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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-07-29, Page 4m PAGE 4—.GODERICHSICNAI -STAB. WEDNE.SDAY,JULY 29,1981 dove sykes 1 *CNA BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1979 Second class mail registration number -0716 • 6, A recent national study conducted by a Canadian university suggests that it takes more' than vibrant youth and an ample supply of cash to guarantee a bit of hap- piness. Obviously people are somewhat idealistic' about happiness, but youthful good looks and a sizeable amount of handy cash would go a long way in my books. Well, really all I need now is the sizeable amount of cash. Just a joke friends. York University in Toronto is conducting a million dollar study, that will be com- pleted later this Year, ,on the view that Canadians have of their lives. The study is one of the largest com- missioned to a university and over five years it has indicated that people are generally satisfied with the state of affairs. However, there was some serious problems incomes. When and people with high ■ comes. When people contacted through the survey suggest the quality of their . livesis satisfactory, it refers to their job, income, neighbours, home, health and marital status. But people between the ages of 18 and 34 had the lowest level of satisfaction from life. That's interesting in that that age group has so much to look forward to while older People responding to the questionnaire probably base their satisfaction on life during that same period. And income apparently has no great effect on the level Of satisfaction. High income earners show a lower level of satisfaction in 1979 than compared to the same group in 1969. But there appears to be many more pressures today that have a direct bearing on the happiness and satisfaction scale. There is more competition and perhaps uncertainty about employment and the chances for advancement. The family bas also taken a beating and now there is definite pressures as breakups and divorces increase. The Canadian survery, When compared to others, shows that Canadians ranked fourth when compared with eight other nations, and yet Canada has a higher standard of living. But then again, happiness and satisfaction means different things to different people. I have been known to be quite content when simply doing nothing, which prompted management here to suggest that I must, indeed, be a very happy fellow. ' The world is full of critics, you know. I would suspect that if most people examine their lives they would not admit to being unhappy or miserable. The majority accepts their present situation and learn to live within those confines with some degree of enjoyment. Those unhappy with their sit tion take steps to rectify it. I am more of the plodder mold, content with the simple things and happy with what I've got. However, if I was younger, or even rich, I wouldn't admit that my satisfaction level had dropped. To my, way of inking, there is certain happiness to being young and rich. Others, apparently, disagree. If. I was old and rich, a hint of resentinent at not being young and rich would be un- derstandable. But then there is no ac- counting for some people's tastes, quirks and idiosyncrasies.: Even at the very moment this piece is being dutifully prepared for mass con- sumption,.I am achieving a certain level of gratification and satisfaction. Don't get the idea that my notion of happiness exists among these grey bits. Not so. Simply they fact it is complete is nirvana. , SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT. 11 Founded In 11141 end pabllshed awry Wednesday et Goderich. Ontario. Member of the C.L1iA ani OWNA. Advarf.- thing rates on request. Subscriptions payable In advance °11.AS In Canada. °7S.M to U.S.A., °SS.M to all other coun- tries. single copies W. Display advertising rates arallabie on request. please ash for Rate Card No. 11 affective Oc- tober 1. 1101- Second doss wall Reghtntloin Number 1111. Advertising is accepted on the condition thet In the awns of typogrephkal error. the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Item, together with reaseneble allowance for signature. will not be dermad for but Chet balance of the advertisement will be paid far at tie es. Ocotillo nate.. In the event of a typograyMnl error advertising goods or services ata wrong price: goods or services way not be sold. Advertising Is wanly en offer to sell. and may be withdrawn at nary time. The ${goal -Star Is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts. photos or other materials used for reproducing pur- ts- PUBLISHED BY:SIGNAL-STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER-President and Publisher DONALD M. HUBICK-Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES-Editor P.O. BOX 220. HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH N7A 486 cidoaeviLmal FOR BUSINESS OREDITQRIAL OFFICES please phone (519) S24-8331 Students should learn finance High school and university students taking jobs for the summer can learn some basic elements of financial plann- ing and responsibility. ,Parents can help and guide them without infringing on the student's right to a little summer fun and self-indulgence. First, students working through the summer should be encouraged to keep simple financial records — including records of wages earned and bills paid and to retain receipts. • He or she should have a personal bank account, perhaps even an interest bearing savings-chequing account. This helps to form the habit of paying bills promptly by mail and to record transactions: Regular saving is an important element, even if it's only a few dollarsper week. Parents might provide encourage- ment and incentive by matching the savings, perhaps on a so -much -per -dollar basis. The student might also be -encountering income taxes for the first • time, and should remember to keep employers informed of address changes so that T4 slips can be forwarded at the end of the year. Students often don't bother to file a tax return for summer earnings; but there are circumstances where they should. The first, of course, is when there is tax to pay. The se- cond is when there will likely be a rebate of tax withheld. Some employers withhold tax at a rate that assumes a full year's employment, and in this case the rebate could be substantial. Further, if a university student files a return for a low= earnings year, then -graduates into -a well-paid job, he or she can benefit through .the early working yearsfrom the general income averaging provisions of the Income Tax Act. Finally, parents should remember that if a student's earnings exceed specific levels of net income (calculated on the T1 tax return), the parent's deduction for the dependent child can be reduced. For 1981 the dependents' net income thresholds are $2,090 for under- 18's and'$2,180 for over- 18's, with the maximum . deductions $590 and $1,080 respectively. This means that you should prepare your child's tax return and calculate his or her net income before com- pleting your own return. Dollar Sense offers general financial advice by members of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. Give thought to debt aportions Seldom has the topic of farm bankruptcies beenso wide- ly discussed since the "dirty 30's", and even the fanner who thinks he has a good handle on his debt and costs should be wary. Although he may be successfully managing a. debt load reaching into six figures, he should give some thought to how this debt is being aportioned. Farming is, unfor- tunately, a highly capital intensive type of activity but one in which capital is scarce. Debt is thus ahnost inevitable. In most non-farm households, there are three kinds of debt; long term, such as a mortgage; medium-term, such as a -bank loan financing a car; and short-term,' plastic credit card debt. Each of these forms of , debt are ap- propriate to'the value of the things they buy. Houses last a long time, cars wear out in three years, and the pleasures of credit card purchases are usually fleeting. On farms, however, debt is usually either short-term or long-term, with little being paid off in the intermediate term. Typically, a farm might have $100,000 borrowed from Farm Credit Corp. on a long-term basis, and another $60,000 from the bank payable in a few months. Yet the farm's assets very likely include some in-, terenediate term assets as well, such as a dairy herd, a cow -calf operation, or mechanical equipment. The money I each asset yields comes in at a rate commensurate witn their lifetime, • so the money borrowed to finance. them should go out at the same time. The problem of loading up on short-term loans with no regularly scheduled repayment rate is that the banks don't like' it. Theyare not going to press a viable farm operation for in rnediate repayment, but the next time the farmer wants such a loan, he may not get as much as he would like. . Spending the capital appropriately once the farmer has it in his hands is another area that tests,.his skills. The tobacco grower might face the alternative of spending his money fixing up the old kilns, or tearing them down and replacing them with more expensive kilns that will save labor in the long run. The dairy farmer and the breeder may have identical looking oeprations, but their spending decisions should be quite different. The milker should be putting his money in- to enhancing his production facilities, and the breeder, improving his stock. Only -One-third of farmers who use outside financial ad- vice do so on all of their financial decisions. Yetit is readi- ly available in such areas as the financial structure of the farm, the utilization of assets, the planning of capital spending, and tax and estate planning. I'm just sitting here waiting for the telephone to ring. I have been told by a newsroom cohort that someone told him that I have a sexy telephone voice. Now I am not one'to break out in a swelled head every time I receive a compliment, so I just kind of swivelled around in my chair real smooth like and said, "Oh, really?" At that moment, the newsroom phone rang. "I'll get it!! !" your calm correspondent shouted as she lunged for the blower. "Hhhhello," I breathed. "Cath Wooden hhhere, may I hhhhelp you?" It turned out to be a she -reporter from the Clinton newsroom. I asked her if she con- sidered my telephone voice to be of a sexy nature "Well, you sounded kind of funny," she answered. A lot she knows. What women think of my telephone voice does not matter anyway. There ensued an interruption of pulsating newsroom news -gathering in order to conduct a plant wide poll via the intercom system. The question was, of course, `De you think I have a sexy telephone voice?' A random sampling of answers goes something like this: `Whb told you that? How drunk was he?', `Yes, definitely hubba hubba hubba', `HAH HAH HAN', `It has interesting intonations', 'Do you peddle fish?' And stuff like that there. I refuse to heed their derogatory com- ments. Who asked 'em anyway. I only "needed to be told once and that has turned my whole attitude towards the telephone around. Before today folks, I was one of those loyal enemies of Alexander Graham Bell's invention. Everytime I turned around, one of those basic black, space age plastic horrors was invading my space. There are four telephones in the pulsating newsroom which Tough butterfly. Photo by Cath Wooden D EAR READERS BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER By the time you read this column on Wed- nesday, July 29, some of you will have been up since 5 a.m. Today's royal wedding should be over by now and Prince Charles and his new wife Diana will be off on their honeymoon. I admit it. I'm a monarchist. And I love the pomp and ceremony that is part of a royal event. Oh I know some of the protocol seems a little ridiculous to those of us who live in Goderich. We don't really care whether the Queen falls one step behind Prince Phillip (why isn't that King Phillip? ► while appearing in public. And we'd have no concern about the Queen leaving the wedding BEHIND her son and new daughter-in- law when it is proper for the Queen to leave every function AHEAD of everyone else. Those stuffy details seem a little silly to most of us. But there are some complaints that I've heard about the royal wedding that just don't wash with me. For instance, Canada's wedding gift to the royal couple is antique furniture. How much and what cost I don't really know - and to be frank, I don't really care. I'm delighted that my country is sending a substanial bit of Canadianna to Charles and Diana. I think it's a perfect gift no matter if it does get stashed at the rear of the maid's q uarters. And I know the bridal pair was suitably touched by the gift of some Canadian Indians who sent wild rice wrapped in a deer skin. I don't know' exactly what will happen to that present, but that doesn't worry me. The fact is, it's a thoughtful gift from a native people expressing have buttons for different lines, a red hold button, and an intercom button. My limited apptitude for such things made it nearly impossible for me to relay or take a simple message. Invariably, while I was on one line, I would be wanted on another one which required putting the first party on hold and pressing another line. Too much. At home, I regarded the ringing of the telephone as somewhat of a nuisance. My phone never rang while I was within arm's reach of it. I heard it ring while I was down two flights of stairs taking out the garbage. Or it rang while I was in the tub or somewhere else in the bathroom, or while I was in deep slumber, or while my mouth was full of sandwich. A favorite retaliation of mine was to answer the telephone in this manner: "Hello. I am not here right now. This is a recording. If you care to leave your name its deepest respect for the monarchy. And that's' • enough. . There's too much fuss I think, about the cost of the royal wedding. Certainly it's costing a for- tune- but the royal family has a fortune to spend. Probably in relation to the income of the a vera ge Canadian bride who plans for and finances a large wedding, the cost for the nup- tials of Charles and Diana was as modest as many. • Some citizens are disputing everything from the length of the guest list to the number of wedding gowns sown for Diana. Not I. Charles is the future King of England and the Commonwealth. There's always been - and forever should be - a distinction between royalty and commoners. And anything less would reduce The Queen and her household to the ordinary. Would the world bow to the everyday image some would foist on the royal family? I suppose some people would say the question more properly is, "Should the world bow to royalty? I would deem it an honor tcYbow before Queen Elizabeth, but then, I'm only one individual. My opinion is just that - one opinion. And each person must decide for himself how he feels about this issu e. But accepting the fact we live in a monarchy, and agreeing that unless things change, Prince Charles will one day be our King, is .does seem fitting that he should be wed amid color and splendor - pull all the stops, full throttle ahead. And what a show it was. (I can say that in confidence even though this column was written a full 48 hours prior to the wedding.) A once-in-a- lifetime spectacle perhaps. A real life storybook and message at the sound of the beep, I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Beep. You have four seconds." WOO n But all this was before I knew I had a sexy telephone voice. I have decided that the reason I have always had such a hard time on the phone is any negative attitude towards it. I must treat _( the telephone as my friend. After all, it has' the ability to transform me into a luscious thing, steaming with sensuality. Them's hot potatoes folks. Newsroom cohorts need never worry about picking up the phone again. I'll be right on it before the first inviting ring has a chance to escape. And at home, I'm considering taking out the basic black box and installing something more appropriate for one with a sexy voice. Perhaps something in hot red. I may even get several phones put in.... princess and her prince. Now we must wait. Wait.fortheQueen to select ,. just the right moment for her son to take the throne. If I were a betting type, I'd say the Queen will relinquish her' throne to Prince Charles after he and Diana have settled into their marriage - maybe five or sial years hence. . I doubt that Queen Elizabeth will reign until her death. I'm almost certain she wants to take over the comfortable, less . pressured but still dignified role of the Queen "Mum" from her mother before too many years roll by. We'll be waiting for a Coronation. If you think the wedding was planned to the enth degree, wait. until the Coronation of our new King. We'll be waiting too, for news that Charles and Diana will become parents. We'll be anxious for news of who will, succeed Charles when that time comes. Many people tittered over stories that before Charles and Diana could get the royal nodfor their union, Diana had to have a medical examination to indicate that the way was clear for her to give birth to strong, healthy royal heirs to the throne. Some people will be waiting to see of the doctors who examined Diana knew their stuff.' But most of all, we'll be waiting for Prince Charles and his new wife to be a popular and well loved royal couple. Certainly, they are well qualified for the dif- ficult task ahead of them. Monarchists like me pray that God will be with them in the months and years to come r and that peace and prosperity will prevail throughout the Com- monwealth during their lifetime. cath 1 111