Another Friday arrives with some things to think about this week.
- A bad week for investments with the TSX down 900 points in three days. Is this the bottom? I have no idea. I’ll tell you in a couple of months, but now is the time to stick to your investment plans, and not panic.
- RRSP time continues to be a turbulent one now with the stock market going on a deep plunge, should you not even worry about it and just continue with your plans? That is what I am hoping to do.
- Michael James asks the question, Is Investing Like Surgery? where he asks the question and then argues that the metaphor is flawed. Hopefully, I won’t catch him trying to remove his own appendix next.
- Speaking of RRSPs the Canadian Capitalist is talking about them, with A Review and Contest posting, you still have time to maybe win a book.
- I continue my war on “at work discretionary spending”, and only spent $1.35 this week, I broke down and bought 1 coffee, on an especially bad day. I am off work on Friday and am safe for that day.
- Next week begins my tax collation exercise, so expect an update on my favourite topic, which is The Government Hates Single Income Families.
- On a personal note, I mourn the loss of 7 good young men and their coaches wife on Saturday. Being involved in basketball, this terrible incident struck home with me, as I have spent many weekends driving to and from basketball tourneys (in fact, I am off to Barrie this very weekend). My thoughts are with their coach and the parents of those young athletes.
This Week’s Postings
Random Thoughts 2008
- When 2007 ended we had some Interesting random thoughts.
- For the Beginning of 2008 a good start to things.
- Some Interesting Stats and Random Thoughts for the 2nd week of 2008.
- In the 3rd week of 2008 there were more Random Thoughts
- What was Inflation like in December 2008? These Random Thoughts will tell you.
- Door to Door Scams and higher national debts helped the random thoughts for February.
- Stocks, Universities and some Random Thoughts more interesting quips from February.
- Random Thoughts – Leaky Pipes Edition an advent plumbing angle
P.S. I had some comments around the extra info after the income describing the family life, it’s meant to be a joke. I just wanted to point out the difference for the family. I guess since they were in greater than and less than signs the comment processor stripped them.
That’s the way Canada works. The successful support the less fortunate.
Say for example a family make 60K a year. Since most families don’t make an even amount per person I either did one person making 60K and 2 people making 36K and 24K.
The 60K person according to taxtips.ca would pay 10430 and keep 49570. The worker would come home to supper on the table, groceries done, the kids get to play with their parent after school and go to the park for picnics if they stay home. They have a wonderful dog sparky that’s eager to see the worker when they get home.
The people that made 36K and 24K paid 5772 leaving 54228, but they also paid 6000 in child care expenses leaving 48228. Their kids can’t go to soccer because they have no time. They can’t have pets because they spend too much time working and living after work. They spend far more on take out and low quality quick food because there isn’t enough time in the day to work, get kids and make great meals. Their kids are brought up by a near stranger in a day care facility rather than by a parent.
I dunno, but if I were making 60K, I don’t think I’d be complaining too much.
Thanks for the mention. Have a nice weekend.
Why not? Why must the tax system skew against a traditional single income family? The numbers aside, your argument that “tough poop you are making a lot of money” is unwarranted. Why must the tax system penalize successful people then?
You didn’t look at the arguments about how I am not allowed any write offs of anything that my neighbours can, how is that fair?
Obviously you are in a single income family. In your comparison you give the example that making the same income as a dual income you get to keep more money. Here’s the problem, no one that I have ever seen in the real world can choose “Should I work and make 100K, or should we both work and each make 50K?”
The argument mostly goes like “Holy crap, were going to lose our house because we’re scraping by on my one 40K income and now our house got reassesed and our tax bill is too high, the non-worker needs a job fast making 20K to make up for it and also now we have to pay child care and have transportation so they will be destroying our family for a 5K gain in the end, but that’s what we have to do to live.”
Now argue back about how they should pay the same as a single family with one 60K income. It just doesn’t make sense.