Hockey before turkey? What the heck is going on around here? The Hockey Season has already started, the games are on Rogers, and it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet? This is a confusing time for a simple Big Cajun Man like me. What sport to watch? CFL or NFL Football? Baseball Playoffs? Hockey ? Lacrosse ? UFC? WWE? Accountant Death Cell Matches? Nude Actuarial Hopscotch? Lawn Bowling? Urban Tidily Winks? So many choices.

Thanksgiving weekend, is a time for all of us to celebrate the bountiful harvest, and our families, and slaughter as many turkeys as possible.

The leaves are changing colours (the Leafs are still blue, happily for the Blunt Bean Counter), and we get to enjoy Mother Natures’ own fireworks display of amazing colours this weekend as well.

Luckily Air Canada can put a damper on all of this, by imposing a tariff on carry-on luggage, thus causing people to be even weirder while travelling. Wait until you are sitting next to a family travelling, where each of them are wearing 4 change of clothing (one on top of the other) on the plane, that is going to make for a very fun time. I even have a new name for this new Canadian cultural anomaly, layer packingâ„¢ (you heard it here first).

Canadian Blood Services really needs donors. If you haven’t given it lately, time to drop by. The blood supply is dangerously low!

My Writings for Week Ending October 10th

Turkeys have died by the hundreds of thousands for you to enjoy a lovely turkey dinner, some would view this carnage as barbaric, I have no such qualms with this aviary genocide.

• Are spousal RRSPs really still needed, I asked that question with Pensions and Spousal RRSPs, but I also forget to factor in the TFSA and how it changes things as well.
• I read over a few of my old Nortel lay off posts and came up with Nortel : What is Left, after reading about two bankruptcy judges holding the fate of a lot of money in their hands.
• Does the government really hate Single Income Families? That’s a heavy-handed statement, however, Splitting Income for Single Income Families could be a good thing, for some families.
• Rob Carrick mentioned my RESP from Start to Spend in his latest Carrick on Money, nice reader bump for that.

This Week’s Finest

Avian genocide discussions aside, there are other more interesting discussions going on this week on the web as well.

• Some deep monitary thoughts from Preet on the Twitter Machine, “It takes a long time to realize financial success, but only an instant to guarantee financial ruin. Disaster proofing always comes first.“, he should start a “Deep Thoughts about Money by Preet B. Here is one from me, “You know why you have no money in your wallet? You spent it!“. You also missed a rousing discussion between Preet and I about dried low ash cat food, and Twitter really is informative.
• Robb E. from Boomer and Echo gives us a futuristic financial apocalypse view with Robo-Advsor Battle Royale, OK it’s not a terminator story, but the title sort of infers that. I wouldn’t mind a “bot” or “app” that would rebalance my funds every 6 months (because I always forget).
• Seems Evelyn Jacks and I had the same idea with Income Splitting for Canadian Families, have a read of a real tax experts views on this.
• Barry from Money we Have has a typical Toronto lamentation, The Real Cost of Being a Leafs Fan, but everything in Toronto is expensive (The Real Cost of going to Wal-Mart in Toronto ain’t that cheap).
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade had me with the kitten at the start of the story, but What Does it Mean to Live a Good Life ? is also some sound advice from the Queen of Tough Financial Advice.
• If you walk into a bar where a lot of people wear ball caps, it’s a good place to sell lottery tickets ? âš¾ Maybe not during World Series !
• Going back into the Canadian Capitalists archives we find The RRSP vs TFSA vs Mortgage Payment quandary.
• Our old friend Larry MacDonald appeared in the Globe and Mail as well with an Investor who uses a variant of the 2 minute portfolio, glad to see Larry writing some more.
• Does your retirement trump their tuition ?
• Mr. Money Mustache is Getting Rich with Science, or is he just getting rich on the ignorance of others?
• I really should read more at the Million Dollar Journey with another informative article for those of us with disabled kids that are thinking about retirement with Canada Pension Plan Children’s Benefits.
• Glad to hear that Unlike Walmart, Costco has no plans to cut employee Health benefits, I really do keep finding reasons why I like Costco.
• Kerry from Squawkfox spoke to Melissa Leong at the FP about Cutting your overhead: How to save money on things you thought you couldn’t save money on , a circuitous route for a message, but worth reading none the less.
• What is really backing the monetary systems in this world?
• Mark from 2nd Career Search gives us Money Saving Ideas for the Week, although it reads more like him boasting about how he gets great deals in the states.
• Also glad to see the NBA has done some cultural sleuthing has Warned Players not to Make the 3-Goggles hand gesture in Brazil (it is a very RUDE gesture in Brazil).
• Is it possible to reinvent the entire financial system ? Marc Andreessen sure thinks so.
• Mark from Blunt Bean Counter brought us Retirement or Refirement ? Which is a guest post from Betty Hansen.
• Michael James points out that if your philosophy to investing is “Invest However You are Most Comfortable” may not be the best credo to live by.
• Mark from My Own Advisor gives us some Frugal People Dos and Don’ts , useful advice to learn how to live a frugal life.

See more

Our friend @BigCajunMan shares some #retirement do's and don'ts that we think will help you #retireinspired: http://t.co/ru6peytySr

— Sun Life Canada (@SunLifeCA) October 6, 2014

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Random Thoughts for 2014

Lots of these kinds of Best of articles in 2014. Here is a list of them.

• Cuba, Rubles, Christmas and #BestThisWeek – getting close to Christmas but Ian McKellen can teach us about impulse control.
• Snow, Christmas, Enhanced and #BestThisWeek talk of more festive ideas, like how to save money at Christmas.
• A Gentleman, Day of Disability, Christmas, Rugby and #BestThisWeek noted the passing of Jean Beliveau and John Oliver’s views on Lotteries.
• Black Friday is Here, Advent, and #BestThisWeek speaks of the blessed Black Friday and associated sales but also includes a Fanfare for the Common Man.
• Lake Effect Snow, Web Cameras, Travel Insurance and #BestThisWeek November brings snow in Toronto, as we see, and other financial ideas.
• Asteroids, Tax Cuts, Lemurs and #BestThisWeek how many times has the Earth almost been hit by an asteroid? Too often to remember.
• Lame Ducks, Financial Literacy, Working for Free and #BestThisWeek lame duck leaders never really get that much done, no matter how they negotiate.
• Happy Halloween, Income Splitting and #BestThisWeek a wonderful financial time of the year is Halloween? Maybe income splitting is a better subject.
• Ottawa We Shall Remember, Bank of Canada and #BestThisWeek after a bad week in Ottawa, with senseless violence.
• Crashing Markets, Ebola, Low Loonie, Cheap Gas and #BestThisWeek even in 2014 the markets were a little volatile.
• Hockey, Turkey, Leaves, Carry On Bags and #theBestFin4TheWeek is it right that the hockey season starts before Thanksgiving?
• Autumn , United Kingdom, Beer Money, and #theBestFin4TheWeek the colours in Ottawa during Autumn are truly spectacular.
• Pins, Alibaba , Apple Pay , L’Écosse , and #theBestFin4TheWeek remember when Alibaba the IPO happened, those were heady days.
• Back to School, Tim Burger King, Knee Defenders and #theBestFin4TheWeek will the dutchie ever come back? I can only hope.
• Broken Humerus, Ebola, Anniversaries, Blood and #theBestFin4TheWeek remember when we thought Ebola was going to wipe us out?
• All Stars, Al Stars and the #BestOfFinancialForWeek the world cup was a big thing in 2014 as was Bastille day too.
• Tennis, Racing, Inflation and #BestofFinancial Canada Day is the start of the summer for most Canadians, and financial stories too.
• The Stand, Football Biting, Naughty Banks and #BestofFinancial even in 2014 the banks were misbehaving with shenanigans.
• Elections, Dad’s Day, World Cup, Friday the 13th and #BestofFinancial somehow the Liberals won the 2014 Ontario Provincial Election
• No Rate Hike, Better Performance, Montreal Grand Prix and #Bestof-Financial back in 2014 we were worried about rates, but they were already pretty low.
• Elections, Farewell Knowlton, May Done, and #Bestof-Financial Knowlton Nash was the voice of news for Canada for a while.
• Rain, Budgets, Bloggers Meeting, May Day and #FreeFormFridays When financial bloggers meet what happens?
• Beware the Financial Jabberwock, Netflix Expansion, Model Trains, Backups and #FreeFormFridays a thematically odd article.
• Easter is Here and a Saturday #BestOf for the Weekend a time of renewal, new beginnings in life and financially as well.
• RIP Flaherty, Heartbleed, Tax Time, Quebec Elections and #FreeFormFridays the former finance minister did a lot of good for the economy.
• #Selfies, Quebec Election, Big Joe, Awareness, and #FreeFormFridays would Big Joe Mufferaw have been a good fit for the Redblacks? We’ll never know.

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