My name is Mark Goodfield. Welcome to The Blunt Bean Counter ™, a blog that shares my thoughts on income taxes, finance and the psychology of money. I am a Chartered Professional Accountant. This blog is meant for everyone, but in particular for high net worth individuals and owners of private corporations. My posts are blunt, opinionated and even have a twist of humour/sarcasm. You've been warned. Please note the blog posts are time sensitive and subject to changes in legislation or law.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

BNN TV Interview & Garbage Lids are Gold

Last week I was interviewed by Kim Parlee, Vice-President of TD Wealth Management and the host of Money Talk on BNN. The topic was Stress Testing your Spouse's Financial Readiness if you were to Die Suddenly. Even with tons of make-up, I still seem to have a face made for blogging. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the interview and Kim was very welcoming. My only regret is that the time allotted to a boring accountant discussing a morbid topic was somewhat restricted.

Consequently, I did not get to fully discuss two important parts of any financial stress test for spouses. The first, stress testing your insurance policies (you need to have a one or two page listing of every policy you have, the policy number, type of insurance, amount of insurance and broker contact number). I also only got to briefly discuss the key component of stress testing, the preparation of an all-inclusive checklist.

If you have not read my original blog post on stress testing your death or my second all-encompassing stress test for both your current finances and your death, I urge you to do so. If you have read these posts, please follow up – it is one of the most selfless things you can do for your spouse or significant other.

Garbage Can Lids, aka Gold on my Street

 

On a totally unrelated topic, a few months ago when I came home from work, I got out of my car to take in the blue and green bins and the garbage cans. I noticed that one of my garbage can lids was missing. I uttered one or two expletives when I could not find the lid, but did not give it much thought as I figured it blew away. I was however; not very happy when I found out my local Canadian Tire did not sell lids separately.

I was none too pleased when I came home last month and realized a second garbage can lid was missing. This time several expletives came forth from my mouth as I came to the conclusion that my lids were being stolen. Who the heck steals garbage can lids from their neighbours?

Two weeks later on garbage day, I intended to scan the neighbourhood to see if someone had a similar lid on their garbage (my lid had no street number on it, but it did have a broken handle on one side, which made it distinguishable). To my surprise, only 10% or so of the garbage cans appeared to have lids. Either everyone’s lids were being stolen, or people were smart enough not to use their lid on garbage day and to only use their lids to keep their garbage covered during the week. What a surprising revelation; garbage can lids were like gold in my neighbourhood.

My garbage lid saga continued, when two weeks ago I came out to get the morning newspaper and was stunned to spot a lid of the same make as my two lost lids at the end of my driveway. The lid thief must have felt guilty or found their original lid and returned mine. Total garbage lid craziness.

I promptly took the lid into my house and spray-painted my house number on it in fluorescent orange, to hopefully prevent someone from taking it again in the future.


The moral of this blog post? The next time you need to barter for goods, use your garbage can lid – as on my street, one man’s trash lid, is another man’s treasure.

2 comments:

  1. In case you're ever a guest on BNN again, let them know they got your name wrong!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anon, I noticed that. However, I have been called many variations of Goodfield, which I always thought was a fairly easy name. My wife has even been called Mrs. Goodhead. I would add another comment to that but this is a public blog :)

      Delete