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Comedian and commentator Rick Mercer’s distinct take on Canadian politics and social issues can be caught on the Rick Mercer Report every Tuesday at 8 p.m. on CBC. In our series on the financial habits of notable Canadians Mercer told the Toronto Star’s Emily Mathieu about his $19,500 row house, why trying to make a living in show business is a gamble and why entertainers, thanks to the nature of their industry, tend not to retire.

How did your childhood influence your attitude toward money?

My parents were pathological about living within their means and there simply wasn’t a lot of money. So as a family there were no trips to Florida but lots of camping trips, the driveway wasn’t paved (still isn’t) but there was money for music lessons, the house is small and had one bathroom for a family of six but it was paid for.

For people who had relatively little money my parents didn’t actually stress about money because they avoided debt. They certainly made a lot of sacrifices. As kids we knew that they would help out with post secondary education, for example, but the entire time I was growing up I doubt my father ever paid more than a thousand dollars for a truck, and he would paint them with a brush. I can’t actually think of anything that my father needed that he bought new.

Even now if I mention to Dad that I went to Canadian Tire and bought a lawn mower I know what he is thinking “Hmm, bought a new lawn mower, fool and his money”.

What was the best financial advice they passed on?

My father said never loan money to friends or at least never loan money and expect it back. If you are in a position to help a friend that’s great and you are in fact obligated to, but don’t expect it back. He was adamant that allowing a friendship to be damaged because of bad feelings around money is inexcusable.

What was your first big purchase?

My first house. I was 19 years old, I paid $19,500 for a very skinny row house, attached on both sides, attached to 20 other houses and a Chinese take out. The house was essentially condemned; it came with a huge binder of work orders from the city of St. John’s.

I was the cliché of a starving actor and actually couldn’t afford to live in an apartment. Owning the house allowed me to live on my own and concentrate on working in comedy. My cousin and a few friends rented rooms for $75 bucks a month. I financed it with $4,000 down which was money that my parents had planned to give me for university. I had payments of $300 dollars a month on a $15,000 dollar bank loan. The down payment from my parents was a hand up that changed my life.

How do you prefer to pay, cash, card or debit?

I have no preference no fax payday loans. But I’m careful to pay off my cards monthly. Which I understand is a luxury.

Do you bank online?

Very little.

What has been your savviest investment?

Canadian Banks. Boring old Canadian Banks back in the early 90s.

Have you learned any financial lessons the hard way?

Yes I have and the tip I would give for anyone who is playing around in the market is to avoid people with hot tips.

What advice would you give to people about to enter the entertainment industry?

It depends on what area. There are lots of very good stable jobs in the entertainment industry. It’s an exciting industry. That said if a young person says they want to be a professional actor or musician I generally say don’t. A person doesn’t become an actor, a musician or a dancer because other people encouraged them, they do it because they have to, it is in their blood and they can’t imagine doing anything else.

If you can imagine doing something else you should probably concentrate on that. Being an artist or a performer is a very difficult life, there is no job security. In show business you can’t make a living but you can make a killing, it is a big gamble.

Was there a moment in your career where you felt you had achieved financial security?

Yes and no I don’t care to elaborate.

Do you worry about retirement?

I don’t worry about retirement but I do worry about not working. One of the great things about being an actor or a writer is you never have to stop working. I look forward to playing a crotchety old man.

But all actors worry about not working. When I bump into Gordon Pinsent he will talk about work, where the next job is, etc. He’s worked more than almost any actor alive, he could have retired comfortably decades ago but he is an actor and that’s what actors do, they worry about their next job.

Can money buy happiness?

It certainly doesn’t hurt. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Money can mean not having to worry about paying the bills and there is no doubt about it for the vast majority of people that is the number one cause of stress in their life. But it all comes back to living within your means.

I’m sure there are people with massive salaries and five million dollar cottages in Muskoka they visit for two weeks a year stressing about bills at the end of the month. So one thing we do know is money can’t buy smarts.

Are money and success the same thing?

Absolutely not.

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A former executive of KV Pharmaceutical Co. has accused the Bridgeton-based drug maker of cheating her out of stock options.

Melissa Hughes, the company’s former vice president of human resources, filed a lawsuit Oct. 28 in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County. Her suit was transferred recently to federal court in St. Louis.

Hughes, who resides in St. Charles County, worked at KV from 2003 until 2010.

KV executives could not be reached for comment.

According to the lawsuit, KV awarded Hughes a stock option plan in February 2009, which granted her the right to purchase 40,000 shares of KV’s Class A common stock at $2.95 per share. Two months later, the suit alleges, KV gave her a “retention incentive” that granted her the right to purchase an additional 10,000 shares of Class A common stock at $1.52 per share.

The retention incentive, the suit alleges, was given “for the purpose of retaining her as a key employee with critical and confidential knowledge concerning the financial well-being of the company” because the loss of Hughes and other key workers would have resulted in an exodus of talented employees.

In exchange for continuing to work at KV, the suit alleges, Hughes continued to work at the drug maker “and diligently pursued their economic objectives, and did so at great peril to her long term financial well-being” as the company verged on bankruptcy during the period from April 2009 through September 2010 payday loan lenders.

KV officials acted in bad faith by failing to inform her that her stock options could not be exercised due to the company’s delays in filing its 2009 and 2010 annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the suit alleges. In addition, the suit alleges that KV officials repeatedly blocked Hughes’ attempts to exercise her stock options in 2010 and 2011.

According to the suit, KV’s former chief executive David Van Vliet told Hughes that her stock options “would be worth $2 million,” but the suit did not specify what period of time Vliet may have referenced. Vliet could not be reached Friday for comment.

Hughes claims that during the time period when she attempted to exercise her stock options from June 2010 to June 2011, the fair market value of KV stock was well above the option purchase price as set forth in her stock option agreements.

According to Bloomberg News, the average price of KV’s common shares during that time period was $3.17, with a low of 61 cents and a high of $13.07.

Hughes was notified last June that KV’s board of directors had canceled her stock options because they had expired before being exercised, the suit alleges.

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Property and casualty insurer Alleghany Corp. has agreed to buy the insurer Transatlantic Holdings Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $3.4 billion.

The companies say the deal values Transatlantic at about $59.79 per share. That’s a 10 percent premium to the company’s $54.43 Friday closing stock price.

New York-based Transatlantic had been courted by several businesses, receiving takeover offers from Validus Holdings Ltd. and a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., National Indemnity Corp. It also said in October that it had started confidential talks with an unnamed party.

In the deal with Alleghany, Transatlantic stockholders will receive 0.145 shares of Alleghany and $14.22 in cash for each share they own.

The companies say the deal announced Monday is expected to close early next year.

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The bottom line is that Germany is likely to be the last man standing. The Euro is important to them and the responsibility for saving it will be decided in Berlin - not Paris, Brussels, or Frankfurt. It will be messy and will involve revamping the main treaty - the Treaty of Lisbon cashadvance.

Cam Harvey provides an overview of some of the finer points. Click here for blog.

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J.M. Smucker Co. said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter net income fell 15 percent as the food maker’s ingredient costs increased.

The maker of Folger’s coffee, Jif peanut butter and its namesake spreads, like most of its food maker peers, has raised prices to offset soaring costs for ingredients. But companies face a tricky balance between covering costs and not alienating consumers with higher prices. Smucker’s total volume fell 1 percent during the quarter.

Meanwhile, the company’s cost for goods such as oil, flour, milk and peanuts rose 30 percent.

“We are effectively managing this period of significant cost inflation,” said CEO Richard Smucker in a statement. Raising prices on products helped the company grow revenue 18 percent.

Orville, Ohio-based J.M. Smucker earned $127.2 million, or $1.12 per share, from August through October. That compares with $149.7 million, or $1.25 per share, in the same quarter last year.

Excluding one-time items, net income totaled $1.29 per share. That fell short of analyst expectations of $1.39 per share, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose to $1.51 billion from $1.28 billion last year. Analysts expected $1.5 billion.

Shoppers bought more items such as Pillsbury baking mixes and Jif peanut butter, but sales of non-branded drinks, Crisco oils, Folgers coffee and Pillsbury flour fell.

Ingredient costs, particularly for green coffee and peanuts, are expected to remain high for the rest of the year, and the company plans further price increases through April, the end of its fiscal year

Coffee has been an increasing focus for J.M. Smucker. It announced in October that it was buying a chunk of Sara Lee Corp.’s North American coffee and tea foodservice operations for $350 million. The two companies also announced plans at the time for a long-term partnership to work on a new liquid coffee drink.

On Thursday, J.M. Smucker also lowered its full year guidance due to costs related to issuing $750 million in long-term debt in October.

It now expects earnings, excluding restructuring, merger and integration costs and other one-time items, to be $4.90 to $5, from a prior range of $5 to $5.15 per share. Analysts expect net income of $5.11 per share.

The news came as J.M. Smucker said it is recalling 3,000 16-ounce jars of its Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter Chunky from stores in several states because of possible salmonella contamination.

Another 16,000 jars included in the recall never left warehouses.

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The millions that Jon Corzine amassed as head of Goldman Sachs have become an alluring target for investors who were crushed by the collapse of MF Global, the brokerage firm he led until earlier this month.

And Corzine isn’t the only one who may be financially vulnerable after the eighth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Others include MF Global’s other top executives; its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers; and some big Wall Street banks.

Even MF Global itself, which can’t be sued while in bankruptcy protection, could sue its former executives.

Corzine and other senior executives likely share a liability insurance policy to cover potential lawsuits against them. But experts say potential damages sought could well exceed the limits of their policy.

Corporate bankruptcy is a “litigation nightmare: Everyone ends up suing everyone,” said Charles Elson, a professor and director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “The officers and directors are in for a lot of litigation.”

Private litigation has already begun. At least two class-action lawsuits on behalf of MF Global shareholders have been filed against Corzine and three other top executives. They accuse the firm and its top executives of making false and misleading statements about MF Global’s financial strength, internal controls and cash balances.

MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31 after a disastrous bet on European government debt. In just a week, stock investors lost about $585 million, the shareholders say.

More than $600 million in clients’ money is still missing. Regulators say MF Global moved the money out of client accounts within days as the firm’s cash dried up.

No one at MF Global has been charged with a crime or civil violation. But regulators and the FBI and other criminal investigators are investigating MF Global’s failure, and Corzine has hired a prominent white-collar defense attorney.

A public relations firm hired by Corzine declined to comment Monday. An MF Global spokeswoman had no immediate comment. And Corzine’s lawyer didn’t immediately a return call.

It isn’t clear just how much money Corzine is worth. He spent roughly $100 million of his fortune to win a U.S. Senate seat and the New Jersey governorship. In 2005, the last full year that he was a U.S. senator, he was estimated to be worth between $125 million and $175 million.

Corzine’s disclosure filings as governor, through 2009, provide less detail on his finances. They do show he held interests in real estate partnerships, investment companies, hedge funds and private equity funds.

After the MF Global bankruptcy, Corzine declined to take his $12 million severance pay.

Legal experts say Corzine could be held personally liable for misrepresenting to investors the risks that the firm had taken payday advance online.

MF Global didn’t list the European debt on its balance sheet for all to see. Instead, those holdings were shifted to the company’s “off-balance sheet,” deep in its financial statements. Some separate filings with regulators excluded the European debt entirely.

Under a 2002 anti-corporate fraud law _ which Corzine co-wrote as a U.S. senator _ CEOs of public companies must personally certify the accuracy of their company’s financial statements.

If client money was used by the firm for its own purposes, Corzine could be held responsible, said Thomas Ajamie, an attorney who specializes in financial fraud cases.

“That would be the house gambling with customers’ money,” Ajamie said.

Other top MF Global executives also could face legal jeopardy, experts say. And members of the board of directors could be accused of failing to properly oversee Corzine’s trading strategy and the firm’s risk management.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, MF Global’s auditors, could be targeted, too. So could the Wall Street banks that put up money for floating the firm’s own bonds.

With MF Global in bankruptcy, new potential litigants could step forward, in addition to civil and criminal authorities and shareholders. The trustee the bankruptcy court appointed will conduct an investigation and could sue top executives on behalf of the company to recover money for creditors.

“Anyone who has a deep pocket gets sucked in,” Elson said.

Major companies typically provide liability insurance for top executives and their directors. The insurance covers the legal costs in case they’re sued by shareholders or others and the damages they might have to pay.

The insurance provides a single pot of money for executives and board members, usually in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Companies offer the insurance as a perk to recruit executive talent, experts say. The insurance kicks in if executives or directors are accused of breaches of duty and “wrongful acts” that stop short of fraud, such as misstatements to investors.

Experts say the damages or penalties that could be sought in MF Global’s case could far outstrip executives’ insurance coverage. That’s because multiple parties could sue each executive or director for tens of millions. The payouts could exceed each official’s share of the coverage.

Craig Welin, a lawyer at Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato, which specializes in bankruptcy and financial litigation, said he thinks Corzine could be tied up in litigation for five to 10 years.

“They’ll be looking under every rock,” Welin said. “And if that rock has deep pockets, they’ll look even closer.”

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Bangkok authorities are telling more residents to leave as floodwaters threaten southwestern neighborhoods in the Thai capital.

Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said people should evacuate three neighborhoods due to surging water levels. He said Sunday pumps were operating around the clock and more pumps were being added to help drain the water.

Still, floodwaters are receding elsewhere. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said previously the city center would have light flooding if the water penetrated that far but western areas of Bangkok were threatened with inundation savings account payday advance.

The national death toll from floods since late July has reached 536. More than 13.1 million people _ one in five Thais _ are affected.

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Embattled Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is preparing to start talks to try to form a four-month coalition government, aimed at securing continued rescue funds for the near-bankrupt eurozone country.

Papandreou is due to meet President Karolos Papoulias at noon (1000GMT) Saturday, hours after winning a confidence vote in the Socialist-led parliament on a pledge that he was willing to step aside and form a cross-party caretaker government.

But it remains unclear whether the main opposition conservatives and other parties will take part in the talks and abandon their demand for a snap general election.

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U.S. workers increased their productivity this summer by the largest amount in a year and half, and they cost their employers less. The trend is good for corporate profits but not necessarily for job growth.

The Labor Department says productivity rose at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the July-September quarter after two straight quarterly declines. Labor costs dropped at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the third quarter, the first decline since late 2010 pay day loan lenders.

Productivity is the amount of output per hour of work. The big jump in productivity in the third quarter reflected the fact that economy had its best quarterly growth in a year while hours worked were little changed.

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