Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for the ‘Nortel’ Category

For my regular readers, I am so lazy swamped over the holidays that I am taking some time off and putting up a “Best of” anthology until the New Year (January 4th to be exact). Enjoy two Best of posts a day over the Holidays and have yourself a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

For me the year 2009 was a roller coaster of ups and downs both financially and in my life. As some of you know I worked at Nortel for 20+ years and got laid off at the end of 2008, but I was lucky enough to find a job this year, and I have no complaints about 2009, other than the normal rants my regular readers have seen.

I have picked out three posts that sort of sum up Nortel and me in the past year. I don’t bare any ill will to the folks I worked with at Nortel, they were great, but I still have a festering loathing for the upper management team(s) and some in specific on how this all “went down”. My guess is that Karma, or God or whatever force that makes things equal in this world will get them eventually.

Interesting that I never really had a specific post stating I was back at work, I simply slid it into a Random Thoughts posting.

A Questionnaire for Everything (2009/01/06)

In August as part of the entire severance process that I lived through with my now former employer a few odd things happened and this incident really was the most odd…..

To read complete post click here

Sometimes It’s Better to Be Lucky (2009/01/15)

With Nortel’s bankruptcy protection announcement yesterday there is a sickening scenario for some very unlucky folks (many I know personally). Today’s title comes from one of my favorite expressions, “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than talented”, and that is how I feel right now….

To read complete post click here

A Year Ago (2009/07/30)

This is the one year anniversary of my lay off notice from Nortel. A lot has happened in the past year (unfortunately not a job offer for me, but I am still optimistic), that have me thinking that for something bad, it may end up being a good thing…..

To read complete post click here

Random Thoughts: Back to Work Edition (2009/08/07)

For my regular readers you will know I have been on the hunt for a new job for over a year now, but I am pleased to say that I will be embarking on a new career as of Monday, which is a great relief to me (and to my wife who will gladly have the house back in a regular working order soon enough)……

To read complete post click here

For the Remembrance Day week, there was much to reflect on. We live in a great Country (Canada) and are lucky for those who have fought for us and those in our Armed Forces today. Thank You.

I was also excited to see that the Ottawa Public Library has updated their “Stone Knives and Bearskins” interface and are now testing a brand new interface which I like a great deal (and you can find me on their as bigcajunman as well). Try it out and tell the folks what you think of it.

From the Financial Blogosphere

Given the N.C.F.B.A. met this week, I always feel a level of rejuvenation in my blog, and also a level of confusion, given some of the topics that are discussed by some of the members are well over my head financially. I listen and attempt to learn as much as I can, and then go and read about the topics more (so for me it’s like going to a seminar on high level finance ideas).

• Michael James wrote about Veterans’ Pensions and just how little we pay permanently disabled soldiers and members of the military (shockingly low, but might be tax free).
• Speaking of disabilities the Canadian Capitalist wrote about The Sad Story of Nortel LTD Beneficiaries which is another scandalous issue. These folks are going to lose their benefits (or already have lost them), because of how Nortel ran their program. Read the posting, and then ask yourself how your company does Long Term Disability benefits.
• Soon to be Television Personality Preet at WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo put up a useful video on What is a Mutual Fund for those wanting to learn more about how that investment vehicle works. Preet will hopefully soon be seen on the W Network on a weekly basis, stay tuned.
• Larry MacDonald (who promises to write a follow up one day of his successful book Nortel: Telecomm Empire) writes a useful posting on the Quotable Guide to Passive Investing where he gives you some quips from some very good books about passive investing.
• The Four Pillars asked Should the Government Bail Out Pension Plans? I think my answer is maybe, but they should definitely REGULATE them much more closely! What has been allowed to transpire at GM and Nortel is at least an abomination if not actually criminal.
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade tells you 8 Reasons Why You Don’t Save right on target as usual (wish she wasn’t sometimes).
• Promod at Riscario Insider write about Three Reasons Why Financial Literacy Eludes Us again, wish he wasn’t right.

Have a great weekend all, remember it’s time to put your Snow Tires on!

Yes for me TGIF for the first time in a while (no not, “Toes Go In First” (although I do have that monogrammed on all my socks)). It’s exciting fun and worrying all at once to be back on the job, so we shall see what this new endeavor leads to.

Thanks to all the positive comments I have received this week, but remember there are lots of other folks looking around, so help them out if you can too.

These Guys Is Financial

Another interesting TGIF acronym for the financial articles this week:

• Mark Evans at All About Nortel posts a Final Mark for Mike Z. I think you can guess what that mark might be.
• Canadian Financial DIY has a bone to pick with the Bank of Canada in his post Inflation, Alcohol and the Bank of Canada a Bad Mix?
• The Canadian Capitalist wondered if Higher Taxes are Coming, how else is the Government ever going to get back to a balanced budget?
• Michael James sees some Cracks in the Pension Silver Lining, and it worries me to no end.
• No Debt Plan has finished his MBA but is now wanting to Understand Your Student Loans too, congrats!
• Preet at WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo wrote about the US Debt Clock and how the real one ran out of digits… yikes!
• Larry MacDonald wonders about the Future of Television, given his kids don’t seem very interested in it. Broadcast television model is broken, on demand is the only option left, but how do you make money doing that?

Have a great weekend all, I will be recovering from a long first week (after a year any first week was going to be LONG)

This is the one year anniversary of my lay off notice from Nortel. A lot has happened in the past year (unfortunately not a job offer for me, but I am still optimistic), that have me thinking that for something bad, it may end up being a good thing.

Relaxed

The atmosphere at Nortel had been such that since about 2000, there was a constant feeling of the Sword of Damocles hanging over you. I lived through about 16  lay off rounds in the various groups I had worked in, so the actual lay off was almost a relief in a very odd way.  My minister made that exact comment that since he had first met me every time he spoke to me I mentioned something about impending lay offs, so my eventual lay off was anti-climatic in a perverse way.

Severance Paid

From my calculations I was in the last group (or nearly the last group) that received full severance from Nortel. The people after me are on a long list of creditors who will be paid little or none of what they are owed (or were promised by the company). There are many very sad stories that I have heard from people I used to work with, and I count myself as very fortunate.

The latest stories are sickening to hear that they will be withdrawing payments to people on long term disability, as well as pulling their medical coverage. Hopefully there will be government assistance to these folks, but I am not optimistic.

Pension Losses

I suspect that Nortel’s pension debacle may only be the tip of the ice berg in corporate Canada, with Air Canada already having done this (and doing it again).  I took my pension money out of Nortel when I could, which in hindsight was a great decision but at the time it was more my lack of trust in the company that made me do it, not any great insight.

All pensions these days seem to be under pressure (even the Public Service pension lost $9Billion dollars this past year), which makes me wonder how the retirement of the Baby Boomers is going to go, and whether all pensions can deal with this huge out flux of cash from their reserves?

Reflections So Far

My real view of my lay off last year is that I have been very lucky, and I was lucky to have worked at Nortel/BNR for the time I did. The experience I picked up continues to get me job interviews, and I worked with many wonderful and amazing people, so even at times when I seem to be a “bitter former employee”, I am not, I am grateful for the experience and hope to soon find a new place to ply my trade.

LCBO Strike?

With the LCBO employees about to go on strike, Ontarians have been buying booze like prohibition was about to break out (however the Beer stores will be open). The strike should make for a drier summer if it comes to pass, but again it is a question of the use of “casual” employees (i.e. employees that can’t work enough hours to qualify for benefits). Given this government run monopoly seems to be entrenching to prove a point, looks to be a dry summer in Ontario (well drier any how).

Not sure why folks in Ottawa are that excited, Gatineau is not that far away, and they even have sales for their liquor. Looks like sales at the SAQ is going to go up in Gatineau this summer.

No Nortel on TSX

Nortel delisted on Monday, and thus another sorry Canadian story ends with a whimper and not a bang. Nortel the company will not be back, as it was (it may return much like Mitel did, much smaller and weaker) but maybe that is a good thing. Hopefully the remaining employees will mostly keep their jobs, but for those who have had their pensions torn apart, their severance lost and their savings decimated, not much else can be said either.

Canada is Growing 33,592,686 Strong!

Stats Canada says that in the first quarter of 2009.

Canada’s population increased by 0.26% in the first quarter of 2009, the fastest first-quarter growth rate since 2001.

Cool! Ontario’s population is over 13,000,000 , which is also interested, but I am interested to see where these people moved into, large urban centers would be my guess.