The CBC had an interesting story about a disabled person who had both legs removed, who had to re-file to keep their disability claim (effectively to prove their legs had not grown back). While this sounds horrible, it was most likely an admin error at the CRA, as normally they are pretty good on the disability claim side of things. The CBC however also trumpeted, Delay at CRA hurting disabled Canadians, advocates say, which is sensationalized, but has some ring of truth. The entire disability claim system is complicated and quite daunting for a lot of folks, if you want proof check out my article CRA Child Disability Benefit (How To) and the 160 comments on it from various folks asking for help. The article also talks about the private firms that folks engage to help the process that end up gouging their customers (in my opinion), which I outline in Disability Tax Credit: Please Do It Yourself. No one should be profiting on someone’s disability claim. I also agree with the assertion that the system needs to be made simpler for the average person to make a claim, or there needs to be more help for those folks. The CRA does have a Nurse on call that can help out with disability claims, if you tweet their account (so keep that in mind as well).
Sad to hear we have lost another great musician with the death of Prince this week. Remember folks, your hero age the same way you do. I never saw Prince live, but evidently it was something else.
Remember that your tax deadline is April 30th, and there is no extension planned by the CRA. You had your chance to have free Turbotax, although I have 5 licenses to give away, and only 3 comments on my giveaway post, who knows?
The Queen turns 90, and continues to work a withering (to me) schedule of events. I have problems getting to work in the morning, and this nonagenarian still works harder? I gotta step up my game, God Save the Queen!
My Writings for the Week Ending April 22nd
Another week where I wasn’t overly motivated to write. I assume this is a short lull, so I continue to find older writings from my archive of over 220 unfinished posts, with A Personal Spending Surplus ? If you have a spending surplus, you should pay off debt, and then once that is done, you should save it, stop lifestyle creep!
A Money Thought
Time is the only limited resource in your financial plan, keep that in mind!
No More Half Measures (financially)
What happens when an accountant attends the Rock & Roll hall of fame? Read about it when Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter declares, Rock On! I was happy to see one of my favourite bands from my youth Cheap Trick get into the Hall, however, I am disappointed that Bun E. Carlos is no longer in the band. Yes, I have interests outside of this blog.
Nice to read a story about an athlete who kept his (or her) money safe, and evidently Marshawn Lynch never spent a Dime of the $50 M he earned. Good for him (and how can you dislike a guy who loves skittles?). On the other side of the coin Johnny Manziel has been dropped by yet another agent, and will soon be the answer to the trivia question, “Name the latest Heisman trophy winner who flamed out in the NFL?”.
One of my favourite Browns fans is Robb from Boomer and Echo, however, Marie writes about Withdrawing From Your Retirement Nest Egg. Why would you do that? Hopefully for a very good reason. Are you a couple? Frugal Trader gives us, Banking as a Couple – BMO PlanShare Review , have a read if you are a couple. Speaking of investing the Canadian Couch Potato asks Are Target Date Funds Right For You? Have a read, you might be surprised.
Kerry from Squawkfox was on the Marylin Denis show to talk about The Best Ways to Sell Your Stuff Online, and she also talks about her knickers? Saucy thing, oh you need flash to play the video on the site (sorry, I am trying to go Flash free). I have sold things on Facebook, so it can be done! One reason to sell things might be if an economic downturn happens, but Barry from Money We Have tells us about Preparing your finances in case of a downturn. To be a little more optimistic, Steadyhand is More upbeat on the maple leaf, and not just the bumper crop of Maple Syrup that is coming this year, the market seems to think Canada is in a recovery mode (of sorts) economically.
I firmly believe in buying used cars (as opposed to buying or leasing new cars), and Michael James also gives us 4 Reasons to Pay Cash for Cars. I typically do that, but Mark from My Own Advisor asks What does your car say about you? I frankly don’t view my car as being somehow an extension of me, it is simply a means of transportation (an expensive one at times too).
CRA and Disability
I have mentioned this before, but the CRA does have a Nurse to help out, and here is the Tweet about it.
2016 Random Thoughts
- January 7th, Market Meltdown, TFSA, WildCard Weekend and #MoneyStories
- January 14th, Cheap Oil, Cheap Dollar, Dead Folk, and #MoneyStories
- January 21st, Loose Money, High Household Debt, Weak Loons and #MoneyStories
- January 29th, Doomsday Clocks, Rogue RRSP Receipts, Cash Crops and #MoneyStories
- February 4th Bouncing Loonies, RRSP Season, Superb Owls and #MoneyStories
- February 12th Lent is Here, Bricked iPhones, Love Day and #MoneyStories
- February 19th Digging Out, Ransomware, RRSP Time and #MoneyStories
- February 26th RRSP Time and #MoneyStories
- March 4th Welcome Americans and #MoneyStories
- March 11th Bank Rate Stays Put, Spring Forward and #MoneyStories
- March 18th Financial March Madness, Budgets and #MoneyStories
- March 25th, Easter is Here and some #MoneyStories
- April 1, Money Fools, Ronnie, and #MoneyStories
- April 8, Tax Time, Spring Delayed, Panama Papers and #MoneyStories
- April 15,Loose Money, Free Stuff, Hockey and #MoneyStories
My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off-color commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)). I am also on reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest , Flipboard, Instagram and other Social Media sites (look for the BigCajunMan userid) as well. If you have social media accounts, don’t forget to vote for my posts (see the nifty dashboard on the bottom of each article, where you can cast your votes).As they say in Quebec, vote early and vote often!
Good point about cars being an expense. Back from vacation – thanks for the mention!
Mark
I agree that we need to see cars as just transportation and not as a (very expensive) personal statement. Thanks for the mention.
The tax return filing deadline is actually May 1, 2016, by midnight, according to the link you sent.
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