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Canajun Finances Home » CPP Reform, Snow, Christmas, Boxing day and #FreeFormFriday

CPP Reform, Snow, Christmas, Boxing day and #FreeFormFriday

So the finance ministers met, and there was a thought that they might make changes to CPP. However, the Feds quashed that, fearing that higher CPP rates might derail any recovery that might be going on in Canada. I am not sure where I stand on this, but my Civil Libertarian leanings keep grumbling in my ear about the Government safety net getting a bit too big and comfy. Do we all need protection in our old age? Yes, but at what cost?

Merry Christmas
An early blooming Amaryllis

Whoever wished for a White Christmas in Ottawa can stop now, OK? Enough is enough! More snow this weekend is the word, oh joy! Global warming, or whatever you want to call it, can stop, please!

Christmas is coming so darn fast we now all look like deer in a Semi’s headlights. I hope you are ready for it and the ensuing orgy of Boxing Day/Week/Month/Quarter sales too. Will you be out spending those Gift Cards you got, or better still, some kind person who gave you some lovely cold hard cash? If it’s cash, you know you are allowed to put that in the bank and think about what you need. There is no rule that you must squander all Christmas money gifts the day after you get them.

My Weekly Recap

My Writings for Week Ending December 20th

Christmas is Coming, the Goose is Getting Fat

How Much is $1 Earned Worth ?

The easy answer is not nearly as much as you wish it was.

Should I have The Talk With My Kids

A lewd and lascivious discussion about talking about money with your kids.

Trader Terminator

My Mutual Fund is actually being run by Skynet? Oh dear.

Updated Tip: Scan those Bills

Why? I thought we were living in the paperless society?

Swiss Army Knife Section

You do realize that a Swiss Army Knife is an excellent gift (especially one with a corkscrew in it):

  • Cliff Stohl (author of one of my favorite Tech Book the Cuckoo’s Egg) wrote a very amusing (now) article about Why the Web Won’t Be Nirvana, he kind of missed the target on this one.
  • Merry Christmas to the 40 Million Target Credit Card owners, all your account info and such has been stolen, ho ho ho.
  • Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter gets down to my level with Financial Statement Reports for Dummies , and you should be reading those if you invest in specific companies (or work for a company that puts out Financial Statements). It is all there in black and white (it just may be hard to parse).
  • Matt from a newly revamped One Million and Beyond points out Bitcoin loses half its value overnight! So that still means it’s a better investment than Blackberry.
  • Ever wonder why I choose some topics? All you need to remember is that my marketing plan is purely based on wrestling concepts, hence The Power of a Cheap Pop.
  • Gail Vaz-Oxlade talks about Sunk Costs and how we deal with them, it’s a bit depressing really.
  • Jane (a frequent commenter) from Solving the Money Puzzle brings us Top Ten Personal Finance Moves (Good And Bad) I Made In 2013 , I love folks who testify about their own mistakes.
  • Michael James gives his take on the pension “crisis” with The Third Rail, can the existing pension systems (public and private) currently in place survive? Guess we’ll find out in a while.
  • Mark from My Own Advisor goes to a popular topic with me and that is End of Year Financial Planning, which everyone should do to at least figure out whether they are getting ahead or falling behind.
  • Still out shopping? Popular Science gives us 10 Smart Science Gifts for Kids (or geeks for that matter).
  • I wanted to embed’s Preet’s latest video with Global TV Money Tips for 2014, however the Global web site sucks at letting you do that, so you’ll have to click over to watch it. Oh and there will be an ad you can’t avoid before it as well, Merry Christmas!

Festive Ideas to Help You Out

You had me at Doritos wrapping paper.

Best of 2013

Some of the best of posts from 2013

Feel Free to Comment

  1. I agree with Jane; I would increase the employer portion of CPP at the very minimum each year inflation demands that contributions go up.

    Thanks for the link. 🙂

    Good Luck with the snow – just be happy its not freezing rain; that can get ugly.

  2. The employee portion of CPP should rise. The employers and the government should not have to take on any additional burden because we are weak savers. We cannot save on our own so the government is forced to do it for us.

    I do save and forcing others to save inside CPP means that less of my tax dollars have to help them when they are poor seniors.

    Thank you for mention my post.

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