Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for November 22nd, 2006

It may be coming folks! Yes, I am off topic again, but this kind of good news causes me to cut short my lunch and splash out this blog entry for you. The CBC is reporting that Jim Flaherty (no not Count Floyd from SCTV, the finance minister) is looking at having some kind of income splitting available to families.

All I can say, is:

It’s about bloody time!!!!!!

This cut could cost Ottawa almost $5 Billion in tax revenue, but would help single income families like mine immeasurably.

Go for it Joe, I mean Jim! -C8j

If you plan to change how you spend money, save money, invest and do debt reduction, should it “hurt”? Different theories are put forward on this, and I have had some good comments already, but let me state my opinion on this, pain tells us when we are pushing ourselves to our limits. Like in exercise, pain afterwards, means we have worked hard (mind you pain during it is not a good thing).

If what you are doing is causing you to feel short term pain, what kind of pain is it?

• Are you upset that you have to bring your lunch to work in a brown bag, and you hate sandwiches? In this case, let me quote Vince Lombardi, “Suck it up, buttercup!”.
• Are you unable to drive your car because you don’t have enough money to buy gas, because you are trying to pay down debt? Well, if you need your car for your job, then maybe you need to rethink things a little bit.
• Your kids are complaining that they don’t have the $150 running shoes to walk around school in that their friends do. Um, don’t make me quote Vince Lombardi again on that one.
• If your kids aren’t able to do homework because you can’t buy school supplies, then your plan may be a little too drastic.

All plans are living entities, so don’t be afraid to adjust them as needed, but do it for the right reason, and not just so that you can have an extra latte!