Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for June, 2005

So this article talks about June 26th being tax freedom day for we Canadians. It’s hard to explain to folks who haven’t lived in a land with such a heavy tax load what that means. Half of the money I make goes to various levels of governments as Taxes. I realize that it is the price I pay to live in a great country like Canada (and a wonderful city like Ottawa), don’t get me wrong here, I love where I live, I just wish I didn’t have to pay quite so much for it.

My brother who lives in Texas (pronounced Tax-less) brags of how little folks pay in taxes in Texas and they STILL complain they are paying too much, WTF? How can you even compare?

Well, given tomorrow is Canada Day, folks, enjoy your tax freedom, now you are making money for your CREDITORS –C8j

I am the atypical investor, I love to MAKE money, but I don’t like having to do all the work up front to figure out what is a good investment. I may as well have a BULLS EYE on my back, this is why I shy away from the Financial Planning world and the world of “hot stock tips”. Thanks to getting fried to a crisp by the High Tech Bubble (well I wasn’t that badly burned, but a lot of my retirement went bye-bye), I have become grossly conservative and have shied away from Equities for a good long while.

So I would suggest reading some of the excellent blogs out there, financial newspapers, and such, but BE INFORMED, and for lands sake don’t take HOT STOCK TIPS!

Who was it who said “When your elevator operator starts giving you stock tips, it’s time to get out of the market”? It’s very sound advice! –C8j

Folks,

Now here is a wild and scarey way to try to hood-wink our tax collectors. Go to this site, but for the sake of everyone, don’t do this! Take the book out of your library and read what it entails, make your decision after consulting with folks who know what is going on (not just some nut bags BLOG!).

It sort of starts out oddly, assuming you have $20000 hanging around, but ok, I’ll bite, I have $20,000 hanging around (don’t tell my kids, please). Instead of taking that money and PLUNKING it down on my mortgage (or Line Of Credit in my case), BORROW $20,000 dollars to purchase some Equities (presumably stock), THIS you can write off the INTEREST on the loan, because you are INVESTING. Take the $20,000 you had and plunk it down on your mortgage, now suddenly $20,000 of your mortgage’s interest is now TAX DEDUCTIBLE! Wonderful eh? Well, what happens if you choose the wrong EQUITY (the way I am apt to do)? Evidently the government are looking into this as well, where if you take a loan out to buy EQUITIES they must make MONEY to be able to deduct the interest.

Anyhow, very scarey stuff by me. Just plunk your money down, and save the $20000 up front! Just my opinion –C8j

Financially sometimes it feels like there are no days off, you must continue your diligence every second of every day, but that is not so. Pay yourself monetarily and spiritually, let your mind wander and wonder about things other than money sometimes, and you will be a more rounded person for it. I find not thinking about a problem for a while, continually causes me to think of new ideas about it (the old watched pot not boiling).

Go for a walk, play ball with your kids, enjoy life, and come back refreshed tomorrow! –C8j

OK, I am being lazy doing this, but I am kind of busy today, so here is a little financial humor for you from this site:

Stockbroker: What is a million years like to you?
God: Like one second.
Stockbroker: What is a million dollars like to you?
God: Like one penny.
Stockbroker: Can I have a penny?
God: Just a second …

Must be my stock broker –C8j