Superb Decisions, Gas Going Up, Rugby and #BestThisWeek

Being a fervent football enthusiast, the game on Sunday emphasized the criticality of making prompt and confident choices, as anyone who witnessed the match can attest. Despite some justifications, it’s hard to deny that it could be one of the worst play decisions ever made, even surpassing Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. However, the game was entertaining, but what gave me immense pleasure is the fact that the Giants remain the only team to have defeated the Brady/Belicheck Patriots in a Super Bowl. Regarding finances, it’s imperative to remember not to count our chickens before they hatch, as one erroneous decision can wipe out all our hard-earned money in no time.

Did you realize that the man who brought us Ketchup Potato Chips died this past week? Did you know he was Canadian? Herman Neff (a German immigrant) is that man, and I for one, thank him for that forbidden snack flavor.

Gas prices in Ottawa have jumped about 15% over the past week, and look like they will not be slowing down any time soon, which will make for very interesting stats on Inflation next month. Even with Oil going up in price, the Canadian Dollar has not started to rebound, which could make for some interesting “re-thinks” on the part of the Government in terms of tax breaks and such.

The RBS 6 Nations Cup starts today, with England playing Wales, and I’ll be watching (somehow). In 1972 the (then) 5 Nations Cup ended up tied each team went 2-2, so they all shared in the championship.

My Writings for Week Ending February 6th

Back to my regular 2 a week schedule, which is interesting because right now I have about 175 unfinished articles sitting in my “drafts” folder, I should have a contest to have a lucky writer finish one of those fine topics :

• I think a financial fit bit might be a cool thing to have, or at least some kind of interface to monitor spending, that maybe shares with your spouse, you spending habits?
• Car Insurance Savings Devices is me being a paranoid consumer, but there is an excellent (and civilized I might add) discussion with “Chris” who works in the industry about how this might all work. Well worth a read.
• One of my favorite old stories is the Financial Shock Collar as a spending control device. My view is that any time I can add Star Trek (the original series) into an idea, it makes it much better.
• CLBs, Weak Loons, Tax Time, Superb Owls and #BestThisWeek

This Week’s Finest Financial

Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter continues on his Ghoulish discussions about Death and Taxes however this week it is as it pertains to small business owners. Hopefully Mark won’t become a Goth Accountant. Mark from 2nd Career Search goes in a very different direction describing some of the more interesting sales promotion ideas in his piece My Career (Part 5), never would have though Telecommunications and Fashion shows went together, I guess I was wrong. Want a new career as an owner of an NFL team, and wonder what it might cost? Forbes gives us the NFL’s Most Valuable Teams, guess I’ll have to buy the Browns? Anybody want to loan me $1B?

A new technology buzz phrase is the Internet of Everything (IoT), which describes the millions of network aware (and able to report) devices that are appearing in your house (your smart Refrigerator or your home security cameras and such), but evidently the Industrial IoT might stimulate the World Economy, if it is done right. Any time an article talks about a Geekgasm, I am going to be reading it and the Register writes about the announcement of the Raspberry Pi Model 2, a beefed up tiny computer which is really cheap too. I will be buying one of these little beauties to run XBMC and maybe some other fun tools. The technology of money (aka Roboadvisors) sounds great, but Ellen Roseman reported that Account switches cost time and a lot of money with some Roboadvisors.

Think you live a relatively secure life? The New Scientist points out that Just Four Credit Card Clues Can Identify Anyone, so maybe it is time to stop trying to be anonymous. Speaking of Credit Cards, LSM Insurance brings us a sobering story about the misuse of credit with 6 Pro Athletes that Went Broke, no matter how much you make, you can always go broke. Robb Engen from Boomer and Echo gives us a Saving and Spending Formula You Can Live With, which maybe those Pro Athletes could have used?

Michael James continues to show his prolific reading, with a review of After the Music Stopped , but it is not a who-dunnit as much as a why did this happen, sleuthing of the 2007-9 financial abyss.  While Michael James was looking back, Mark from My Own Advisor wants to help you recover your losses with the Top Equity ETFs for Indexing Investors (if you aren’t a fan of bank based Index Funds). Our friend Larry MacDonald writes in the Globe and Mail about an Investor’s Portfolio Brimming with Royalty Companies. A frequent commenter Tawcan writes How We Got Started with Dividend Investing . Want to know How to find a Good Financial Advisor, Barry from Money we Have tries to give you some pointers (and he should know, he has had some VERY BAD advisors in his time as well). The Frugal Trader at the Million Dollar Journey wants to also help us with Easy Index Mutual Fund Portfolios (you may recognize one I have written about before as well).

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