Fathers, Diamond Jubilees, Postal Issues and Random Thoughts

Father’s Day is now on the event horizon (not this coming weekend, but next weekend; however, Father’s Day isn’t that advertised, so I figured I’d get an early start on my site).

It was disappointing to hear that body parts mailed from Montreal arrived in two days; however, those mailed to Vancouver took over 1 week to deliver; no wonder most lunatic murderers tend to use FedEx (I have heard, but I can neither confirm nor deny that statement)!

In Montreal the Grand Prix may be marred by protests, however in Toronto, we had shootings in the Eaton Center, holy cow, this country seems to be turning into a hot bed for big International stories. Toronto in response to this random act of violence vowed to ban plastic bags by next year, and in other news Brian Burke has fired Ron Wilson in response to the ban on plastic bags, in response to the Leafs, the Canadiens fired Randy Cunnyworth and Ron Wilson as well.

Congrats to Queen Elizabeth II (not sure if she reads this, but just in case) on her Diamond Jubilee! Glad to see Tom Jones crooning away at the Concert, and of course Madness. Get well soon Prince Philip, although at 91 he still looked pretty spry in the Jubilee Flotilla. Charles did look a little impatient, wondering when he gets his big promotion!

If I offered you $100 now, or $120 in two years, which would be the better choice? Just check at the end of this post for a quick explanation by the Khan Academy.

Weekly Recap

A great deal of rugby was watched by me this week, but I held off making any off-hand posts about how Money is like Rugby, but maybe next week:

• The Khan Academy and Sunday best highlights a very interesting site for learning and some of my Oldie But Goody posts on my Twitter Feed.
• With all of the different consumer retention systems it is important Don’t Forget Your Points, or you are throwing money away (or at least free stuff).
• It’s a little early, but I wanted to help folks with Father’s Day in a week with Sure Fire Father’s Day Gifts, don’t miss the Chris Rock audio clip as well.
• The Bank of Canada continues it’s role as Crack Dealer (in terms of debt and low interest rates) with Money Remains Loose for June 2012 in Canada. Why not start raising it now? The economy couldn’t take it is the easy answer.
• I didn’t have much to write about Thursday so I found an old bit of writing I started, but couldn’t figure out the ending, but I found one this week What do Fathers Worry About? Yes, don’t talk to me when I am watching an NFL football game!
• RIMs, Foot, Hand, Body and Some Random Thoughts Life in Ottawa gets interesting – a local Foot challenge had police, bomb squad & more at 130 Albert St. 

Links for the Week

It was heartening to know that Canada Post can deliver packages even without proper mailing addresses (and irregardless of the package content), what is the postage for a human foot?:

• My Own Advisor our intrepid lover of DRIPs gives us the May 2012 Dividend Income Update, good for him, far braver than I am!
• Canada Mortgage News points out that during the Stanley Cup Playoffs you not only get to watch two teams nobody really cares about you get to see More dumb bank ads… but they won’t fool us, read this carefully since they translate what the bank is really saying.
• Mr. Money Mustache gloats ( a little ) about low tax rates in the U.S. but also The Lovely Low Taxes of Early Retirement, you can tell Canadians who have moved to the U.S., because they DON’T complain about the tax rates (even in Taxachussets).
• The Blunt Bean Counter lends a helping piece of advice to business owners with Business and Income Tax Issues in Selling a Corporation, I’ll have to read it again when I decide to shut down my Media Empire (#sarcasmalert). Hope he appreciates my Leaf reference in the opening comments.
• Michael James points out that sometimes advertising is aimed at stupid risk takers with Warnings as Advertising, I dare you to read it, you big chicken!!!
• Canadian Capitalist gives us an update on the Sleepy Mini Portfolio Q2-2012, I actually do use this for one of my RRSP’s, it seems to work great as a “fire and forget” methodology for investing.
• The Canadian Couch Potato points out Why Plans should come BEFORE Products, which is not just true for investing.
• Modest Money (a frequent commenter on this blog) gives us the Pros and Cons to Investing in the Stock Market Today, mostly EUROZONE FEAR!!! See, commenting can get you mentioned here too!
• Boomer of Boomer and Echo wonders why Certain World Events Spark Totally Irrational Behaviour, on a side note I have bought Diamonds after hearing about the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
• Miranda at Planting Money Seeds, does a Book Review: Losing It!, no it is not about weight loss, or money loss, but still worth reading.
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade in celebration of the first day of the Credit Card Diet (read Gail’s Blog for more details), she gives us Doomed to Debt? Sad, but true…
• Preet has a new Podcast out Darlene Dickinson (ho hum) and Tom Bradley (much more interesting) but he also gave Tusk Trader the remote who wrote Sex Discrimination on Bay Street is Worse Than You Think, gotta love the old boys club.

Fun Video on Future Value of Money

The Khan Academy does a neat presentation on the future value of money, well worth watching :