12 Terrace Review —— Wednesday, February 5, 1992 - - LETOUR ~ RRSP SPECIALISTS ‘HELP YOU © TAKE CARE OF © YOUR FUTURE ___TODAY a @ Bank of Montreal : ws 7 We're Paying Attention — oe 4666 Lakelse Avenue Terrace, BC 638-1131 “Andrew C. Brodie, C.G.A. DEMERS & BRODIE — a | Certified General Accountants "+ PROVIDING A FULL RANGE OF a "PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING SERVICES, £INGLUDING DATA PROCESSING, INCOME TAX, AND MANAGEMENT CONSULTING 2-4623 23 Lakelse Avenue - Terrace, B.C. V8G 1P9 638-8705 Donna Demers, C.G.A. rs ae ee eer Chances are you’ve always thought that if worse came to worse, you could at least survive retirement on a government pension, After all, the govern- ment wouldn’t let you starve, would it? Well, maybe not. But you'd come pretty close. To see why, let’s say that you've worked for more than 20 years, during which you contributed the maximum ‘amount Government pensions towards the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). What would you get on retirement? In 1991, you're. entitled to the maximum benefit of $604.86 per month from CPP, as well as Old Age Security payments of $354.92, for a monthly total of $959.78 , or $11,517.36 per year. . All in all, it doesn’t add up to much of a retirement lifestyle. Frank Donahue you make -. $keona Mall Terrace - ph, 635-2387 # aoa t- _ epveatog ine,, two ot The Mutual GrowP. _ "We can help you choose that’s right for you." | -*The Mutual Group has a full range of Registered Retirement Savings Plan Investments. Let us help the choice that’s best for your needs. -, For personal service, call or drop | YI The Mutual Group with Mutual Lleol Canadas Mutual * the RRSP in and see us." | Facing Tomorrow Together a major inve ent in +hot od “A FAM\ or= fSavingst 1 nas pesed 40 SAVET GULP... 1 just made. new sik blouse Fp ty RRSP CONFERENCE a “there goes Dad | again!” Figo No stopping a'financial optimist My bank and I maintain a dis- tant relationship. We don’t always see eye to eye ——— a problem caused, I believe, by our philosophical differences. You see, I’m a financial optimist, but my bank is an institution of hard- nosed pessimism. I know I’m an optimist because I always think I have. more money than I do. When I cash a cheque, I leave the bank with a wad of small bills and a pocket- ful of possibilities. I feel like Jackie Onassis —— for about an hour and a half. By the time I’ve picked up yesterday’s photos, the dry cleaning and a few litres of . milk, half my fortune is gone. After the library overdue fines, a quarter tank of gas, a birthday card and school "hot dog day" fees, I’m down to the dregs of wallet change. Did I drop a few green twenties on the street? No, I paid the phone bill. But what about that ten? Oh, now I remember, alu- -.| minium foil and light bulbs. - The bank knew I was poor all! “along. The moment I withdrew the money, the bank considered it gone. The bank is not fooled by mere wads of cash ——— it sees the bottom line. The bank knows that _ two-dollar bills can make your wallet fat but they don’t buy much. That once you break a twenty, you may as well give away the change, because it’lt be gone within the hour anyway. That everything costs more than you think it wilt. | The bank knows that loonies have turned dollars into pocket . change. That the GST makes every looney I spend cost me seven cents more. The bank knows all, sees all. When I’m feeling broke, I think about the next cheque, the one I'll get in a few weeks. The next cheque will pay some bills, buy a few necessities, maybe a special treat, I put a lot of hope into the next cheque. The bank doesn’t recognize that cheque until it arrives, The bank only sees that, once again, it has to scrape the service charges from the echoing.depths of my account. That’s financial realism. The bank also sees the patterns in my debits and credits. It knows that, if and when the cheque: . arrives, there will be little left after expenses, and if there is, the cat will suddenly need de-worm- ing medication. rs And so my. account balance . retums to pennies. Banks have little respect for pennies. I think banks consider pennies a nui- sance, an attitude spreading through much of the population lately. I find pennies on the strect all the time. Evidently pennies are considered "throw away" money. T pick them up. My mother raised _ me to believe that pennies add up to dollars. I drop my found pennies into a jar, figuring that - someday, a few years from now, ll count the loot and come up with a down payment on a sail- boat. The bank knows better. It knows that those pennies will more likely add up’ to $2.63 — . enough to buy a postcard photo of a sailboat. Banks derive little pleasure from pennies and post- card photos. The banks sees dollars as round figures on paper and computer screens —— a mistaken belief shared by many financial pro- fessionals. But money on paper is not the same as paper money. - Numbers on paper bear no rela- tion to the stuff that fills wallets and buys ice cream. Figures on a computer screen are too easily spent. —_ Money is not as tangible as it used to be, and I blame banks for this. It’s a bank’s business to discourage the use of cash. While I don’t understand all the ramifi- cations of a return to the gold standard, it seems that a pocketful of gold and silver just might "improve. spending habits. In order to have any value, money ought to be worth something. But there’s no stopping a finan- cial optimist. Even with a pocket — full of gold, I’d still think I had more money than J do. The bank would still know