How I met your Mother - Why Ted doesn't end up with Robin

How I met your Mother has almost finished, and I have been reading what people are predicting the end to be. The two most common endings is that Robin and Ted end up with each other, and the Mother dies..

There is no way that Robin and Ted end up together. Why? Well, in the first episode they said Robin is Aunt Robin. And the producers said they did this because they didn't want it to be like Friends (Ross and Rachel). Maybe you were like me and felt good when they got together, but you knew that wasn't going to happen.

Secondly, there has been a whole episode on Ted talking about how he let Robin go forever..would they have made that if they were to end up together? Definitely not.

The series has been amazing connecting the past events to the future events. It would go against everything if they ended up together.

Sadly it's hard to disprove the other ending floating around; the Mother dies..there are lots of things that can make people believe this is possible...the end of the time travellers episode, Ted almost crying near the end of vesuvius, Colbie Smulders crying when she finds out about the ending..

I can't disprove this ending, but I can't imagine it happening, and I don't want to imagine. The producers have said it's a happy ending for Ted, and I'm sure that includes the Mother.

How I met your Mother is an amazing series. It's sad that it is coming to an end. At the same time I can't wait to find out the ending..There are only two episodes left to wrap everything up, so they are going to be jam packed..

Enjoy it, and let me know how you think the ending will go..

Bernard Hickey's article

Bernard Hickey writes articles for the New Zealand Herald from time to time. I have to say most of the time I disagree with what he says.

This week he listed 10 reasons why the government should not increase GST to 15%. You can read the article here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10628904

I agree with some of them, and disagree with others. I'll discuss his reasons here:

1) This point is probably true. However the budget is not released until May. They may come up with ways to come up with the shortfall. Of course, the government may need to drop the corporate tax rate to compete with Australia (which will cause more headaches), so Mr. Hickey has a good point here.

2) This may be true, but surely competition between companies will keep the price increases to a minimum?

3)True. But will a 2.5% (or slightly higher) increase in prices here really change tourists' minds about coming to New Zealand (and make them choose to go to Australia instead)? I don't think it will..

4) I don't think it will. John Key has said the tax cuts will at least offset the rise in GST. Things will seem more expensive, but you'll have more money in your pocket to buy them.

5) Good point, but I think this is covered in point #2.

6) I don't see why this is a reason why it's a bad idea to raise GST..Maybe for John Key and National, but not for the general public.

7)A 2.5% rise in prices wont create that much of a leakage. People are either already doing this, or they are not doing it (and wont in the future).

8)Maybe so, but it wasn't meant to.

9) I don't think the rise will create any new exemptions..It may cause businesses to find ways to weasel out of paying what they should pay, but those kind of losses will be made up in gains from people paying what they should be paying in income tax.

10)lol! It's only a 2.5% increase, not 25%!

online game

http://netoru.mybrute.com/

you should try playing this. You type in a name for your character and it starts fighting. it's pretty cool.

NZ Elections

So the election is less than a week away. Some of you may not have read the last topic I posted, so I will write a quick guide to make your vote count. Partial credit goes to the Sunday Star Times. Since I'm writing this after reading the article they had, this will probably be somewhat influenced by it. I did add a lot more to it though..

First of all we should talk about your electorate vote. I'm not a political commentator so I can only informatively comment on the electorate I'm in (Pakuranga). Sadly your vote will not influence the outcome. Pakuranga is a National area, and Maurice Williamson will comfortably be reelected. Vote for whoever you please..

The most important vote for the majority of us is the party vote. You can either vote for one of the 2 main parties, vote for a minor party, or do a protest vote.

Voting for one of the 2 main parties makes a lot of sense. Either Labour or National will be in charge of parliament. Their promises will be the ones which will be passed (and the oppositions promises wont be). Helen Clark or John Key will be prime minister. A vote for the party is not only a vote for the party. A vote for Labour is also a vote against National, and a vote for National is a vote against Labour. Labour is currently trailing in the polls so every vote they get will help them narrow the gap on National, which they need to do. National do not have many friends in politics (only Act and United Future), so they need to get as many votes as they can get to assure them power. Voting for Labour or National is a sensible vote.

Why should you vote for a minor party? The minor parties have more extreme agendas compared to the main 2. The Greens are focused on the environment, United Future are focused on families, the Maori party are focused on the Maoris, Progressives are focused on state-owned enterprises (keeping them), NZ First are focused on Old people, and Act are focused on tax-cuts (much higher than what National want to give). If you have a strong view on one of these areas, you should vote for them. The more seats they have after the election, the better the bargaining position they will be in to convince either Labour or National to pass more of their policies.

The Greens are polling well at the moment. They will support Labour post-election. Voting for the Greens will ensure Labour will need to pass their policies. Vote for them if you support their enviornmental policies.

A vote for United Future is a wasted vote. Peter Dunne will win his electorate seat comfortably but they are polling well below the chance to win a second seat. Do you really think they are likely to improve between now and saturday? United Future supports National so if you support United Future, vote National instead.

Likewise, a vote for the Maori Party is a wasted vote. They will win all the Maori seats, which is well above the % of party votes they are currently polling to get. The Maori Party will 'probably' support Labour, so if you support the Maori Party, vote Labour instead.

The Progressive Party is like United Future. Jim Anderton will regain his seat, but polling shows that will be it. You shouldn't need me to tell you that Jim Anderton supports Labour, so if you support Progressives, vote Labour.

NZ First are polling just under 5%. Winston Peters is not assured of winning his Tauranga electorate seat, so every party vote for NZ First will help them stay in parliament. NZ First will probably support Labour (National wont talk to him). Analysts are saying if you support Labour, you should vote NZ First to help assure them get in (so their % of party votes aren't wasted). This will allow Labour (% NZFirst) to be in a position of power after the election. This is worth thinking about if you are a Labour supporter.

Act are polling ok but below 5%. They are safe because Rodney Hide will win his electorate. Act will obviously support National after the election. It is worth mentioning Sir Rodger Douglas is 3rd on the party list. This is worth thinking about if you are a National supporter.

Protest votes in my opinion are a waste. I'd rather you not waste your energy going to vote because it will have no effect on the outcome of the election, and you will just be breathing more air than if you just stayed at home.

So, in conclusion, I think you should vote Labour/Greens/ or even NZ First. I discussed why in a previous post. Remember, YOUR VOTE COUNTS SO DO IT (unless it's a stupid protest vote).

Retirement

I was reading newsweek again this week and came across a great article

It should get everyone thinking. Never mind the macroeconomic side, concentrate on the personal finance side of
the article (though the macroecon is just as interesting, just not to everyone).

So in your life you can either save more now to have more to spend in the future. Or you can choose to spend now and have less to spend in the future. Pretty simple.

So by retirement, what kind of savings do you want to have? Enough to replace your income (with account for inflation)? This is probably most people's goal since it's a simple thing to aim for and if you've been living with it for the majority of your life, you can be comfortable with it if you have good insurance. This can require a huge amount of capital which varies depending on your risk tolerance. Annual returns on investments can vary from 1% to 8-9% real interest before tax. So to replace an income of $60,000, you'd need between $700,000 to $6m. That's alot of money.

Which leads to the next question...
When do you want to retire?

Oh how things have changed.

Remember the saying "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves"? Notice how I said 'remember' and not 'you know.' That saying seems to be obsolete now the way people act.

There's an article by newsweek and the New Zealand herald worth reading about saving. In 2005, NZ's saving rate was -14.8% of total income! Yes, on average we spend more than we earn. There's a trend around most of the world that shows savings have decreased. Our Grandparents and some of our parents would not be able to comprehend the amount of debt and little savings we have. So why is it that we have such a different mind set from our elders? I'll share a few of my opinions..

Easy credit: Credit cards are being advertised on tv as well as easy to get personal loans. Now you can even get home loans with no money down! They've been giving them out left, right and centre. The credit crisis in America highlights how many loans have been given out to people who could not afford it. This is a huge change from when people used to buy houses for cash. If it wasn't that easy to get credit, maybe we all wouldn't be in so much debt.

Consumerism gone mad: Petrol's expensive? What about water!? Water is put in plastic bottles and you're charged $2 for less than a litre. You could go home and get more for 5c, or just go to a tap outside and fill up an old bottle for free. You think people wouldn't buy this, but a lot of us do it on a daily basis. Since we're not handing over cash these days to pay for things, many people don't think about what they're spending their money on. Coffee everyday, a hamburger, lollies for a sugar fix, porn on the internet, these are usually impulse buys which shouldn't really be done. And do you need those $250 shoes? Your mind says yes but the 10% part of your brain you don't use is saying no...

Lack of education: Were you taught much about budgeting while you were at school? Probably not, and it's probably not a reason for a change in mindset either since your relatives were taught just as much. But with so many different ways of saving with no understanding of what is a good deal could be preventing us from wanting to save. And when you hear about people losing their life savings because they put their money into a failed finance company, you probably feel relieved it wasn't you. And even if you put the money in the bank, is it safe? Perhaps not with all these sub-prime loans floating about.

What can we do about this? Try and change our mindsets. Don't take up credit just because you can, save up a decent deposit before buying a house, try to cut out the majority of your small impulse purchases (only use cash to pay for things if it helps) and get educated. Does anyone have any thoughts on why we aren't saving, or how we can?

How to act during a recession.

This is a follow up to my last entry, which was rather somber. Sorry about that but these are somber times for some people. Although this doesn't necessarily apply to us here in NZ, newsweek published an article about how to survive the recession. I think it's a good read because we can apply some of the tip later on when we are in a recession (or even now since there's a chance we're going to enter one. Some of the good points in the article are:

Leave your retirement investments alone: Right now the share markets are spiraling downwards because of the credit crisis in America. But this isn't a reason to sell since they'll rebound and in 20 years or so you wont notice the loss since your average return will be high. In fact, if you make regular contributions, now would be a good time to make extra contributions since the price of shares now are quite a bargain (relative to probable prices in the future). If you have kiwisaver you can do this easily through internet banking.

Pay down costly debts: This is what I was talking about in my last entry. This applies in good times as well as bad. Since interest rates are so high at the moment, now is a great time to get them paid off.

Stretch out cheap debts: If you have a cheap interest rate, banks and companies will probably be willing to waive fees for voluntary repayments. Why? Because it's a liability for them. They can borrow out that money at the current higher interest rate. People would be willing to pay you to have debt at your low rate, so make sure you take advantage of it and keep it for as long as you can. If you can make extra repayments, pay off other debt if you have it, or put it in the bank (if the interest rates are better), use it towards an emergency fund, or buy things you think you will need in the near future. Take advantage of the cheap debt (it sounds bad, but it really isn't).

Hunt for bargains: The stock prices of the majority of companies has dropped. Some haven't been affected by the credit crisis and have just artificially dropped because of investors' fears. So there are a lot of bargains out there waiting to be discovered. But you must research and understand the company is undervalued before buying a bulk of their shares since it goes against diversity principles. This leads to the next point...

Avoid the urge to get more adventuresome with your investments as a way to make back losses: Were you planning on investing in gold before your portfolio dropped in value? Or are you doing it just because everyone says you should? Or what about derivatives? Or even bank bills if you have a lot of money? NO! Don't try to make up losses by investing in something you don't understand. Go to a professional investment advisor before you do something like that and make sure you understand the risks, the possible returns, and whether it's a good addition to your portfolio before doing anything like that. Otherwise you may as well go and play roulette at the casino. The odds are probably the same except you'll win or lose in a few seconds instead of a few days...

That's some points the article brings up. Do you have any tips of your own? Please share them...