The Savvy Boomer

“Bona Vita” Creates That Perfect, Warm Family Feeling – Just In Time For The Holidays!

Read the full post to see how you can get a free copy.

With the holiday season a special time for family, how about spending a chilly December night cuddled together sharing something magical? “Bona Vita” by author Ross Moschitto will deliver an entertaining and worthwhile experience between the generations that can help make this holiday season stand out as your most memorable yet.

Win Neil Diamond "The Very Best of Original Studio Recordings"

COLUMBIA/LEGACY RECORDINGS PROUD TO RELEASE

THE VERY BEST OF NEIL DIAMOND - THE ORIGINAL STUDIO RECORDINGS

Choose one song from the 23 on the track listing below, send me an Email before Dec 11 and if you choose the winning song, Columbia/Legacy Recordings will send you the CD. (TheSavvyBoomer will randomly choose the winner in case of ties)

Is Reader's Digest exploiting some seniors in Canada?

Judge for yourself.  Watch the CBC Marketplace video about how many seniors are confused by Reader Digest's sweepstakes offers.  Be sure to read viewers' comments on that page as well. 

In the program you will see that Reader's Digest has strict limitations on how it presents the Sweepstakes in the U.S. to prospective contestants.  According to some people interviewed in the show, it seems that some seniors in Canada may have the idea that they must buy Readers Digest products in order to have a better chance of winning the prizes.  While the Canadian rules are expressly stated in a 6 point font, those rules have to be in a font about 3 times that size for their U.S. readers .  This is a result of several U.S.  states' class action suit settlements in the last few years.  You can see links to these sites on CBC's site.

Reader's Digest has replied to the CBC show with a rebuttal which basically accuses CBC of ambush journalism and not reporting all the facts.  That may or may not be the case but anytime a company refuses to answer interview questions on air, human nature tends to make people become suspicious about what the company may be hiding.

"Senior Citizen" wins best in show at Westminster

Stump is a 10 year old Sussex Spaniel.  Not only is he one of just a few hundred of his breed in North America, he's the oldest Best in Show winner at Westminster, the Super Bowl, World Cup, Masters, Wimbledon etc etc for dogs.  He even beat out another dog in the last 7 left standing out of 2500 entries called Tiger Woods.  Attaboy Stump-now you're going to live out your years with a bevy of beauties beating a path to your door hoping to pass on your genes-you lucky dog!

STUMP

An interesting side note if you click on the Westminster link above is that for Stump's pedigree, under the heading Sex-the word "Dog" appears.  As opposed to what? A cat?

Winner of the "New Rules of Retirement"

Of course-the one person who claims to know nothing about football came the closest to the final score of Superbowl 2009, Steelers 27-Cards 23.  Jane's Granny predicted Steelers to win 29-16.  The funny part is she asked us not to laugh at her guess.  When I sent her an email asking for her shipping address, she thought I was kidding .  Even funnier is that she didn't even watch the game and her husband refused to believe she had come closest.   Show him this post!  A copy of the book is on its way to you.  I know you're going to enjoy it.

New Rules of Retirement

 

"New Rules of Retirement" is a timely book written by 2 Canadian investment professionals, Warren MacKenzie and Ken Hawkins.  I was immediately intrigued when I first saw the cover by the following statement:

"What your financial advisor isn't telling you."

It reminded me that just a few days earlier my wife told me she had requested her financial advisor to sell some stock in her Retirement plan that had actually increased over the last few months.  When she said she wanted it placed in a term deposit the advisor was reluctant and said "Well only if you'll promise me that you'll re-invest it in the market shortly."  Are you kidding me?  She actually said that?  Who's the customer here?  But it makes sense when you realize that these people make their commissions off the churn.  So in this case, it was what the financial advisor was telling us that was disturbing.   I truly believe the byline above is something we all need to know and the authors do a good job of detailing their concerns and giving advice on what to look for to protect your nest egg.

The book deals with a lot of financial issues such as how to ask the right questions of your financial advisor and more importantly, how to find a financial advisor you can trust.  It also deals with other issues pertinent to retirement such as planning for declining health, housing, traveling, working beyond retirement etc.

While the book is more suited for Canadians because all the tax considerations and financial investment vehicles are Canadian oriented, anyone who is looking at the entire retirement picture and especially dealing with a financial advisor will find value in the book.

You can read more about it and buy it on their web site or you can predict the winning score of the SuperBowl game this weekend in the comments of this post and I'll send a free copy to the person who comes closest.  By the way, for you non-U.S football fans, the teams playing are Pittsburgh and Arizona.  My prediction is Arizona 24 -Pittsburgh 23.  Maybe we'll use the proceeds from the stock to bet that.  I doubt Messrs. MacKenzie or Hawkins would agree with that type of investment, not to mention the real owner of the proceeds.

Christmas Music winners

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S

Here are the winners of the 4 CD's:

Elvis: Linda Fast
Yo-Yo Ma: Daff
New Kids on the Block: Kelley
Kristin Chenoweth:  Mr. Go To

Sony/BMG will be sending out the CDs shortly.  Thanks to all who entered.

Christmas music contest-New Kids on the Block

Thanks to Sony/BMG, we are giving away a copy of NKOTB "Merry Merry Christmas."

Leave a comment on this post and we'll randomly draw a winner on Dec 13.