CLBs, Weak Loons, Tax Time, Superb Owls and #BestThisWeek

The predicted snowmagedon for New York didn’t really appear, however, Boston took it on the nose as did the Maritime provinces, Ottawa continues to be storm free (for now). Ottawa’s weather has been cold but lacking in precipitation, but we still have February and March to get through yet.

This week we heard about SmartSaver which looks like a good program to make sure that the folks who the CLB (Canada Learning Bond) was designed for, receive the money they deserve. I also got mentioned by Rob Carrick so lots of new eyes have been wandering across the site, let us hope a few of you have stayed around to continue visiting.

The Canadian Dollar is now below 80 cents US, and how this changes the economy remains to be seen. Imports will start getting more expensive (again), but will this help Canadian Manufacturing? It also means that there won’t be an NHL team in Quebec City for a good long time (this will hurt the Canadian NHL teams in terms of having to pay their payroll in US Funds, but earning their income in Canadian Funds).

It is also time to start thinking about your taxes, joy! You better start making a list of all the forms you will need to be able to file your return, and try to get it in as soon as possible (unless you owe money, but even then, you can file early and then only pay on the last day (on-line at your bank)).

Evidently there is a celebration of Owls this weekend, and a quest to find the one that is the most Superb? It’s called the Super Bowl? Oh, well that makes more sense then, good luck to both teams, and I hope they both lose (being a Giants fan).

My Writings for Week Ending January 30th

Something must be in the air, I wrote 5 articles this week? Haven’t done that for a good long while :

• I tried another chapter of Good Money Tweets, but only published it Sunday, I’ll see what I do this weekend
• Gas Prices Drive Down Inflation in December to 1.5%, and thanks to that we have lower interest rates and a cheap loonie, but can inflation stay down with sky rocketing prices on imports?
• The very nice folks at TurboTax want you to use their product to do your taxes, and have give me a few copies to give away and thus I wrote Tax Time! TurboTax Giveaway
• I was skeptical about the program initially but after researching things a little more I think this is a good thing, Smartsaver.org RESP: Helping Lower Income Families
• I got offered some advice from a real Financial Person, so I took Turbotax up on it, with Tax Tips for Parents with Kids with Disabilities, some useful stuff there, thanks Ms. Taub!
• Looser Money, Plummeting Loons and #BestThisWeek

This Week’s Finest

Unfortunately Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter is correct in his deduction The Two Certainties in Life: Death and Taxes – Impact on your Income Tax Return, luckily he is giving us some useful advice as well. Another certainty? Americans will spend over $815 Million on their pets this Valentine’s Day, woof! Another certainty is wide-spread layoffs at IBM, sorry folks, you have my sympathies. Last year evidently there was a certainty in the Tracking Error on International Funds, but the Canadian Couch Potato helps explain why.

The article that caused all the hub bub around the site this week was Rob Carrick’s Strange things happen to men in their 40s, where he mentioned my piece on RESPs Being too Complicated for Mommies. Thanks Rob, enjoyed the short-lived celebrity. Men in their 40’s also sometimes try to hit homeruns on the markets (after having a few setbacks), but Robb E. from Boomer and Echo points out The Problems with Core and Explore strategies. Strangely Mark W. was in his 40’s in this week’s installment of My Career (Part 4), on 2nd Career Search. Still another big problem with men in their 40’s is their inability to figure out How Much Car Can You Afford, but luckily Barry from Money we Have helps them out. Some folks enjoy confessing things on line and with that in mind Million Dollar Journey brought us Net Worth Update for January – Smiling Saver (who is digging out of debt), brave soul.

There is now a US Bitcoin marketplace? Can I use these things to buy brussel sprouts or lima beans? Think that is nuts? The guys who claim Facebook was stolen from them now have a Bitcoin Backed ETF? Seriously #wtf ? More importantly will there be hedge funds that buy into it, or sell it short? Speaking of Facebook they seem to have figured out how advertising might be a way to make money. Did I mention that The Canadian Financial Place is on Facebook too, but, no, I don’t advertise there (I can’t afford it right now). Speaking of advertising, Google’s profits are up but they didn’t hit their revenue predictions (they advertise here, if you didn’t notice).

Michael James take on a tough emotional subject with Debating What Income Level is Safe in Retirement, and the answer is, it’s not nearly as small as you think, but read on and find out why MJ thinks so. One way to keep some income in your retirement might be via dividend income so Mark from My Own Advisor helps us get started with How to Start Investing in Dividend Stocks. Where would you find money to start saving for your retirement? Well Preet is back on Where Does All My Money Go with a Beta Version of a Rent versus Buy Calculator for your home (if you rented you’d have more money to invest).

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Auschwitz Liberation 70 Years Later

An astoundingly stark video from the BBC using a drone

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Facebook Fun

Did Apple do any astounding new technology last year to warrant these huge profits? In a word…

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My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off colour commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)).