This and That: Spendthrift celebrities and more…

1. Add one more star player to the long list of athletes who earned millions but ended up broke. The Boston Globe reported the sad story of Antoine Walker, a Celtics star, who squandered an estimated $110 million in earnings but is now facing fraud charges for writing bad cheques.
2. Larry MacDonald discovers that F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of such books as The Great Gatsby was another careless spendthrift.
3. Canada Savings Bonds are on sale until November 1, 2009. Chaya Cooperberg says there is no need to rush considering the bond pays a minuscule 0.4%.
4. Larry Swedroe asks if technical analysis is a waste of time. You can already guess his answer.
5. In a column in the Globe and Mail, Dan Richards explains how to decide which advisor to work with and how to have the right relationship.
6. Preet asks what’s the point of introducing ETFs such as the BMO Equal Weight Diversified Bank ETF (ZEB) that holds just six stocks.
7. Gail lists the reasons why people mean to succeed financially but still fail.
8. Mr. Cheap grapples with where to draw the line when it comes to socially-responsible investing.
9. Michael James notes that buying bonds directly might work out cheaper than buying bond ETFs such as the new ones from BMO.
10. Million Dollar Journey featured a guest post on how to deal with collection agencies.

Happy Halloween! Have fun trick-or-treating!