I mentioned last week that Kerry at Squawkfox was showing more moxy and chutzpah, but she is taking it to another level, which I am enjoying. The Globe Investor is having a panel which is less than diverse. The attempt at diversity was including our friend Preet B., but there were no women on the panel. Kerry has adopted the Binders full of Women statement as her own. This binder has a list of Fantastic Female Financial Folk (sorry it is playoff time, and I start writing like Danny Gallivan), that would be perfect for any financial symposium. I offer my absolute support to this endeavor.
I am publishing my Best Of on Thursday this week, in deference to Good Friday. Good Friday is a pivotal day in Christianity, but it is a confusing day for many folks. Why is it called Good Friday? A man is whipped, crucified and you call it Good Friday? As usual there are different interpretations of why it is “Good”, but the interpretation that Good means ” … a day on which religious observance is held …” seems to fit. In romance languages it is actually Holy Friday (which does fit a bit better in the narrative).
Good Friday, if you wish to ignore the religious aspect, could be an excellent financial thematic premise. Good Friday can be the end of your bad financial world, and Easter Sunday can be the start of a better financial environment. Easter is a time of renewal and new beginnings (not just chocolate and new clothes).
I believe United Airlines use to have the phrase “Fly the Friendly Skies” as their motto. It does seem a rather ironic phrase, given the abysmal customer treatment this week. I have been bumped from flights on occasion, but haven’t been pulled off by the police (yet). As a lover of social stupidity, I just wonder whoever decided to send the police into the plane was thinking at the time. That is Customer Service with a capital K.
Why do airlines overbook? Every empty seat on an airplane is lost revenue, so overbooking has been going on for a very long time. People having multiple bookings, or not showing up for their reservation is the public reason quoted by airlines, but it all comes down to money. If everyone showed up on time to all flights, overbooking would stop tomorrow, but that is not likely to happen. Am I saying, “money is the root of all evil”? No, but I am saying, money is the cause of a lot of really lousy decisions.
Loose money might be the fuse of a big economic bomb, but the Bank of Canada is keeping interest rates low for now. The media release has the following statement about why money is still loose:
CPI inflation is now at the 2 per cent target, largely because of the transitory effects of higher oil prices and carbon pricing measures in two provinces, as well as other temporary factors. The Bank’s three measures of core inflation, on the other hand, have been drifting down in recent quarters and wage growth remains subdued, consistent with material excess capacity in the economy. CPI inflation is expected to dip in the months ahead, as the temporary factors unwind, and then return to 2 per cent later in the projection horizon as the output gap closes.
People keep buying million dollar homes assuming low-interest rates isn’t a ticking time bomb? I might be wrong, but I do hear ticking.
My Writings for Week Ending April 14th
I didn’t write anything this week, again. Life gets busy sometimes, and given I have a backlog of 272 titles that need to be finished, I should be putting out more content, yet I am not. I do put the pro in procrastination sometimes. I guess spring financial cleaning might be extended to financial writing as well.
A Money Thought
A lovely bit of cynicism from me this week, and if you can find a Trojan, drop me a line.
Financial Easter Eggs to be Found?
Wouldn’t it be nifty if some of these stories had Easter Eggs in them like video games and movies used to have? That would make for some friendly skies!
- I have written about lifestyle creep before, but the Blunt Bean Counter gives his own take on this with Lifestyle Expansion – The Plague of Boomers, Millennials and Everyone in Between
- With the tom foolery going on in Toronto in terms of rentals, the Holy Potato brings us, On Rent Control, talking about how much is too much rent control
- Mark from My Own Advisor gives us Canadian Dividend Stock Selection Still Made Easy, however all he did was convince me I was doing a good job owning FTSE
- I am glad the Canadian Couch Potato published, Bond Basics 1: Why Bond Prices Fall When Rates Rise, I never quite grock’ed that idea
- FCAC brings us Managing money and debt wisely, with a plethora of tools to help you with your financial travels.
- Going into Michael James’ archives to find Money: Master the Game , a review of Tony Robbins’ book, interesting stuff
A Good Canadian Money Podcast
Is your phone or iPod looking for another good financial podcast that has diverse guests? I have just the thing for you, our old pal Preet has a new podcast with that in mind.
2017 Random Thoughts
- Tax Time, Housing Bubbles, Financial Easter and #MoneyTalk (April 7th)
- April Fools, High on Life and #MoneyTalk (March 31st)
- Ho Hum Budget, Brackets Busted and #MoneyTalk (March 24th)
- Naughty Banks, March Madness, Big Snow and #MoneyTalk (March 17th)
- Teller Upselling, Auto-filling Taxes, Spring Forward and #MoneyTalk, (March 10th )
- Lent Begins, Loose Money and #MoneyTalk (March 3rd )
- RRSP Season, Tax Time, and #MoneyTalk (February 24th )
- Farewell Vinyl Café, Snow, Monopoly and #MoneyTalk (February 17th )
- RRSP , Tax , TFSA , RESP, and RDSP Time and #MoneyTalk (February 10th )
- Year of the Fire Rooster, Financial Groundhog Day and #MoneyTalk (February 3rd )
- Alternate Financial Facts, 1984 and #Moneytalk (January 27th)
- Bungled Mortgages, Friday the 13th and #Moneytalk (January 13th)
- Merry New Year, CPP, EI and #MoneyTalk (January 6th)
Enjoy the Festival of Easter!
- Financial Parables for Good Friday some things to think about on Good Friday.
- Good Friday: Some Random Thoughts more messages for Good Friday.
- Good Friday is another view on Good Friday
- Good Friday, COVID continues, XRP, Tax Time and #MoneyTalk was a Good Friday during COVID.
- Good Friday Edition: Best of Top 5 Investing Regrets was back when I got lazy and reposted the same content.
- Good Friday is a view from 2012 of the start of the Easter festival.
- Ladies on Panels, Good Friday, Friendly Skies, Loose Money and #MoneyTalk was one of my conglomeration posts and a mention of Good Friday.
- Good Friday, COVID continues, XRP, Tax Time and #MoneyTalk It is tax time, but also Easter. What new and fun tax things will come up?
- Another Good Friday post from 2014
- It is finished is the sentiments for Good Friday, with the hope of new beginnings.
