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Canajun Finances Home » The Long Weekend with no Name, Defaults, and #BestFinancialForTheWeek

The Long Weekend with no Name, Defaults, and #BestFinancialForTheWeek

Welcome to August 2014, and for those in Ontario who are soon to celebrate a long weekend, I have one query, what is this weekend called? It has many names, “Colonel By Day,” “August Bank Holiday,” or “August Long Weekend” how can a glorious long weekend not have an official title?

SDG Carolyn Wilkins reviews bank note signature/Carolyn Wilkins, première sous-gouverneure, examine sa signature sur un billet de banque
It doesn’t look a thing like me… SDG Wilkins Reviews a $20 (don’t loan it to Argentina)

Argentina is now officially in default, to compound the bad news for that country (given they lost the World Cup final), but what does this mean? My feeble understanding of global economics suggests some creditors will not get paid, but who loaned them the funds in the first place? China? The U.S.? Russia? Maybe it is like Canada, where the country’s citizens hold a great deal of the Government’s debt like this issue. I suspect this will not make things better in the perplexed and scary world we live in.

For those who enjoyed Tom Clancy’s writings, the Ebola epidemic (not the correct phrase I know (the book I am referencing is Executive Orders)) in Africa lends itself to some interesting discussion points. The U.S. doesn’t comprehend how close they were to having someone infected with this disease from landing on their soil (an American Doctor has succumbed to the disease, but he was only diagnosed (i.e. he collapsed) while leaving one plane to then get on a plane destined for the U.S.. Let us hope the SARS protocols are put in place. The Canadian immigration folks will help if this outbreak turns into a more global problem.

For those not following me on Twitter, you have missed one of my favourite quotes from Gail Vaz-Oxlade, and it was aimed at me. We were discussing retirement and such and her final response to me was:

@bigcajunman luckily, you die; I live a long unhealthy life as a woman

This is in response to me whining about not having enough money to retire with, so I guess I should stop saving? No, she didn’t mean that, but it was fun to rib her about it.

EQ Bank Savings Account
No Bank Fees here though

My Writings for Week Ending August 1st

I had a drier writing week, with only two pieces. I have written or started about six ideas, but none of them were worth publishing yet (that means I have about 160 titles and ideas still to finish off).

  • Financial Anarchy Day is another one of my many rants about the media and retailers attempts to make us go nuts and yell “FESTIVAL!!!” and spend like crazy people (Star Trek reference, for those who are unsure). I am not saying you should go watch the movie mentioned though, it is more of a Metaphor than a Recommendation.
  • Sometimes I get fed up with the “Make Money on the Market Using This Fool Proof Technique” e-mails that clog my inbox, so I figured I’d write the most outrageous Stock Picking Idea I could, and then someone points out in the comments there is one even more outlandish one out there, wow.
  • I did find in my archives one of my favorite phrases “Don’t Mistake Activity for Achievement” (a quote from John Wooden), just because you think you are working hard, doesn’t mean you are achieving your goals.

This Week’s Finest

How I envision my readers (well, OK, you aren’t all Nazis, or pipe smokers, or Oscar winners for that matter, but I like you)

This is very much a summer of discontent. Let us hope that level-heads prevail in the various troubled areas of our world. I include a GIF to help you ponder these articles:

  • Bet you didn’t know that Baseball has a Hall of Very Good (no relation to the MLB Hall of Fame).
  • I wonder if these new self-driving cars will have a “rubber neck” feature, where the car will slow down if there is an interesting accident to see in the opposite direction?
  • A problem the Blunt Bean Counter discusses, that my kids will never have an issue with is One Big Happy Family – Until We Discuss the Will, unless they want to fight over my Strat-o-Matic games collection or all my vinyl records? Other than that, there ain’t gonna be no estate, I am going to be Dead (ask Gail VO) and Mom will spend it all on Extravagant Vacations!
  • Given 50 Shades of Grey may be coming out in theatres soon, I give you an excellent exercise Who Said It: Christian Grey or Pepé Le Pew? (The Answers) you’d be surprised how suave Pepé sounds next to Mr. Grey.
  • The Canadian Capitalist is alive and well, but he is in a semi-retirement state right now, but in his archives is an interesting piece from 6 years ago Is Canadian Real Estate Overpriced ? Sound familiar?
  • Bitcoins are always a fun topic and Popular Science has a piece about how Arizona’s First Bitcoin ATM Went Kablooey, not sure if Kablooey is an exact technical term, but still interesting.
  • Mark from 2nd Career Search is learning that It is Hard to Find a Job Without Taking a Salary Cut, which is very true if you are unemployed, if you have a job, it’s a little easier to find comparable pay (since you can say NO! to anyone who offers you less money).
  • Gail Vaz-Oxlade not only thinks I will die soon, but also that Saving Together is Easier, luckily with my iminent demise I don’t have to worry about that.
  • With the new/old Ontario Budget, Evelyn Jacks points out Ontario Budget: Tax Planning is Critical for High Earners, alternately you could earn more than $509K and not worry about it?
  • Is Mr. Money Mustache Ruining Your Marriage ? I have never heard anyone claim that a financial blogger was destroying their marriage, and now I aspire to do the same thing, but how? Good on you MMM!
  • Risk is everywhere, it is even risky taking a shower these days, but Canadian Couch Potato asks the right question, Do You Really Know Your Risk Tolerance?
  • Mark from My Own Advisor, must be feeling claustrophobic, as he is now writing about My Life in a Box . If he started to think outside of the Box, then he might feel less boxed in? If it is a nice big box maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, I suppose.
  • Is your toaster safe to connect to the Internet? Is your refrigerator secure from internet hackers? Evidently not, Internet Of Things Contains Average Of 25 Vulnerabilities Per Device, wow!
  • Did you see Preet on the National a few nights back? Here is a link to the panel discussion, Is There a Pension Crisis Looming, because the CBC site seems to not like me linking the video in directly.
  • You don’t really need a cool stock picking heuristic like Biorhythms if Michael James is right about Stock Prices Only Going Up, just buy, buy, buy!!! (NO! That is not what he is saying, read it and figure out what he is really saying).
Tangerine Money Back Credit Card

The NHL Over Time

A perfect graphic showing how the NHL has moved and expanded since it started:

Two Seasons in Canada, Winter & Blackfly Season

The National Film Board reminds us about those pesky insects:

Blackfly by Christopher Hinton, National Film Board of Canada

My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off-colour commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)).

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. I suspect that the IMF might bail out Argentina, and somehow I will be stuck paying the bill.

    I think Ebola is a bad virus, but mostly we don’t eat monkeys here so it’s not as bad. And the fact people die quickly, is actually a help to control the virus.

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