Get Your Bucket List Done!

This is my last blog post of 2021 and I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and/or a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year. Today I veer off from my usual financial fare to potentially provide you impetus for a New Years resolution; creating and crossing items off on your bucket list.

In 2010, after I watched the movie the Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, I created my own bucket list. Over the years I have occasionally written about some of the larger bucket list items I have been fortunate enough to cross off my list from playing golf at Pebble Beach to my safari to Africa. I have also discussed some of the smaller bucket list items I crossed off my list such as going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and attempting to learn how to play the guitar (ended up with tennis elbow) and writing my book Let’s Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs.

What has been crucial in working through my bucket list was writing down my actual list and talking about the list often to others which functioned as a catalyst to actually move forward on many of these items. I discuss this in greater detail below.

My firm BDO Canada LLP (until December 31st when I officially retire) is celebrating its 100 birthday this year an impressive milestone for any company. BDO was also recently selected as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2022. One of the reasons BDO was selected as a top employer was for the various programs it has implemented in respect of mental health. This priority was reinforced during a recent firm-wide webcast when BDO had Ben Nemtin speak to everyone about mental health and the use of bucket lists.

Wikipedia states that Ben was “the creator, executive producer and cast member of the MTV series The Buried Life”. He also is” co-author of the book What Do You Want To Do Before You Die?, which entered The New York Times Best Seller list”. Today I am going to discuss how Ben used a bucket list/buried list to not only accomplish the above producing and writing achievements, but even more importantly, how he payed forward his accomplishments to help others.

During his BDO presentation, Ben started his talk by discussing the depression and anxiety he had in part due to the pressures of being a member of the Canadian Under 19 National rugby team. He told us how his friends got him out of the house and how he and his friends (again per Wikipedia) eventually ended “up on a two-week road trip with a camera and a borrowed RV to complete a list of "100 things to do before you die." Along their journey, they asked people the question, "What do you want to do before you die?" For each item they accomplished on their list, they helped a complete stranger do something on their own list”.

If you have ten minutes, watch this inspiring Ted Talk by Ben, which includes the key steps to creating and crossing items off your Bucket List and a great story how he and his friends payed it forward to help someone in an incredible way.

Here are Ben’s six key steps:

1. What is important to you – listen to your heart and stop and think about what you really want to do

2. Write down your list – as I note above, it is so important to put your thoughts to paper

3. Talk about your list – if you don’t talk about it, you won’t accomplish it yourself and no one is going to help you (Ben notes many people help you accomplish your list when they hear about your items)

4. Be persistent – for bucket list items that may note be easy to accomplish, be persistent, you may be surprised what you can accomplish - no may mean not now

5. Be audacious – have some items that are not mainstream and go for them

6. Help others – Ben and his friends have done some incredible things for others (as noted in the Ted Talk).

While on YouTube you can find many other great talks on bucket lists, buried lists, life lists etc. Many of these talks are ways for you to reconnect with your true values and what you are enthusiastic about and to live life as your “true self”. So, whatever you want to call it, a bucket list is a wonderful way to not only create a list about things you want to do and accomplish, but it may be a means to self exploration. Anyways, I will get off my soap box/bucket and let you decide for yourself whether creating and/or acting on a bucket list is a worthwhile New Year's resolution for you.

This site provides general information on various tax issues and other matters. The information is not intended to constitute professional advice and may not be appropriate for a specific individual or fact situation. It is written by the author solely in their personal capacity and cannot be attributed to the accounting firm with which they are affiliated. It is not intended to constitute professional advice, and neither the author nor the firm with which the author is associated shall accept any liability in respect of any reliance on the information contained herein. Readers should always consult with their professional advisors in respect of their particular situation. Please note the blog post is time sensitive and subject to changes in legislation or law.

Book Giveaway and Financial Survey

I have been writing about financial and wealth trends for over six years. Today, I provide a link to a survey about how these trends are affecting you personally. I would appreciate it if you would complete this survey. To provide incentive (at least I hope it is incentive since you are reading my blog) I will giveaway five copies of my book Let's Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs to those who complete the survey. The survey will take you between 3-5 minutes to complete, so it is not time consuming and you will have the opportunity to receive a summary of the survey. I would suggest the survey is most applicable to those in their mid-forties and older.

A discussion of some of these trends and why they are important is provided below by Jonathan Townsend, the National Wealth Advisory Services leader for BDO Canada LLP.

Canadians Feel Financial Strain From Different Directions

By Jonathan Townsend

Recently, the trend of Canadians providing multi-generational financial support has come up as an emerging issue. At a time when many of us should be preparing to retire peacefully, numerous people have signed up for additional financial obligations such as housing, education, and health care—not for themselves—but for their children or parents. This added burden, along with longer life expectancies is putting considerable stress on many Canadians.

In a recent Globe and Mail article, 44% of millennials expect to receive financial assistance from their parents to purchase their first home. Many of them consider home ownership a priority; however due to increased housing prices many cannot fund the purchase independently. Instead, millennials are relying on their parents to make home ownership a reality.

Conversely, the parents of baby boomers are living much longer. Many of them may have not saved enough or are facing unexpected medical conditions which require special care or assistance. Again, many Canadians, especially baby boomers are stepping up to the plate. They are taking care of housing and health care costs for their parents, which have considerable costs. In a recent study by CIBC, it is estimated that these costs average $3,300 per year for a caregiver, and amounts to an estimated cost of over $6 billion to the Canadian economy.

The added financial commitments may not have been part of many Canadians financial planning. The time, energy and money being used to support parents and children is putting a huge strain on funding many of our own retirements. Significant numbers of Canadians are nowhere close to hitting their targeted retirement nest egg because their investment returns have not been what was expected in large part because of the cost of financially caring for their children and/or parents. While research shows it is physically and mentally beneficial to work longer, many people need to work longer, out of financial necessity, to support the family and fund lifestyles and retirement.

For those lucky enough to have cashed in on sky-high real estate prices in some Canadian cities or for those who have received an inheritance, they have decisions to make regarding the net proceeds of downsizing or their inheritance and how much goes to their children or parents.

It’s admirable that many Canadians are taking care of their families’ financial needs but it may come at a cost. BDO Canada is exploring these changes and added expectations that we are facing to see how it is impacting our retirement and financial planning. We invite you to participate in this national survey, which will form a report outlining the key insights we uncover. Respondents will be entered into a draw to win one of five, Let’s Get Blunt about Your Financial Affairs books, written by Mark Goodfield.

Complete the survey now by clicking this link. Please note the book giveaway link is at the end of the survey and takes you to a different location so that your survey comments remain confidential.

Jonathan Townsend is the National Wealth Advisory Leader at BDO Canada LLP. If you have any questions, please contact him at 519-432-5534 or jtownsend@bdo.ca.

This site provides general information on various tax issues and other matters. The information is not intended to constitute professional advice and may not be appropriate for a specific individual or fact situation. It is written by the author solely in their personal capacity and cannot be attributed to the accounting firm with which they are affiliated. It is not intended to constitute professional advice, and neither the author nor the firm with which the author is associated shall accept any liability in respect of any reliance on the information contained herein. Readers should always consult with their professional advisors in respect of their particular situation.

Breaking The Money Taboo – It Makes Cents

In 1913, Sigmund Freud recognized the taboo of money when he wrote, “money questions will be treated by cultured people in the same manner as sexual matters, with the same inconsistency, prudishness and hypocrisy.”

One hundred years later, sex is often openly discussed, yet many money matters are still considered taboo. As consequence many people make bad financial and personal monetary decisions because they avoid the topic. This lack of communication can impact anything from your estate planning, to your marriage, to the selection of your executor, to even losing friends over how to split a restaurant bill.

In my opinion, the money taboo is out-dated and potentially detrimental from both a familial and financial perspective and needs to be broken.

The Free Dictionary defines a taboo “as a ban or inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion”. I think that is a simple and elegant definition. Whether the taboo’s origin is Victorian, French, or biblical in nature, our parents and their parents have propagated the notion that it is bad social etiquette to discuss money matters of any kind.

Every culture and every family have different money taboos. For example, North Americans dislike revealing how much money they earn. It is taboo. Norwegians, on the other hand, have the tax records of all citizens available as public record and have no expectations of privacy.

I have observed first-hand, the financial cost to clients, friends and family and the related personal cost in regard to marriages, sibling and personal relationships where people did not have open frank discussions about money. This issue caught my attention to such a degree that in 2013 I decided to write a book on the topic, encouraging people to confront and/or consider various money taboos.

As they say, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry and unfortunately two years later, due to time and work constraints and the realization that many of my proposed topics had psychological bents I was not qualified to discuss, I had only finished two (way too long) chapters of my proposed 17 chapters. I thus decided to set aside the book on money taboos and wrote Let’s Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs (which was a collection of my best blog posts and thus required more editing than writing). Check - bucket list item taken care of.

As I expect to go in a different direction should I ever write another book, I figured I may as well get some use of the time I spent on my proposed book, so I have decided to post excerpts of the two chapters I wrote (the first chapter over the next couple weeks, the second likely in September). These two chapters are:

1. I Will Not Talk About It – this chapter revolves around our reluctance to discuss our will with our family

2. Asking For Money: The Intergenerational Communication Gap – this chapter discusses situations where children need money (example to escape abusive relationship or start a new career) and situations where parents need money (example: need to reverse mortgage their home since they have no money left and have medical bills or just daily expenses they can no longer afford to cover).

In these posts I am going to discuss reasons people have given me for continuing specific money taboos and review the consequences they face by adhering to these off limit discussions. I attempt to explain why we should consider challenging these prohibitions and how to break some of these taboos.

Hopefully by the time I conclude this “mini-series”, you may understand why I think Canadians need to talk about money.

This site provides general information on various tax issues and other matters. The information is not intended to constitute professional advice and may not be appropriate for a specific individual or fact situation. It is written by the author solely in their personal capacity and cannot be attributed to the accounting firm with which they are affiliated. It is not intended to constitute professional advice, and neither the author nor the firm with which the author is associated shall accept any liability in respect of any reliance on the information contained herein. Readers should always consult with their professional advisors in respect of their particular situation.

Getting Your Financial Affairs in Order

I was recently interviewed about my book Let's Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs, by Promod Sharma, a Toronto based actuary, for his Tea at Taxevity series. The interview ended up being as much about my opinions on the importance of getting your financial affairs in order as about the specifics of my book. If I do say so myself, I think the interview is interesting and informative (especially considering you have an accountant being interviewed by an actuary; who would have imagined :).

I thought today, instead of writing, I would link to this interview, so you can actually hear my views on the topic. By the way, and you can believe it or not, that empty space from the bottom of my forehead to the top of my head once was full of flowing locks - big sigh.

Enough about being “follicly-challenged". Here is the interview, I hope that it spurs you to take action and you get your financial affairs in order.

This site provides general information on various tax issues and other matters. The information is not intended to constitute professional advice and may not be appropriate for a specific individual or fact situation. It is written by the author solely in their personal capacity and cannot be attributed to the accounting firm with which they are affiliated. It is not intended to constitute professional advice, and neither the author nor the firm with which the author is associated shall accept any liability in respect of any reliance on the information contained herein. Readers should always consult with their professional advisors in respect of their particular situation.

Believe it or Not - We Are Not Immortal

Last week, Adam Mayers of The Toronto Star reviewed my book, Let’s Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs. Thank you Adam for your review and in particular, your discussion about my views on inheritances.

Adam interviewed me for this article and one of the questions he asked me was "if there was anything I had learned or anything that I wanted to say about my book". I told him that while the book had an income tax bent, I had come to understand that an underlying theme of the book was to ensure that you put your financial house in order.

I also told Adam that while writing my speech for my book launch, I realized how much of my talk revolved around our denial of our mortality and the massive impact that it had financially and emotionally upon our families.

Think about it. Many of us do not want to accept our eventual death. The net result is either we avoid preparing a will (a 2012 survey by Lawpro says 56% of Canadians do not have a will) or we procrastinate updating our will, even when we have significant life events. I’ve seen this pattern repeated first-hand over the last 25 years.

When people finally prepare a will, many do not even inform their executor of their appointment. Even fewer provide the executor with a list of assets and where they are located. Why make the executor’s job easier if we are never going to die?

Finally, since we don’t want to consider our death, we often leave our spouse's in the financial dark, at a time of immense distress, because they have no idea what assets the family has and where they are located. Over the years, I have written several times on this subject and how you should stress-test your finances.

Ensure your spouse and loved ones are prepared and avoid hardship by providing them with the following financial roadmap:

• Location of your will and the name of the lawyer who drafted the will

• Name of your Executor(s)

• List of assets

• List of insurance policies

• List of digital assets including passwords

• Contact list for accountant, insurance agent, investment advisor, banker etc.

• Existence of accounts, safety deposits, safes

Ask yourself, could your spouse move forward seamlessly from a financial perspective if you passed away today? If your answer is no, get to work on preparing an Information Checklist/Estate Organizer.

As John F Kennedy said in a 1963 address to American University, “in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal”.

This site provides general information on various tax issues and other matters. The information is not intended to constitute professional advice and may not be appropriate for a specific individual or fact situation. It is written by the author solely in their personal capacity and cannot be attributed to the accounting firm with which they are affiliated. It is not intended to constitute professional advice, and neither the author nor the firm with which the author is associated shall accept any liability in respect of any reliance on the information contained herein. Readers should always consult with their professional advisors in respect of their particular situation.

Let's Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs - Book Giveaway

Wow, I cannot believe how many entries I had for my book giveaway. I am assuming it is because you are excited about reading my book and not that everyone likes a freebie :).

So without further ado, the winners are:

1. Bryan O
2. Nancy L
3. Valerie N
4. Cash Instinct
5. Richard H

You will be contacted by email for your mailing details.

Thanks for all the entries and if you wish to purchase the book or kindle version, here is the link to Amazon U.S. which provides a preview of the book (if you click the book image) and the kindle version.

Amazon Canada has no books in stock, but here is the link to the kindle version from Amazon Canada. I must say I am very confused on how Amazon deals with books. The Canadian site appears just to be re-sellers of the book and the U.S. site seems to be where the actual inventory is sold. I can't really get a clear story from Amazon. I guess this is my first lesson of being a new author.

We still have a couple spots open if you wish to attend my book launch in the Richmond Hill/Markham area on September 24th, if interested, please register here.

I am back to my regular posting tomorrow, with He Shoots, He Blogs, He Scores.

This site provides general information on various tax issues and other matters. The information is not intended to constitute professional advice and may not be appropriate for a specific individual or fact situation. It is written by the author solely in their personal capacity and cannot be attributed to the accounting firm with which they are affiliated. It is not intended to constitute professional advice, and neither the author nor the firm with which the author is associated shall accept any liability in respect of any reliance on the information contained herein. Readers should always consult with their professional advisors in respect of their particular situation.

Let's Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs - Book Giveaway & Book Launch

By playing golf at Pebble Beach in 2011 and by going on safari to Botswana and Africa this year, I have been lucky enough to check off two items on my bucket list. One of the remaining items on my list was to write a book.

A year or so ago, I realized I had the material for a book, if I could compile the posts I’ve previously written on my blog. As I flipped through my posts, it became clear to me that the chapters had already essentially written themselves. All I needed to do was to categorize and organize my various blog posts, which was done with the significant assistance of Lynda Kremer, the marketing manager at my old firm, Cunningham LLP.

As I started putting the chapters together, I was pleasantly surprised that the book had a natural flow I had not foreseen. I must say, I am very happy with the end result and finally months after starting this process, I have a book titled not surprisingly, Let's Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs. The book has just gone up on Amazon and the kindle version is in process. If you are really keen to buy the book, here is the link to Amazon U.S. which provides a "flip version" of the book to preview and a link to the typical bare bones (no flip version to preview etc.) Amazon Canadian version. As an aside, you set the book price in $U.S. and I tried to end up with a $15cdn price; yet somehow the price is now $15.83cdn - sigh ):

The book chapters are as follows:

1. The Lighter Side of Accounting
2. Executors - A Thankless Job (except for the fees)
3. Inheritances, Wills and Estates - Love, Money and Greed
4. The Psychology of Money - Is it Everything?
5. Audits and Being Audited - Minimizing the Damage
6. Tax Topics - All You Ever Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask
7. RRIFs and RRSPs - The Retirement Acronyms
8. Family Assets - Dividing, Sharing and Taxing
9. Retirement - How to Avoid Eating Alpo
10. Estate Freezes - A Cool Way to Tax Plan
11. The Family Cottage - How to Deal with It
12. Proprietorships, Corporations, Holding Companies and Family Trusts - The Technical Stuff

I am under no illusions this book will sell 100,000 copies; although I do think it is better than much of the crap that passes for financial books these days. It’s a practical guide that’s easy to follow. At worst, the book will become a marketing tool for me professionally.

Today I am going to raffle off 5 copies. If you are interested in a copy, please email me at bluntbeancounter@gmail.com and I will announce the 5 winners next Sunday.

In addition, my current National firm is sponsoring a book launch on September 24th in the Richmond Hill/Markham
area. If you would like to join me for the launch and meet me in person (unfortunately I am far more interesting on my blog than in real life) I am keeping a few spots open for my loyal readers. To attend the book launch and hear the gospel according to the BBC, register here.

I would like to thank Rob Carrick, Ellen Roseman and Preet Banerjee for providing testimonials on the back cover and for being very supportive of my blog since its inception. In addition, Roma Luciw & Dianne Nice of the Globe and Mail and Adam Mayers of the Toronto Star have been very kind to me and my blog.

I would also like to thank the numerous financial bloggers, many who have become personal friends, who have supported the blog by noting it in Friday round-ups or by direct mention over the years. This list includes; Jim Yih, Robb Engen, Michael James, The Big Cajun Man, Mark Seed,  Frugal Trader, Rona Birenbaum, Canadian Capitalist, Tom Drake, Canadian Investor and Larry Macdonald, to name just a few.

To my "legion" of readers, many who have been with me since my inception (5 years as of September 20th) I’d like to thank you for reading my blog and your comments and feedback over the years.

In addition, I would like to thank Lynda for all her help in not in only editing, but navigating the self-publishing process, as well as Leah Vlemmiks for her illustrations, Rob Campbell for his technical assistance and Deniz Ayman for her various editing and citing assistance.

Finally I’d like to thank my wife Lori, for her editing assistance, teaching me to write in "sort of plain English" and putting up with the project and me.

So if you are interested in a free book and/or attending the book launch, please email me at bluntbeancounter@gmail.com for the book and register here for the book launch.

This site provides general information on various tax issues and other matters. The information is not intended to constitute professional advice and may not be appropriate for a specific individual or fact situation. It is written by the author solely in their personal capacity and cannot be attributed to the accounting firm with which they are affiliated. It is not intended to constitute professional advice, and neither the author nor the firm with which the author is associated shall accept any liability in respect of any reliance on the information contained herein. Readers should always consult with their professional advisors in respect of their particular situation.