Seems our Catholic brethren have chosen a new Pope (Francis) this week, thus ending one of the greatest talent hunts of the year. After weeks of discussions, and countless hours spent agonizing about candidates, the guy who ended up in second place last time wins it. Couldn’t they have just chosen him on that basis and saved poor Peter Mansbridge the visit to the Vatican? It was fun watching the “Big Hat” convention (for those not sure about that reference, listen to Denis Leary’s No Cure For Cancer for more details). No the new Pope is not the lead singer of Los Lobos. Also, if you were planning on doing something terrible that you wanted to only appear on the middle pages of the news, now would be a good time to do it (but don’t go crazy).
It was Pi Day yesterday, hope you all didn’t celebrate a little too much, it usually is a wild time when Mathematicians throw down. Pi Day, what the hell is that? Well given a short version of Pi is 3.14 March (the 3rd month) 14th is a good choice to celebrate this important numeric concept (yes it’s pretty lame). Remember also July 22nd is Pi Day as well, since an estimate of Pi is 22/7 (since we don’t have a 22nd month, July (7th month) 22nd is chosen for that one). Note there are no such days for Euler’s Number e^x (which would have been February 7th if you cared) or The Golden Ratio φ (which might have been January 6th). Don’t ever say I don’t have useful information here!
It’s St. Patty’s Day on Sunday, which means all those good Christians with “not drinking alcohol” as their Lenten Task, can go hog wild and drink as much Green Beer as they wish (because Sunday is a miniature Easter during Lent, so you can do what you want). My guess is that Monday may be a sick day for a great many folk out there, so watch your Alcoholic intake, or remember this Important Advice that I got from my Dad.
My Weekly Recap
March weather in Ottawa is best explained as, “If you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes, it will change”:
My Writings for Week Ending March 15th
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Best of: Don’t Pass it to the Other TeamIn Honour of the CIS Hoop championships last weekend, I found this old chestnut equating Hoops Coaching to Financial Planning. |
More Jobs in February in CanadaBetter news from our friends at Stats Canada about Jobs. Unemployment remained the same unfortunately. |
It Occurs To Me That You Could Solve All Your Problems By Obtaining More MoneyA very long title just to steal a concept from the Big Bang Theory |
Twitter Financial TipsAll “tips” can be viewed with a great deal of suspicion, however, not many caught on to the irony of me complaining about Twitter Tips on Twitter! |
Passive is not Lazy InvestingDon’t be a lazy fat cat if you are a passive investor (yes it was an excuse to include another picture of a cat in my post) |
Links for the Week
The Korean peninsula is starting to warm up, and if the North Korean leadership has their way, it may have a permanent glow. Here is hoping less bat sh*t crazy heads prevail :
Top Stories of the Week of March 15th
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Investors Group Advises Leverage for 75-Year-Old Widow of Modest MeansMichael James continues his case study helping out a senior with her retirement money, and this one is not pretty. I am afraid of Leverage and I am 25 years younger!! How can someone who does this sleep at night? |
New Will Provisions for the 21st Century – RESPsThe BBC has a guest post which points out that there might be a few more things you want to mention in your Will, including what happens to RESPs (if your Will is older, you might not have them mentioned, better go check). |
Are Women Sabotaging Their Own Careers?Sandy @ Yes I am Cheap asks that provocative question. Sometimes it does seem to be the case, but is that really what is happening? |
How Do You Conquer Your Financial Fears?Mark points out that we have nothing to fear but fear itself (to paraphrase FDR in the world of finance at least). Is fear a driving force for your financial plans, or financial decisions? For some of us, it is the only force really. |
Meet Berkshire Hathaway’s next investment gurusLarry MacDonald continues to mine the Berkshire Hathaway annual report for more gems of info and finds that for the first time the Wizard of Omaha allowed other folks to choose investments for BRK.A . |
How to Save on Banking FeesFinancial Highway tackles a subject near and dear to my heart, how to save money on Bank Fees! |
New Results Confirm: The Particle Believed To Be The Higgs Boson Really Is The Higgs Boson Popular Science confirms that was thought to be the elusive Higgs boson, is actually one of those little dickens, which is good news (and bad). One you see the face of God, can the end not be that far off? (just messing with you, or am I?) |
The 14 Weirdest Tax Write Offs, They Were Asking for an IRS AuditGen X Finance has an interesting post, and the first entry is an attention grabber and it just gets better with each on |
Thank You, Jerk: On Digital EtiquetteThe Pessimist brings us an interesting post pointing out that most Americans are far too polite on line. If you don’t read this story just on the basis of that statement, you have not a curious bone in your body. | |||
Save on Hotel StaysGail Vaz-Oxlade who is a prolific traveler these days, with her TV shows and promoting her book, so she gives us some tips for how to save money when you stay at a hotel. |
On Job Security And Preparing For The WorstRobb points out that everyone thinks they have job security, until they don’t (which wasn’t completely true for me, but for a while I thought I was indispensable, however I was proven dispensable quite quickly). |
Security StuffING Direct has a very useful set of security precautions you should be taking on line. |
Will you fund your retirement through home equity?Preet writes about your home and whether you think that equity you have built up will be available to you when you retire. Did someone say reverse mortgage? I hope not!!! |
Google shreds Reader in new round of ‘spring cleaning’The Register points out that if you are reading this on Google Reader, you will have to stop as of July 1st when they shut the service down. | |||
Best of 2013
Some of the best of posts from 2013
- CPP Reform, Snow, Christmas, Boxing day and #FreeFormFriday Did the CPP reform of 2013 fix much? Kind of, but Christmas was coming too.
- No Verizon, Microsoft Phones, NFL Kick Off and Friday #ShoutOuts Verizon won’t enter the Canadian wireless market, meaning Mobilicity may disappear and consumers will pay ridiculous monthly charges. Learn why with this blog post!
- Mandela gone, Canada “Post”, Gail on the Shelf and #FreeFormFriday Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013, after a long illness.
- Christmas is Coming, Christmas Lay Offs, Electric Fees, Commie Pope and #FreeFormFriday Celebrate Christmas with more online shopping – BMO and many other companies announce layoffs during the Holiday season.
- Giveaways, Vacations, No Sun and Friday #ShoutOuts Win a software worth almost $100 and go on the vacation of your dreams! Enter my intelligence test and get the chance to take the trip of a lifetime. #vacation
- Stock Frauds, Senate Expenses, Twitter wrong and Friday #ShoutOuts Canadians beware of stock fraud? U.S. Justice department investigates alleged penny stock swindler. Senator Pam Wallen scrutinized for spending. Find out more about the scam!
- Black November, Bitcoins, Tablets, Unloseable Lottery and #FreeFormFriday So Black Friday is upon us, however, it seems to be losing a lot of it’s “thunder” thanks to the “sales” starting earlier.
- Mad Dog, English Men, I’m OK and #Shoutouts Maurice Mad Dog Vachon was a tough son of a gun, but did he have a financial impact too? Read on to find out.
- Toronto Circus, Prince Charles Retires, More Word Puzzles and Friday #ShoutOuts This whole Toronto thing really is just a reality TV show gone off the rails, isn’t it? The three-ring circus that is unfolding in the media
- Identifiable, the Iron Sheik, Remembrance Day, More Word Puzzles and Friday #ShoutOuts So my concerns that if I put my natural face on my Social Media accounts were just paranoia.
- Incestuous Bloggers, Word Puzzles, RDSP Menu, All Saints Day and Friday #ShoutOuts Sometimes blogs become a little closed in and don’t recognize new folks and we become incestuous bloggers.
- Senate Fun, Apocalypse Averted, Asteroids and Friday #ShoutOuts News Canadians can’t ignore: investigate the scandal and discover if the Harper Government’s demise is near!
- Kicking the Can, Throne Speech, Windows 8.1 and Friday #ShoutOuts Seems our friends down south had so much fun with almost upending the world economy, they’d like to try to do it again in January.
- Government #Defaults, Fake Reviews, Turkey Time, Fall Colours and Friday #ShoutOuts Given that for some odd reason shutting the government down wasn’t enough our friends down south are now attempting to disrupt or possibly completely f*ck the world economy by defaulting in a few days.
- Government Shutdowns, Hockey Returns, New iPhone and Friday #ShoutOuts Explore the debate surrounding the US government’s shutdown with insight into potential resolutions outside of the standard back pay for civil servants.
- Financial Bloggers, 35 Million Strong, Odd CRA Cheques and Friday #ShoutOuts I had a very good time at CPFC13 where I got to moderate a panel of Investing Smart folks, and I learned a great deal from a few outstanding presenters,
- A Better Friday and #CPFC13 Not a regular Friday after this week and my preparations for the coming weekend, I didn’t really get enough time to put together my regular Friday Random Thoughts, but here is a shortened version.
- Friday the 13th, Private Royal Mail, Canadian 1% and Friday #ShoutOuts Watch out for bad things on Fridays – it’s Friday the 13th! Don’t subscribe to the concept? Tuesday is the most evil day. September 11th was a Tuesday! Don’t forget about ladders and black cats either. UK privatizing the Royal Mail? A price tag of £3B pounds!
- King Louis, Braun Follies, Lice and Friday #ShoutOuts Greetings and Happy Birthday to Prince George Louis Alexander Windsor (and future King of Canada), welcome to the media “sh*te storm” that will be your life.
- Loose Money, Faster Sites, the Heat is On and Friday #ShoutOuts The new Bank of Canada Governor announced on Wednesday no change in the interest rates for now, with the overnight rate continuing at 1%.
- Floods, Explosions, See Thru Lu Lu’s and Friday #ShoutOuts Looks like the Engineer is now being “thrown under the train” as it were (i.e. the finger of blame is being pointed at him by his CEO).
- Egypt, July 4th, Sweltering Summer, Alfie and Friday #ShoutOuts Interesting how the Egyptian military throwing out an allegedly democratically elected President is being hailed as a great democratic change.
- Canada Day, 4th of July, Flooding and Some Random Thoughts A hard week in 2013 for my family with the passing of my Mother-in-law to Cancer. One day that disease will be done.
- Fathers, Corruption, Horton’s Hedgings and Friday #ShoutOuts Hopefully everyone enjoyed Father’s Day, I know I did, very nice day, lovely meal and some peace and quiet.
- Stanley Cup, Turbans, Car Tracking and Friday #ShoutOuts The Stanley Cup finals have started, and hopefully all the games aren’t going to go that late into the night, or I will need to start working the night shift at work.
- Baseball “Cheats”, D-Day, Fun with Fiji and Friday #ShoutOuts It seems baseball is embroiled with yet another “performance enhancing drugs” scandal with a few very well-known names being implicated by yet another “wellness clinic”. Are the accusations true?
- Obliterating Rock, Floods, Senators and Friday #ShoutOuts If you are reading this after 4:35 PM May 31, 2013 I guess we survived another close fly by of a “Civilization Killer” lump of Rock.
- Senators, Twisters, Water and Friday #ShoutOuts To say the entire Senators Expenses Event is more ridiculous than a Christmas Panto (usually an excuse for men to dress up as women
- Mothers, Hab Nots, Trains, and Friday #ShoutOuts What does a Walrus, Model Trains and Mother’s Day have to do with each other? Not that much but more financial stories too.
- Taxes Done, Drones, Playoffs and Friday #ShoutOuts Hope your taxes were in on Tuesday, because if not, you might be in trouble (especially if you are part of the $29 Billion dollars still owed to the government in Taxes).
- Disk Crashes, Daffodils, Password Trappers and Friday #ShoutOuts High Tech always proves that it is much like Mother Nature, in that, you should never ignore it or take it for granted, because things can change very quickly at the most inopportune times.
- Loose Money, Trudeau-mania II, Nut Bags and Friday #ShoutOuts If you missed it on Wednesday the Bank of Canada continued to keep their key overnight rate at 1%.
- Snowmaegedon, the Masters, Windows and Friday #ShoutOuts Today, we are experiencing a late version of winter, with a nasty snow/ice/rain storm that proves that just when you think it is Spring, you might be mistaken.
- Final Four, Dark Matter, Tax Time and Friday #ShoutOuts The NCAA Men’s basketball Final Four is this weekend, and my bracket is completely shot.
- Budgets, Dark Side of the Moon, Eight Years Later, Palm Sunday and Friday #ShoutOuts Minister Flaherty gave us a very vague budget (2013) yesterday. For Hockey Moms, reasons to rejoice, given tarifs on Hockey equipment, Golf Clubs, Baby Clothes and a few other things are now gone.
- Pope Picked, Pi Day, St. Patty’s Day and Phriday #ShoutOuts Seems our Catholic brethren have chosen a new Pope (Francis) this week, thus ending one of the greatest talent hunts of the year.
- Thanks Stompin Tom, Loose Money Continues, Tax Time, Pope Picking and Friday #Shoutouts Stompin’ Tom Connors a true Canadian treasure has left us, and I for one am sad to hear it.
- St David’s Day, Snow, RRSP Season Over, Tax Time and Friday #Shoutouts Happy Saint David’s Day to all my Welsh brethren today.
- RRSP Time, Winners, Tax Time, Short Weeks and Friday #Shoutouts Yes, it’s that magical time when your Savings Institution pressures you to top up your RRSP account so you can take full advantage of the savings on your taxes.
- Lent , Pope Out, the Senate, RRSP Time and Friday #Shoutouts Lent is finally upon us, have you started making your plans? No? Me neither, I just haven’t had a heck of a lot of time to think about this kind of stuff.
- Lent , Pancake Tuesday, and Love Day Soon and Friday #Shoutouts For those of you unaware, Lent begins next Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) February 13th, so here is yet another chance to restart (or start) your financial plans for the coming year.
- Groundhog Day, Farewell Penny, No Vine and Friday #Shoutouts Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, so then we shall see how well a ground hog can prognosticate the weather (about as well as I can prognosticate financial stuff is my guess).
- Loose Money Continues, Polar Temps, More Info Lost and Friday #Shoutouts Wednesday our friends from the Bank of Canada kept their loose money policies in place.
- Hockey, Armstrong, Idle Folk, Lost Loans and Friday #ShoutOuts What happened the week of January 18th in 2013? Some NHL stuff, but a lot of interesting financial stuff too!
- Drop the Puck, Death Pills, Strikes and Friday #Shoutouts For those die hard NHL fans (like me) there will be hockey soon.
- Bye and Thanks for all the Fish, CBC Questions, Holiday Hours and Friday #Shoutouts Well it has been fun, but I guess it all had to end some time, it’s been a good run.
As a geek I would like to say that Pi Day is pretty lame. No one rings my doorbell dropping off pie. Now, if that happened, I’d be all over Pi Day.
“…it usually is a wild time when Mathematicians throw down.”
Didn’t think wild time and math could go together 🙂
Thanks for the mention!
Things were pretty grim around the University halls this week. I’ve noticed everyone has become an expert in finding savings in other departments besides their own (‘what does that guy do all day? He should go. And that department is useless, we should just axe it all.’).
I’m sure clearer heads will prevail 🙂
Thanks for the mention!
Your talk of days for special numbers in math made me wonder about a day for imaginary numbers. Then it occurred to me that maybe Apple has been making products as an homage to the square root of -1 all this time! Long live i. Thanks for the mention.