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TheReview

Planning affer separation or divorce

Separation and divorce —
whether from your spouse or your
job — should move you to take a
close look at your finances.

Even if your job is safe in these
recessionary times, cutting living
costs can provide more money to
eliminate debt, build a reserve, buy
a first or better home, take a fancy
holiday, retire sooner and so on.

In theory, surviving a downtum
in your (family) income is simple:
when you have less money to
spend, you simply spend less.
Putting theory into practice, how-
ever, is a challenge.

In her book, Separation and
Divorce, A Canadian Woman’s
Survival Guide ($16.95; published
by Hurtig in 1986 — check your
library if the bookstore doesn’t
have a copy), Nancy Gibson says
you must first list where your
money has been going.

If you find that outgo exceeds
income, you can (a) use savings,
(b) borrow or (C) reduce outgo.

Using up savings and going into
debt are all too easy — and should
be your last resort. First, try to cut
back. Here are some ideas based
on Gibson’s suggestions.

Rent/mortgage. Cutting this cost
can be a major adjustment if you
have a home and family. Yet by
moving to less expensive housing
you can achieve major savings.
This usually has to be a fairly
dramatic cut to ensure savings
more than make up for the costs of
selling, moving and buying.

Food. Saving money here can
usually lead to more nutritious
eating. Cut out junk food, prepack-
aged meals, food high in sugar and

‘Choose items that
involve more of
your time and less
of your money,
whether you can
make giffs or
provide
babysitting, for
example’

Fed up with
the tax De?

Call me today to
find out how
Investors can help
you with your

tax planning.

CALL
R.T. (TOM) FITZ-GERALD &

388-4234
Investors
Group

Building futures since 1940.
734 BROUGHTON ST.

littler than an
elephant

but this ad performs before more than,

35,000 people. Call Display 656- 1151.

so on. If any family members buy
lunch out, switch to the brown bag
approach.

Utilities and heat. Use timers to
turn off lights and the fumace if
you tend to forget. Turn down the
heating and wear warmer clothes.

Phone. Eliminate rented exten-

sion phones. Exchange the remain-
ing rented fancy phone model for a
less expensive basic mode. Cancel
extfa services which are probably
wants rather than needs. Reduce
long-distance calls, always phone
during the cheapest times — and
even use a kitchen timer to limit
the calls.

Transportation. Owning —
insuring, maintaining and even-
tually replacing — a car costs
more each year. Can you trade
down? Get rid of your second or
even only car? Car pool? Bus?
Bike? Even walk?

Clothing. Second-hand can be
trendy for many teens. If you can’t
bring yourself to visiting second-
hand stores and garage sales, and if
you can’t make your own clothes,
at least buy quality in traditional
styles to get the most value.
Choose clothes that you can wash
and press at home.

Personal care. Try the neighbor-
hood barber instead of a stylist
(that is, if you have hair to cut!).
Buy inexpensive, basic, hard-
milled soap.

Entertainment. This newspaper
is a good source of free entertain-
ment. If you have a VCR, have
your movie nights at home. Or
watch for movies on TV. Have
more pasta meals when you enter-
tain at home.

Household expenses. If you —
or a friend — can’t fix small
appliances, check bargain store
and garage sales if you must
replace the item. Mend frayed
linen and towels.

Gifts. Choose items that involve
more of your time and less of your
money, whether you can make
gifts or provide babysitting, for
example.

Holidays. Camping, picnics and

visiting friends and relatives you
like can cut costs.

Review every spending category.
Can you reduce home and car
insurance by accepting a larger
deductible? Could a single term
life insurance policy replace sev-
eral smaller, more expensive
whole life insurance policies? If
you have pets, is there a cheaper
way to feed them?

List all your expenses in order of
puiority. Then trim from the bot-
tom, or trim from the higher
priority items to provide funds for
those further down the list. If you
have a partner or family, make
separate lists — then compare and
compromise.

Try not to use credit cards, even
if you do manage to pay them off
each month. You spend more
when you can put off actual pay-
ment.

Barter can be a great way to
keep your cost of living low. As
long as it’s done on a causal,
informal basis, Revenue Canada
shouldn’t be too concerned.

Finally, if you are laid off and
receive severance pay, in most
cases you should directly transfer
the maximum allowable to your
own RRSP. But first, fill out Reve-
nue Canada’s Alternative Muini-
mum Tax form. If you have to pay
the AMT: because of this rollover
of severance pay to your RRSP, see
if splitting the payment between
1990 and 1991 would eliminate
the tax.

Mike Grenby is a Vancouver-
based columnist and independent
personal financial adviser; he
will answer your questions as
space allows in his column —
write to him clo The Review, P.O.
Box 2070, Sidney, B.C. V8L 3C5.

— B10

Wednesday, November 28, 1990

Review welcomes ad rep

The Review is pleased to
announce the appointment of
Doug Vestby, 27, as an advertis-
ing representative for clients in
all areas of the Saanich Penin-
sula.

Vestby brings three years of
valuable newspaper advertising
and marketing experience with
him. Most recently, Vestby
worked as an advertising repre-
sentative with the Nanaimo
Daily Free Press. Previously,
Vestby sold advertising for the
daily Brandon (Man.) Sun.

Vestby has extensive univer-
sity training in business admin-
istration from Brandon Univer-

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