Wednesday, February 22, 2012 7:10 PM

Each client must be treated as an individual, in the work we do there is no one-size-fits-all. The needs of every individual have to be understood, their goals have to be present in any financial preparation.

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2012-02-19: The Weekly Take


February 19th 2012
A look at finance as seen through the lens of the performance of financial markets and government financial policy.

The OEX ended the week just about 615, the S&P 500 rose 1.4% supposedly this is based on the belief that the American economy has turned a corner. A more sanguine approach is that what we have seen is a reaction to the drop in oil prices and the earth quake in Japan.

It this is true than we will see a drop in the week to come as profit taking forces the indexes lower, the OEX is forecast to drop to about 610. This having been said in the medium term we are likely to see a pullback in prices followed by a surge above the current price level.

The B.C. First-Time New Home Buyers Bonus


Subject to approval by the legislature, the B.C. government intends to implement a temporary BC First-Time New Home Buyers’ Bonus. Effective February 21, 2012, to March 31, 2013, the bonus is a one-time refundable personal income tax credit worth up to $10,000.

THE B.C. FIRST-TIME NEW HOME BUYERS’ BONUS (PDF 136 KB)

Teach Good Money Management Skills to Your Children


Ancient literature tells of three obligations a parent has to their children. These are educating them to conduct themselves, in a mature manner, in everyday relations with others, teaching them a trade as the gateway to independent self-sufficiency and to swim which is deemed to be a metaphor for teaching them the message of contributing to the survival of both themselves and the community in which they live. Current literature would add a fourth obligation, namely the education of our children in financial matters and good money management skills.

Should You Make a Charitable Donation Personally or Through Your Corporation?


Harvey Jones is the owner/manager of an incorporated business who received a telephone call one evening from his “friendly” telemarketer. On most nights Harvey, a kind and gentle man, pretends that although he answered the phone, “Mr. Jones” is not “in” at the moment and suggests that the telemarketer call back some other time. In his heart, however, he hopes that the telemarketer will ultimately take his name off the list and never call him again. He vows to himself that he will sign up for the “do not call” list, first thing the next morning.

How to handle your E-mail



Many readers of this newsletter will receive their issues via email. Even if they don’t it is a good guess that they will spend as much as two hours of their working day on the computer attending to this instantaneous mode of communication. Given this fact it is imperative to understand the true cost of e-mail at work.

The Privacy Act



As of January 1, 2004 Canadians who operate a business in Canada must recognize their duty to safeguard the privacy of personal information they collect, use, disclose and retain in the course of their commercial activities. This must be done in a manner that a “reasonable person” would consider appropriate in the circumstances.

Taxpayers' attempts


  • A woman tried to write off toilet paper as a medical expense (Canada);
  • A Vancouver man invented a wife on his personal tax returns for several years (Canada);
  • Tax auditors went to various nightclubs and bars to make sure the exotic dancers were correctly reporting their earnings. The auditors traveled in pairs. It is understood that although the audit was very popular with staff, it was eventually halted because of a lack of results (Canada, United States);