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, be prepared for an AP bulletin about how your first poop was the wrong shade of brown, and all the other joys of living directly in the public eye. I hope that if (or when) this young child becomes king, he chooses to be known as King Louis (just like the Jungle Book).
Those not watching the imploding star, Major League Baseball, are attempting to show that they are less riddled with PED users than the Tour de France by suspending former MVP Ryan Braun. You remember Mr. Braun, he is the one that last year scolded us all for even thinking that he might use PEDs, and how he has “admitted” to it (OK, he hasn’t, he has agreed to a deal with Baseball which allegedly includes a possible admission of guilt). Aaron Rodgers in fact stated on Twitter stated last year that his belief in Mr. Braun’s innocence was such that: “… ya I’d put my salary next year on it….”, the fan that he made this quip to is now only asking for 1 games pay as payment on this bet.
I was glad to see that thanks to Sex and the City “naughty bits” lice are now an endangered species (according to the British Medical Association), another interesting case of “how are theses two things related?!?!?!”, but read the article and it is a fairly valid reason. Yes, I do need to stay on topic sometimes.
My Weekly Recap
Some cooler temperatures here in Ottawa, but more MPs around town to discuss rail safety, and they will also be discussing the importance of closing barn doors long after the cows are gone:
My Writings for Week Ending July 26th | ||||
CPI Up to 1.2 % in June in Canada 2013Stats Canada pointing out that Gas prices may lead us into an inflationary period, also they mention the Sun may rise in the East tomorrow morning. | The Most Important Financial Decision You Will MakeI borrowed from a very useful phrase from Ben Hogan and gave it a financial context. |
Simple Financial IdeasA particular article from the Atlantic spawned two posts from me, but the clarity of the statement is astonishing (to me). |
Are Credit Cards Making You a Bad Person ?The answer is yes, they are making us all Fat, Stupid and Lazy (you can quote me on that one). | |
Links for the Week
Mr. Braun has learned the importance of being contrite in your dealings with the media, as has Lance Armstrong and other folks whose web of stories is complicated:
Top Stories of the Week of July 26th
The Canadian Open is this Weekend, FORE!!!
| |||
Rams are in no hurry to sign draft choicesJim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about how the St. Louis Rams are attempting to teach their Rookie players about the value of money, which is a fabulous idea, keep up the good work! |
Managing AloneMichael James reviews a book written by financial advisers which has a message that you should use financial advisers, especially if your spouse passes away. | ||
The Costs of CarelessnessMark at My Own Advisor points out that while careless driving can be a very bad thing, being careless with your finances can have some disastrous effects as well. |
Google introduces $35 device that streams video to your TVHeather Kelly at CNN writes about Google’s new attempt to become the only Media company left, by making it darn simple to stream videos to your HD TV, and for $35 pretty darn cheap too! | Can You Really Make Money Investing in Collectibles?Sustainable Personal Finance gives some important points if you are going to try to make money on collectibles. I should have read that before I spent my entire RRSP on Manny Mota Baseball Cards… | |
TD Direct Investing Disappoints on US Dollar RRSPsThe Canadian Capitalist points out that if you want to have your RRSP in US Funds, TD is not the place to go, as they do not offer that kind of account. |
Always Leave Home Without It: A Further Investigation of the Credit-Card Effect on Willingness to PayA very interesting MIT study on the dangers of Credit Cards with a case study to do with buying Red Sox tickets, so you know why I like it! |
The true cost of credit card reward programs (and more)Preet returns to his blogging roots with a video of his panel work with the CBC discussing credit card reward programs (and whether they are doing you any good). | |
Giving Away Money in Boston?
There has been a rash of folks going into Tim Horton’s and paying for $500 worth of coffee for folks, but you can’t give money away in Boston, as this video proves:
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.
More Braun than brains, by miles…what an idiot.
Stay away from the PEDs, they won’t help your blogging, VERY bad for you! 🙂
Have a great weekend,
Mark
LOL.. I agree with you bigcajunman a little bit. Infact a league of ROID ONLY for the WILLING, and maybe even ROID Olympics would be a something to watch. Hey, we allready are a society that like to watch artificially modified actresses more then some natural ones right? Now thats a financial idea for media and marketing people reading this 😉 ( big cajun man, i love where you take your inspiration to write your articles, i run a small french financial blog for montreal and it seems dull to always go over the same subjects.)
keep at it !
It’s too bad that a sport’s reputation is at its worst when it has done the most to try to clean up. I wonder when this will all start in the NFL.
There are no drug problems in the NFL, just that they aren’t taking ENOUGH!!! Evidently the NFL is starting to look at testing for Human Growth Hormone this fall.