Sometimes we spend so much time preparing for what’s to come, that we forget to maximize the joy in our every day.
In this brief 3-minute video, we discuss the importance of future thinking in creating a lifestyle that we aspire to have.
All too often, the conversation veers towards the elements of their current daily lives that they can’t wait to get past. Less-than-satisfying workdays, endless chores and heavy responsibilities at home rob clients of joy every day.
According to employment figures, unemployment is back down to pre-pandemic levels. Employers are reporting difficulty filling positions and labourers (you and me) are becoming more selective when looking for a job.
The tax deadline is April 30th and many Canadians will soon be turning their attention to getting their tax slips in order.
Despite coursework that is entirely online this term, my son opted to return to his university campus for the second year of his degree. He is sharing a “house” (read: glorified slum) with 3 other boys and 4 more young people live in the completely separate, second story unit. This year’s education in cleaning, cooking and basically keeping himself alive may actually be more useful than the coursework itself. Among the skills that he has had to acquire is budgeting for groceries etc. I shared this article with him and it appealed to his young sensibilities. He also enjoyed the ad campaign from The Real Canadian Superstore with the tagline, “Shop Like a Mother” (source: Canadian Grocer) although that one was arguably more targeted to my generation with its Heart-inspired guitar riff and it’s spotlight on every bad shopping habit that I have.
Charitable giving has been important to me since my days at The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation in Toronto. The Foundation offered me my first taste of tax-effective charitable giving and estate planning. Working with colleagues and clients who share my love of philanthropy is one of the greatest pleasures of my career. I am privileged to have clients on both sides of the fence: donors and fundraisers. The pandemic has had a very powerful effect on the charitable sector as donations have either dropped considerably (and understandably as a result of job losses and instability) or been diverted to the health-care sector (again, profoundly understandably). With the holiday season quickly approaching, it will be interesting to see whether donors will be as generous and diversified as they have been in the past. This article is an interesting reminder of some of the metrics that can help us to direct our charitable giving.
Hindsight is 20/20. Although reading an article like this (written just a month before the world seemed to shut down due to the pandemic) can be amusing; the moral is sound: challenges are inevitable and we must prepare for them.
While I don’t expect or aspire to reach the wealth achieved by the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, I love this article’s message of optimism for the future. The article talks about philanthropic opportunities as “summoning the moment of lift for human beings”. I can’t think of any better way to usher in the new year and a new decade.
This article presents several viewpoints with respect to the intersection of financial planning and genetic testing. As a fee-for-service financial planner, my role is to create financial models that project your household’s financial situation into the future. I believe that my clients will benefit substantially from the progress made in medicine and genetic testing. The better we can understand the opportunities and constraints that lie ahead of us, the more knowledgeable our decisions will be with respect to the delicate balance between living for today and protecting ourselves from outliving our wealth.
