Halloween is tomorrow, and it seems to have become yet another excuse for folks to lose their minds decorating their houses. I think a significant growth industry would be convertible home decorations, which can change from Halloween to Christmas with a simple switch. The lights should be easy enough, but I am unsure how you might change a 10-foot-tall inflated ghost into a 10-foot inflated Rudolph? Did you realize in 2011, 13.3 million Canadian homes gave out Candy? That is a lot of homes (and even more Candy).

Some very spooky food prices this week as well, OK, last week, but I note that no one seemed to really care that much about it. The election is, however, a hot topic with many of our regular contributors in terms of how the change in government will affect their lives (and yours as well).

Also, remember that on Sunday morning (really early) the clocks go back an hour, which means that if you don’t do anything, you will be early to work on Monday morning. The only way I remember is Spring Forward, Fall Back. The one nice thing about most technology is that they change their clocks themselves (except for older technology which changes on the wrong days).

For me, it is a lovely weekend ahead as well as the Rugby World Cup Final on Saturday, with New Zealand playing Australia. I think this time, I will cheer for the All-Blacks.

My Writings for Week Ending October 30th

It’s another fun Halloween ahead, or as we call it at my house, my youngest daughter’s birthday. Halloween is an OK time to have your birthday. You don’t end up getting short-changed on presents as much (like those unfortunate folks born on Christmas Day or around then).

• Canadians Paid 3.9% More For Food in September, and no one really seems to have cared one iota about it. Remember folks you can’t drink Gasoline
• If you live in Canada, You Pay Too Much For Your Telecom Needs, and things are not likely to get better any time soon.
• Is the The 4% Draw Down Theory still relevant in today’s retirement model?

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Facebook Post of the Week

What do you mean there can be negative interest rates? In Sweden this may well be the case!

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Read More »Spooky Prices, Falling Back, and #MoneyStories

As we approach the Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday, it’s important to remember that this marks the beginning of a deadly quarter for turkeys, culminating in the Christmas Turkey Massacre. While we gather to enjoy our festive meals with family and friends, we cannot forget the birds that have given their lives for our consumption. Let us all take a moment to appreciate the sacrifice of these plump and juicy birds, and consider ways to reduce the harm caused during this holiday season.

Speaking of fat and juicy, the election campaign continues to be neither of those words. Mr. Harper is keeping all of his candidates under strict lock and key so there is no danger of “confusing the message” or, worse still, voicing their own opinions. I have noticed that all of the television advertising I have seen for the election is about the Party Leaders, and I am reasonably confident I would not know my local candidates unless they ran me over in the parking lot (pretty sure that would make Mr. Harper upset too). Have you decided which candidate in your local riding you will be voting for? Are you registered to vote? Are you sure? This is your one chance to have a say in the running of your country, and my opinion is that if you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain.

It is interesting that as a Civil Servant my union has barraged my home phone with more messages about who I should be voting for and such, and it is an odd situation if I think about it. Obviously, the PSAC folks seem to have quite the “hate on” for Mr. Harper, but the sense I get is that they think the Liberals would be better for the Civil Service. I guess folks don’t remember Paul Martin and Jean Chretien’s great massacres of the Civil Service in the 90s? As for the NDP, Mr. Mulcair sometimes sounds as conservative as Mr. Harper, all very confusing to a simple soul such as myself. Sounds like we might even have a 3-way tie? Guess we might be voting again soon?

My Writings for Week Ending October 9th

As Thanksgiving approaches I continue to be lazy and not put out a very regular schedule of posts, and my apologies to my regular readers, but sometimes life does interfere with my writing.

• As usual the week started with my regular best of Twitter statement with Greed and Tweets for the Week, this time I tried to follow a thematic premise in the tweets, not sure I succeeded.
• The one new post of the week was me finishing one of the 200 stories in my “not quite finished bin” My Biggest Purchase Was Not A House, again, a bit of luck and I think I made the right decision there.
• On my Twitter feed, I tried to stick with the pension as a thematic premise so I did include an old chestnut, Advice to the Love Lorn (Pension Potential), is your date pension worthy?
• I never really got too many answers on this oldie, Is Debt a Moral Issue ? Have a read and chime in if you think I am full of hot lead (a variant on hot air, but since I am publishing, lead for typesetting, yes, quips you have to explain really aren’t that clever are they?).
• Are you interested in Security and Technology, check out my tech site’s article Security and Other Technology Twitters for the Week

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Facebook Fun of the Week

The last few elections have shown that polling sometimes can be completely out of whack, but this poll seems to suggest, you should make sure you vote this election (you see what I did there? I turned it around):

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Read More »Turkey Day, Elections, and #MoneyStories

For those who didn’t see the info from Stats Canada in their daily report: Canada’s population estimates: Age and sex, July 1, 2015, there are now officially more Seniors in Canada than Children. To quote the report directly:

For the first time, the number of persons aged 65 years and older exceeded the number of children aged 0 to 14 years.

Will the world start pandering more to Seniors now? That is where the money is, see the interesting graphic below from the report, and there are going to be a lot more of us soon too!

For those who are not aware, Ottawa has lost one of its own with the passing of Max Keeping yesterday. As someone who has lived in Ottawa for a long time, I consider myself an adopted son of the city. Max Keeping was the voice of News for a very long time and I am deeply saddened to see him go, but he had been fighting a tough battle with cancer. While I may not have agreed with all of his opinions, I always respected the way he portrayed the news. Let us all remember Max and the impact he had on the city. Rest in Peace Max.

My Writings for Week Ending October 2nd

A busy life week for me, so only two posts, but an oldie but goodie seems to be gaining some attention

• What Money Twits are there on the Internet? This week I highlighted a few of my favorites
• You do realize that Government cheques are no longer going to be mailed out in less thana year? How hard could it be to Direct Deposit Enrolment for Government Benefits ? Not hard
• What could be financially Dumber Than Snaked Mittens? You might be very surprised if you read this old tid bit of mine
• Interested in reading about Security and Technology Tweets for the week? Check them out on this site’s sister publication.

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Facebook Fun of the Week

Of course you can trust me:

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Read More »An Older Canada, Farewell Max, and #MoneyStories