Well, that was a very interesting election result that I suspected might happen. However, it does make for a very interesting future (note I am not saying good or evil, just interesting). Trudeau is PM, and it was back to the Future Day on Wednesday? Welcome to the ’80s? Guess I need to find my Nash the Slash T-shirts?

For the direct money view, we go to the Globe, which explains 9 Things that the Liberal Victory will change in your financial life. I am going to miss that income splitting with my spouse, maybe they can bring it back later, or I may have to retire to do it with my pension. Everything else is kind of meh to me, but the $2000 back on my taxes last year was mighty sweet. You realize these new MP’s will be paid $167,400 per year, right?

One of the big topics is how exactly is Mr. Trudeau going to change the TFSA limit back to what it was? A general amnesty for a year? Really not sure, but it should be interesting to see how he treads gently around the topic.

What happened to the NDP? The Jack Layton Party returned to being the NDP again, and are back to their normal historic seat counts, which is too bad in some ways, and good in other ways (remembering Bob Rae in Ontario for one thing). Interesting that the popular vote levels are not that different, but all it takes is a few areas to change their previous voting habits (i.e. Quebec) and voila, a change of government.

In Ottawa, there was much rejoicing in the demise of the Harper Government (in the Public Service area, remember I am a Civil Servant) and here is one of the reasons that Ottawa was part of the Red Tide, an open letter from Mr. Trudeau to Public Servants. I may do an article on how Mr. Clement’s plan to revise the sick leave system in the Public Service might have been a good idea. However, it had some flaws.

It was pointed out to me that Mr. Harper’s hair was never really mentioned in the election (even though Mr. Trudeau’s had its own catchphrase “Nice Hair Though”), but am I the only one who said it looks like LEGO hair?

In celebration of the Liberal victory, the Bank of Canada did not change their key overnight rate, and money continues to be as loose as can be (all right, it had nothing to do with the election). You should really read the Monetary Policy Report for 2015 as well. The bank’s exact statement was:

The Bank judges that the risks around the inflation profile are roughly balanced. Meanwhile, as financial vulnerabilities in the household sector continue to edge higher, risks to financial stability are evolving as expected. Taking all of these developments into consideration, the Bank judges that the current stance of monetary policy remains appropriate. Therefore, the target for the overnight rate remains at 1/2 per cent.

My Writings for Week Ending October 23rd

I actually felt very re-energized by my attendance at CPFC15 (and am thinking I will be back next year), however, that still doesn’t expand my schedule, but I will be trying to write more soon. I did enjoy chatting with my peers and some very experienced writers and enjoyed the fellowship.

• In Home Insurance: Three Strikes and You Are Out, I was pointing out that my mother’s home insurance was cancelled after three (major) events that she made insurance claims on, and that is the way home insurance works, so keep that in mind. Chime in the comments if you have your own stories in this area.
• The Bank of Mom and Dad is a cautionary story about lending money to your kids (and family members in general) and how bankrupting one generation so the other can have a lovely house might not be the best idea.
• I did check out my archives and found a classic, Top 5 Reasons You Are in Debt. It is a swerve post, as it is not what you think it is.

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Facebook Post of the Week

Dave Ramsay does have a way of summing it up in one line

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Money Stories and other Horror Stories

Do you think you live a frugal life? This young lad from Google has you beat, I mean living in a truck in the parking lot? That is cheap.  It was good to see Mark (aka the Blunt Bean Counter) at CPFC15, we did our standard good-natured jabs at each other about golf, hockey and cities, but Mark came back this week with a very truthy statement, Believe It or Not – We are NOT Immortal. I enjoy the truthiness of that statement, so if you are going to die, plan for it now.

Have you got a lot of spare time? If you do Investopedia gives us 10 Must-Watch Documentaries For Finance Professionals, I was impressed that I have actually seen a few of them. Robb from Boomer and Echo is a Finance Pro, and also a Cleveland Browns fan (but we won’t hold that against him (much)) and he wants to help your retirement with some good numbers to help you decide When to Take CPP: Early, Late or Somewhere in the Middle. I finally met Tom Drake at the conference (face to face) and Tom has written about a useful point for me (who has had his phone ringing off the hook throughout the election) the National Do Not Call List and Do Not Contact, but unfortunately, the political parties are exempt from this list.

Barry from Money We Have was very busy at the conference keeping things running relatively on time, but he did write this week about 5 Toxic People to Cut From Your Lives, the borrower is the one to really read. Mark from My Own Advisor continues to stump for the world of Dividend investing with another guest Frugal Trader – why I’m living off dividends and distributions. 

I know my readers love the free stuff, and Young and Thrifty’s MEGA New site Unveiling and E-Book unwrapping fit that bill completely. Michael James does enjoy a good discussion, and I think he is trying to evoke a hearty discussion with How Dividends Affect Stock Prices, as usual, he makes some excellent points, but no dividend zealots seem to be rising to the bait?

Finally, a useful hint if you ever run into David Chilton (The Wealthy Barber), don’t ask him the question, “Should I put my money in my Mortgage or my RRSP?”, because his answer these days is (evidently), “I DON’T GIVE A SH*T!“. Ask him about his old softball team, you might get a less, um, colourful answer. In other brushes with the famous, I did get to see Preet Banerjee‘s Virtual Reality system (at the fortress of awesomeness), very cool stuff.

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Back to the Future

Man, 2015 really does suck?

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Halloween is Coming

Every Dad can be a hero with a pumpkin if he just uses some power tools

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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
• September 4th, Back to School, RESPs, Banks Behaving Badly and #MoneyStories
• September 11th, That Day, I Miss Jack, Easy Money and #MoneyStories
• September 18th, Surplus, What Surplus, NBA Frugality, National Debt and #MoneyStories
• September 25th, The Pope, Autumn, Elections, Volkswagen and #MoneyStories
• October 2nd, An Older Canada, Farewell Max, and #MoneyStories
• October 9th, Turkey Day, Elections and #MoneyStories
• October 16th, CPFC15, Election Day, Jays and #MoneyStories

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