SRA Readers for Financial Literacy and Money Concepts ?
We need new tools to teach financial literacy to our children, maybe we can borrow from the old SRA Reader model, teach by levels of difficulty.
CPFC16, Black Friday, Mortgage Hikes and MoneyTalk
Where might you find me this weekend? Surprisingly, I will be at #CPFC16 with a bunch of other Financial Writers, Bloggers, and Industry Folk talking MoneyTalk (and Mortgage Hikes). It is always interesting to put faces to writings (as I am sure it is for a lot of folks when they meet me). Hoping to touch base with many friends (note I didn’t say old) and make a few new ones as well.
Black Friday is coming next week, with American Thanksgiving on the 24th. What does this mean? For Canadians, not as much as it used to mean, if you can find any deals, you will be lucky. I wandered around Best Buy and they are ready for an influx on Black Friday, but the deals don’t make me want to squander my money just yet.
I note the sun has been rising these days, so the world has not quite ended with Mr. Trump’s election, but it is a much more interesting world (and that is an understatement). One interesting theory I keep hearing is that Mr. Trump is purposely trying to get impeached or thrown out, we shall see if that is a valid theory.
Sounds like Amazon may be extending their Video Streaming capabilities to Canada soon (if you believe tweets by Jeremy Clarkson). Another competitor for Netflix? Not likely, but you never know.
Yes, the Banks are upping their Mortgage rates, as I predicted (6 years ago)! Now might be a good time to lock in for a while, given it might give you a bit more peace of mind? The Bank of Canada hasn’t changed anything yet, but this might be a harbinger of some kind? Bank of Canada will remain quiet until December 7th on the topic of Interest Rates.
My Writings for Week Ending November 18th
After having a lunch with some prominent financial folk (aka the N.C.F.B.A.) I was inspired and wrote two articles this week. It was sad to read about the death of Leonard Cohen, but I also remembered his financial issues, so I joined the two with Leonard Cohen a Cautionary Retirement Story. Are you sure your retirement savings is safe? I would go check just in case.
The American elections now has reached the blame game and with that, folks are suddenly realizing how simple it is to manipulate Social Media (I know how to, I simply, choose not to), however I outline some things in Fake Money News and other Manipulations. What I forgot to mention was the authors of these less than truthful stories also make money from you coming to their unscrupulous sites too! To quote Yakov Smirnoff, America, what a country!
A Money Thought
I actually stole this one from Crazy Ideas on Reddit, and it seems to have been well received. I would watch those documentaries as well. How do you submit ideas to Netflix ?
Fake Money News and other Manipulations
Fake money news has been around for a long time, but the US Elections have shown how easy you can portray fake financials as fact. Now it is almost impossible to pick the real from the fake news, but you must remain vigilent.
Leonard Cohen a Cautionary Retirement Story
I was saddened to hear that Leonard Cohen, yet another famous Montrealer has passed on, but his music will leave a legacy that will live long past all of us. Mr. Cohen, unfortunately, was also a victim… Read More »Leonard Cohen a Cautionary Retirement Story
Grating America, Shocking Mornings, Making Debt Great Again and #MoneyTalk
To quote that noted newscaster Kent Brockman, without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it’s time for our viewers to crack each other’s heads open and feast on the goo inside?. I have read and heard stories of the impending apocalypse and such, thanks to President-elect Trump policies, but I am more worried about the fact that the Angry Old White Man†Party (aka the Republicans) can now run the table I would not be surprised that if at the end of all of this, Mr. Trump ends up being the voice of reason (yes, I threw up a bit in my mouth typing that), in the Grating America.
For those who did not wake up a cold morning in 1975 to find the PQ in power in Quebec or a dark October morning in 1990 when Bob Rae became Premier of Ontario, the only advice I can give is, “Chill out for now, and watch closely at what happens. No one can say for sure what will happen, and if they say they know, they are probably trying to sell you something. I do like the #CalExit folks, given that California is the 6th largest economy in the world.
Meanwhile in Canada Canadians debt load increases (according to TransUnion). To quote our friends at Transunion:
“Canadian consumers saw average non-mortgage debt balances rise by 2.3% between Q3 2015 ($21,195) and Q3 2016 ($21,686).â€
Note that this is non-mortgage debt as well, so yes, maybe Mr. Brockman was asking the right question?
So one of my new tricks these days, is to combat the deluge of really great deals that arrive in my mailbox (Canada Post), I have taken to saving the really great deals (and coupons), for a special task. Any time I get a great deal (like the new CPP upgrade program, that looks like a Government program, but comes in a blank envelope) with a paid postage return envelope, to say thank you, I put some great coupons and deals in this envelope and mail it back to those helpful folks.
Yes, it is Juvenile, but that is who I am.
My Writings for the Week Ending November 11th
Another more quiet week from me, but I did write one thing to help parents out Helping Kids With University Costs, Idea #214, for those of you thinking your kids will be able to leave home to go to University. Day to day living expenses for your kids, if they are not at home, really do add up.
Toblerone the Christmas Grinch
Really Toblerone? Really? I may be boycotting my favourite Christmas candy. #BoycottToblerone #BoycottTheValley
