I was tickled pink to see that my favourite party had returned, the Rhinoceros Party for this election. This party had a plank in their platform about damming the St. Lawrence River for Hydro-Electric power. In Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s riding, it ran another candidate with the name Pierre Trudeau (I got to vote in that election in that very riding). Their first plank for this election in their platform? Nationalize Tim Horton’s! Glad to see the return to common sense politics.

I was glad to see Steadyhand come out with the commentary Good Debt, Bad Debt which points out the alarming rise in Canadian debt. Tom Bradley’s commentaries about the Banks encouraging an already heavily in debt society that a concept of “Good Debt” distresses him, and I agree. With low-interest rates about to go away, what will happen when the rates go up? Thanks to reader @Gene2u for pointing this out. An excellent article.

The rest of the parties seem very excited about the Mike Duffy trial, except for Mr. Harper, who hopes we aren’t watching it. We’ve lost 1 or 2 candidates thanks to unfortunate tweets in their past (I guess I’ll never be running for public office) as well. That is about all that has been going on in the election.

Gas prices continue to drop, which is bound to screw up the CPI for the coming months, but with oil sitting at below $40 a barrel, it is about time that gas prices dropped. Is this doing any good for Canada? It depends on where you live. If you live in Alberta, NO!

Did you realize there are 77 Expiration Dates that you Should Track? Time Magazine has an interesting list for you.

My Writings for Week Ending August 21st

The summer is slowly coming to a close, and an entertaining fall lies ahead (with plenty of election shenanigans and tom-foolery):

• Before the dawn of oppressive bank fees my idea of having a bank account at whatever bank that was near my work was a great idea, however since high bank fees became the norm, A Great Financial Idea Dies.
• As if I really needed more reasons to espouse changing banks if you are being treated shabbily, however somehow I found More Reasons to Change Your Bank.
• Rob Carrick did mention in his piece in the Globe and Mail Nine castles that cost less than a Vancouver condo my RDSP: Banking Challenge Ignored, and no bank has taken me up on my challenge.

---

I am also mentioned in this fun article too:

Hey, that's me! In the article that is, oh and Millenials shouldn't move back in with their parents either! https://t.co/0eQE2fXg9w

— Big Cajun Man (aw) (@bigcajunman) August 17, 2015

---

Read More »Rhinos Return, No Good Debt, Election Banter and #BestMoneyStories

RDSPs, Thrifty NFLers , Election Ho Hum and #RandomThoughts back in in 2015 the RDSP was still a newish thingy, but same old elections.

The Canadian Economy keeps taking it in the teeth these days, in terms of its over-reliance on commodities and the cheaper prices of Oil and now on Gold (Au). Gold now sits at a 5-year low in terms of its price, and it is making it less attractive to mine gold, thus doing jobs in mining scarce, to go along with the problems already seen in the oil patches. The lower Canadian dollar will make manufacturing jobs in Canada look more attractive, but we shall see whether that part of the economy awakes from it’s 9 year slumber. The Canadian NHL teams will also have issues with their revenues (given they must pay their players in US $).

Seems like maybe we should have thought about this when the Canadian Dollar was strong, and Oil was over $100 a barrel. Just saying.

Speaking of cheap Oil prices, glad to see gas prices aren’t dropping quickly, even with oil under $60 a barrel, but the price of gasoline has nothing to do with the price of oil, does it?

A sad farewell to Jon Stewart at the Daily Show, many a great quip has come from that show and its writers, we shall see whether it can whether Mr. Stewart’s departure.

The first “leaders” debate transpired last night, but my guess is, it wasn’t nearly as interesting as any debate that might include the “Master of Disaster” Donald Trump. He makes politics interesting again (or at least as interesting as UFC to watch). This week in the election we have had wagged fingers for the Tories and NDP calling Justin Trudeau by his first name (nice hair though), Mr. Harper promising that one day he might, if the budget is balanced, and oil goes back up in price, think about possibly bringing back the home renovation credit, and Mr. Mulcair mostly chuckling in the background, realizing he doesn’t have to open his mouth and he could win a majority. The Green party is doing something, and the Bloc has decided to run a stealth campaign of their own, maybe we’ll look back in on this lot in September?

My Writings for Week Ending August 7th

Well, I didn’t really write much this week, thanks to vacations and studying for my French Exams), but I did go through my archives and found some of my favorites from the past :

• A great financial understatement is really me commenting on my own dry commentary on the stock market implosion of 2008. Those were bad times, but thanks to that I managed to make some great investments? Yes, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that is how things work sometimes.
• Advice: Best Financial Advice Ever Given, is one of my favorite money related parable/joke that my Father told me, and this interesting icon on the right came from that exact same post as well.
• To give you an orthogonal response to the previous post, The Worst Financial Advice Ever Given, is me making a big mistake with a friend (and one of the reasons I don’t give out advice, except to my kids).

---

People call Ottawa the city where fun went to die, I think I disagree, it is the city where
fidelity went to die:

Why 20% of Ottawa's population is on Ashley Madison , I'd like to know myself ! http://t.co/sDwD200QbL

— Big Cajun Man (aw) (@bigcajunman) August 2, 2015

---

Read More »Cheap Gold, Cheap Oil, Weak Dollar, Election Week 1 and #BestMoneyStories