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RDSPs, Thrifty NFLers, Election Ho Hum and #BestMoneyStories

There was an excellent article on Disability Tax Credits for disabled children and how to apply for it (on the Brighter Life website) done by Sheryl Smolkin, that I most heartily suggest you go read. This article and “interview” with me was what caused me to write RDSP Questions and Answers, but as usual, Ms. Smolkin did a much better job on the subject. Go and have a read to understand the intricacies folks with children with disabilities must go through to get help from the CRA (getting help from other places is even more exciting). I’d like to thank Ms. Smolkin for interviewing me.

There have been a couple of interesting articles talking about frugal NFL players living within their means, which is a heartening topic to read about. The St. Louis Rams have a program for rookies about how to be Money Wise, but John Urschel (a noted mathematician as well), who is an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, has a roommate and drives a very frugal car. Urschel is a mathematician who has published a few papers, which is a few more than I have (and I claim to be a Mathematician as well). Another player Ryan Broyles (a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions) is also living a frugal life because he is aware of just how short his career might be. How short can your career be? Ask the Steelers who tore his ACL during the Hall of Fame Game on Sunday night. My plan for Fantasy Football this year is to have Watson be my Fantasy Football Coach. Did you know that Zdeno Chara of the NHL has a financial planning certificate from Algonquin College? Not all players will squander their fortunes (but unfortunately, far too many do).

Good to see Mr. Duffy back on the public payroll during this trying time in his life. The biggest excitement economically was the Chinese government’s enforced devaluation of the Yuan. What will be the impact on Canada’s economy (ouch), and the fragile commodity-reliant Canadian Economy take another hit.

My Writings for Week Ending August 14th

Another sluggish week for me in terms of writing, but that was mostly due to being busy doing other things. I am attending CFPC (which LSM Insurance is giving tickets away for), so that may really reinvigorate my writing :

  • The only new writing I did this week was pointing out that there were 6600 more jobs in Canada (from June to July). Whether anyone on the election trail will use that as fodder for discussions, is unknown.
  • The continued Financial Blogger advice for young folks in debt, to move back in with their parents to “… save money…” caused me to erupt on Twitter and to also bring back one of my favourite acronyms in this area K.I.P.P.E.R.S. , read it and understand why a 54-year-old father of 4 might get twitchy with that kind of advice.
  • I do remember an N.C.F.B.A. that Rob Carrick attended where he erupted with a great line that I had to use as the title to an article Atrociously Dangerous Investment Advice.
  • I still haven’t heard from my query, Dear Market Gurus: How do I get 7% Growth? Not sure if I ever will.

Poor Krystal didn’t know that she hit a nerve with me:

Plenty of Good Money Stories from this Week

I receive updates from the IIROC (Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada), which usually has updates on penalties and settlements against members and such, but the update about the $500,000 fine that Scotia Capital had to pay was a fascinating read. Glad to see there is some regulation in the investment industry. Is Beating the Market Harder than Ever? That is a question the Canadian Couch Potato wants to know.

Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter continues on with his greatest hits with Stress Testing your Spouse’s Financial Readiness if you were to Die Suddenly, a very useful (if a little morbid) exercise. My main comment for that is I have told my friends and family that if I die at work, you can walk around the “Hey Ho the Caj is Dead” party saying, “Man he is really pissed off that he died at work!!!”. If you think experts never make mistakes, Blomberg gives us How a Harvard Economist screwed Up and then Saved Her Retirement.

Mark from 2nd Career Search imparts one of the more important “Life Hacks” he learned as an executive, which is It’s not Good to be Right When Things Go Wrong. The “I told you so” factor might help you feel smug about things, but no one likes to hear, “I told you so!”. Marie from Boomer and Echo wants to help educate folks about money with 3 Financial Mistakes to Avoid, some bad ones there.

Mark from My Own Advisor wants to help you invest even small amounts, and with What to Buy with $1,000 to Invest he tries to help out in that area. For me it is simple, I use the money to try to re-balance my portfolio and buy the Index Funds I use in my Couch Potato Portfolio. I really should hire this guy to answer my comments, I might get a few more comments.

What is Your Net Worth

Preet tries to help you figure this one out:

Have What Tattooed Where?

Yeh, I have fun on Twitter sometimes:

2015 Random Thoughts

Remember that my RSS feed is also available, and I have added an RSS Comment Feed. Have a look at my micro-blog on Twitter, where you can see a whole plethora of good articles and pithy comments by me as well.

My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off-color commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)). I am also on Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest , Flipboard, Instagram 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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