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). Does this mean H&R Block’s business slows down? I don’t think so, it won’t be quite as crazy as it has been lately, but all businesses have their ups and downs. Well known Leaf lover the Blunt Bean Counter is now able to sit back, relax and enjoy the Leafs in the playoffs (for the first time in HD), I enjoyed that first game at least.
Keeping up with my fun stories in the news, evidently an ambitious Entrepreneur in the states wants to introduce Drone Shield a system to tell whether a drone is following you (honestly I am not making this crap up). I already own a Raspberry Pi, so I guess maybe I can make my own “home brew” version of this, since many times around the Big Cajun Chateau I hear drones (or airplanes, or maybe they are just really big sparrows, not sure). Does this mean I have to update my Thought Shield Helmetâ„¢ to watch for drones as well?
The NHL Playoffs begin and thus the orgy of Hockey on Canadian TV begins and should last until about July, if I am correct in my estimations. I seem to remember the playoffs finishing around now when I was a kid, but back then there were only 12 teams too (and no one wore helmets). Makes me want to strap the National Geographics to my shins, break off a tree limb and play some hockey myself!
My Weekly Recap
The auditor general’s report always brings out the most interesting stuff, I am thinking of putting in an offer to the CRA to do some Tax Collection for them:
My Writings for Week Ending May 3rd
“…Hello Out There, We’re On the Air, It’s Hockey Night Tonight…”
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Best of: Best Financial Advice EverMay Dad passed away two years ago and this is one of my favorite anecdotal stories he told me. | Investing and System Backups the same?Bit of a stretch in terms of a metaphor, but I stand by my statement. | Tax Day 2013How did you celebrate this exciting day? I already did my taxes, so it passed without incident. | $ 29 Billion in Arears ?The Auditor General’s report is always a hoot to read and finding out that the CRA can’t collect taxes well was the most entertaining part of the report. | Numbers are the EnemyI’ve always said that if I never looked at my bank balances I wouldn’t actually have any financial difficulties. |
Links for the Week
May Day came and went without incident in Canada, but there were riots in Seattle? Did someone give them Espresso when they asked for Decaf?:
Top Stories of the Week of May 3rdHow Did You Celebrate May Day?
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When Should You Start Collecting CPP?Michael James points out that this question does not have a straight forward answer if you crunch the numbers. For me, I may collect earlier. |
Frequently Complained QuestionsMr. Money Mustache is getting quite the following down south, but with fame and notoriety, comes some interesting questions too. |
Broken KeyboardData Genetics points out the dangers of a broken keyboard to your correspondence. Remember the Penis Mightier than the Sword or Pubic Key Encryption all pass spell check nicely, however… |
Kelly the robot helps kids tackle autismUnderstanding how the brain in an Autistic child works is a challenge, and this article caused me to pause and wonder why this works, don’t have any answers, but it’s interesting none the less. |
Should I implement the Smith Manoeuvre?Mark from My Own Advisor wonders about whether he should try out the infamous Smith Manoeuvre. I wouldn’t do this, but I am also an admitted “nervous nelly” with these kind of ideas as well. | So-called Best Rate sites are put to the test with shocking results.Shopping for best mortgage rates on line? Canada Mortgage news has some shocking results on their quick survey of a few of these sites. | This Post has Gone Walk About |
Plan to Save your Closing CostsGail Vaz-Oxlade talks about a subject that trips up a lot of first time home buyers, which is the closing costs. I know it hurt us on our first home. |
Ten Financial Lessons We Can Learn from Warren BuffettThe Blunt Bean Counter finds a very interesting infographic on some of the Wizard of Omaha’s ideas about money, well worth having a look at it. | Why Your Beer Gets So Warm On Humid DaysHey it’s the summer here in Ottawa (or very close) and this is an important question being answered by our friends at Popular Science |
Lending Money To Friends And FamilyBoomer hits a very sensitive subject, lending money to Family can end up being a donation instead (maybe you should just start with that). |
There is a right way, and a wrong way, to financially indulgePreet writes in the Globe about how sometimes you should be careful how you splurge financially. |
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.
So you’re also a raspberry pi hacker! It is a great little computer.
one site that I use for purchasing the computer and accessories is http://www.adafruit.com. The lady who runs the site is an MIT graduate specializing in educating kids in electronics. You might enjoy visiting the site.
cheers,
rob…
ps you are very well connected via social media but I am a dinosaur. How do I send a private email? couldn’t find the link but my eyes are not what they used to be. 😉
Thanks for the great reading list, and including me in it. Have a great weekend!
Shouldn’t a Drone Shield be a WASP? (Wormhole Anti-Spy Protector) Something that would suck the Drone into an alternate universe where Spock could analyze it if Jim couldn’t mate with it? (Ok, I’m impatient for the movie.)
I saw a car today with a big Leaf sticker on the one side and a big Bruin sticker on the other. Family squabble? Hedging his bets? Not sure.
The drone shield isn’t as far fetched as you might think. They’re already at the point in the U.S. where there’s discussion about the use of drones by private entities and law enforcement, because it’s actually happening down there. There’s some questions that need to be answered along the way – should law enforcement be allowed to use drones for patrolling public property? What about private property, should the local police be allowed to regularly monitor your backyard using a drone? That’s a bit more dubious. What about private security companies flying over your land? What about your neighbour running a drone over your backyard to watch you sunbathe by your pool? I think some of this is not explicitly legal or illegal just yet because they’re just starting to actually do this.
And it’s worse in the U.S. I suppose Canadians might be OK with law enforcement using this stuff, but in the states you’ve got crazy people living in fortified compounds waiting for armaggedon, and those folks are going to object strenuously to anyone flying over their lands, including law enforcement. Those folks would seem to be a strong market for drone shield and other tinfoil related products.
Thanks for the mention. Looking forward to the next Leafs loss 🙂
BCM,
Like many Leaf fans, I was hoping the Leafs would avoid the Bruins. I swear, the first game reminded me of when my son played “A” hockey and they went to a tourney in the US which had different age groups and classifications. We played a team a year up that was closer to a “AA” team. They won ever battle, it looked like our sticks were broken when we tried to clear as each pass never made it out of our zone and our best players pulled Houdini’s. Like the Leaf’s in game 1. It also brought back memories of the 1969 Playoffs when the Bruins beat the leafs 10-0 (sort of memories, I only remember fights galore)
It much as it pains me, I can’t believe not only how fast Erik Karlsson came back, but how quickly he has returned to an elite level. How someone can miss months and step right back in is truly amazing.
Anyways, there is always Saturday
Yes very much men playing boys for that game (it looked like). As for Karlsson, stem cells? Adrien Petersen came back in amazing way from a knee injury, so maybe medicine is getting better at recovery, but yeh it’s amazing (hell I can barely walk on my gamey knee, wish I could recover from it).
There is always the next game (for the Sens and Habs it’s tonight, for some reason Bruins and Leafs get a 2 night rest?)
There’s nothing more disappointing than watching the Leafs play terribly after such a long wait to get back into the playoffs.
I too was disappointed when Boston sealed their fate with the Leafs losing the last regular season game to Ottawa, and you’re right, there’s always Saturday 🙂
These are awesome reads. Will spend the weekend reading these financial posts.