Random Thoughts: Spooky Finances

All Hallows Eve comes on Monday (happy birthday to my favourite witch, too), and that must mean more financial hobgoblins and silliness. We shall see yet another deal for European debt, which seems to be causing some optimism in financial circles, but then again, haven’t we been down this dark and spooky lane before (seems like something out of yet another Friday the 13th movie), Don’t go into that dark room!!!!!

November is coming soon, and that means one more month until Christmas, and all I can say is Holy Holly! that came up fast on me. Luckily my family isn’t worried about material possesions or the exchange of gifts, they simply enjoy the fraternization and family bliss, and of course the Ca$h (see what I did there, I changed it around at the end).

All my Quebecois brethren must be happy that they are getting 3 more MP’s with the new distribution rules and shake up. More Quebec representation in parliament, that will spice up the political scene that much more. If we could just get Rob Ford in there too, it would be better than Cirque du Soleil!

Lots of interesting news about Inflation and the Bank of Canada’s hope that this is simply a blip and prices will be going back down (I am not that optimistic):

• We heard last week from Stats Canada that Inflation was on the rise in September and the usual culprits did most of the heavy lifting.
• Should you want a cheaper mortgage or free banking? The answer is you should want both, but one is easier to get than the other (for me)
• The Bank of Canada announced no rate increases for October and implied no rate increases coming any time soon, due to their optimistic hopes for inflation.
• I received an odd letter from my credit card company which reminded me of the rule changes for Credit Cards in Canada (in the last Federal Budget).
• Random Thoughts: When Worlds End (again) sums up the best from the previous week.

And thanks to those who added me on Twitter I am now over 900 folks who follow me, wow!

Haloween may be coming soon, but there are no ghosts and ghoulies written about this week:

• Preet suggests that with marchine readables news – there is another reason for not quitting your day job and becoming a day trader, but my guess is the faster information is digested the easier it is to insert bogus information.
• Larry MacDonald wonders if there is yet another (hidden) bubble in Canadian farming (not just the gases from the pig poop ponds either).
• Michael James has more ideas about bubbles as well with real estate lessons from China where no one seems to worry about bubbles.
• Our amigo My Own Advisor who I would not call a DRIP, gives us the lowdown about DRIPs the DRIPpers DRIP, which sounds a lot wetter than it actually is (not a dry subject that is for sure)
• Boomer of Boomer and Echo wants to know do you give money to panhandlers?, and the answer from me, it depends.
• Canadian Couch Potato continues discussions about ETFs and their growth and thus the dangers that can arise in a fast growing investment concept ETF Risks in Perspective: Synthetic ETFs
• Frugaltrader at MillionDollarJourney gives us How to Save Money at Costco which in fact I think,it is actually saying how to save more money at Costco.
• Mike at Money.Smarts gives us a very good study for calling home from another country – Long Distance Voice Plan vs. Skype, which compares using Skype on a Smart phone vs. a long distance phone call (in terms of money), interesting discussion.
• Marie at PrairieEcoThrifter gives us a fun post with 101 ways to use vinegar – the Magic Elixir and while it is a numbered list (a pet peeve of mine), I do so love Vinegar (even more fun when mixed with baking soda).
• A guest from Sustainable Personal Finance wrote about how to interesting idea, really.

Carnivals this Week

I did make it into a few carnivals this week too:

• Tom over at Canadian Finance hosted the Canadian Carnival of Finance #59 which included my article RESP and more trees died

Other Bookkeeping

 

Remember 

“I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that’s to get rid of all my other desires.“

Author: John Cleese his birthday was yesterday.