The world changes today, with the full release of the 7th chapter of the ongoing Star Wars Saga (at least that is what the Media Hype Machine might have you believe). I am old enough to remember going to the Snowden cinema in Montreal to watch the original release (chapter 4) in the ’70s. I like the movies, but I am just not that psyched to want to go to the movie just yet. I’ll wait until January after I have heard all the spoilers online. There is a very festive Star Wars clip at the end of this post too.
Jaba, your cholesterol looks high too!
Have you finished your Christmas shopping frenzy? I am sure I have not, but that is part of the holiday season for me (the Christmas week panic).
Interesting to see that Shaw Communications has bought Wind Mobile (or is proposing to do so), which could mean more competition in the mobile phone industry, which is never a bad thing (in my opinion). Shaw says they won’t be changing Wind’s low-cost plans, and that would be a very good thing, especially if they improve the coverage map, but that remains to be seen. Scheduling note: since next Friday is the big day, don’t expect to see anything from me, other than my typical Christmas Address, but there will be my traditional end of year festivities.
My Writings for Week Ending December 18th
Our tree is up, but there are still far too many things to do before the big day. I think I may have misunderstood the message on this one on TFSA Transfers. The spirit of Dickens’ Christmas Carol got to me with Financial Hauntings
I posted on my regular feed an old article that Larry MacDonald did in 2008 with me as the subject and now everyone at work is asking me about investing questions? Larry is writing a follow-up in the Globe.
Remembrance Day passed Wednesday, for some it is a solemn day of reflection, for others a day off. As I have mentioned before, I work with former military folks, and I certainly thank them for their service to the country. I was also glad that it didn’t rain on the folks in downtown Ottawa.
It is Friday the 13th today, so for those concerned about bad karma or bad luck, tread carefully and hopefully the day will pass with little or few major catastrophes. For those of you still buoyed by the election results here is something to put things in perspective from MacLean’s Magazine Chart of the day: How much do MPs earn? They don’t include their expense accounts either.
Remember that November is financial literacy month and you should be looking for posts and tweets with the hash tags #FLM2015 and #CountMeInCA on them. There has been some great stuff already posted, so keep watching and see what other useful things you can learn about money and finances.
My Writings for Week Ending November 13th
I did write something this week that is important, and that is about the Disability Tax Credit Certificate, and how to reapply, please make sure you pass this info on to anyone who you think might need advice in that area:
Time to Re-apply for the Disability Tax Credit Certificate outlines the steps we are taking to reapply for a Disability Tax Credit Certificate, to allow my son to continue to receive the benefits he has been for the past few years. ASDFunding.com is a great site to help folks out in this area, and they really should be the first stop for anyone looking for help in this area.
One of my favorite archive posts is My Top 5 Investing Mistakes, which I remembered after reading over a similar post on My Own Advisor
Facebook Post of the Week
Remember that Vanguard really is one of the 800 pound gorillas that the market is going to listen to if they start flexing their collective might in the board room, but how do they represent their ETF shareholders best interests? Interesting quandary.
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).
Time to Fall Back !
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 theRugby 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).
Well, that was a very interesting election result that I suspected might happen. However, it does make for a very interesting future (note I am not saying good or evil, just interesting). Trudeau is PM, and it was back to the Future Day on Wednesday? Welcome to the ’80s? Guess I need to find my Nash the Slash T-shirts?
For the direct money view, we go to the Globe, which explains 9 Things that the Liberal Victory will change in your financial life. I am going to miss that income splitting with my spouse, maybe they can bring it back later, or I may have to retire to do it with my pension. Everything else is kind of meh to me, but the $2000 back on my taxes last year was mighty sweet. You realize these new MP’s will be paid $167,400 per year, right?
One of the big topics is how exactly is Mr. Trudeau going to change the TFSA limitback to what it was? A general amnesty for a year? Really not sure, but it should be interesting to see how he treads gently around the topic.
What happened to the NDP? The Jack Layton Party returned to being the NDP again, and are back to their normal historic seat counts, which is too bad in some ways, and good in other ways (remembering Bob Rae in Ontario for one thing). Interesting that the popular vote levels are not that different, but all it takes is a few areas to change their previous voting habits (i.e. Quebec) and voila, a change of government.
In Ottawa, there was much rejoicing in the demise of the Harper Government (in the Public Service area, remember I am a Civil Servant) and here is one of the reasons that Ottawa was part of the Red Tide, an open letter from Mr. Trudeau to Public Servants. I may do an article on how Mr. Clement’s plan to revise the sick leave system in the Public Service might have been a good idea. However, it had some flaws.
It was pointed out to me that Mr. Harper’s hair was never really mentioned in the election (even though Mr. Trudeau’s had its own catchphrase “Nice Hair Though”), but am I the only one who said it looks like LEGO hair?
In celebration of the Liberal victory, the Bank of Canada did not change their key overnight rate, and money continues to be as loose as can be (all right, it had nothing to do with the election). You should really read the Monetary Policy Report for 2015 as well. The bank’s exact statement was:
The Bank judges that the risks around the inflation profile are roughly balanced. Meanwhile, as financial vulnerabilities in the household sector continue to edge higher, risks to financial stability are evolving as expected. Taking all of these developments into consideration, the Bank judges that the current stance of monetary policy remains appropriate. Therefore, the target for the overnight rate remains at 1/2 per cent.
My Writings for Week Ending October 23rd
I actually felt very re-energized by my attendance at CPFC15 (and am thinking I will be back next year), however, that still doesn’t expand my schedule, but I will be trying to write more soon. I did enjoy chatting with my peers and some very experienced writers and enjoyed the fellowship.
In Home Insurance: Three Strikes and You Are Out, I was pointing out that my mother’s home insurance was cancelled after three (major) events that she made insurance claims on, and that is the way home insurance works, so keep that in mind. Chime in the comments if you have your own stories in this area.
The Bank of Mom and Dad is a cautionary story about lending money to your kids (and family members in general) and how bankrupting one generation so the other can have a lovely house might not be the best idea.
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.
Gobble, Gooble Turkey
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?).
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):
