Well wasn’t this a very odd story that I just read about. Some of you may have already read that real estate billionaire Leona Helmsley passed away a few days ago. People dubbed her as “The Queen of Mean”. Just recently, her will was made public in regards to how she wanted her wealth to be distributed after her death. According to the news, she completely neglected to give anything to two of her grandchildren. However, she did decide to give $12 million to her dog which from what I read was the most aside from the significant portion of her wealth being tied in her enterprise.

This kind of makes you wonder if her grandchildren were really that bad in her view or if it was more of a shortsighted spiteful act over a small situation. The main thing that this kind of made me think is how many times people who have say wealthy family members assume that they will receive some kind of significant inheritance and so they kind of arrange their lifestyle plan with that in mind. An over exaggerated example would be say someone buying a really expensive house that they can’t really pay off fully without it taking forever at their current rate as they are simply expecting a large inheritance in the future that will allow them to do so. Kind of a dangerous thing to do I’d say with story examples like this.

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For fun I was asked what I thought about the new Vancouver Canucks jersey that was unveiled the other day. It’s an NHL hockey team for those who don’t watch. Anyways, here is what the new jersey looks like:

Basically, it looks like a blend of the very old style mixed with the previous one as it is suppose to symbolize the beginning and where the team is today. Here are the three of them compared to each other:

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One immediate difference is how the word “Vancouver” is right on the front of it which is kind of a nice home pride touch I suppose. Personally, I think the previous one looks a little more powerful and the new one is a bit more neutral I would say. So, I kind of have mixed feelings over it. I guess the bottom line is that if it helps to make them win then everyone here will say it is a good change. Lot’s of people are going to spend hundreds of dollars to buy this new style of branding for the team that’s for sure.

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I noticed today that some people were already shopping for Halloween candy and decorations even though there is still quite a bit of time before the actual day of the event. Not only that, but some places were even starting to sell/display Christmas items already. Of course, they wouldn’t do that if people weren’t actually buying them already and so obviously there are enough people that do so to justify it.

Some people have told me before that they do that as it relieves a lot of headaches in trying to fight the crowds in trying to do it later while at the same time they found the prices of a lot of items to be cheaper as a lot of places inflate their prices to take advantage of the buying frenzy crowd.

I haven’t ever specifically shopped for an occasion way ahead of the actual date that it takes place in. The closest thing would be if I just accidentally stumbled on something that was a great deal and I thought it would be a great gift for someone else then I would purchase it with the intent of giving it away in the future as I know say the person’s birthday is coming up anyways. I would think though that you can actually save more money at times by shopping in dates closer to the actual holiday as businesses are trying to outdo one another in terms of price and value for various products.

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Some people were telling me that when it comes to buying certain things they either first look at their pool of funds and then decide what to buy or they decide what they want to get first and then try to get the necessary funds to purchase it. One person was telling me how you should always have a budget in mind which will help to prevent you from overspending to save money. The other guy was saying that it was better to decide what you truly want first as that way you are purchasing something based more on the overall value of the product based on your needs which will pay for itself in the long run.

Interesting perspectives I thought. I think for myself it depends on the situation. When it comes to everyday things like say buying something to drink I would tend to approach it in a more dollar conscience way as oppose to say purchasing a large item like a TV where that is more about the overall value. For the most part, I would say that I normally tend to go with the non budget approach as I try to get the best value or quality for my needs as I usually think more long term. Of course, I would say that it needs more discipline to go that way too as you need to differentiate a need versus a want when it comes to certain things.

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I was just reading about how the actor Owen Wilson tried to commit suicide today by cutting his wrist and then apparently taking a bunch of pills. An unfortunate scenario indeed and I hope he gets the help that he needs afterwards. I was then reading some comments around the web about this and it seemed like a common response I read from a lot of people was how they would love to be in his shoes in terms of his wealth and some people even made sarcastic remarks such as it must be a stressful life to figure out which expensive car that he wants to drive everyday.

Whenever I hear comments like that it just makes me want to say “let’s see how long you will last” to them as having that much money and fame can definitely create an extreme amount of stress in ones life if you don’t really know how to handle it. Just take a look at a lot of lottery winners as an example. Once they hit the jackpot and it is known publicly virtually everyone comes out of the woodwork asking for something. As a result, a lot of people end up in extreme debt and are worse off emotionally and financially than before. Now try to add fame in there along with the loss in privacy that comes with it.

While like most things it is definitely manageable with practice, these types of situations are usually a big reason why whenever people simply say to me that their goal is to simply make a lot of money which will solve everything I usually ask if that is truly what they want. I guess this is another reason why I like reading things such as when people talk about how you have to have the right attitude and mindset as it is a very important trait to learn when it comes to money. I know most people don’t think so at first, but these types of stories aren’t too hard to find which says otherwise.

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