Black Friday is here with alleged savings as far as you can see, even in Canada? The claim is that even in Canada, there will be excellent Black Friday sales? What happens if you don’t want to buy anything? The entire Black Friday thing is getting out of control and seems to be an excuse to entice folks to spend more darn money, whether they need to or not! How many deluxe, left-handed, artisan cheese straighteners do you need?

Don’t spend all your hard-earned cash on Friday either, because there are the Cyber Monday sales that will be astounding and eye-popping? Again, if you have no reason to buy anything or don’t need anything, why would you care?

I want to propose a new day after American Thanksgiving, and we should call it Regretful Tuesday, where folks look back on the orgy of spending and eating they have done, and they suddenly get a bad case of guilt? My guess is that is precisely what does happen.

For those watching the Ontario Legislature, Rowan’s Law has been introduced and should be passed soon. There is a petition for this law, and it should be interesting to see how this changes children’s competitive sports and coaching.

Ottawa’s football team is in the Grey Cup for the first time since before I moved here. It indeed will be a RedBlackGrey Cup. Go RedBlackRenegadeRoughRiders!

My Writings for Week Ending November 27th

It was a busy week, as I got out three posts this week. It is not quite like my prodigious hay days when I used to pump out five posts a week, but better than usual:

• Canadians Paid Even More For Food in October (4.1%) and things are not looking like they are getting any better in terms of Canadians trying to keep their families fed. Thanks to cheap gas (which we can’t drink) we continue to have a skewed view of inflation.
• We were very happy to get the Notice of Determination on Disability Tax Credit letter in the mail, as it was in our favor in terms of tax considerations for my son’s disability. Mrs. C8j did a great job, so we can continue saving for my son’s future.
• What the Hustler Taught Me About Banking is another one of my ideas that has been percolating for a while, in my archives of unfinished work. Given the reaction in terms of comments, other folks liked the idea too.

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Facebook Post of the Week

What is the difference between a concussion and a simple bump on the head? The National Post takes a run at that question.

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Read More »Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Regretful Tuesday and #MoneyStories

The world is again left scratching its head and asking, “Why?” after ISIS attacked Paris. Honestly, I have no idea of why this would be done, but as a wise man has pointed out, follow the money, and you will see the reason why.

One of my favourite memories of Paris is when my friend and I boldly ran around the Musée du Louvre, snapping pictures in front of all the famous paintings and exhibits. After that, we confidently walked into a lovely restaurant with a McDonald’s shake in hand, just to prove our boss wrong. He was complaining about how tourists in Paris only went to the Louvre and ate at McDonald’s, but we showed him that we were different. To this day, I still wonder why we didn’t do it sooner.

Black Friday began at the start of November, but for those purists, the actual Black Friday is next Friday (the 27th of November). Traditionally that was the day that pushed stores “to the black” (or into a profitable stance), however, it is now yet another excuse to entice folks to spend money.

Financial Literacy month continues as well. Have you learned something new about your finances today?

My Writings for Week Ending November 20th

It is truly the dark days of November here in Ottawa, but there were two new posts this week:

• Cheques, Cameras and Banking Apps I rehashed some of my security concerns with Wi-Fi in general and banking applications specific on your smartphones or tablets. However, if you try to be secure, these apps will mean fewer visits to your brick-and-mortar banks, but be careful with post-dated cheques.
• From the archives, remember that in Banking Everything is Negotiable. However, that does not guarantee you will get a better deal, just that you can always ask for one and see what happens (remember the answer is always NO unless you ask).

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Facebook Post of the Week

Do you remember Y2K and all the craze about how the world was going to come to an end? Here are some other interesting computer bugs you might not have known about.

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Read More »Paris, Black Friday, Financial Literacy and #MoneyStories

Do you realize that November is Financial Literacy month here in Canada? This means more interesting articles this month from some of your favorite authors banging home some of the more important topics in Financial Literacy. A good month to start reading some new finance sites and learning more about things you might not know enough about.

It’s a bold move on Mr. Trudeau’s part to have chosen a Cabinet that is made up of half women. However, only time will tell how successful this decision will be. The new finance minister undoubtedly has a tough challenge ahead of him. He must choose between blaming the previous government for leaving an empty treasury or resorting to creative accounting. Sadly, this is a common practice among elected officials.

The Hydro One IPO is coming up very soon, with a great deal of hub-bub and foofera. Is it a good thing? Is it a good deal? Should you invest in it? I most likely will invest in it, as it will most likely be reflected in one of my core Index Funds, but I will not be buying the stock directly.

My Writings for Week Ending November 6th

A busy week for me this week at home so not a great deal of new content for your Financial Literacy learning, but still some new content:

• For those non-Church goers out there Sunday was All Saints day and I did manage to put out a best of tweets post with All Saints Money Tweets , some interesting stuff in there.
• The one new post for the week was a play on the assertive way many presenters try to convince you of the “truthiness” of their statement with 99.9% of Financial Bloggers Agree, I was thinking of title’ing it 30 Helens Agree (financially), but changed my mind (Kids in the Hall are always a fun thematic premise to work from, I could write about these are the Marks in Finance I know…) .
• I have talked about Financial Literacy in the past so here is last years start with What is Financial Literacy.

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Read More »Financial Literacy, New Cabinet, Hydro One and #MoneyStories