Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Dedwydd!

Yes, I managed to forget that it was Saint David’s Day on March 1st. so to my Welsh brethren a belated Happy Saint David’s Day, wish.

No You Aren’t Married to Him

An amusing story arose from our application for an RDSP for our son. We applied in November and the account was set up (see New Programs are Never Easy for more details on that saga), and we thought all was fine (with the exception of being unable to access it via my TD Waterhouse on line log in), but things are not as they seem ever, when it comes to some interesting programs.

We got a call last week asking for us to resubmit some of our identification documents because there seemed to be a problem with our application with the RDSP (specifically the grant portion from the Government). We resubmitted them, thinking not much more of it, however, we then received a letter saying we were rejected from the grant portion of the program due to identification irregularities.

Welsh Flag

Now, as background to this story, my wife never officially changed her name when we got married, she simply started using my last name, and for the past 22 years it has not been an issue with the CRA, or any other government agency, but, that has changed. We got told that she must go change her SIN card to match her married name (at least) or she was not going to be eligible to receive CPP benefits and our son would not be eligible for the RDSP grant program either.

I am actually chuckling at this whole thing, but it did force my wife to officially take my last name as hers (at least on her SIN card), but I am curious to find out when they are going to make her change her Birth Certificate to match (at an other inopportune moment in our lives no doubt).

Never assume that just because the Government hasn’t complained about something that they are not displeased with you, seems to be the moral of this story.

For those who don’t realize it, today is Shrove Tuesday (aka Pancake Tuesday). This day means Lent starts tomorrow, and in New Orleans we have Mardi Gras festival as well (although I am not sure they have stopped partying since they won the Super Bowl).

The word Shrove, is the past tense of the English verb shrive which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Doesn’t sound like it is much to do with pancakes, now does it? Evidently we are also supposed to make merry and enjoy ourselves before we go to Lenten confessions (I like the first part, the second is not as likely).

Financial Shrove Tuesday

NO! I am not saying you should go out and blow your finances up before you start your Lenten Financial Journey, far from it. You can have some fun, but all in moderation. If you plan on giving up your daily Latte, then have 1 last one on Tuesday, and savour it. If you plan on brown bagging your lunch for Lent, then maybe a lunch out is OK, however, don’t splurge! If you plan on using cash, maybe it’s time to find a really good hiding spot for your credit cards (or maybe you should visit your bank and put them all away in your safety deposit box). If you are planning on reading some books on Personal Finance, today might be the day to get them out of the Library.

Make sure you have some pancakes too.

Random Acts of Kindness Week?

Forgot to mention that it is Random Acts of Kindness week (I would not kid about this topic), so if you were thinking about doing a Random Act of Kindness, this would be the week to try them out.

A few ideas:

• When in line at a Drive Thru (preferably a coffee shop), offer to pay for the next car’s coffee as well
• Clear your neighbour’s driveway if it is covered in snow (especially if you have a snowblower).
• Give the toll booth attendant a $20 bill and tell her to pay for as many cars that follow as possible.
• Phone up a local kids sports team and ask if they have a fund to help pay for less fortunate kids to play, and give them some money.

These are only a few trite examples, you know how you can help out, so do so. Anybody care to comment on what they may have done so far this week?

For my Buddhist readers, a belated Happy Parinirvana Day. May we all reach that level of enlightenment in our lives (some day).

Video: Madoff Saga

It seems PBS is being quite liberal with their video library so here is a very interesting clip about the Madoff Affair, an interesting view from one of Bernie’s “partners”, sounding very disingenuous (IMHO). Any time someone claims, “As God is my witness…”, I start getting figity:

Yes the most special day for amorous lovers of Personal Finance is coming on Sunday. Now all good Financial Bloggers know that Saint Valentines is actually the patron saint of all finances, or something like that, and keeping that in mind in this post I will make some suggestions for that special someone that you want to show Financial Servitude too.

Financial Valentines Gifts

This list while not exhaustive is in fact the first such list compiled (this year, on this blog) and should be held with great reverence:

• For the kids, don’t waste your money on chocolates or candies, simply put money into their festive Valentines RESP! Nothing says financial planning than a Registered Education Savings Plan, and your kids will thank you for it (in about 15 years, this year, they may not be as happy with you (re: not giving candy)).
• For yourself, maybe it’s time to set up a Valentine’s TFSA, where you could treat yourself and buy some Chocolate (or invest in Nielsen, who makes chocolate). The TFSA is really at the heart of Saint Valentine’s day traditions in the 21st century.
• Nothing shows your wife or significant other Saint Valentine’s spirit than a Bouquet, of Shredded Credit Cards. This is a great gift because it shows you care enough to make a gift for your loved one, and you have shredded (and cancelled) all of their credit, and that shows how committed you are to your financial future.
• Another gift that your loved one would be able to cherish is a visit to the Spa (well, not technically a Spa, more like a Financial Planners office, which is really a Financial Spa, so it is close). There you can spend hours planning your future life together and set the goals that will allow you to live happily ever after.
• Take your Vacation Fund and make a Saint Valentine’s Day Mortgage Overpayment, and thus shorten your mortgage by 2 months, your family will thank you (in 20 years), but think how much interest you will save!
• Remember what season you are in, so get yourself a romantic, Saint Valentine’s RRSP payment! You lower your taxes, and that means you have some extra money for the next item.
• It’s not Valentine’s Day if the Dad’s don’t get Mums something naughty, so how about some Financial Debt Load Lingerie. Think of your debt like your wife’s underwear (and nowhere else on the Internet, would you ever find that stretch of your imagination except here), thus the skimpier, the better! You don’t want your loved one wearing baggy (but comfortable) Granny Panty Debt Load (i.e. large and uncomfortable debt) so see ee if you can convince your wife to receive a Financial Debt Load G-String! (i.e. very small and very comfortable).

Yes, I am having you on (this is what happens when I go on training and the course gets a little dull, and I also listen to Stephen Colbert while stuck in traffic).

What I am saying is that bankrupting yourself buying a dozen roses and fighting your way into a reservation at a swanky restaurant, while somewhat romantic, can have it’s down side as well.

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.

The year ticks down, I trust you have completed all of your essential end of year stuff, and yes here is some other interesting things to think about too!

Eating Your Own Dog Food (2009/06/30)

Interesting turn of phrase I have seen used to mean a few different ideas in the software development world and in a few other places as well……

Click here for the complete Post

Don’t Buy the Model Home  (2009/03/18)

I was chatting with my fellow financial bloggers a few days ago and mentioned to Larry MacDonald about how I had purchased one of the model homes in my area and the issues I had run into having done this and he encouraged me to expand on this for a post here….

Click here for the Complete Post

Registered Disability Savings Plan(2009/11/04)

This relatively new savings vehicle introduced by the Government a while ago, has been taking a while to appear as a Savings Vehicle in many of the banks. I have been checking with TD for a while, but they have finally come out with their version of the RDSP . …….

Click here for the complete post

My wife and I spent about an hour working with our TD/Waterhouse rep attempting to set up an RDSP. Luckily the rep had already pre-read as much information was available from TD (i.e. not very much), and so we spent 45 minutes filling in paper forms.

What really had my head spinning was:

• The large volume of paper forms (that will have the same information transferred to a computer later)
• The repition of the exact same information

The number of times, my wife’s name, address, and other info was awesomely bad. The reason we were given is because this is a new program for TD the enrollment is not automated, and hopefully one day they will automate it, because this paper trail stuff is really for the birds. I had to live through this last year when I opened a Retirement Fund, but I believe I have an answer as to why all this paperwork is necessary.

Each group inside of TD (and any other bank I would guess) that is part of the RDSP system (e.g. accounting, trading, web interface, etc.,) want information, so they design a form that will get all the information they want. The better way would be to have a single larger form which is then shared with all the groups involved in the savings vehicle set up, but I would guess, there are no bonuses paid internally at TD (or most other banks) to streamline customer interface systems, thus the problem is unlikely to be solved in the near future.

I was also dismayed to hear that the RDSP will not be hooked into the on line banking capabilities any time soon either.

I see this constantly with large firms, that each individual “fiefdom” of technology or information inside the firm feels they are omnipotent and worse still, isolated, from other groups, so they simply attempt to make their own lives simpler, and figure out what small part of a larger problem they have, and optimize the solution for their purposes only.

I would bet there are a few consultants out there making a bloody fortune wandering around to large firms and telling them to stop letting their individual groups solve issues at the sub-micron level and to start creating Macro solution teams instead.

I don’t mean to pick on TD, but this period of time got me thinking about when I deal with Bell, Rogers, Any Bank, Hospitals and other customer facing industries/companies it is rare you run into a Customer Initiation system that makes it easy for a new customer to be created.