Senators, Retiring Rich and #BestMoneyStories

Yes, Mark at My Own Advisor is in 7th Hockey Heaven, and most of the City of Ottawa is celebrating about the Senators improbable playoff run. They lose their two best goalies, bring up a guy who was not very good in the AHL (and allegedly was thinking of retiring) and they now are in the middle of a very exciting playoff fight. Will they succeed? Hey, I can’t predict stocks to buy. Why would I be able to predict hockey games? I will watch closely, though.

Ottawa is also agog about another Senator, the Patrick Duffy trial continues on with more defecating elephants (figuratively speaking) than Barnum and Bailey’s Circus. This is going to get ugly in terms of mud-slinging, and the interesting part for me is that Mr. Duffy will start receiving his salary as a Senator again (if he isn’t somehow unseated) the day after the Federal Election is called. I think your best financial plan for retirement is to become a Senator.

Congrats to the Duke Blue Devils on winning the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, excellent game, well worth watching. A brick bat to Bo Ryan Coach of Wisconsin for complaining about the officiating and “one and out” players, no place for that kind of talk coach, you are training men about life.

Seems we will have a deficit-free budget this year, but how this was all balanced is another more interesting story.

Retire Rich 2015 happened on Wednesday, and it was fun to watch the Twitter feeds from there with some of the more helpful statements included. Naturally, I jumped in with my helpful hints as well. Note that Preet’s theory of a perfect financial life is the same design that Lotus F1 cars were designed with (cross the finish line, win the race and then fall to pieces).

@MoneySenseMag @preetbanerjee A little extreme, maybe leave enough for a simple cremation? #OhThatPreet

— Big Cajun Man (aw) (@bigcajunman) April 9, 2015

My Writings for Week Ending April 10th

Wonder if McDonald’s will resurrect the Hamburgler character in their ads. Didn’t have a “best of” last week so let’s review a bunch of older stuff from me:

• Having a little too much fun with my daughter’s Student Line of Credit, which isn’t really set up quite right, do these banks know who I am, and want me to write about them?
• Had a little April Fools fun, which coincided with a lovely N.C.F.B.A. dinner out with Active Investors Fight Back, didn’t happen, but Preet is getting quite vocal on social media about things.
• It was World Autism Awareness day on April 2nd, or as we call it around the C8j house, Thursday (it is also one of my daughter’s birthday).
• Given I have an iPad, I find the lack of iPad Compatible Banking Apps to be quite annoying (some banks have them, while others rely on their iPhone app, which is not really the same).
• I did learn something on the weekend about Lottery Tickets and Credit Card Cash Advances, I guess I am glad I don’t go to the Casino.

Asked Tangerine (who does have an iPad-compatible app) about why they don’t have a Personal Line of Credit, got this answer

@bigcajunman While we're planning on launching a Credit Card later this year, no plans for a Line of Credit just yet. Stay tuned for details

— Tangerine Help (@TangerineHelps) April 7, 2015

This Week’s Finest Financial

Do you own foreign properties which are valued over $100K? If so Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter wants to help you with the T1135 Foreign Reporting Form – 2014 Update , yes it is confusing, isn’t it? Think your taxes are complicated? Mark from 2nd Career Search claims We Need One More Horseman for a US Tax Apocalypse, and it doesn’t sound like a lot of fun doing taxes in the U.S.. While tuition tax credits can help, Marie from Boomer and Echo points out the large increase in tuition costs with Throwback Thursday: University Education 1965 vs. 2015 ($380 tuition fees? REALLY?!?!).

Speaking of automation it is worth seeing The Chart That Shows How Everything is Becoming a Computer, even some web sites are computer written (but not here, no computer could butcher the English language the way I do). The Globe and Mail has a very interesting view of the future of medicine with Welcome to the Future of Medical Records Keeping.

Barry from Money We Have points out It’s Time For a Money Reality Check, and maybe it’s time to ask, are you saving enough money? If not, why not? Ellen Roseman wants to help you out with that reality check Personal Finance Rules on an Index Card (yes, it can be that simple). Kerry from Squawkfox also wants to help out with Five Unconventional Ways To Get Your Financial Act Together, real thinking out of the box.

In the investing world Michael James points out rightly that Business Success is not the Same as Investor Success, and his advice you should heed (also his comment about hindsight is spot on too). Mark from My Own Advisor wants to help us out with what stocks to buy with Five Canadian Stocks for Greedy Dividend Investors (remember greed is good, if it’s your money).

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Preet and CMHC

Did you realize the CMHC premiums go up June 1st? What does that mean? Just ask Preet:

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Twitter Fun

I didn’t realize this one, but yes, it’s true!

"Since I'm Canadian my two cents is rounded down to nothing."#ShowerThoughts http://t.co/TAEb3FB6d8

— Showerthoughts (@rShowerThoughts) March 17, 2015

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Facebook Fun

Will they double the TFSA limit?

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My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off colour commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)). I am also on reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest and other Social Media sites (look for the BigCajunMan userid) as well. If you have social media accounts, don’t forget to vote for my posts (see the nifty dashboard on the bottom of each article, where you can cast your votes).As they say in Quebec, vote early and vote often!

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