Some schools have started this week, and most will be open on Tuesday after Labour Day. Plenty of back-to-school sales going on and plenty of pressure to buy your kids all the things they “need” to go to school. The problem is that some stores’ definition of “need” is a little out of wack. Do Students need a home computer, laptop, tablet and also iPhone? That seems to be implied by many of the tech stores. Isn’t a Hilroy Exercise book, a pencil and a pen enough? It seems that lifestyle creep has worked its way into the back-to-school.
My yearly pilgrimage to the bank to extract money from my RESP continues to create more and more content for this site, so I must send a Thank You note to TD for all the great stories that have come from their product. As I mentioned in my article this week I did manage to not run into the TD E-series Beartrap, where I cannot do anything in my local branch with the E-series funds, so I must first transfer the funds into a TD Money Market account so that then my local branch can release the funds in that savings vehicle.
I thought my issues with TD and RESPs were bad. However, Mrs. C8j pointed me to an article in the Ottawa Citizen about a woman (who she knows) and her issues with Scotiabank and their RESP (another classic example of “Banks Behaving Badly“). It seems they would not release the funds in the account until Ms. Adeney answered some Marketing questions about her net value and income. Read that previous sentence again, they would not give her HER money, until she answered the questions? What the flip? I am glad to hear that Scotiabank admitted their mistake, but at least TD never did that to me.
My Writings for Week Ending September 4th
The summer is slowly coming to a close and an entertaining fall lies ahead (with plenty of election shenanigans and tom-foolery) :
- I started the week with yet another fun list of great financial tweets, with More Great Personal Finance Tweets for the Week,
- I went “off script” a little with a peek at the new economy with In App Purchases and the New Economy, which does have a very naughty video included with it as well.
- Yes, I do rant about my exploits at my local bank, but this one did miff me more than previous visits with, No I can’t Do Anything about That, which just goes to show that “Brick and Mortar” storefronts (ort banks for that matter) are less and less useful to most folks.
Tweet of the week
Ellen Roseman (if you aren’t following her on Twitter and on Facebook, you are missing some good stuff) gives another example of “Banks Behaving Badly“. I note I am only 8 new twitter followers until I reach 2500 followers (hint, hint).
No Marketing Questions Just Good Stories
Barry from Money We Have brings us an excellent article about Money Myths Busted, and yes, interest rates really will go up some time (soon). I was elated when I bought my first house and locked in at 11% for 5 years! A good way to keep on track with your money is to set goals, and Mark from My Own Advisor gives us his 2015 Financials Goals Update for August (a brave man). In a good financial plan, you need some good bargains and Frugal Trader at Million Dollar Journey helps out with The Best and Worst Deals at Costco. Best deal is their $1.50 Hot Dog and drink deal (IMHO).
Ever wonder what the top 25 richest neighbourhoods in Canada are? The article points them out, but why are so many of them called Westmount?
Do you have your own corporation? Mark from Blunt Bean Counter continues his summer best of stories with Business and Income Tax issues with Selling a Corporation. I don’t think I have to worry about that (yet, who knows, maybe this site will make a fortune). Speaking of income, did you realize that Everyone Who started watching Mad Money in 2005 are now Billionaires? Not really, but it is a fun story from the Onion. Do you think that Google is an Evil Empire? Mark from 2nd Career Search Explains why he Avoids Using Google Search.
Michael James asks an interesting investment question, How Much Diversification Do You Need ? I do like the term di-worse-ification, though, good pseudo-word. Our Big Fat Wallet wants to help with investing in these unclear times with Handling Stock Market Volatility.
The Bottom Line
Is this a recession? The CBC panel discusses it. To quote my favorite financial maven, “… and that’s the bottom line ’cause Preet B. said so!” :
Facebook Fun
Yes, I agree Entrepreneurs don’t have a Risk aversity gene, they have rich parents!
OK, this one is a little over the top, but do you read Postsecret? You should.
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
- June 12th Voldemort for PM, HSBC Cuts 50K, Hockey Talk and #BestMoneyStories
- June 19th Aeroplan Student Loans, Dad’s Day, Kill CSBs and #BestMoneyStories
- June 26th Summer is Here, Canada Day, Christmas and #BestMoneyStories
- July 3rd 2 Day Work Weeks, 4th of July, Greece, and #BestMoneyStories
- July 10th Glitches, Greece, Recessions and #BestMoneyStories
- July 17th Loosest Money, Weddings, Greece and #BestMoneyStories
- July 24th, Family Allowance, Diving Dollar, Access Sharing and #BestMoneyStories
- July 31st, Elections, Heat, Cheap Oil, and #BestMoneyStories
- August 7th, Cheap Gold, Cheap Oil, Weak Dollar, Election Week 1 and #BestMoneyStories
- August 14th, RDSPs, Thrifty NFLers , Election Ho Hum and #BestMoneyStories
- August 21st, Rhinos Return, No Good Debt, Election Banter and #BestMoneyStories
- August 28th, Boom Goes the Markets, Market Cheese, and #BestMoneyStories
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Thanks for the mention. Enjoy the heat! Yes, that might be the only bank you can trust…it won’t do anything to you unless you add to it or take money out. A passive piggy!
I found the Bottom Line discussion disappointing. They have such a short-term focus. I’m interested in what Canada should be doing to have good economics 5 or more years from now, not what would help tomorrow. Thanks for the mention.