, iPhones, and #theBestFin4TheWeek
• Back to School, Tim Burger King, Knee Defenders and #theBestFin4TheWeek will the dutchie ever come back? I can only hope.
• Broken Humerus, Ebola, Anniversaries, Blood and #theBestFin4TheWeek remember when we thought Ebola was going to wipe us out?
• It is Done, Ice Bucket Challenge, Media Perceptions and #theBestFin4TheWeek
• WW1 Centenery, More Hacked Passwords and #theBestFin4TheWeek
• The Long Weekend with no Name, Defaults, and #BestFinancialForTheWeek
• Unmasking Super Heroes, Dogs of Summer and #BestOfFinancialForThisWeek
• All Stars, Al Stars and the #BestOfFinancialForWeek the world cup was a big thing in 2014 as was Bastille day too.
• Brazilian Defeats, Tour De Chunnel, and #BestOfFinancialForWeek you mean Brazil can lose at the world cup?
• Tennis, Racing, Inflation and #BestofFinancial Canada Day is the start of the summer for most Canadians, and financial stories too.
• The Stand, Football Biting, Naughty Banks and #BestofFinancial even in 2014 the banks were misbehaving with shenanigans.
• Elections, Dad’s Day, World Cup, Friday the 13th and #BestofFinancial somehow the Liberals won the 2014 Ontario Provincial Election
• No Rate Hike, Better Performance, Montreal Grand Prix and #Bestof-Financial back in 2014 we were worried about rates, but they were already pretty low.
• Elections, Farewell Knowlton, May Done, and #Bestof-Financial Knowlton Nash was the voice of news for Canada for a while.
• Internet Memory, Grand Prix of Monaco and #FreeFormFridays the Internet has memory?
• Time Off, Elections, Victoria Day and #FreeFormFridays Victoria Day is always a fun weekend.
• Frosts, Elections, Farley Mowat and #FreeFormFridays it does get cold in May!
• Rain, Budgets, Bloggers Meeting, May Day and #FreeFormFridays When financial bloggers meet what happens?
• Beware the Financial Jabberwock, Netflix Expansion, Model Trains, Backups and #FreeFormFridays a thematically odd article.
• Easter is Here and a Saturday #BestOf for the Weekend a time of renewal, new beginnings in life and financially as well.
• RIP Flaherty, Heartbleed, Tax Time, Quebec Elections and #FreeFormFridays the former finance minister did a lot of good for the economy.
• #Selfies, Quebec Election, Big Joe, Awareness, and #FreeFormFridays would Big Joe Mufferaw have been a good fit for the Redblacks? We’ll never know.
• Don Quixote, Tax Time, Cheap Mortgages and #FreeFormFridays gotta hate tax time.
• Spring Has Sprung, March Madness, Celebrity Blogger and #FreeFormFridays talking about Spring in March in Ottawa can be a bit early.
• Pi Day, March Break, Two Ferns, Snow and #FreeFormFridays given pi is infinite, how much pie can we expect?
• Quebec Elections, Eating Sugar, Suing Parents, Big Rocks and #FreeFormFridays those elections in Quebec are never dull.
• Saint David’s Day, Big Posts, RRSP Time, the Dating Game and #FreeFormFridays always a good time to put a Welsh Choir Clip in an article.
• Hockey Day, Tax & RRSP Time and #FreeFormFridays Hockey day in Canada? Well it does happen, right around RRSP time too.
• More Olympics, Budgets, Love Day and #FreeFormFridays Valentine’s Day: Celebrating Love and Dealing with Financial Whining.
• Olympics, Not Super Bowls, Creationism and #FreeFormFridays 2014 Olympics Opening Ceremonies and Soshi Stadium’s Doppleganger: The Super Bowl.
• Senators, Weak Loonie, Superb Owls and #FreeFormFridays Rugby is a Hooligan’s game played by a Gentleman.
• Polar Vorteces, Olympics, Mayors and #FreeFormFridays The Polar Vortex brings Winter in Canada. But don’t worry – -30C highs in Ottawa in January are normal.
• Giveaways, Oil tanks, Eagles and #FreeFormFriday Have you checked your oil tank if you heat with Oil? What will your insurance do if the tank ruptures?
• Truly Canadian Issues, Ultra HD TV, Car Loans and #FreeFormFriday Get your lock de-icer and unlock your Super Mailbox cubicle like I did – Canadian Tire to the rescue!
• Some #RandomThoughts from 2014 Some of the best of, best of posts on my random thoughts weekly post.
• CPP Reform, Snow, Christmas, Boxing day and #FreeFormFriday Did the CPP reform of 2013 fix much? Kind of, but Christmas was coming too.

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