Technically a holiday is defined as a day of festivity and recreation when no work is done.

In North America and beyond Halloween is commonly referred to as a holiday these days.   The “and beyond” part comes from the numerous references to Halloween I saw in Japan when I was there recently (mostly marketing based though).   There are holiday greeting cards for this event and of course retailers have jumped on the band-wagon leveraging it a great marketing ploy.

Maybe it’s just semantics

In some way’s I am a bit of a stickler for a strict meaning of words.  Halloween is definitely not a day of festivity and recreation when no work is done,  so calling it a holiday is just wrong.

Granted people dress in costumes, collect candy (children mostly) and other practices some strange rituals and customs which have come to be associated with the last day of October – so there is some festivity – but a holiday it is not.   People do go to work on Oct 31st (unless of course it is a scheduled day off work for other reasons like a weekend or whatever).

A time for pranks

As a youngster I have fond memories of dressing up in costumes and going door to door begging candy.  Sounds routine, until I clarify that our gang did this any time of the year (not just on Oct 31st) and surprisingly sometimes we did get candy (not always though).  The point is though we saw no need to wait for a phony holiday to practice this ritual which did have some benefit for us.  We just saw no reason to treat trick or treating as a time sensitive practice.

On the trick side, another favorite, not just reserved for Halloween was where we filled a bag with dog excrement, lit it on fire, placed it at a door step and rang the doorbell.    It was really funny when I was thirteen but seems like immature behavior to me now.   (I guess the young have less filters about what constitutes acceptable behavior)

Holiday or Not

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

There has been a lot of press lately about the growing amount of personal debt in Canada.  The Governor of Bank of Canada has raised it as an underlying concern within the Canadian economy.

A main sub-set of this conversation, and the more alarming one for me is the statistical growth in the number of people that are retiring with debt.

Why Debt in Retirement

My personal financial planning always included an overall goal to be debt free at my chosen retirement age.   For me this was a key part of our ongoing financial plans.  As we monitored and modified our objectives usually on an rolling five year plan the long term goal of being debt free was always key.

Based on anecdotal information, a lot of analysts and statisticians are laying the cause of debt in retirement on poor planning.

Is Retirement Debt Bad?

To be fair there is nothing intrinsically wrong with carrying a personal debt load in retirement.  The caveat would be, if it was  planned.

If you have a good understanding of your post retirement expenses and have planned your income commensurately, whether these expenses included debt service or not is irrelevant.

The Reality

Lots of people calculate their retirement income needs as a percentage of their earnings during work years.  The idea is you don’t need as much income in retirement as your expenses are low.  Things like downsizing housing, reduced need to support dependents, education costs, lower taxes and commute costs lead to lower ongoing expenses in retirement.  Income needs are therefore calculated accordingly.

One key expense that is usually thought to be eliminated in retirement are usually debt service related to life style purchases (i.e., home mortgage, car loans, vacation loans etc).

My concern is these folks that have debt in retirement but planned their income with the above thoughts in mind and did not plan for the income needed to match the debt they still have on retirement .  Maybe they thought it would magically disappear.

This portion of the population is feeding the B of C Governor’s concerns.  He worries, as I do, of a potentially high number of bankrupts impacting the health of the economy.

Boo!

This post is just a little fear mongering doom and gloom  before Halloween.   (I didn’t start it)

A couple of months ago six of my colleagues presented me with a “No” button.    This was a novelty which when pressed issued a loud “No”  Each pressing was different, that is variations like:  No! ;  No, No, No ; For the last time No; and so on, each in a different tone of voice.

Not surprisingly I thought this was  a great tool which worked well with the easy button I already had.  Sort of a “No!” followed by  “That was easy!” combination.

Sending a Message

Probably my colleagues were telling me in a soft and nice way that I tend to lean on “No” as a good answer.  Usually followed by “I’m not doing that”.   And you thought I was easy to get along with.

Surprises Abound

I guess I am being led along a path.   Today the “No” button was followed with a “Yes” button.  Same idea, except on each pressing different variations of Yes.  Like  ” Yes!;  Yes, Yes, Yes;  Oh Yeah;  Oh Yeah Baby; and so on.

Lots of these responses are in a female voice as opposed to the no button which is all male – not sure what that is about.  Could the message be here that men are more likely to respond negatively while women are actually “Yes Men” more often.  Hmmm, interesting.

More likely my colleagues are leading me down a path.  First, they seem accepting of No and now they are indicating a switch to Yes is expected.

A funny Thing

On presentation of the button earlier today I did want to try it and at least here what “Yes” sounded like.  Problem was my left hand would not respond.  I could not press the Yes button.  Finally I had to use my right hand to force my left to press the button (this was recorded on video).

I guess I really don’t want to be a Yes man.   I hope everyone is not too disappointed.

I got my flu shot yesterday.  Personally I see little value in this practice and it makes my arm sore for a day or two.  So why did I get the shot?

Some would say it’s because I am whipped.  That is, my wife told me I had to get the shot.  I need to be honest though, I believe in personal accountability and so only I can make the choice to go and get the shot.  It would be wrong to say my wife made me do it, although she sure had an influence.

Past Experience Predicts the Future

If the saying holds true, given I have had three flu shots in the last twenty-five years, and never contracted the flu I really wonder what the flu shot does for me beyond making my arm hurt and my wife happy.

About Influenza

The influenza virus is like a common cold but much more severe and can lead to serious respiratory ailments like pneumonia.   The virus is highly contagious and easily transmitted through airborne water droplets from sneezes.  It can survive in the locations it lands for up to forty-eight hours.

If you are cautious, wash your hands regularly, don’t share food or drink with sick people and stay away from coughing, you can avoid catching the flu.  This might be the main reason why I have not been sick with the flu in over twenty-five years.

Flu Shot or Masks

While the flu shot is a potential preventative measure, apparently for both yourself and others (if you don’t catch the flu you won’t transmit it) I really like the Japanese practice of wearing a white surgical mask when you feel sick.  This ensures the bad air borne viruses to stay with you when you breath and cough and are not passed to others. It’s like keeping your bad news to yourself.   Also it’s pretty cool seeing all these people walking around wearing white masks.

I have long thought they should make black masks so people could identify themselves as a good person or a bad person (something like wearing a white hat or a black hat in a movie so you know who the good and bad guys are).