Observational Personal Finance essays, stories, case studies and how to articles with a distinctly Canadian Point of View, from the Chief Kibitzer of Personal Finance. Paying it forward as best I can.
If you keep building up clutter and you think all you need do is call a Junk Hauler, the price for one load could easily be $1000. How do I know? I hired the Junk Ninjas in Ottawa and they took away a lot of old furniture, and a piano for over $1000. Could I have taken these things to Value Village or the dump myself? Maybe, but I needed this stuff gone fast. It was gone fast.
Clutter and Junk Sure Piles Up Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
The piano I couldn’t give away, and it needed to go. I found out that Value Village does not take bed frames, thus we had to call someone to take away the 4 bedframes (extra) in my house. As I have mentioned, don’t store 3 apartments’ worth of stuff in your house.
This answers the question, does clutter cost money? Yes, it does.
Oh, and if your response is, “We can just put it in a Storage Facility”, you have a big problem. Storage just means you will continue to pay for junk ad infinitum. Clutter and junk are expensive, the longer you keep it the more it is going to cost.
Inflation is back for those who have been somehow living a quiet life entirely off the grid. Inflation is the rising of the: Cost of Living, Consumer Price Index or daily life essentials.
A Flock of Hairdressers
The last time it was this high I was in my 2nd year of University, and a Flock of Seagulls was a big thing. Those heady days of 1983. In those days you could buy a Canada Savings Bond with 19% yearly interest! Who would invest in the Stock Market, if you had less than a 4 year doubling period using CSBs?
Lovely graphics from Stats Canada help us understand where the price explosions are coming from.
All the parts of the CPI graphically shown and how they have increased
When did this all start? Have a look at this graphic, which is very helpful.
12-month change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and CPI excluding gasoline
We had a good run with low inflation, but looks like we are going to have to live with it now, but for how long?
Bank Rates for Past While… looks dramatic, but just wait!
What Shall We Do?
There are plenty of things that can be done if you have the financial ability to do so:
Lower your debt now, while interest rates are low. If you are unable to do that, maybe it is time to talk to a bankruptcy trustee or registered financial planner about what you can do about this. Things are not going to get better very soon.
Time to think about a budget again. Yes, budgets are very old-fashioned, but so was Inflation until a few months ago. If you have no budget, how do you know how Inflation is affecting you. If you have the ability to reign in your spending habits, now is the time.
Nortel still paying out like a slot machine! Rarely, and in minimal amounts.
After my layoff back in 2008, a tiny portion of my severance was still not paid. Due to Nortel’s bankruptcy, they did not pay off severance and many other debts. Nortel is slowly getting around to paying a small amount of its remaining debts, including my remaining severance.
The unpaid part was only about 1% of the total pot of money, that was my severance package. I was lucky I got most of my money before the bankruptcy.
I Love Nortel
Nortel continues through the courts, and yesterday I got a cheque for $10.41. I have received a little more than 1/2 of the outstanding funds with this amount. The payout has been over about 11 years.
Many folks were owed much more money, and I am unsure whether they received 50% of what was owed to them. The impact of Nortel’s bankruptcy on these folks was much worse.
Thanks, Nortel, or should I say Ernst & Young, who are the Monitor for Nortel Networks Limited.
Previously this was not automatic. A submission had to be sent to the CRA to prove that the disability was life interrupting, the same as for Autism and other conditions. I had heard instances of folks with Type 1 Diabetes, who had an insulin pump being denied a Disability Tax Credit by the CRA. I have no direct knowledge of this, but it didn’t surprise me.
Of Inflation, space rock TZ3 and Interest which is most likely to do the most damage? Currently, Inflation and Interest rates are more likely, as TZ3 will miss the Earth by about 5 million kilometres. Rumour has it Pierre Poilievre is planning on firing TZ3 if Interest Rates go any higher (if he becomes PM). Maybe I have that story a little off, still need to confirm that one.
Inflation continues on at about 6.7% with gas prices in Ottawa high (between $1.85 and $1.99 per litre). Interest rates look to be putting a crimp in the “red hot” real estate world, but that remains to be seen.
The Ontario Provincial Election is a topic of conversation. Plenty of muck flying, accusations and outright lies being told (on all sides). Politics need to make everything a red panic button is becoming a bit overdone. The Ontario Party is attempting to add a more American feel to the election. Mercifully it is a relatively short election period.
Some Useful Financial Data for Canadians as of May 13th, 2022
Stay on Topic!
Various folks, including one of the advertising firms I use continue to berate me for not staying on topic. Frankly, I ignore those commentaries, I write about what interests me. With that in mind, I am adding an exciting new section. I would also have to figure out what the main topic of this site is, which might be harder than I think.
Books I Am Reading
Those who know me, know I am actually listening to these books while I commute to the office. Yes, I am an “in the office” kind of guy.
Creativity A Short and Cheerful Guide by John Cleese (Audible)(OPL)
This is an hour-long audiobook or a booklet, so an easy read. It is Mr. Cleese chatting about what he thinks creativity is and how it works. The book reaffirmed a few ideas I had seen about your brain working on things, even when you didn’t think you were. If you really don’t want to waste your time reading this, just watch a YouTube video from 1992, which effectively is the same thing. I am not allowed to include it, so just click here to watch it.
Cheated: The Inside Story of the Astros Scandal and a Colorful History of Sign Stealing (Audible)
An interesting set of allegations about the infamous Astros/MLB cheating scandal of 2018. It is also a very interesting set of stories about alleged cheating (specifically sign stealing) in Major League Baseball throughout the years. There were many examples I was unaware of, so I found them enlightening. If you love baseball, this is worth a read. If you wouldn’t know a spitball from a hairball, you might want to give this one a pass.
The Latest from Me
Had a sudden eruption of writing the past few weeks, we shall see if I can keep up this momentum
School Fees as a Medical Expense is a follow-on, talking about how if the CRA agrees, you can claim your child’s school fees or tutoring as a medical expense.
Other folks’ writings
Michael James does another book review (but on topic, as it is about investing.) with Trillions. Where did Index Funds come from? This book tries to help answer that question, sounds like a good read. (amazon link)
Tawcan talks about Evermore Retirement ETFs (a review), which is a topic I was unaware of. ETFs, with dates on them when they change their investing focus? An interesting concept, and if they have low MERs, so much the better.
For some very odd reason Hardbacon, a Canadian financial site, mentions me as one of the Top 70 Money Influencers in Canada in 2022 ? It even mentions me by my actual name, and I applaud them for “doing the research”. Oddly, Michael James isn’t mentioned? Strange, really.
When Oligarchs tweet, they really should let their “fixer” see it first. I had bosses that would insinuate this kind of, “you aren’t working hard enough” stupidity. Wonder why no one wanted to work for them?
Elon Musk: Tesla boss praises Chinese workers and says Americans try ‘to avoid going to work at all’ OR Oligarch complains that there is not enough slavery in the USA ? I think my headline is a little more on target.#Oligarch#Slavery@psac_afpc https://t.co/YBu44KmGjy
Rounders is a movie I really liked. It was before the big Poker craze (which might have even caused it). Unfortunately (for Matt Damon), an adage he made has aged far too well.
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