Jesus paused, his voice steady and patient.  "Like I said, I don't create institutions; that's an occupation for those who want to play God.  So no, I'm not too big on religion," Jesus said a little sarcastically, and not  very fond of politics or economics either."  Jesus' visage darkened noticeably. "And why should I be?  They are the man-created terrors that ravages the earth and decieves those I care about.  What mental turmoil and anxiety does any human face that is not related to one of those three?"

"Put simply, these terros are tools that many use to prop up their illusions of security and control.  People are afraid of uncertainty, afraid of the future.  These institutions, thses structures and ideologies, are all vain effort to create some sense of certainty and security where there isn't any. It's all false! 

Systems cannot provide you security, only I can." 

By Doreen Smith - Kelowna Capital News

Published: July 08, 2008 10:00 PM
Updated: July 09, 2008 12:14 AM

A will is a very large component of an estate plan. However, fewer than half of Canadians have written a will, and that means too many Canadians have not taken the time to write their personal will.

Some of the reasons that sound familiar are: I am too young to write a will, I don’t know what to put in my will, I don’t know how to divide my assets in a will, and one of the most common reasons is writing a will is too expensive.

If you don’t have a will and you die, it is called dying intestate, and this can have serious consequences.

Provincial laws will dictate how your assets will be divided in an estate.

The costs and fees when dying intestate are higher than dying with a will. Canada Revenue will benefit because you will pay higher taxes after your demise. The estate will end up incurring higher probate fees. Legal fees will also be higher because beneficiaries will attempt to claim their portion of the estate. This takes time and costs more.

There will be delays in settling the estate. The courts must appoint an administrator of the estate. This is time consuming and family members need to make decisions about who will make the best administrator.

All of this may cause stress to family members and the individuals chosen to distribute the estate assets.

Preparing a will can be a fairly straight forward process. Identify your assets and prepare to start with this information on how to distribute your assets upon your death.

If this is difficult, pretend you have a minimal amount of time left to live, if that is what it takes you to spring into action to make decisions until you get all areas covered.

Take it one step at a time. Perhaps you need to set a deadline for the near future when you commit to writing a will.

If you have children, it is extremely important to have a will so your minor children have a guardian named in the event of your death.

You will need to carefully consider who is the right person or persons willing to make a commitment to care for your children until they reach maturity. Ask the guardians if they are willing to assume this responsibility.

Why would you leave your minor children and family members in a situation where in the event of your death, decisions must be made based on urgency instead of a controlled situation when a plan should have been in place.

A basic will is the responsible act to do for your children and family.

If plans change in the future, you can have a codicil done, this is a change or revision to an existing will.

Where there are minor children, I am very passionate about ensuring people have a will in place with a named guardian.

Dying without a will allows the province to make decisions on your child’s life.

Do you want the province to step in and make decisions on who will take care of your children?

The cost of a will is approximately $300. Compare that to the cost of insuring your home or car. People do not even think twice about spending $500 to $1,000 to insure a vehicle or a house, but they hesitate to spend approximately $300 to write a will.

If you have enough money to treat yourself to a mini holiday or a night out on the town, then you have enough money to pay the legal costs to write a will.

Seek legal advice in preparing a will.

If you think the cost of preparing a properly documented will by a lawyer or notary is expensive, the cost of an improperly made will or dying intestate will be many times the cost of preparing a will.

You should revisit your will when events change in your life.

Getting married divorced or separated, having children or a change in your financial assets should make you revisit your will.

Discuss estate planning strategies with your Certified Financial Planner.

You want to minimize taxes during your life and after death.

There will be many changes in your life over the years, and a good plan will involve professionals along with you.

ATTORNEY'S ADVICE -- NO CHARGE

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday.

A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.

1. The next time you order cheques have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your cheque book, they will not know if you sign your cheques with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your cheques.

2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED'.

3 When you are writing cheques to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the cheque processing

channels won't have access to it.

4. Put your work phone # on your cheques instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SIN#  printed on your cheques. You can add it if it is necessary, but if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

5. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.

Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my passport when travel either here or abroad.

We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, SIN, credit cards. Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thief(s)ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

1. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free  numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc. were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation if there ever is one).



Here's what is perhaps most important of all -

3. Call the two national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Insurance Number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away. This weekend someone turned it in. It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, etc., if it has been stolen;
1.) Equifax Canada: 1-877-249-2705
2.) Trans Union: 1-877-525-3823

As a client it may awkward and sensitive to sit down with me, and, as a friend calls it  - "pull your pants down" and be forthright in revealing ALL of the your numbers and debt you are carrying. 

Therefore it may be easier to think of me as your 'money doctor' whose quality of diagnosis is dependent on a full and accurate disclosure of all of  your symptoms.

Your disclosure of your debt as well as your income, assets, financial and life goals and insurance policies will allow me to provide you with an effective and comprehensive treatment plan.

Once I have determined all the places your dollar is going we can work at freeing up cash flow by reducing high interest debt, creating 'good debt'  and alternate saving plans.

Having some debt in the 'accumulation years' is normal so don't get discouraged.  Just focus on not carrying high interest debt.

I do understand that your privacy is important yet it is my responsibility to provide the best possible advise and I am unable to do that without your honest cooperation.  There are reasons for all of the questions that I ask.  If you are unsure as to why I am asking any question, make sure you stop me and and ask.

Once I have all the necessary information I can provide you with a goal oriented review that reveals areas of deficiencies and offers recommendations and timelines.

I am sincere in my desire to assist you towards your success - so ... help me, help you!

The word mortgage is actually a very interesting word.

It is originally a French word, stemming from two other words.

"Mort," which means death in French, and "gage," which means a measure, or portion.

So a mortgage then, is a measure or portion of death.

www.financialpost.com/story.html

One common belief, especially with middle-income investors, is that only the rich borrow to invest.  While it is true that the so-called wealthy are bigger users of advanced financial strategies like leverage, this doesn't mean they're the only ones who can use them.

If a strategy can benefit high-income Canadians, it can also benefit lower and middle income individuals in the same way.  Although the benefits might be smaller, anyone can act on the ideas of others if they have the same knowledge, attitude, and committment.

Another myth is that all debts are evil and should be avoided like the plague.  Many of our parents were taught that all debts should be paid off as quickly as possible.  This is certainly the right approach for most of our personal debts, like credit cards, where the after-tax interest charge can range from 15 to over 33%.  This expensive, non-deductible consumer debt usually results from the purchase of products that drop in value very quickly, and should be avoided and/or paid off as soon as possible.

     But in addition to this "bad debt", there is also a "good debt" that is often used by the wealthy.  This constructive type of borrowing is used to purchase things like investments or businesses that increase in value.  The interest charges on "good debt" are much lower, and the real interest rate is usually further reduced by being tax deductible.

Many people feel that leveraging is "too risky for me".  Leverage risks can be categorized as either financial or emotional.  The reality is that most investors who could qualify for an investment loan have already leveraged in a less effective way, with more financial risk, without even realizing it.

     When you take out a mortgage and borrow to buy an equity investment like real estate, isn't that leveraged investing?  In fact, with mortgages, you can put as little as 5% down.  This highly leveraged equity investment generally has poor liquidity, no diversification, expectations for low returns, and the interest isn't tax deductible.

     As mentioned, people accept non-deductible consumer borrowing as a part of life, despite the fact that it decreases wealth in most cases.  Tax deductible borrowing to invest in diversified investments has less financial risk than mortgages or consumer borrowing.

     The emotional risk with any form of borrowing may still exist and depends on your knowledge level, experience, and risk tolerance.

--------- > To read more see Talbot's Summary of 'Dispelling the Myths of Borrowing to Invest' by Talbot Stevens

Money has no sacred or inherent power.

When people believe that money has power, they are tempted to love it.

Money is simply an amoral, impotent object.

Money was never intended to be my master, but rather my servant.