CSI Blog & Newsroom

“Alex Zanardi just loves to race. But what he really likes to do is win,” an Associated Press article published by the National Post wrote last week. The article continued, “The former Formula One driver took the Paralympic gold medal Wednesday in paracycling – a hand cycle powered by the arms – at the Brands Hatch race track, posting a time of 24 minutes, 50.22 seconds. The victory capped an incredible journey for the 45-year-old who almost died in a horrific accident at a 2001 CART race in Germany. ‘It’s an amazing feeling,’ a clearly exuberant Zanardi said. ‘I’m really, really happy for the result.'” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

The kids are back at school, you’re back at work, the tan you got while on the beach is starting to fade and the leaves on the trees are starting to change colour. As the season starts to change the Financial Post’s Ted Rechtshaffen poses the questions about your summer getaway locations in an online article, “Did you spend as much time there as you wanted? Did you get your money’s worth? Have you done the math?” Rechtshaffen’s article continued, “I am often surprised at how much energy and resources go into owning a cottage, compared to the enjoyment that comes from it. At the risk of insulting a large percentage of cottage-loving Canadians, I will jump right in and say that for many owners it just doesn’t make financial sense. I know many people with a cottage who spend no more than 20 or 30 days a year there. I know there are exceptions, but a large percentage will spend a week or two, and then another 4 or 5 weekends, maybe less. There are many reasons why cottages get underused. A big one is simply stage of life.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS  

“Jenson Button salvaged McLaren’s day after an explosive start to the Belgian race saw team mate Lewis Hamilton eliminated along with championship points leader Fernando Alonso, Sauber’s Sergio Perez and Lotus’s Romain Grosjean,” an article on the official Formula 1 website wrote after the race. The website story continued, “After debris from their collision was cleared away, and the safety car went back in, Button owned the race and sped home to a 13.6s victory – his first at Spa – over Sebastian Vettel who drove with great commitment and a clever strategy to take a supremely valuable second for Red Bull. Behind them, car problems kept Lotus’s Kimi Raikkkonen from launching his expected challenge, but the Finn also took home valuable points on a day when Alonso’s lead suddenly began to look vulnerable. His team mate Grosjean was subsequently handed a one-race ban and a 50,000 Euro fine for triggering the first-corner mayhem.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

“Spain said Monday it is urgently injecting €4.5-billion into Bankia, a state-rescued lender still losing billions of euros. The state-backed Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) said its governing board had agreed to pump in the capital ‘with immediate effect’ to restore its balance sheet,” an Agence France-Presse article published in The Globe and Mail on Monday wrote. The article continued, “Bankia lies at the heart of Spain’s financial sector crisis, which led to euro zone members agreeing in June to extend a rescue loan to Madrid of up to €100-billion.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

“How much influence do parents really have on their children’s success in life? My own view has always been: far less than they think, and far less than the experts tell them. I’ve always thought that how your kids turn out depends a lot more on their genes and their IQ than whether you played them Baby Beethoven or sent them to all-day kindergarten,” Margaret Wente of The Globe and Mail wrote in an article over the weekend. Wente continued, “Various experiments with education reform tend to confirm my fatalistic view. Every so often, some shiny new idea comes along – self-esteem! prizes for all! multiple learning styles! – that is supposed to turn every failing kid into a winner. None of these fads appears to have the least effect on student achievement. At the same time, the problem of failing kids is one of the most pressing issues of our time. Children from stable higher-income families have a huge advantage over children from unstable, lower-income families. After 40 years of trying, we know how hard it is to narrow that gap. But we owe it to those kids to keep trying – and to ourselves as well.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

“Figures from Statistics Canada suggest the labour movement in Canada is in a 30-year decline. And while numbers have stabilized in recent years, organized labour is surviving but not thriving — and anchored disproportionately in the public sector,” A CBC news article from The Canadian Press posted on Sunday. The article continued, “Just under 30 per cent of the workforce — some 4.3 million employees — was unionized in 2011, a slight increase both in percentage and absolute numbers over 2010. But the public sector, including civil servants, Crown corporations, schools and hospitals, dominated. More than 71 per cent of the public sphere was unionized, while in the private sector that number plummets to 16 per cent.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

“Thousands of union workers in Toronto are marching in the 141st annual Labour Day Parade with a theme of “unite against austerity.” Members of ACTRA, Ontario Federation of Labour, the Toronto and York Regional Labour Council, CAW and federal and provincial NDP members are expected at the march,” Jonathan Ore writes in a CBC News online article today. The article continues, “Meanwhile on the east coast, the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour is making an effort to attract greater numbers of young members to its ranks. ‘For the first time we’re looking at the possibility of the next generation of workers probably not doing as well as their parents have done,’ said federation president Lana Payne. ‘This is an astounding thing to be happening in a society where we have so much wealth.'” Read the full article here.

The Globe and Mail’s Preet Banerjee discussed last week in an online article the concept of who is responsible for our parent’s debt when they pass on, a subject that creates a good deal of anxiety for many Canadians when they see their mother or father struggling with mounting obligations. “Some people can expect big inheritances when their parents pass away. But when the talk of the town is the record levels of debt Canadians are holding, not to mention how many people are expecting to enter retirement owing money on their mortgages, lines of credit, and credit cards, I’ve been hearing this question more and more: “Am I responsible for my parents’ debts?” Banerjee wrote. He continued, “With longer life expectancies, portfolios that have been beaten down by the recent global economic carnage, and projections for steep increases in healthcare costs, it’s not a stretch to imagine senior citizens with debts that they may never be able to pay off. What if dear old dad has $50,000 in credit card debt when he meets his maker? Can he leave that to his children?” “In general, you cannot inherit debt unless you have previously accepted responsibility for it.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

“Ben Bernanke has a lot of hype to live up to this week when he delivers a speech from Jackson Hole, Wyo., the Federal Reserve chairman’s grandest stage,” Kevin Carmichael wrote in a Globe and Mail online article on the weekend. Carmichael continued, “This week’s economic calendar is packed, bringing a revised estimate of U.S. economic growth, new data on household consumption and fresh inflation numbers. Yet what Wall Street cares about most is Mr. Bernanke’s speech at the Kansas City Fed’s annual economic symposium, where his yearly speeches have attained mythic status – a status that has thrown a deep divide between economists who feel the real value of the talks have been exaggerated, and Wall Street, which tends to create its own reality.” Read the full article here.

“The tributes have been pouring in for Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, who has died at age 82. People are remembering both his achievements and his modesty,” CBC news wrote online yesterday. The report continued, “Armstrong made his lunar landing on July 20, 1969 and uttered the famous quote: ‘That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.’ That was his last space mission. After that he took a desk job, then went on to teach engineering in his home state of Ohio, staying out of the limelight. Armstrong died Saturday of complications from heart bypass surgery he underwent earlier this month.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS