Whether its my house, my parent’s house or a friend’s, I noticed that everyone seems to have a spare drawer- usually in the kitchen- where they keep “stuff”. I called it the junk drawer growing up and it is the misc. drawer in my condo. The drawer has a hodge-podge of everything-from old coupons to seldom used tools to unopened shot-sized bottles of booze someone gave me for my birthday three years ago. Friday’s in personal finance blogging world is like the junk drawer of blogs- you empty out your half-thoughts, random musings and say hello to friends via links. Thus, I wanted to clear out some odds and ends before the weekend:

• Its getting cold in the morning again. A friend from Edmonton emailed me to say it was 1 degree yesterday morning. Hope you have loaded up on your natural gas stocks when it was cheaper in the summer. It may still be a good time to do so before the leaves turn color and with the market so focused on financial and real estate stocks. Transcanada Corporation (TSX: TRP) and Enbridge Inc (TSX: ENB) are well off their year highs and are great dividend paying stocks. Please note I own TRP and please do your own research and due diligence before buying anything.
• Speaking of dividends, Derek Foster, someone who retired in his 30′s on the proceeds of dividends, has a new book out called the Lazy Investor. Canadian Dream: Free at 45 has a review on the book.
• Charlie asked me yesterday about the tax treatment of non-Canadian dividend paying stock. Assuming you file a U.S. Form 8, there is a 15% withholding tax on the dividend declaration; I do not believe you are taxed as income. U.S. dividends within a RSP are not subject to any withholding tax.
• I have been wondering lately what effect the upcoming U.S. Presidential election will have on the current credit bubble. The Republicans are in trouble in both the White House and in the Senate and no ruling party wants to go into the election during an economic down-turn or recession. There’s also a lot of political banter about a fully funded health care system which could cut into the pharma industry. Will the Republicans pass enough economic incentives to keep the economy going? If the Democrats win, what does this mean for big pharma? Anyone care to predict?
• Don’t forget next week features two competing posts from residential real estate investors on why you should or shouldn’t become a real estate investor. The week after, I’ll have a guest blogger on tips on buying a brand new house. To take a page out of HGTV, Wednesdays will become real estate Wednesday’s from now on.

Have a great weekend.