Quebec Elections, Eating Sugar, Suing Parents, Big Rocks and #FreeFormFridays

The only thing predictable about Quebec politics is it’s unpredictability, as Pauline Marois (aka La Femme de Fer) has called an election for April 7th, no doubt hoping that her nutty “No religions in Quebec” kick will get her a majority government. For all who scoff at this thought, this is Quebec, who elected NDP candidates in the last Federal Election (a few of whom had never even visited their ridings), so hold onto your hats, strap on your boots and let’s wait for another wild political journey. Mme. Marois has fired the first salvo by declining the invite to the English Language debates, should be an interesting election campaign.

The World Health Org stated this week that we should be lowering our sugar in take, in other news they commented about how the Sun seemed to rise in the East and the sky is blue mostly. It’s always helpful when the obvious needs to be a headline for anyone to notice.

A young lady in New Jersey is suing her parents because they refuse to pay for her final year in Private High School and for her College Education. Seriously folks, sometimes this stuff just writes itself, see video clip at the end of this for more information.

Another cosmic giant rock went hurtling by the Earth Thursday morning, I think we all need to join up at Seti.Org and see if we can find a few more of these before they hit us.

Dramatic eh? No it’s not the real asteroid, however, picture courtesy of Getty and their free embed’ing service.

My Weekly Recap

My Writings for Week Ending March 7th Really, Who Still Uses an Electronic Calculator
RRSP Deadline Let the Taxes Begin! Yup, you could have done something about your RRSPs up until Monday, now we are down to the nitty gritty of tax season.	Financial Calculator Giveaway This giveaway continues until next week, wouldn’t it be great to have a spiffy new financial calculator to do your taxes with?	Personal Finance: Lent Begins Today Yes we are now in the season of Lent, what are you going to do to make your finances better for 40 days?	We Don’t Seem to Dread Debt I read a very interesting study in the Harvard Business Review that I based an interesting observation on. Not very scientific, but still quite interesting.

Swiss Army Knife Section

Wonder if the Swiss are worried about all the excitement in the Ukraine, I know I am:

• Michael James wonders How Much Gold Fits in Your Backpack, and the answer is simple, as much as it holds (and you can carry).
• Susan Eng from the Huffington Post goes with Top 10 Dumb Things People Say About Pensions, they are pretty entertaining, no mention however of living on low ash cat food.
• Barry Choi from City TV (and Money we Have) talks about What I plan on blowing my tax refund on, naturally he is thinking of saving it for a rainy day (well maybe not).
• The Physics of Finance uses as an example a quite racist Rudyard Kipling story as the basis for their article Economists “just so” stories, but the point is still very well made (i.e. economists don’t know either, but like to make up their own reasons why things happen).
• My Own Advisor brings up the Mandatory Withdrawals (RRIF 101) and thus completely destroys the 4% draw down theory, since you have to take more than that out, by law, in Canada.
• Scientific American points out that Docs Should Wash Stethoscopes between Patients, Too, oh and the young lady who puts the lid on my coffee should have gloves on too!
• The Canadian Couch Potato explains iShares Advantaged ETFs: Where Are They Now? They still exist, but you can’t buy them any more.
• Mark at 2nd Career Search laments that today’s Paper Men can’t hold a candle to when he was a PaperBoy in Newspaper Boys to Men or How I Learned the Value of Money .
• Promod at Riscario Insider makes an interesting comparison with Buying A Car VS Buying Life Insurance.
• Mark at the Blunt Bean Counter continues to lament The Costly TFSA Blunder & Playing With Matches – The 20% Matching Penalty , why do folks keep over paying into their TFSA ?

Adventures in Real Estate

So if you thought you had the worst problems with your house or apartment, how about a blow-hole in your driveway?

Random Thoughts for 2014

Lots of these kinds of Best of articles in 2014. Here is a list of them.

• World Cup Side-Effects, Seinfeld Cars, and #BestofFinancial What happens around the World at half time of the World Cup Final? Is it like Flushed away? Is there a sudden tsunami? Who knows?
• Cuba, Rubles, Christmas and #BestThisWeek – getting close to Christmas but Ian McKellen can teach us about impulse control.
• Snow, Christmas, Enhanced and #BestThisWeek talk of more festive ideas, like how to save money at Christmas.
• A Gentleman, Day of Disability, Christmas, Rugby and #BestThisWeek noted the passing of Jean Beliveau and John Oliver’s views on Lotteries.
• Black Friday is Here, Advent, and #BestThisWeek speaks of the blessed Black Friday and associated sales but also includes a Fanfare for the Common Man.
• Lake Effect Snow, Web Cameras, Travel Insurance and #BestThisWeek November brings snow in Toronto, as we see, and other financial ideas.
• Asteroids, Tax Cuts, Lemurs and #BestThisWeek how many times has the Earth almost been hit by an asteroid? Too often to remember.
• Lame Ducks, Financial Literacy, Working for Free and #BestThisWeek lame duck leaders never really get that much done, no matter how they negotiate.
• Happy Halloween, Income Splitting and #BestThisWeek a wonderful financial time of the year is Halloween? Maybe income splitting is a better subject.
• Ottawa We Shall Remember, Bank of Canada and #BestThisWeek after a bad week in Ottawa, with senseless violence.
• Crashing Markets, Ebola, Low Loonie, Cheap Gas and #BestThisWeek even in 2014 the markets were a little volatile.
• Hockey, Turkey, Leaves, Carry On Bags and #theBestFin4TheWeek is it right that the hockey season starts before Thanksgiving?
• October, Hello Ebola, Give Blood and #theBestFin4TheWeek October arrived unexpectedly this week, almost unnoticed. As we have entered the final (calendar) quarter of the year 2014, it may be time to start considering a year-end review of your financial plans.
• Autumn , United Kingdom, Beer Money, and #theBestFin4TheWeek the colours in Ottawa during Autumn are truly spectacular.
• Pins, Alibaba , Apple Pay , Lecosse , and #theBestFin4TheWeek remember when Alibaba the IPO happened, those were heady days.
• Home Despot, iPhones, and #theBestFin4TheWeek
• Back to School, Tim Burger King, Knee Defenders and #theBestFin4TheWeek will the dutchie ever come back? I can only hope.
• Broken Humerus, Ebola, Anniversaries, Blood and #theBestFin4TheWeek remember when we thought Ebola was going to wipe us out?
• It is Done, Ice Bucket Challenge, Media Perceptions and #theBestFin4TheWeek
• WW1 Centenery, More Hacked Passwords and #theBestFin4TheWeek
• The Long Weekend with no Name, Defaults, and #BestFinancialForTheWeek
• Unmasking Super Heroes, Dogs of Summer and #BestOfFinancialForThisWeek
• All Stars, Al Stars and the #BestOfFinancialForWeek the world cup was a big thing in 2014 as was Bastille day too.
• Brazilian Defeats, Tour De Chunnel, and #BestOfFinancialForWeek you mean Brazil can lose at the world cup?
• Tennis, Racing, Inflation and #BestofFinancial Canada Day is the start of the summer for most Canadians, and financial stories too.
• The Stand, Football Biting, Naughty Banks and #BestofFinancial even in 2014 the banks were misbehaving with shenanigans.
• Elections, Dad’s Day, World Cup, Friday the 13th and #BestofFinancial somehow the Liberals won the 2014 Ontario Provincial Election
• No Rate Hike, Better Performance, Montreal Grand Prix and #Bestof-Financial back in 2014 we were worried about rates, but they were already pretty low.
• Elections, Farewell Knowlton, May Done, and #Bestof-Financial Knowlton Nash was the voice of news for Canada for a while.
• Internet Memory, Grand Prix of Monaco and #FreeFormFridays the Internet has memory?
• Time Off, Elections, Victoria Day and #FreeFormFridays Victoria Day is always a fun weekend.
• Frosts, Elections, Farley Mowat and #FreeFormFridays it does get cold in May!
• Rain, Budgets, Bloggers Meeting, May Day and #FreeFormFridays When financial bloggers meet what happens?
• Beware the Financial Jabberwock, Netflix Expansion, Model Trains, Backups and #FreeFormFridays a thematically odd article.
• Easter is Here and a Saturday #BestOf for the Weekend a time of renewal, new beginnings in life and financially as well.
• RIP Flaherty, Heartbleed, Tax Time, Quebec Elections and #FreeFormFridays the former finance minister did a lot of good for the economy.
• #Selfies, Quebec Election, Big Joe, Awareness, and #FreeFormFridays would Big Joe Mufferaw have been a good fit for the Redblacks? We’ll never know.
• Don Quixote, Tax Time, Cheap Mortgages and #FreeFormFridays gotta hate tax time.
• Spring Has Sprung, March Madness, Celebrity Blogger and #FreeFormFridays talking about Spring in March in Ottawa can be a bit early.
• Pi Day, March Break, Two Ferns, Snow and #FreeFormFridays given pi is infinite, how much pie can we expect?
• Quebec Elections, Eating Sugar, Suing Parents, Big Rocks and #FreeFormFridays those elections in Quebec are never dull.
• Saint David’s Day, Big Posts, RRSP Time, the Dating Game and #FreeFormFridays always a good time to put a Welsh Choir Clip in an article.
• Hockey Day, Tax & RRSP Time and #FreeFormFridays Hockey day in Canada? Well it does happen, right around RRSP time too.
• More Olympics, Budgets, Love Day and #FreeFormFridays Valentine’s Day: Celebrating Love and Dealing with Financial Whining.
• Olympics, Not Super Bowls, Creationism and #FreeFormFridays 2014 Olympics Opening Ceremonies and Soshi Stadium’s Doppleganger: The Super Bowl.
• Senators, Weak Loonie, Superb Owls and #FreeFormFridays Rugby is a Hooligan’s game played by a Gentleman.
• Polar Vorteces, Olympics, Mayors and #FreeFormFridays The Polar Vortex brings Winter in Canada. But don’t worry – -30C highs in Ottawa in January are normal.
• Giveaways, Oil tanks, Eagles and #FreeFormFriday Have you checked your oil tank if you heat with Oil? What will your insurance do if the tank ruptures?
• Truly Canadian Issues, Ultra HD TV, Car Loans and #FreeFormFriday Get your lock de-icer and unlock your Super Mailbox cubicle like I did – Canadian Tire to the rescue!
• Some #RandomThoughts from 2014 Some of the best of, best of posts on my random thoughts weekly post.
• CPP Reform, Snow, Christmas, Boxing day and #FreeFormFriday Did the CPP reform of 2013 fix much? Kind of, but Christmas was coming too.