Back to school for most folks this week (although many folks already were back last week). The stores are abuzz with folks looking for loose-leaf paper, HB Pencils, and the coolest new Beatles Pencil Case (OK, maybe I am a little out of touch on this new generation).

I welcome Tim Burger King, Burger Horton’s, or whatever the new Canadian Super Fast Food monster calls itself. I am astounded to hear that it is cheaper to run a business in Canada than it is to run in the U.S., but if we become a Tax Haven for our rich cousins down south, then so be it! Maybe they will bring back the Dutchie!

Since I grew past 6 feet tall, I have never really fit into any mass transit situation (sitting at least), so when I saw the stories about the Knee Defender, I was tickled pink to hear someone was thinking about we tall folks and how we don’t fit in the tight spaces created in Airplanes. Is it rude to stop the person in front of you from reclining into your lap on an airplane? Maybe, but speaking as someone who has been at the mercy of airlines for many years (space-wise), I would buy one in a heartbeat if I travelled for more than an hour on an airplane.

I have been fiddling around with Emojis and where they might fit best. From what I can tell, they can be helpful for things like the Twitter machine, but in day to day posting, I can’t see a great need to have this or in most things I write. However, in social media I do see a use for things like: or where you are looking for quick and shorter messages. If you find them annoying, it is me simply trying to get the news to you faster and more graphically.

I gave blood last week as well and now have been selected to be a Blood Platelets donor as well.

My Writings for Week Ending September 5th

A whole week of writing this week for the first time in a few months seems I had a lot to say this week.

• It is important to always celebrate the workers control of the means of production and thus we had Happy Labour Day 2014
• Will I ever stop writing about RESPs? Not for a few more years that is for sure, and this year we have RESP Another Year of Fun, where you must remember that FUn starts with F and U
• I am relatively docile and paranoid about investing thus I keep with relatively safe(r) investment portfolios, but I never thought my Portfolio was Too Conservative
• In God We Trust is on the American dollar, but remember everyone else you should ask for proof, and that is at the core of Always Follow Up (Financially).

This Week’s Finest

With Ebola, ISIS, and troubles in Ukraine, the world continues to be a hard place, but luckily the Fraser Institute came out with a new info-graphic to help calm your retirement concerns:

• Robb E. from Boomer and Echo asks, Can I afford to Retire? Looking at the info-graphic above, I don’t think any of us can rely on CPP to be there to help out? (yes I am being sarcastically alarmist in that statement, you caught me).
• Welcome to the Parking Jungle, how much would you pay for a parking spot? How much would you pay for someone to hold a spot for you? There is a new App for that, holy cow!
• Mark over at the Blunt Bean Counter is still enjoying his vacation, but re-published  Is it Morbid or Realistic to Plan for an Inheritance? It might also be wishful thinking on your part too.
• Did you sleep well last night? Even if you Just Think You Slept Poorly You May Hurt Your Performance, so keep thinking that you have had enough sleep and that might just get you through the day.
• Football has started again, and we can start reading about the Shockingly Low Salaries Paid to Cheerleaders in the NFL, why do they do this job?
• Debt Debs, a frequent commenter, gives us Reasons I am Happy I am not Attending FinCon 2014 in NOLA. I’ve only been to one of these type of conferences, it was fun, but then again I just go to meet the people, I don’t worry too much about the money aspects being discussed.
• Mark at My Own Advisor wants to help new investors, so he gave us Opening Your Online Brokerage Account, a Primer, which hopefully will make the task less daunting to investment neophytes.
• I really must look into the whole Binary Option thing, I keep getting e-mails about how I should be making millions doing this, either that or I should start buying herbal Viagraâ„¢.
• When on vacation Mark at 2nd Career Search saw many things, but also came up with a good question: Why is a Polish Person wearing a Kilt? If the title doesn’t make you curious, I don’t know what would.
• Barry over at Money We Have did a review of the book Wealthing Like Rabbits, and I think I can safely say he liked the book. Mrs. C8j has read the book, and I still have to go through it, so look for a review from us in the next little while as well.
• Blessed by the Potato brings up a common topic these days TFSA Over Contributions and why they are a very bad thing to do (and why you don’t have a lot of excuses on why you did over contribute)
• I did not know that Mirabel airport in Montreal was about to be demolished. I remember when it was built and how it was supposed to be the main airport for Montreal, but it just never really worked out (being 50 KM from downtown was the biggest issue).
• Michael James went back over Preet B.’s book about RRSP Strategies, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the book is very much still apropos on the subject of RRSPs.

Riveting News Bulletins

Where did Mr. Oliver get that tie?

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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.

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