Brazilian Defeats, Tour De Chunnel, and #BestOfFinancialForWeek

Having witnessed the Brazil versus Germany game, I cannot help but question what caused such a dominating team like Brazil to crumble like a house of cards. The German team played with such ferocity that it appeared as though they were competing against a group of amateurs. A comprehensive victory by the Germans – need I say more? If you read through this article, you will find a video montage that perfectly captures the game’s highlights. On the other hand, Holland’s game was nothing but a snooze fest. It is baffling that they brought in a specialized goalie only for penalty kicks and still did not utilize him. It seemed as though they were playing for penalty kicks, which is a testament to Dutch logic, but it did allow me to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

The Tour De France shot through the Chunnel this week (for some reason it started in Yorkshire this year, which made me start watching All Creatures Great and Small on Netflix again), well it was only one rider and he zipped through a service tunnel, but he did travel the entire distance which was kind of cool to watch. The race is back in France now, and former champions are dropping out like wild (thanks to treacherous roads and rain).

I was sad to read of the passing of  William Tetley, former MNA for NDG (and a former Minister of Finance for Quebec as well) and the Dad of one of my childhood chums. One of my vivid childhood memories is going to a birthday party at Mr. Tetley’s house and seeing a machine gun nest (complete with 4 huge soldiers) on the front lawn of his house (during the October Crisis in 1970). It’s odd the things you remember from your childhood.

My Writings for Week Ending July 11th 

It is the summertime and in Canada, the CFL is in full swing, and the Ottawa RedBlackRenegadeRoughRiders will soon play their first home game:

• I was a bit cheeky this week with my poke at the SEO and search engines in general with Credit Card Balance Transfer Trick, did a little bit of SEO chicanery and got a lot of folks dropping by for all the wrong reasons. I view SEO trickery as bollocks (pardon the language my brothers in the UK).
• As with most things in life with Insurance Claims: Timing is Everything, but remember to check what kind of calendar your insurance company is using.
• I have been rattling around my archives lately (deleting some of the really atrocious stuff) and figured I should do a retrospective on the whole tuition thing, which gave you University Cost How Much ? For those just entering the game, you have my sympathies.

To stop my front page from taking far too long to load, I have added this helpful line (below), where you can click to read all the rest of the regular fantastic posts from other authors.

This Week’s Finest

The big thing this week down south is saying that Obama is the worst president since the Second World War, of course it’s the Republicans saying it, but it is entertaining none the less:

• Time Magazine rightly points out that the next World War has already started with their interesting view of the Internet World War Zero: How Hackers fight to Get Your Secrets. I am not fond of the use of the word hackers that way, when I started a hacker was more a jack of all trade tech guy (or gal) who got things to work together, it has now taken a very negative connotation. Oh and someone should tell them that 3 comes after 2, not Zero.
• Mark from 2nd Career Search continues his financial education with Longevity Insurance and Delayed Annuities, read on and learn with him.
• You do realize it is National Nude Recreation Week, don’t you? Think I am making it up? The Economist has an article about Clothing Optional Holiday Ideas, to help celebrate it (I can’t make this stuff up). No I will not be playing nude Volleyball around Ottawa this weekend (I bet I could make some money threatening to do that, and getting paid, not to).
• There are times I need to work on my impulse control, like when I was at a Job Interview Preparation course, and the instructor turned to me and quipped, “Quick give me your elevator pitch”, so being in a particularly uncooperative mood, I replied,
  “Hey come to this elevator often?”.  Evidently that was the wrong answer.
• Preet wonders (in the Globe and Mail) Did a few bad apples spoil RRSP swaps for everyone? That is usually what happens once a good loophole is found, someone takes it too far, and it is then closed.
• Mark at the Blunt Bean Counter is taking the clubs out and may be terrorizing a Golf Club near you, but he won’t be leaving us high and dry as he outlines in Gone Golfing (with a Twist), I think the Twist is his well known slice.
• Boomer and Echo had a guest writer Alan Harder give some good advice on How to Negotiate Your Next Mortgage Renewal (like a Pro). I want to know how to negotiate “Like a Boss”, but like a pro is OK too.
• The need to be correct and the need for a peaceful life are two orthogonal requirements, and cannot happen at the same time.
• Worst place in a hospital to pick up an infection? The Elevator, specifically, the Elevator Buttons are where nasty bacteria, live breed and spread according to the Open Medicine Journal. Next time I’ll take the stairs!
• If you are reading this line, please leave the following comment, “How dare you act so conceited, you foul-mouthed lout” (or if that is already there, make up your own, but frame it in a similar context, or better still go off script and make up the weirdest comment you can), I do this in reports I write at work, except I offer a free coffee to the first person who shows up at my office with the catch-phrase, usually, “Kiss me you fool!”.
• The Canadian Couch Potato gets about a big stick to poke the bears, specifically Bond Bears: Admit You Were Wrong! Usually I don’t condone poking bears, but in this case I will make an exception.
• Every Man finally understands why their Father-in-Law looked at them like the wolf in the sheep’s pasture, the first time a boy comes to the Man’s door to date his daughter. That is a lesson learned the hard way.
• The title Barry from Money we Have chose for his article What I Learned About Money from my Wife could be construed in a few ways, let’s take it that he is complimenting his spouse’s financial acumen.
• Asking me what individual stock to buy, you will get the same answer my wife would get if she asked, “Does this outfit make me look fat?”, the answer is of course,
  “I feel sick, I need to go to the bathroom and call my Mother!”.
• The MIT Tech review continues the interesting discussion about how sometimes the lowliest of technologies can turn into a big money saver with The Lowly Thermostat, Now Minter of MegaWatts.
• Dumbest personal finance question I read this week was, “Should I leave my well-paid job to pursue my low-paying passion?”, that’s not a question, that’s a rationalization looking for affirmation. To quote Bro Bibles, “Do what you want, just don’t BITCH about it later!”.
• Mark from My Own Advisor talks about one of his favorite financial books If You Can: How Millenials Can Get Rich Slowly, in his own article Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly – If You Can
• Michael James elaborates on the 3rd type of pension plan the Target-Benefit Pension Plan, wonder if Pensions will actually last, or will they just evaporate as we all live longer?

A Penny in Your Pants?

A helpful tip for young ladies who ride bikes with skirts (on):

Penny In Yo Pants from Johanna Holtan on Vimeo.

That is not what I thought that expression meant!

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.