Taxes, Les Impos and Les Penses Random

A week where you had better have sent in your taxes, or you will be paying some penalties. If you don’t owe money, you have until June 15th, but if they owe you money, why don’t you want it right now?

Apologies for the franglais in the title a butchered attempt to use both official languages in Canada (I should misspell taxes to show my inability to write in English as well).  My French training continues, I am astounded at my inability to comprehend English and French, but c’est la vie!

A year of the “Harper Conservative Government” (I believe that is a copyrighted phrase), oh boy! I mentioned this to my friends here in Ottawa who are civil servants, and they grumbled, so then I asked, “Why did we elect so many tories in Ottawa last year ?”(John Baird, Pierre Poillievre, etc., etc.). It seems to stop the conversation quickly.

There are many exciting stories in Canada this week with Conrad Black possibly returning, more F-35 stories and, of course, the heart-rending video of a mother duck and her ducklings crossing the 401, perhaps the most important video you will see this year (I can’t find it anywhere, but it was good to see the little group made it across the highway).

Weekly Recap

I had some fun this week with a couple of topics, which I enjoyed writing about, but a quieter week for my writings, even though the markets look like they are lining up to have another roller coaster ride this summer!

• Financial Joy Buzzers and Sunday’s Best is a rehash of some of my older posts that have appeared on Twitter.
• Some very sage advice from BroTips, If you Bought It Why Are You Complaining, which points out that you don’t get to complain if you went out and bought something (complain about how much you spent, specifically).
• In Canada if you haven’t filed yet Taxes: You are Now Officially Late, with some of the ramifications of your decision.
• Turbotax sent me a lot of interesting data on Procrastinating Canadian Taxpayers, glad to see Toronto can win at something!
• I went a little odd with TV Show: Financial Squeegee Scam, not sure where my mind was at the time, but still an interesting concept.
• The Clown Prince of Personal Finance and Random Thoughts The Clown Prince of personal finance is a term of endearment I use to describe my perspectives on money, debt, and life.

Links for the Week

With tax week coming and going, the topic seemed to hang there like the proverbial 800 lb gorilla, but nobody much talked about it:

• Our Financial Kin at My Own Advisor explains Why He and His Want a $10,000 Emergency Fund, I want one to, can you pick one up while your out getting yours? They are next to the Tampons at Wal-Mart (I have heard).
• Rob Carrick talks about the “B Word” and the housing markets with Ready to be Bold? Tell the House and Rent, he talked about that when we had dinner, it is an intriguing idea, but I’d have to spend a lot of money to get my house “sale ready”, so I think  I’ll pass this time.
• Ellen Roseman points out that in Ontario there are many People freezing and sweating in newly built homes, hopefully not at the same time!
• Mr. Money Mustache writes a touching piece about how hard it is to be Rich in Toronto with The Cost of Living is Too High, Waah, Waah… it ain’t easy bein’ rich!
• The Blunt Bean Counter points out it is not easy to pump out quality posts every day (you can tell that just from my hack-kneed scribblings), but expands on that with Duck Quackers and Binge Writing.
• Michael James points out that Investing is Simple: Until you try to Outperform, which is true, if you are willing to wait, you’ll be fine, if you want to get ahead of the Jones’ you might end up behind them (in the end).
• The Canadian Couch Potato tilts at another Financial Windmill with Risk and Uncertainty in Stock Investing, as he reviews an interesting book, with some ideas about whether Risk and Volatility in Stock Markets are actually connected.
• Echo of Boomer and Echo gives us Their Fast Track to Financial Freedom, I think it rained on my track, I may be a Financial Mudder.
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade wonders What Makes a Good Parent, interesting point of view on this.
• Preet is branching out with his media empire and is giving us a new podcast to subscribe to (I already have) with Mostly Money, Mostly Canadian, note it is NSFW, so don’t play it at your desk, Preet uses rude words like Money, and Poo-Poo. I may make an appearance some day, if I beg Preet enough.

A French Quote about the Rich

“Dieu a partage : il a donne la nourriture aux riches et l’appetit aux pauvres”

Coluche – a very apt quote for this blog (and for the 1% crowd as well).