Posted by Canadian Dream on April 17, 2009
Have you ever noticed something really weird about us? I know one that drives me a little crazy trying to understand. It’s the fact we are so calm in the face of a the destruction of the planet. I mean there is huge amounts of ice falling off the Antarctic, species going extinct every year and we do nothing. In fact when faced with that knowledge we are calm.
No one is losing their heads, no falling governments, riots or even people fainting. In fact after watching someone read a piece of news like that you can’t even tell they have read something like that. Are we not rational beings? Can we not put two and two together and see if the world stops working they way it is suppose to that will be bad for us as a species at some point? I’m going to assume that we we have the capacity to understand this, so what gives?
Some people think we have just heard too much of news like that and we have grown insensitive to it. I disagree we have never reacted in horror once at what is going on. It is something else. I think it is a cultural myth that is keeping us from reacting to the news in the expected emotional way.
I think the belief that we are seperate from nature is the problem. There is man and our little sub-world and then there is nature which is the stuff that surrounds our cities. In our minds they are seperate and distict. At least at the belief level. So if large amounts of ice fall off the Antarctic, that’s nature’s problem and it doesn’t effect us. Our cities are still standing, I’m still doing the same job and eating the same food. Our sub-world is in tact.
The problem with this concept is we walk around with blinders on to the problems until it is too late. Only after a problem has gotten so big that it crosses over to our sub-world do we react to it. Even then as long is it isn’t happening in our backyards we are likely to ignore it. So by the time these issues collectively touch every city on the planet, it will be too late. We ourselves will be the endangered species. It may not happen your lifetime, but it will happen.
So what’s the solution? It’s easy said than done: we are nature. We are part of this process and we will either learn to live sustainability on this planet or die as a species. That’s it. There are no other long term outcomes. Given the strakness of the reality, I don’t blame people for believing in the myth. No one wants to believe they are responible, even in part, for the destruction of mankind. Even if it is true.
Well that’s my thoughts on why we are all so calm. Do you have a theory? If so please share.
Posted by Canadian Dream on April 16, 2009
I got a copy of this book a while back, but I only finally had time to read it lately. Findependence Day by Jonathan Chevreau is similar to the Wealther Barber and How I Stopped Worrying About Retirement. Basically the book is novel that happens to have a fair amount of focus on someone learning the basics of personal finance all the way from deep in credit card debt to Findependence Day (aka: financial independence).
The one thing I do like about books like this is it is a good way for someone to learn a bit about personal finance without having to read one of the many boring books out there on personal finance. It’s just a fact with this area that most people find personal finance boring and/or intimidating to overcome that in a book is very rare. The downside of the novel format is by trying to cover certain concepts in the book the story tends to take a back seat at points. So in the end often the story isn’t as good as it could be if you were just writing the story. Basically all of these hybrid books lack either enough story or enough PF information, the two just don’t seem to mix well. Overall I did like the book, the characters do face some real problems and setbacks which is nice to see. After all most people would find a book where every goes just right for the hero incredibly boring.
Also Jonathan does manage to get a few other good pieces of advice in the book. Perhaps my favorite quote is:
He realized financial independence did not exist in a vacuum but was intimately tied up with artistic and spiritual independence. At one level, it was little more than the stubborn child’s insistent declaration that “I’m the boss of me.” At another, he realized any kind of independence is a fragile entity.
This concept is incredibly important to understand with financial independence. This money is only the beginning of the process. The much more difficult one is the emotional fallout that happens right afterward. You can now choose to do anything, so what are you going to do? What will bring you happiness and satisfaction? What dreams do you want to start living? These are vital questions to ask and I often find they don’t even get a mention in most PF circles.
So is it worth buying? No, the books lacks the means of being a good reference book, but the reading list at the back is useful. Is it worth reading? Yes, if you don’t have much exposure to PF concepts to start with. This book is a good introduction to get new people interested in some of the basic ideas of personal finance.
Posted by Canadian Dream on April 15, 2009
Alright this year we managed to have a few weird things show up in our taxes. Yes I had the standard T4′s, T5′s and T3′s and those wonderful RRSP contribution slips. Yet I also had some strange deductions I used (you know it’s bad when the government has a web page to help you find all your tax credits).
- Child Fitness Tax Credit – We sign our oldest son up for swimming lessons because he likes them. Then I got a tax slip for the class. I basically forgot about this credit until the slip showed up.
- Public Transit Amount – Now this tax credit I knew about after the environmental auditor of the government pointed out how useless it was for reducing green house gas emissions. Yet I’ll still take the reduction in taxes.
- Canada Pension Plan Basic Exemption – While my wife was on leave for most of last year she manged a rare feat. She stayed below the basic exemption of CPP contributions ($3500) and owes nothing. No tax and no CPP.
That last one was rather unexpected so I ended up with more of my wife’s basic exemption than I was planning on. So that drove up my return. In addition the government of Saskatchewan made some tax cuts retroactive to 2008 and further drove up my return. So all in all I’m looking at a refund of over $3500.
Which to be honest I’m not thrilled over. I’ve been giving the government a loan of my money for most of a year. I typically like to work it to have a small refund each year, but this was over kill. Perhaps it is time to start getting some additional income tax reduced at source for some of my RRSP contributions.
So how did your taxes go this year? Any odd tax deductions that you used? If so please share so perhaps you can save someone else a bit of tax.
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