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Canajun Finances Home » RIP Flaherty, Heartbleed, Tax Time, Quebec Elections and #FreeFormFridays

RIP Flaherty, Heartbleed, Tax Time, Quebec Elections and #FreeFormFridays

I was very sad to hear of the untimely passing of Jim Flaherty, our former finance minister. I have poked jabs at Mr. F. but as I said when he stepped down from cabinet, I think he did as good a job as anyone could during a really scary financial period in Canadian history. My humblest of condolences to his family during this sad time.

Jim Flaherty
The Late Jim Flaherty former Finance Minister

“goodnight, sweet prince/and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest”

The Heartbleed Bug has caused significant damage, and it’s evident that nearly all major websites have been compromised. You’ll have to spend a considerable amount of time creating new passwords for each site, but the tricky part is figuring out which ones have been fixed. Additionally, since the CRA website is currently down for Netfile’ing, it’s reasonable to expect an extension on tax return submissions. We shouldn’t be punished for their system getting hacked, and if they don’t provide an extension, the backlash could be severe.

The Quebec Elections highlighted an important lesson: no matter how confident a politician is at the beginning of a campaign, only the final outcome counts. Madame Marois ran a captivating campaign, but surprisingly went from being projected to win with a clear majority to losing the election altogether. I find Quebec Politics intriguing and it’s the reason I still watch TV for this kind of content. It’s the best reality TV out there.

My Writings for Week Ending April 12th

Young Folk Finding Jobs in Canada in March 2014

Some better news from Stats Canada about the job situations for younger folks in Canada. Let us hope the economy can keep this growth up.

Bell Ringing Banks and Frank Costanza

Serenity NOW, was what I wish I’d yelled as I left my TD Branch after ringing the bell, showing my thanks for the ATM machine and its good works.

Smaug and Wealth Protection

Even the super-rich and super-chaotic need to think about their financial well-being and future.

Heartbleed Bug ? Should You Care ?

Yes, you should care. You should change your passwords too, but only after you are sure the sight you are accessing has been patched against this problem.

Cornucopia Section

Lots of interesting stuff not just about the holes in the Internet:

  • Scientific American says that E-Cigarettes’s Effect on Cells Similar to That of Tobacco Smoke, I have been having a Twitter conversation with a few folks about E-cigs, I say they should be treated the same as cigarettes in all ways (e.g. socially, insurance, etc.,).
  • Kerry at Squawkfox shows she has a great deal of “experience” with old technology ideas with Should You Buy It? A flowchart for smart consumers , flowchart? Wow, next time use Step-wise refinement.
  • Phys.org’s medical side points out that In US, vaccine denial goes mainstream, this means comebacks for those old favorites: Measles, Mumps, Chicken Pocks and maybe even Polio! Seriously folks, WTF?
  • Jim Flaherty’s death really does drive home my message to those planning for retirement, that no matter how much money you have, and no matter how much you plan, you may not get to enjoy your retirement, due to health issues. Get healthy as well as wealthy if you want to enjoy your retirement.
  • Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter continues on with his auto-biographical post Confessions of a Tax Accountant -2014- Week 2 never knew accountants were that exciting.
  • Michael James gave us some Bad Advice on Retirement , not that he wants you to follow, just that he has heard.
  • Mark from My Own Advisor writes about an interesting book with My takeaways from Thinking Fast and Slow I have talked about being a slow thinker, and needing to remember that (don’t act on my first impression or decisions is always a good thing for me (unless it is whether to put out my trousers that have caught fire)).
  • Mark (my brother for those that haven’t figured that one out) from 2nd Career Search is having a fresh dose of hell and he writes about it with Bermuda Triangle of Real Estate – TORONTO, I am not sure how anyone actually lives in Toronto these days.
  • Preet wonders, Do you need balance protection insurance for your credit card? I think we can guess the answer on this one.

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. Oh, I forgot to mention, I did a post on Jim Flaherty yesterday.
    I find the tragedy of his situation very sad.
    But from what we know of him, I don’t think he would see it this way.
    He would probably say, he was thankful he got the timing right.

  2. Thanks for sharing my Booze Budget post! I do think it is high as well. I may need to use this as a catalyst for change. Wish me luck convincing The Irishman!!

  3. From our friends at TurboTax:

    As you are likely aware the Canada Revenue Agency has temporarily shut down public access to all its online services including NETFILE and EFILE services to safeguard against the “Heartbleed” Internet threat.

    While the CRA has advised it anticipates reopening NETFILE service this coming weekend, Intuit is recommending that Canadians still meet the tax deadline of April 30th by continuing to prepare their return with TurboTax.

    Canadians simply need to prepare their returns within TurboTax and save their progress just before it prompts you to file. Once NETFILE is back online, all they need to do is log back into and securely file then.

    Note, this situation affects all CRA certified software programs, even the programs that accountants and tax stores use to EFILE to the CRA.

    In terms of TurboTax’s security, Intuit has examined its systems and has secured TurboTax to protect against the “Heartbleed” bug, a new Internet security vulnerability.

    “Safeguarding our customers’ data is our top priority. We continuously monitor our systems to improve our security capabilities in service to our customers,” said ‘Nat’ Rajesh Natarajan, chief technology officer and vice president of product development and product management for Intuit TurboTax. “Taxpayers can be confident that TurboTax websites are secure and their personal and financial information are safe. They can file their return today with confidence.”

  4. Re: Heartbleed,

    There are a couple websites that can check if another site is still vulnerable, and a Chrome extension: Chromebleed. The problem is anything other than an absolute positive is open to interpretation.

    Check-out the xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1354/

    And if you have trouble coming up with passwords I suggest Passwordmaker.org. It’s an algorithm (not a database so you never actually store your passwords anywhere) and you can find various implementations on the site. There’s extensions for Chrome and apps for Android.

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