Alberta Valium, Mother’s Day, Che Guevara, Pay Day Loans and #BestMoneyStories

Luckily one of my good readers pointed out that I had already written a topical article about the NDP getting a majority government in Alberta, and it is true, I did write, OK Everyone Take a Valium, in response to the NDP orange tide in Quebec (and in homage to a great cartoonist Terry Mosher aka Aislin). The illustration Mr. Mosher did of Rene Levesque, and Robert Bourassa does sum up the spirit of 1976 and how most Albertans must now feel as well.

An interesting vote, though, the PC’s got kicked to the curb, but so did the provincial Liberals too. Lots of votes for the Wild Rose party, suggests Albertans were sick and tired of the status quo, and wanted to try something new? It should make for a very interesting Federal Election, as the Tories may not be able to rely on Fortress Alberta, the way they have in the past?

Remember that Sunday is Mother’s Day, and remember to thank your Mom for all the crap she had to take from you (I am talking to you Robb from Boomer and Echo!). Oh and for those Dads out there who assume they don’t have to do anything on the day, because their wife is not their Mom? Yeh, keep thinking that, and enjoy sleeping on the couch as well.

My daughter returned from Cuba this past week (a vacation (how a 3rd year student can go on vacation, and her Dad can’t I will reserve for a later rant), and one of her first questions was, “Who was this Chez?”. At first I thought she was talking about the Ottawa radio station, but it ended up she was asking me about Che Guevara, so I ended up giving her a short synopsis of Che, using text messaging. Who says history never comes in handy?

Preet got out his white board and did a great write-up on Pay Day Loans, hopefully it is linked at the bottom of this article.

My Writings for Week Ending May 8th

Labor unrest in Ontario, with the teachers not reacting well to the Austerity budget of last week (and for not having a contract for a while), feels like I am back in the 70’s in Quebec:

• Stats Canada put out a middle term view on how Family Debt has increased since 1999 and it holds some scary numbers about how the 30-40 year olds are getting burdened with debt but also shows how seniors are increasing their debt load as well, Canadian Family Debt is Increasing, seems almost an understatement as a title.
• I do have an Instagram account that I may try to use more, but I had some fun with an old topic Frugal or Cheap, some good comments on this one as well.

An excellent example of how to use social media to remind folks you are there, and a nice Mad Men twist on it too:

See more

Joan, sexual harassment has no place at work! Contact us here: http://t.co/P821LehXLc #MadMen @MadMen_AMC pic.twitter.com/PqP6zqLB2E

— ACLU (@ACLU) May 4, 2015

This Week’s Finest Financial Foibles

Mark from My Own Advisor asks an important question for this time of year, what is The Best Thing For Your Tax Refund ?Funny I asked the same question a few years ago. Speaking of accountants, Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter is looking for your Topics of Interest that you want to learn about, I have already sent in my list. Did someone say writing? I was interviewed for a piece in the Toronto Star, by Anne Bokma, see if I make it to the final draft (it was about RESPs).

Barry from Money we have makes the provocative (but in the case of the RESP, correct) statement (Canadian) Parents Don’t Like Free Government Money, yeh he said it! Mark from 2nd Career Search is learning there is a High Stress Level of a Self-Employed consultant (working in the government). Staying on the government topic, they have a Financial Literacy Self-Assessment test on-line you can try out.

Remember the good old days? Marie from Boomer and Echo brought back some happy recollections for me with The Family Car – Then and Now (we had an AMC Matador and before that a Belvedere).   Remember when houses were cheap? Kerry from Squawkfox brings us Here is What 1 Million Dollars buys you (in Toronto). We used to stay in Motels, but now we have AirBnB, but Our Big Fat Wallet asks Is Renting Your Home on AirBnB worth the Risk? The TFSA limit increase took away the alleged inflation protection? What?

Michael James elaborates more on this with TFSA Limit Increase and Long-Term Cut, that sucks. The Canadian Couch Potato asks Should You Replace Bonds with Cash in your investments? There has been a long stated forecast for DOOM and GLOOM in the bond world (when interest rates go back up). The Canadian Capitalist wrote about a Reader Question on Bond Allocation, which just showed up in my reader (but it IS from 2013).

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Preet on Pay Day Loans

Preet helps you figure out just how HIGH the interest rates are on these short term loans:

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