Archive for the ‘Easter’ Category

For those who don’t realize it, today is Shrove Tuesday (aka Pancake Tuesday). This day means Lent starts tomorrow, and in New Orleans we have Mardi Gras festival as well (although I am not sure they have stopped partying since they won the Super Bowl).

The word Shrove, is the past tense of the English verb shrive which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Doesn’t sound like it is much to do with pancakes, now does it? Evidently we are also supposed to make merry and enjoy ourselves before we go to Lenten confessions (I like the first part, the second is not as likely).

Financial Shrove Tuesday

NO! I am not saying you should go out and blow your finances up before you start your Lenten Financial Journey, far from it. You can have some fun, but all in moderation. If you plan on giving up your daily Latte, then have 1 last one on Tuesday, and savour it. If you plan on brown bagging your lunch for Lent, then maybe a lunch out is OK, however, don’t splurge! If you plan on using cash, maybe it’s time to find a really good hiding spot for your credit cards (or maybe you should visit your bank and put them all away in your safety deposit box). If you are planning on reading some books on Personal Finance, today might be the day to get them out of the Library.

Make sure you have some pancakes too.

Random Acts of Kindness Week?

Forgot to mention that it is Random Acts of Kindness week (I would not kid about this topic), so if you were thinking about doing a Random Act of Kindness, this would be the week to try them out.

A few ideas:

• When in line at a Drive Thru (preferably a coffee shop), offer to pay for the next car’s coffee as well
• Clear your neighbour’s driveway if it is covered in snow (especially if you have a snowblower).
• Give the toll booth attendant a $20 bill and tell her to pay for as many cars that follow as possible.
• Phone up a local kids sports team and ask if they have a fund to help pay for less fortunate kids to play, and give them some money.

These are only a few trite examples, you know how you can help out, so do so. Anybody care to comment on what they may have done so far this week?

For my Buddhist readers, a belated Happy Parinirvana Day. May we all reach that level of enlightenment in our lives (some day).

Video: Madoff Saga

It seems PBS is being quite liberal with their video library so here is a very interesting clip about the Madoff Affair, an interesting view from one of Bernie’s “partners”, sounding very disingenuous (IMHO). Any time someone claims, “As God is my witness…”, I start getting figity:

Yes folks, here I got again, extolling the virtues of Lent and how you can use it to your advantage for your Personal Finances.

Easter is the time for new beginnings or restarting something you need to start doing again, and most people view Lent as a time to “find something to give up”, but that is dull and shows little flare, so another way is to look for something to Enrich your life for the 40 days of Lent (leading up to Good Friday and Easter).

Think about your spiritual journey, yes please do, however, also take advantage of this journey to work on your home finances as well!

Your Financial Lenten Journey

What areas of your personal finances could use either Enrichment or Better still a sacrifice that might help your financial well being? There are some very simple ones that I think about every year (and have done a few of them):

• The Latte withdrawal penance. Cut out buying coffee for the 40 days of Lent and put that money aside, to either save, give to charity or pay down your debt. Keep track of this and see how much money you might be saving here, it’s worthwhile finding out where this discretionary money is going.
• Read 4 Personal Finance books over the 40 days to enrich your understanding of your personal finances or your investing adventures. Building up your expertise over Lent is a good thing.
• Brown bag it for 40 days, give up buying lunch at work, and bring your lunch instead. Another way to find out where your discretionary spending is going.
• Take the bus to work for Lent, leave the car at home, buy a bus pass and take the Bus to work. Yes gas is cheaper right now, but not driving might have other benefits for you (less stress, more exercise, etc.,).
• Read financial blogs every day: another way to build up your understanding of finance is reading and learning.
• Open a TFSA and put found money there: OK, not really a Lent thing per say, but still somewhere to put your new found moneys.
• Live on cash for 40 days and get rid of your credit cards. Freeze them in your freezer, lock them in your safety deposit box, or cut them up, but live on CASH only (no debit either) and see if you can do it, does it change your spending habits? This one is one heck of a heavy one, and anyone who does try it keep me posted and I will encourage you as best I can!

Think about these or suggest others, I am open to suggestions myself. Shrove Tuesday is coming and then Ash Wednesday means Lent begins and your journey begins that day.

I’m giving you a weeks head start to start thinking about this stuff folks!

John Wooden is the dean of Basketball Coaches, and to many he is the yard stick which all other basketball coaches are measured against. I was delighted to see that Coach Wooden had done a talk for Ted.com, and I include it here as the weekend Video simply because it is a very good talk about leadership, teaching and coaching.

I think the outline of this talk says it all:

With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father’s wisdom.

Happy Easter !!!

The bleak  employment data from Stats Canada continues to get worse, with unemployment  rising by 0.3% to a 7 year high of 8.0%.

Over 61,000 jobs disappeared which created the 0.3% jump this past month.

For those of us in Ontario the news is bleak:

Employment in Ontario edged down by 11,000 in March. Since October, declines have totalled 171,000 (-2.5%), mostly in full-time work. Although the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.7% in March, it has risen 2.0 percentage points since October, an increase similar to that of British Columbia and Alberta.

That number is huge, 171,000 jobs disappeared, which is very worrysome for folks like me that are looking for jobs.

Very sobering Graph

Hope in Easter

For most this is a long weekend (or even an EXTRA long weekend if you take Monday off as well), but for Christians it is the beginning. Easter is the cornerstone of the Christian belief system, and I will be celebrating that as well this weekend. Sunday is also the end of Lent, so your Lenten Financial challenge will end then as well. Remember it is good to review how your challenge went and whether you wish to continue on with the challenge (if you were particularly successful).

Remember, Easter is a new beginning and you can use this time with your Personal Finance as well. About 8 years ago my wife and I started a new eating regimen and managed to lose over 160 lbs. between us (and have managed to keep most of it off), so using Easter as a starting point is a very good thing as well.

Due to my enjoyment of this weekend, there may be a post on Friday and on the weekend, but I make no promises.

Tax Time Cometh Soon

Remember your filing date looms on April 30th, have you done your taxes? Now might be the time! I did mine with  Quicktax this past weekend and now we wait to pay the man. The sooner you get it done, the better.

What’s funny is I did taxes for everyone in my family, yet I still have 4 returns I can do with Quicktax (they only count a return as someone who made over $25K), too bad I can’t transfer that to next year.

This coming week could be quite interesting for many different reasons but here are just a few.

Labour Numbers

Stats Canada will be publishing a new Labour Survey this week and we shall see if the drain of jobs continues in Canada. From what I saw last week at a job fair I attended, I would suggest the unemployed numbers will be higher. Remember the February unemployment rate was 7.7%, but that may roll higher, in my opinion.

Earnings

Many firms are announcing their earnings this week, which could either crush the mini Bull market that started last week or it could help things keep going, with nice surprises (like RIM’s announcement last week). The upswing in the market may keep going, but how big it will be (or whether it is a sucker’s rally) remains to be seen.

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Lent is almost over

How goes your Lenten financial project? Mine is doing ok, but remember that Easter is the New Beginning you might be looking for as well. In Christianity, Easter is really the “big thing” (not Christmas), and it is an excellent time to start something new as well, so keep that in mind this week as well. Setting goals and keeping your focus on them is how you will succeed in your Financial Journey.

Tax Deadlines

Remember either in Canada or the U.S. your income tax filing deadlines loom. This long weekend coming up might be an excellent time to finish that off, and tick off another box on your list of things to do (or you can go out and rake leaves, either one needs to get done).

Pity the Billionaires

Forbes announced their list of billionaires and the number of alleged Billionaires is down sharply from last year’s number from 1,125 to 793.  How many “billionaires” are now collecting Unemployment Premiums? What do you do with a Billion dollars? Would any of them like to adopt me or my kids? These are all good questions to ponder on a Monday.