Weekend Reading: Major Media Mention Edition

Welcome to the weekend! I was thrilled to be featured in this CBC story about Air Miles and how miles earned before 2012 are set to expire at the end of this year. The author, Sophia Harris, was a pleasure to work with and, incredibly, turned this story around in just a couple of days.

It’s amazing what a hot-button issue this has become for Air Miles and its collectors. Even with the tragic events unfolding south of the border late Thursday night, plus a potential work stoppage for Canada Post looming, this story remained firmly in the ‘most read’ articles on CBC throughout the weekend and has been shared over 12,000 times.

Not be be outdone, Canada’s top personal finance columnist Rob Carrick shared a list of expert tips that was published on my Rewards Cards Canada blog about how to spend 52,436 Aeroplan miles.

Carrick has always been a tremendous supporter of the personal finance blogging community, constantly linking to and sharing content that he finds around the blogosphere in his columns and through his newsletter.

It’s uplifting, especially for new bloggers on the scene, to gain some attention and recognition from major media. Journalists often look to bloggers as sources for their stories, usually after reading a passionate blog post about a particular topic. Bloggers like me are more than happy to help journalists tell their story, but it’s unfortunate when the journalist or media outlet doesn’t think to include a link back to our blogs.

That’s never an issue with Rob Carrick, and it wasn’t for CBC’s Sophia Harris either, who found my name after reading a blog post I wrote about Air Miles expiring. But it’s frustrating to see Yahoo Finance pick up the Air Miles article from CBC, only to strip out all of the links.

Similarly, Jonathan Chevreau quoted me in the Financial Post after reading my take on CPP expansion on Boomer & Echo last month. Unfortunately, whoever control the online content at the Financial Post decided not to include a link back to my website or the blog post from which I was quoted.

Attention major media: Links are the currency of the web. Please show some courtesy and respect to your blogger sources and include a link back when it makes sense (like when taking quotes verbatim from a blog post).

/rant

This Week’s Recap:

On Monday I posted my biannual net worth update and revealed that I’m on track to reach $500,000 by year’s end.

On Wednesday Marie wrote about bartering for goods and services.

And on Friday Marie reviewed Psych Yourself Rich by Farnoosh Torabi.

We’re halfway through Financial Uproar’s 2016 stock picking competition and my picks are badly lagging the field – down an embarrassing 38.7%. My picks of Under Armour, Fitbit, GoPro, and MasterCard were destined to finish first or last place, so at this point it looks like I swung for the fences and struck out.

Oh well. This is why I index in real life.

Weekend Reading:

More big changes coming for Canadian investors – who will be the winners and losers?

Jason Heath with a great argument as to why we need regulations to protect seniors from unscrupulous advisors.

Are some advisors worth their fees? Andrew Hallam weighs-in with a surprising answer.

The president of the association representing financial advisors argues that banning mutual fund commissions will do more harm than good. My response:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it”

Pollack says that advisors are needed because ‘financial products are getting more complex’. Well, who created the complexity to begin with?

Meanwhile, robo-advisors, who stand to pick up the slack from the so-called advice gap that Pollack says we should fear, are now offering group RRSPs which could slash fees by 50% or more.

Michael James looks at the possible ban on trailing commissions and describes two narratives that characterize the fund industry in Canada.

Thanks, John Heinzl, for writing what I’ve wanted to for years: Anti-RRSP arguments are merely financial urban legends.

One Millennial’s response to last month’s Toronto Life feature story – Young, saving, and hopefully one day buying a house.

Canada’s banking watchdog is cracking down on mortgage lending as home prices continue to surge.

Rob Carrick says new banking rules won’t cure our greatest housing threat; the finances of people after they buy – not before.

Millennials, here’s how to keep your home ownership dream alive.

Meanwhile, Ottawa is creating a working group to study the state of the Canadian housing market and to make recommendations this summer. John Bruk argues that the time for studying Canada’s housing crisis has passed.

In other news, the liberal government has gone silent on its pledge to let more home buyers dip into their RRSPs.

On the Jessica Moorhouse blog, 4 women share their debt-payoff stories to inspire and motivate others to crush their debt too and never give up.

Wouldn’t it be great to travel back in time and invest in Apple or Microsoft stock while in their infancy? What about creating a real-life time machine for your money, starting now?

Cait Flanders on why your salary is not your self-worth, and why she gave herself permission to earn less.

Million Dollar Journey blogger Frugal Trader shares his favourite personal finance apps.

Two Toronto couples pooled their money to live under one roof in one of Canada’s most expensive housing markets.

“We’re going on blind faith that neither of us will screw each other over.”

The story of Sobeys and what looks to be its miserable takeover of Safeway Canada. Their CEO abruptly quit after the company wrote down half of its $5.8B acquisition.

Tim Cestnick on why every word in your will can matter.

Finally, Lethbridge entrepreneur and creator of fanciful playhouses lays out his plans for expansion. Leavitt is currently building a playhouse for basketball star Steph Curry’s daughter, and is in the midst of filming a show on TLC. He also lives just down the street from me.

Have a great weekend, everyone!