In the US, it seems that Voldemort (the Nemesis of Harry Potter) is actually getting better numbers in early polls than many Republican candidates, which got me thinking, could “He who must not be mentioned” make it in Canadian Politics? My guess is he’d be a Tory, but I might be wrong, but would folks vote for him over Mr. Harper? Another deep Political Shower Thought from the BCM (the clown prince of Political Punditry as well). I am pretty sure that “The Big V” could run in Nepean/Carleton and win by a large majority.
Image used without permission of JK Rowling or Warner Bros.
HSBC will be slashing 50,000 jobs over the next little while, which should make shareholders happy, but employees less than overjoyed.
I am in the midst of a Herculean task, and that is to complete the set of Game of Thrones Audible books (they are very good), however I am only on the third book (Amazon link: A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Three (Game of Thrones) Unabridged Edition by Martin, George R.R. [2012]), as it is 48 hours in length (yes two entire days). I really am enjoying the dramatization by Roy Dotrice, and evidently it is a world record for characters brought to life in an audio book.
Evidently Mr. Hockey (Gordie Howe) is doing well recovering from a stroke, and has had a second round of stem cell treatments. In other news the Leafs are planning on offering him a 1 year contract for next year. Glad to see that Thomas Mulcair says that an NDP mandate will mean the abolition of the Senate (at least I think it was Senate, and not the Senators (hockey joke)). The City of Glendale has decided it doesn’t want to subsidize the Arizona/Phoenix/Glendale/Quebec City Coyotes anymore, you mean folks in Arizona don’t care about hockey?
A sad week with the passing of many folks who have influenced my life: the great Actor Christopher Lee; wrestling legend “the American Dream” Dusty Rhodes; James Last whose Orchestra was one of the soundtracks of my youth and former All-Blacks (New Zealand Rugby) captain Jerry Collins.
My Writings for Week Ending June 12th
Can Lebron James carry an entire team through to the NBA championship? We shall see:
- There was More Full Time Work in Canada in May and that is a good thing, but plenty of fun with numbers in the Stats Canada report as well. More people looking for work folks, so the picture isn’t that darn rosy.
- How Long Are You Going to Live ? I realize you can’t know that one, but you better have a good guess or you might run out of money when you retire (or worse leave a lot of money to your kids, and not have a lot of fun in your retirement!).
- One of my favorites from the archives this week is Three Financial Rules of Thumb, which are simple to read, but hard to keep doing.
A very true tweet:
Money talks, Remember That
Other things may walk, but Money does talk. Speaking of folks with money, Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter asks is Overtaxing the Rich, even possible? Ask Thomas Mulcair, I think the answer would be an emphatic, Eat the Rich. Our friends at LSM Insurance ask another question about the 1% with Should Life Insurance Premiums be Lower for the Rich? Damn! They already got all the money. Still staying on the topic of money, Barry from Money We Have, is asking, “When Should I Use Cash or Credit?“, which is a good question. Maybe you should just use cash? How is the economy (speaking of cash)? Better go read the Bank of Canada’s Financial System Review, well worth a read.
Mark from My Own Advisor talks about his favorite topic, Dividends, and he gave us his May 2015 dividend Income Update, I would say he is a Dividend Guy. If you are thinking of Retiring to Another Province Marie from Boomer and Echo has some advice for you. Staying on the investing size of things, Kerry from Squawkfox wrote in the Globe and Mail about how It’s simple to get confused by what you’re paying in mutual fund fees, so don’t get confused, and don’t pay 3.0% MER or huge entrance and exit fees. Oh and this article has a quote about ,”Piss Poor Advisors”, again one of my favorites. Larry MacDonald is also writing in the Globe about an Investor finds profit in leveraged portfolio that pays dividends. Leveraged investing is a bit too spicy for my liking. I don’t really invest in individual stocks, but when I do, it isn’t Bombardier, as is pointed out in Bombardier: A great Canadian value destroyer (there should be a meme about that).
I like to sit as much as the next guy but Debt Roundup writes about how I Got Off My Butt and Made a Change, and it had to do with not sitting. Switching gears to Lotteries, remember who I rant about you can’t win? Well, I might have been a little mistaken, How MIT Students Won $8 Million in the Massachusetts Lottery , but they also had to put up a lot of money upfront, and took advantage of a flaw in the system. Speaking of Lotteries, would you throw a winning ticket “in the bin”? This Scottish couple did, luckily they found it.
Michael James wants to Test Your Debt Savvy, and any article that includes the phrase, “Emma Married a Loser” I am giving two thumbs up.
Pucks and Food Portions
A very helpful tweet, and very topical for the Stanley Cup Finals:
Fun in Facebook
An exciting expression in French that I find very apropos to these days of money. Can you translate it?
2015 Random Thoughts
- January 2nd Random Thoughts on 2014, Welcome to MMXV and #BestOf
- January 9th Frigid Temps, Plunging Oil, Paris and #BestThisWeek
- January 16th Canadian Economy on the Edge, Frigid Temps and #BestThisWeek
- January 23rd Looser Money, Plummeting Loons and #BestThisWeek
- January 30th CLBs, Weak Loons, Tax Time, Superb Owls and #BestThisWeek
- February 6th Superb Decisions, Gas Going Up, Rugby and #BestThisWeek
- February 13th RRSPs, Valentines, 50 Shades of Debt and #BestOfThisWeek
- February 20th Lent Begins, Freezing Temps, Apples and RRSP and #BestOfThisWeek
- February 27th RRSPs, Saint David, Right Arm and #BestOfThisWeek
- March 6th Illness, K-Cups, Interest Rates and #BestOfThisWeek
- March 13th March Madness, Taxes, Friday the 13th and #BestOfThisWeek
- March 20th Spring has Sprung, Ten Years, The Madness and #BestOfThisWeek
- March 27th Death of EPost, More Madness, and #BestMoneyStories
- April 10th Senators, Retiring Rich and #BestMoneyStories
- April 17th Playoffs, Tax Time, Beer tax and #BestMoneyStories
- April 24th RRIF Allowances, Bursary Changes, Budgets and #BestMoneyStories
- May 1st Tax Extensions, Golf Season, Bank Fees, May Day and #BestMoneyStories
- May 8th Alberta Valium, Mother’s Day, Che Guevara, Pay Day Loans and #BestMoneyStories
- May 15th Starbucks, Monty Burns and #BestMoneyStories
- May 22nd Coach Money, CPP Up 18 pct, Losing $15B and #BestMoneyStories
- May 29th Easy Money, Better Cell Deals, Dirty Football and #BestMoneyStories
- June 5th Starbucks, Hacked Government Folk and #BestMoneyStories
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Thanks for the mention!
Major cuts at HSBC for sure. Geez.
Enjoy the sunny weekend!
Mark
Indeed, the weather is causing Duffman to gyrate his hips!
I do my best to inject some humour. Thanks for the mention.
Classic fatherly perspective on things, keep it up!
The bannock beside the hockey puck totally caught me off guard.
That was well done.