To my surprise and shock we have less than 1 month left in 2011 (and about bloody time too). It has not been the best of years for me personally, but I look forward to what next year might have to offer and hope that 2011 ends on a more up note. In the markets up is the word with a meteoric rise on Wednesday thanks to various central banks opening the taps for U.S. dollars, and also some good news from the Canadian Banks in terms of their profits and such. A sudden comeback in the markets might make the holiday season a bit more festive for some folks, but then again, the way things have been going in the economy, who knows whether this boom will last (or is sustainable)?

Our Chinese friends are stepping in to see if they can give their economy a quick kick in the pants, as it seems to be slowing as well. Given how red-hot that market has been, it might be better if it did cool down for a while, and let the rest of the world catch up?

Yoga Pants from Lu Lu Lemon is the hot topic in my part of Ottawa. Some of the schools have policies in place about young ladies wearing tightly fitting clothing and these garments fall into this category. I personally think it is sexist, since they should have the same rules in place for boys too (thinking of me wearing tight-fitting Yoga pants might cause many who know me to spit their coffee across the room). I think the big winners in this fight is Lu Lu Lemon since their name is splattered all over the media these days (and just before Christmas too). I have no opinion since when I grew up the big argument was whether you would be allowed to wear dungarees to school or not (yes I said dungarees, back then only hoodlums called them jeans).

Luckily I didn’t post any pictures of me wearing my hot yoga pants (or my Movember Mustache, which has been shaved off (much to the delight of my wife)), but I did write about a few interesting topics:

• The week started with a Video from our friends at PBS about Black Friday and the ensuing carnage with all that hype who didn’t spend money?
• With Grey Sunday’s Best I pointed out some of my more fun tweets and a video done by a Dad of a daughter on the Autism Spectrum, worth watching if you don’t understand the impact this has on families
• For Cyber Monday, better watch out, better not cry I pointed out the danger of ordering your computer on-line, given the hard disk shortage, and how sometimes I don’t follow my own advice
• I work better with pictures, so I figured I’d help some folks out with Financial Planning: A Flowchart which candidly shows the cycle of financial planning for most families.
• My story with Dell and ordering my computer is still not over, but I got some better news on Wednesday when I chose to be relentless but since then more shenanigans have transpired, so my happiness was short-lived.
• Did you ever wonder how many financial bloggers it takes to screw in a light bulb, well read some thoughts on financial bloggers to find out my answer to that question

And thanks to those who added me on Twitter I am now over 960 folks who follow me, wow!

The stock market’s sudden resurrection from the dead, not many of my favorite writers were discussing Yoga Pants or other such piffling subjects, they were talking about important economic topics (that have nothing to do with the derrieres of teenage girls):

• Larry MacDonald has been doing a fair amount of reading lately and he put out a review of the new book by David Trahair  Crush Debt Before it Crushes You an interesting book by the sounds of it.
• Michael James wondered Why Do People Buy on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and of course the answer is, THE SALES MAN!!!! Which he then points out is like a fat guy saying he is only gorging himself every Sunday.
• Canadian Capitalist points out that some of the on line trading houses do offer High Interest Savings Accounts, that are actually quite good.
• Sandy at Yes I am Cheap is changing jobs but points out that Just because I am leaving it doesn’t mean she is gone, very prophetic.
• Our happy finance hombre My Own Advisor has been reading as well and is offering up a Free Copy of the Millionaire Teacher at that link. No one gives me much stuff to give away, and I have a tendancy that when they do, I keep it for myself.
• Boomer of Boomer and Echo reminds us to Protect Ourselves from Identity Theft, which is important at this time of rampant on line buying.
• Mike at Money.Smarts wonders if PC Financial Points at Loblaws – Worth it for Rewards Alone? And in my opinion the answer to this is a resounding yes.
• Canadian Couch Potato asks the question Can the Pros Time the Markets? I am not sure which pros he refers to, most likely not the “Pros” but maybe profesional stock folks is the meaning here.
• Frugaltrader at MillionDollarJourney has their own book giveaway with The Worried Boomer by Derek Foster – a book giveaway just in time for Christmas regifting time!
• Marie at PrairieEcoThrifter gives us another hard query Christmas Tree Real or Artificial, we have a fake tree at our house, I just hate pine needles.
• Sustainable Personal Finance kibitzes about Family Finances and who might be in charge at your house?
• Preet gives us an insightful video about Quantitative Easing (not really, it’s a funny video, but I had you going there for a minute

Other Bookkeeping

So much furor over such tight pants?!?

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Remember

“Don’t just do something — Sit there!  ”

Author: Unknown well known Yoga joke