Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Bankrupting a New Relationship with an Expensive Wedding

After spending a very enjoyable evening at my brother-in-law’s reception on Saturday night I looked back on my wedding and where we had the right idea, and where we might have gone wrong (financially speaking, I’ll leave the critique on relationships to Mrs. C8j):

• We had our reception as a brunch which was much cheaper and because we only needed the reception room until 3:00 PM, we actually got it for free, as we had booked lots of rooms and we were paying for the meal.
• Because this was brunch very little liquor was served as well.
• The real reception was at my wife’s parents house, so we and her parents bought most of the booze “retail” from the OLC, which was cheaper.
• We didn’t spend too much on a honeymoon (which I view as a regret, but we just couldn’t afford it).
• Both sets of parents gave generously to the blessed event as well (in case they are reading and thinking I am trying to portray this as something I solely paid for).

I am not a believer in blowing huge amounts of cash for a wedding (as you can tell).

Cognos Sold to IBM

IBM has bought local Ottawa Software house Cognos for $4.9B which is interesting. This will make the local software folk in Ottawa nervous, because a BIG hiring point is now changing hands, so what will happen? The fact that IBM can effectively pay cash for this company, shows the relative strength of IBM.

Government Offices Closed for Remembrance Day

Thanks to that my “new to me” car remains on my mechanic’s lot. The car is effectively mine, but not in the eyes of the Provincial Government yet.

Stats Canada published a plethora of interesting statistics yesterday from the 2006 Census that I find quite interesting, and very topical in the area of Personal and Home Finances:

• For the first time there are more unmarried folk over the age of 15 than there are married.
  

  In 2006, more than one-half (51.5%) of the adult population were unmarried, that is, never married, divorced, separated or widowed, compared with 49.9% five years earlier. Conversely, only 48.5% of persons aged 15 and over were legally married in 2006, down from 50.1% in 2001.

• A large increase in 1 person households (i.e. people living alone). More of us living on our own? Interesting, one theory put forward is folks are trying to get themselves together financially and mentally before committing to a long term relationship, and if that is the case, that is a good thing (in my opinion).

The one really interesting statistic for me is the following:

Over the last two decades, one of the trends for young adults has been their growing tendency to remain in, or return to, the parental home. This upward trend has continued over the past five years.

In 2006, 43.5% of the 4 million young adults aged 20 to 29 lived in the parental home, up from 41.1% in 2001. Twenty years ago, 32.1% of young adults lived with their parents.

Among individuals aged 20 to 24, 60.3% were in the parental home in 2006, up from 49.3% in 1986. Among those aged 25 to 29, 26.0% were in the parental home in 2006, up from 15.6% two decades earlier.

So, more an more of us are not becoming “Empty Nesters” in fact we are turning into a “flop house” for our 20 year old kids? That seems to line up with my observations from friends and acquaintances that I know, where kids go off to University to get their degrees, but then returning and moving back into the family home?

I must admit that I was somewhat guilty of that on work terms, but managed to not move back in with my parents after I graduated.

My question is how can you retire if your kids have moved back in with you? I guess if they move back in, and start paying room and board, that might be OK, but if they move back in and resume their role as “child” while pulling in a large salary, I do have problems with that. They keep calling my generation the “Sandwich” generation because we will have to care for both our parents and our children eventually, these statistics seem to imply that may well be the case.

I have attempted to instill in my kids a real desire to leave the house. Useful statements like:

• “You don’t like me harping on you to do your chores? Well if you had your own place, that wouldn’t happen would it?”
• “If you don’t get a summer job, you’ll be watching your brother all summer for me”
• “You want money? Room and board is not enough?”

I am kidding (although I believe in a few spots, I have actually said that to my kids at some time). It is important to get our kids prepared to spread their wings and leave the nest (and then move the NEST).

I am mentioned in the Festival of Under 30’s for May 18 at Money for the Rest of Us they posted my Cancer: Now that I have your attention . Go on over and have a read.

I noticed that I had a bunch of offertory envelopes for Church going back to March, I guess that means I am WAY behind on my givings, and I haven’t been to Church much lately (gulp). Oh well, best to start again as soon as you can, and get back on that pony. Now I know why my Church has a direct withdrawal option (weekly).

An even more interesting survey from Stats Canada says that mixed marriages are dropping in popularity. No I am not talking about inter-racial, or even inter-faith or same sex, I am talking about folks of the same educational background are starting to marry “their own kind” more and more.

The tendency of men and women with the same educational level to be married to one another has increased in both Canada and the United States over the last three decades, according to a new study based on census data.

In Canada, 54% of couples younger than 35 had the same level of education in 2001, up from 42% in 1971. In the United States, 55% of marriages among young adults consisted of couples with the same level of education in 2000, up from 49% in 1970.

Is this educational bias? Intellectual snobbery? Not sure, but it’s an interesting observation, that is for sure.