For my regular readers you know I am a big fan of Mark the Blunt Bean Counter (even if he is a rabid Leafs fan), and a while back he dropped me a note that he was going to be publishing an article on a topic I had asked him about a while ago, Henson Trusts. Mark said he knew a bit about them, but didn’t feel comfortable commenting on them, but did find someone who did a great job explaining another way for families of disabled loved ones to take care of them (financially). Mark got Katy Basi to write Estate Planning for Disabled Beneficiaries – Henson Trusts , and it is a great read. Next week Mark will be touching on another important topic (near and dear to my heart) the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP).
Speaking of RDSPs, this week I wrote about another annoying session with TD Direct Investing attempting to put money into my son’s RDSP, and naturally I wrote about it in, TD Investments RDSP Continues to Annoy. I am just flabbergasted by how the system works, and as Michael James pointed out (in an April Fool’s article) this may actually be a Deposit-Only Bank Account (i.e. I will never be able to get the money out of the darn thing). The added annoyance from previous posts about the account I only learned about because the young lady I was speaking with said, “Oh, I remember, with that type of account I have to…”, read the article to find out what the “…” entailed.
The only comment I can make about the fiasco that is the US Election is,“… people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones …” . That’s enough on that topic, let us hope it is over very soon, or that there are more Blue Jays games to watch instead!
No More Half Measures (financially)
- Preet did a very good video for the globe (haven’t figured out how to snarf it yet), so have a look at How do group RESPs compare to individual and family plans?
- Mark from My Own Advisor tries to help Millenials with Learning to live with stocks, which is unlike when I was young and they taught, “How to live with The Bomb!”.
- I haven’t talked about phishing much here, but over on my tech blog, I have, and my daughter was sent a phishing e-mail and I outlined “the Sting” in A Phishing Example.
- Blessed by the Potato goes on about Mortgage Insurance and CMHC a bit more in Mortgage Insurance, Tightening, and Shadow Banking Infrastructure, a very interesting read
- The article may have an American angle, however, QZ’s The simple reason you should move your money to an online bank, is still a good read.
- I threw up in my mouth a bit when I read, Nortel executives continue drawing bonuses years after bankruptcy. Retention bonuses for a bankrupt company?
- Barry from Money We Have, warns us about When Saving Goes Wrong, you might think you couldn’t do saving wrong, but surprisingly, you can
- The NY Times (paywall) makes an interesting point in their article about spending, Paying With Cash Hurts. That’s Also Why It Feels So Good ? That must make us all masochistic? Further to that we have, The designers behind Fitbit’s trackers invented a tiny device to stop you from impulse shopping, that uses that using cash hurts physical sensation.
- Marie from Boomer & Echo asks What Is Your Credit Score? (Should You Know It?), a very good question
- I chatted with Michael James about the new Mortgage Rules coming in soon, and he pointed out that the “Declaring on your taxes your home sale” part is going to trip up many folks, as pointed out by the CBC in How principal-residence tax changes will affect every Canadian homeowner. The scary quote from there is, “…The new rules will require you to report every sale of a principal residence on your tax return, whether you owe tax or not. …”. MJ is concerned many folks will simply forget to declare and end up in a world of hurt from the CRA.
- We go into Michael James’ archives with Different Approach to Explaining Index Investing, sometimes folks need a little help understanding some concepts.
Another Excellent Money Tweet
You really should follow Sandra Boynton on Twitter, and this one has so many hidden meanings to it (not just the hippo into a small pool part), do you know enough about your money?
2016 Random Thoughts
- January 7th, Market Meltdown, TFSA, WildCard Weekend and #MoneyStories
- January 14th, Cheap Oil, Cheap Dollar, Dead Folk, and #MoneyStories
- January 21st, Loose Money, High Household Debt, Weak Loons and #MoneyStories
- January 29th, Doomsday Clocks, Rogue RRSP Receipts, Cash Crops and #MoneyStories
- February 4th Bouncing Loonies, RRSP Season, Superb Owls and #MoneyStories
- February 12th Lent is Here, Bricked iPhones, Love Day and #MoneyStories
- February 19th Digging Out, Ransomware, RRSP Time and #MoneyStories
- February 26th RRSP Time and #MoneyStories
- March 4th Welcome Americans and #MoneyStories
- March 11th Bank Rate Stays Put, Spring Forward and #MoneyStories
- March 18th Financial March Madness, Budgets and #MoneyStories
- March 25th, Easter is Here and some #MoneyStories
- April 1, Money Fools, Ronnie, and #MoneyStories
- April 8, Tax Time, Spring Delayed, Panama Papers and #MoneyStories
- April 15,Loose Money, Free Stuff, Hockey and #MoneyStories
- April 22,Disabilities, Tax Time, The Queen and #MoneyStories
- April 29,Pitter Patter Tax Time, RESPs are For Rich Folk and #MoneyStories
- May 6, Fort Mac, Mothers and #MoneyTalk
- May 13, Panama Papers, Google & PayDay Loans, Full Moons and #MoneyTalk
- May 20, Victoria Day, The People’s Elbow, Haircuts and #MoneyTalk
- May 27, Loose Money and #MoneyTalk
- June 3, CRA Itunes Pmts, RESP Scams and #MoneyTalk
- June 10, Portal to Hell Opens in Ottawa, BoC FSR and #MoneyTalk
- June 17, Fathers Day, Trump Housing Bubble, and #MoneyTalk
- June 24, Brexit, Fete National, Enhanced CPP and #MoneyTalk
- July 1, Happy Canada Day and Best Mid-Year Financial Stories
- July 8, Brexit Market Mayhem, Millenial Bashing and #MoneyTalk
- July 15,Brexit Hurts, Loose Money, Postal Strikes, Recounts and #Moneytalks
- July 22,More Pensions, New CTC, and #MoneyTalk
- July 31, Unknown Long Weekend, Windows 10 and #MoneyTalk
- August 5, The Olympics, Topless Spelunkers, and #MoneyTalk
- August 12, Women Rule, Less Jobs and #MoneyTalk
- August 19, Obnoxious 30 Year Old Retirees, Olympics and #MoneyTalk
- August 26,Farewell, EpiPens, Ombudsman Report and #MoneyTalk
- September 9,iPhone 7, High Tuition, Loose Money & #MoneyTalk
- September 16, Unemployment Up, On the Money, Debt and #MoneyTalk
- September 23, Rate Rises, Winter is Coming, Access Neutrality and #MoneyTalk
- September 30, Bye Bye CSBs, 36 Million Strong and #Moneytalk
- October 7, Thanksgiving, Knuckleheads, Debt & the Buddha & #Moneytalk
My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off-color commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)).
