Published Articles / The City Light News

What is at the root of our current global economic crisis? Think mental diet. What is the worst kind of food to eat? Hint…it looks and tastes good but leaves us sick.  I’m sure we can all think of examples. Food for the mind is just as important as food for the body. So what…

A cartoon shows a family sitting in the lawyer’s office as the last will and testament of the dearly departed is being read: “Being of sound mind and body… I spent it all.” Written while Tom was on sabbatical by Cliff Underwood. In my practice, I work with the “not-yet departed” as they seek help in drawing up their wills and making…

Who needs it? Of course money doesn’t grow on trees, but in our province it oozes out of the ground. Haven’t you noticed? With the Alberta advantage all around who wants to be a tightwad freak? If we were all thrifty wouldn’t our economy shrink?  Wouldn’t the banks go bankrupt?  Who would make the fat…

As I sat in the coffee shop inhaling that delicious aroma of roasted beans and sipping some fresh brew with one of my favourite clients (takes me out for coffee) I suddenly heard the message. He didn’t even notice but the Holy Spirit spoke to me through him. My client was speaking of his long,…

Nothing bothers a rich man more than to see a poor man happy. What? Can poor people even be happy? First we need to discover the reasons for poverty. Imagine visiting a doctor and telling him I feel sick. He quickly replies without any questions or investigation, “Here take some medicine”. We’d call him a…

This month we want to talk about getting our spending under control. Is that even possible? Let’s start by forgetting money for a while and thinking another favourite topic – food! Recently I read about a diet plan whereby dieters could eat whatever foods and quantities they wanted while being guaranteed weight loss after six…

What is the most important thing to remember in money management? Get ready. It’s not what you expect. You won’t read about it in popular financial columns. Money is not God! Of course you say; I knew that all along. But what does your behaviour show? Do all your decisions revolve around money? Not only…

What could be more important than RRSPs – especially this time of year? RRSPs are not just retirement tools but can also be used to purchase a first home or a new home if you have spent the last five years renting, to fund tuition and to supplement income in desperate situations. Additionally, they are…

After all… it’s lucky seven. Let the weight wait. This year the focus is finances. My New Years’ resolution will be to get my money under control. How do I start? Start with your spending. When my parents immigrated to Canada from Eastern Europe in 1958 there was no government health care and no Canada…

This was the big question for Time Magazine in its September 18th edition. So what’s the answer? Time went on to say, A growing number of Protestant evangelists raise a joyful, YES!  But the idea is poison to other, more mainstream pastors. Which group is right? One group calls it paradise the other, poison. Some…

Did you know that recently the federal government made it better for us to give to registered charities? Here’s how it works. If we own any marketable securities such as stocks, mutual funds or flow-through shares and donate them directly to the charity then we pay no tax on the capital gain and get a…

I have delayed the 6th article in my current series because of a troubling truth I stumbled over. That’s right stumbled over. I was minding my own business working on my website analysis of all the financial advice from the Book of Proverbs when it hit me. There it was, looking innocent and benign, when…

Right now Alberta is rolling in money. We have never had it so good – financially. What should we do? Let’s take a lesson from the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine described in Genesis 41. God gave Joseph the wisdom to recognize that conditions would not always be like this…

Do you live in a closed system or an open system? A couple of my clients have been encouraging me in their display of generosity and trust in God. They live in an open system and are watching God show Himself faithful. Wes recently cashed in an RRSP, giving it all to a Christian charity…

Money and morality don’t mix well. That’s why for the most part I dismiss so called ethical mutual funds as a sales gimmick. To qualify for socially responsible investing a company must respect environmental and labour standards, while not deriving its revenues from tobacco, alcohol, gambling, military weaponry or nuclear power. It helps too if…

Fear and greed are dangerous enemies to good investing. Imagine, our own attitudes as our biggest foes! Some say that fear and geed drive the markets. I disagree. The way I see it, fear and greed influence the markets negatively, but the markets themselves are powered by the cumulative work and creative production of us…

What is the classic financial planning question? Most would reply, “Should I pay down my mortgage or should I invest in my RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan)?” But is that really the most important question? Are there only two alternatives? The issue is not should I pay down my mortgage or invest more in my…

Last month we reviewed the Biblical reasons for including gold as a big part of our investment portfolio. Gold, silver and other precious metals in any form, for example, bars or certificates are not qualified investments for RRSP’s. However, shares of gold mining companies or precious metal mutual funds can be held in RRSP’S. Two…

My dad once told me a story about conditions during WWII when times were much worse than now. He recalled how a prisoner prior to being strip-searched swallowed a gold nugget to hide it temporarily. Naturally he intended to find it again a day or two later. Gold has always been cherished. It is portable,…

During the past 10 years, many books have been written predicting the economic meltdown of Western society. Titles include best-sellers such as The Coming Economic Earthquake by Larry Burkett and The Great Reckoning by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. More recently, an enormous amount had been touted about a potential Y2K crisis. But…

Work stress had reached critical levels for one of my clients as he quickly climbed the corporate ladder at the management level. The pressures had inevitably spilled over into the home when Eric asked for an extended leave of absence from his job. Eric was granted his request with the stipulation that he would return…

Zero degrees Celsius, the freezing point of water, is the universal benchmark for gauging temperature. The equator is the starting point for measuring latitude, just as the prime meridian is the standard for longitude. Altitude begins at sea level. And the :”A” note at 550 hertz is able to synchronize an entire orchestra. All these…