Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Tuition Bill Arrives

So along with dealing with a possible severance package and possibly having my income terminated, the bill arrived for my daughter’s fall term at the out of town University she wishes to attend. The bill along with the purchase of her books is a little lower than we expected (the bill includes her residence costs as well). What interests me is that with this she gets a Health and Dental group insurance, which means my daughter will have health benefits, even if the rest of the family doesn’t.

The bill is not a shock but it asks an important question, do I tell my daughter that she must stay in town to save the family money? My answer is in the next paragraph, but I have had friends who have said, that is the prudent thing to do.  Don’t sign up for a large expense that may be deteremental to the family purse, if there is a chance there is no income in the future.

I have not even discussed this with my daughter, I will find a way to get her to school this year, and if things really go south, she can then benefit from O.S.A.P. or other support systems, and I am willing to “gamble” on my abilities to find a job, if it means my daughter will attend the school she wants to attend. We have the money now (in RESP’s at least for the first little while) and I feel this is a good investment.

We also found out that my daughter missed out on a scholarship by 1.2 points (she had an average of 81.3 and she needed 82.5), guess it’s not an “aces” week financially for us, but we’ll get by.

First Interview

I had my first interview today (since my severance) and it seemed to go ok. It felt good being in an interview and the interviewer (it was an internal interview at my current employer) was complimentary on my experience so that was very encouraging as well. I didn’t feel lost or out of place, so that is a start to my journey.

My Resume Does Suck

After a short primer on how to write an effective resume, I am of the opinion now that while my resume sucks it will get better very soon. Lots of good pointers on how to capture a readers attention and how to phrase things so that they sound like accomplishments and not just a chronological diary of duties. I will take a few more courses and read a few more books on this topic, because the resume is an important tool for job searching. My resume is currently far too long, but edit’ing is one of my skills.

Happy Birthday Dear

Amongst all of this it is the woman who helps me get through all of this Birthday. I am lucky to be her partner and I am thankful every day I am with her.

Told you the blog might take a few interesting turns this week