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Canajun Finances Home » Elections, Farewell Knowlton, May Done, and #Bestof-Financial

Elections, Farewell Knowlton, May Done, and #Bestof-Financial

The Ontario Election is far from over, with all parties slinging mud and attacking each other relentlessly. However, the Tories have finally made a breakthrough by keeping Tim Hudak’s mouth shut and limiting his public appearances. This clever strategy is working wonders for them, and if the other party leaders don’t follow suit, they’ll regret it. Meanwhile, I feel deeply sorry for those living in the Greater Toronto Area, who are facing the daunting prospect of the Mayoral Election and the possibility of Rob Ford being re-elected.

Couldn't find the Lucky Charms at the end of this Rainbow
I couldn’t find the Lucky Charms at the end of this Rainbow.

One of the voices of Canadian News was silenced last week with the death of Knowlton Nash, the voice of the National for many years on the CBC. Somehow I can’t see Knowlton reporting any Rob Ford stories. He seems above that kind of stuff. He was from a different generation. It would be nice if the “journalists” of today embraced some of Knowlton’s ideals.

The month of May comes to a close, and that can only mean one thing, Back to School Sales!!!

We drove through quite the odd Sun Thunderstorm, where it rained and was sunny and the glare from the rain on the road was quite blinding, but this interesting photo came on the right.

My Writings for Week Ending May 30th

June is almost here. That means less than six months to Christmas, folks:

  • Our Friends at Stats Canada ended last week with a stinker of a message with CPI Jumps to 2.0 in April 2014 in Canada, which might mean our friends at the Bank of Canada pondering actions to slow things down a little bit.
  • I am starting to sound like a broken record, luckily this generation doesn’t know what that means, so I guess I’ll just keep repeating Debt Won’t Just Disappear, no matter how hard you wish.
  • When I was looking at my first house the warning I kept getting from folks was not to end up House Poor, but that expression seems to have disappeared.

This Week’s Finest

If you are going to Twitter Bomb your favourite candidate in this Provincial Election, make sure you have the right person (some lucky Kathleen Wynn in the US is getting lots of nasty comments on Twitter) :

  • According to the Harvard Business Review Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation, wow that means that when I started working, people that smoked while sitting at their desks, were in twice as much peril? Holy cow!
  • If you went to a Ball Game this summer with $20 what could you get? CNN Money gives us Ballpark Hot Dogs and Beer with a helpful graphic to tell you. Arizona seems to be the place to visit! I remember getting my Dad a beer at Jarry Park with a hot dog and the whole thing cost $3.00 (and it was thought of as expensive then).
  • Looking for ETF’s to add to your portfolio? Mark from My Own Advisor (a lover of all things that collect dividends) gives us Top Canadian Dividend ETFs for your portfolio
  • Mark from 2nd Career Search has run up the white flag of surrender in his search for accommodations in Toronto, Toronto will Have to Wait, but maybe he’ll trip over something when he isn’t looking.
  • For those who haven’t noticed I have tried to answer every comment that has been left for the past little while.
  • Larry Fink who runs BlackRock is very unhappy about the short-sighted planning in most companies, and he talks about it in the Globe and Mail World’s largest asset manager rails against companies’ short-term thinking
  • In 5 years the largest market for electric cars will be? China, according to Blomberg’s article BMW Sees China as Biggest Electric Car Market by 2019 which may end up being a good thing.
  • Robb from Boomer and Echo brings back an old chestnut with How Index Funds Compare to Equity Mutual Funds, well worth having a look and seeing if you are making your Mutual Fund provider rich, or yourself?
  • Forbes claims that we are spending about 119 minutes on our mobile devices a day, seems a little low, but then I remember that Michael James has his Cheese Helmet on and refuses to use mobile devices, so that may help lower that number, Mobile: A Trend that is Reshaping Communication.
  • Speaking of my favourite Cheese Helmeted Financial Blogger Michael James points out CPP at Age 60 Anchors Canadians’ Thinking which is quite true, but remember we are all living longer, and we all love our jobs now too (#SARCASM ALERT)
  • There are Known Unknown, and Unknown Unknowns, but The Five Biggest Threats to Human Existence only addresses the Unknown, Unknowns, from Popular Science’s point of view at least.
  • Accountants (like Proctologists) have the most interesting stories to tell and Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter has another interesting post with Using a Corporation to Hold Your Investments, I would never have thought of doing that, and maybe that is a good thing.
  • Barry from Money We Have is enjoying a bit of down time, but even on vacation he asks intriguing questions like Do You Avoid Insurance ?
  • An astounding piece from the Globe and Mail Forty per cent of Canadian teen boys admit to searching for online porn, in a follow up piece I will be writing, the other 60% are liars. I will also be writing about the Pope’s Catholic tendencies and Bears possibly defecating in the woods.

Good Guy Djokovic

If you made millions a year playing tennis, how would you treat the folks who work at the tournaments? Novak Djokovic earns full marks for this act of respect for the kid who was in charge of keeping him dry at the French Open:


Random Thoughts for 2014

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

Feel Free to Comment

  1. Thanks for the link, BigCajunMan.

    I don’t know what to say about the election except that anyone who votes a liberal back in is either a teacher or unionized. Full stop. Have a great weekend!

    1. I feel that none of these candidates are worthy of my vote, but I also know that I must (as a citizen of a democracy) vote, I have my ideas currently, but none of these leaders deserve my vote.

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