Today I indulge my nerdy side that entirely enjoys reading the financial pages – esp. when it’s high drama days, like today.

In short, the TSX composite index hit a record. (if you don’t “get” the TSX, read below). It broke through 15,000 thanks in part to oil which also hit a high of $130/barrel.

Part of the spike in oil is due to predictions of increased demand from China as it recovers from the earthquake plus an airport-related strike in Norway preventing oil workers from getting out to the rigs. (crazy, eh?)

In other news my apple stock increased from $177.86 to $185.90 since I bought it April 30th. That’s not so bad!

_________________

TSX composite index – what is it, and why should you care?

It’s basically an average of the biggest companies who trade their stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange. You’d recognize tons of the names: most of the Banks (BMO etc.), Canadian Tire, Maple Leaf Foods – you get the gist.  Why should you care?  It’s an indication of the health of the general cdn. economy. Obviously, if most canadian companies like those I listed are going gangbusters, their stock value will rise, they will be hiring more people and we all live happily ever after.  If they don’t pollute us all to death in the process, that is.

Over my years as a money coach I’ve worked with a handful of people with depression, both unipolar and bipolar. It was a real eye-opener for me, and to be honest, I felt somewhat at a loss as to how best to walk alongside these remarkable individuals regarding their finances.

Here are a few stories. They are true stories, and per usual the names have been changed to protect their identities.

Matt was only 10 years from retirement when bi-polar took him down for the first time. He had a power-career, a salary of over $250K annually, a gorgeous home, and family. The first time the illness struck, he was out of commission for 2 years. He had insurance that took the edge off the financial aspects, but it was still a heavy financial blow. After finding the right mix of meds, and a lot of talk-therapy, he went back to his career – a real victory for him as you can imagine. He did well for a few years, then it struck again. Back to disability insurance. This time, he lost his home and his family disintegrated. He fought his way back, and returned to his career yet again. He only lasted about a year this time, and H.R. had to tell him the painful news that he would not be returning a third time. That blow contributed to a long, long, long time in darkness . No house, no family, no career and an illness that he felt powerless to control.

Now, he makes do on disability totaling about $2500/month. He’s now past retirement age, and that’s it for his income, for the rest of his life. (I don’t know what happened to his RRSPs, and didn’t want to ask).

Sarah knows what it is to feel like you’ve literally lost your mind. She had her own business in her late 20s. It wasn’t a wild success, but it was solid, and she had a middle-class lifestyle. She’d grappled with depression most of her life, and was managing it reasonably successfully with the right “cocktail”. Then the meds inexplicably stopped working and she ended up in the psychiatric ward of St. Paul’s hospital. She can’t remember much about this period. By the time she found her way back, her clients had long gone. She’s doing much better now has a steady job with a $36K salary, but a lot of the time it takes everything she’s got to get out of bed and get to work. Thinking about money at all is more than she can handle. She feels that’s OK, because the depression also means she simply doesn’t spend: She doesn’t care what her home looks like. She doesn’t really care about going on holidays. She lives a very, very simple lifestyle. Whatever’s left of her pay cheque (and it’s a surprising amount), she gives away to people in need – it helps her feel good and she’d rather not have to worry about it anyway. She has no savings, and her employer does not offer a pension plan or RRSPs. She doesn’t care.

Frank, also in his late 20s, very much wants to work, and probably could, if he could find work that didn’t push him too hard. He’s looking for something basic – maybe not dishwashing basic, but certainly not sales, either! He needs work that is routine, steady and that he can “leave” at the end of the day. Here’s where “dependency on the system” comes into play. His income will get deducted dollar for dollar from his disability he receives from the gov’t. That would be OK in itself… but at a certain point he will also no longer be eligible for his subsidized housing. So he may earn $500 more per month than his disability pays him, but his basic expenses may jump by as much as $800 (and remember he’ll also need transportation plus clothing plus all those other hidden work-related expenses.) Net effect: returning to work is simply no do-able.

Here are some basic money management techniques that I suggested and hope they contribute in at least a small way to reducing some of the stress.

1. Ensure that the disability payments get direct deposited. The last thing anyone needs when life is really dark is to remember to get the cheques to the bank.

2. Set up automatic bill payments. Bills don’t stop for anyone, and having creditors calling is horrible at the best of times.

3. For people with bi-polar consider setting a low daily withdrawal limit on accounts to prevent overspending.

4. For someone like Sarah, an automatic savings into a high interest account will be useful. She doesn’t have to think about the fact that money is pooling up (in fact, getting it sent to another financial institution altogether may help), but it will probably be really, really useful to have it there at some point down the road.

5. I think Canada needs more structural support for people with mental illness regarding their money, but I don’t see it coming from our governments any time soon. I encouraged these individuals to meet with others dealing with the same issues, and collectively see if there aren’t creative strategies that could help.

I was somewhat reluctant to post about this, recognizing it’s so sensitive and often very painful. When Matt and Frank met with me, together, I went home and wept – both at the raw deal they’d been given, at their determination, and when I realized that as fortunate as I think we all are to live in Canada, we sometimes still leave people almost stranded.

Readers: Have you or anyone close to you had depression or another mental health issue as an ongoing part of life? If you have any suggestions on money management that helps, please (!) share them.

Photo Credit: Cocomariposa

Every quarter, my Bank (and employer) cuts a cheque to Amnesty International, thanks to members who use an Amnesty Visa Card. Every time they use it, the bank sets aside 10¢ which pools into a three or four grand every quarter (inexact estimates). That’s one of the reasons I’m passionate about Citizens Bank of Canada.

My path is crossing Amnesty again today: It’s a day many bloggers have set aside, in partnership with Amnesty, to draw attention to human rights.

Readers will know that I am increasingly politicized. From time to time I write and rant boldly about topics like: City Hall taking a thoughtful approach to my inner-city neighbourhood, or my disillusionment about the Olympics in Vancouver or my reminder of basic human rights that Canada signed off on, but falls sadly short in keeping.

Having spent a number of years working directly with people and their money, either in my money coach capacity or at the bank I can’t help but notice how oblivious we can be (me too, trust me) about broader, and imho much more weighty issues around the world. We stress out and lose sleep over money but we don’t lose sleep over things like honour killings of young women, or China’s arrest of journalist Hu Jia who was simply calling attention to human rights.

I don’t blame us: our own context of life presses in on us and sometimes our worries about money are very real. But if we care about the fact that some of us can blog freely without fear, and if we take some comfort in the fact that while our money may cause us the occasional troubled sleep, we’re none of us wondering if the police are going to pound on the door and take us away in the middle of the night … maybe its time we do a few bare minimums:

1. Increase our alertness to global issues. If there’s an opportunity to read about or listen to or discuss global concerns, take it. One inspiring place is Ted.com – see both the issues and also creative, intelligent responses.

2. Take 10 minutes to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

3. Make a promise to yourself that next time you see an Amnesty volunteer on the streets, you’ll give them 5 minutes of your time and listen, really listen.

…and if you want a visa card that gives all the points as you’ll get anywhere else AND the bank will donate 10¢ to your choice of Amnesty or Oxfam every time you swipe it, you know where to go

Readers:  do you agree?  we are disproportionately concerned about our financial well being compared to the acute violations of human rights  around the world?  Why is that?

Mom’s in town so gotta be brief, but here’s a jaw-dropper for you that I found thanks to Growth in Value‘s blog:

The Employment Insurance Fund has a $54 BILLION surplus.

Uh, shouldn’t one of two things be happening:

1. Our premiums plummet
or

2. Programs designed to help people find work or figure out a good career for themselves get reinstated?

READERS: why do you think we put up with this? Why aren’t we kickin’ up a fuss?

Hello, Readers –

If you are a Vancouver resident who chafes at the lack of affordable housing, you can imagine the hopelessness of my dtes neighbours as nearly half of the barely-affordable housing for low-income people has been wiped out in the past short while, in favour of development.

Now I’m not against development in my neighbourhood. But I want it to be thoughtful, visionary and inclusive.

I want it to be a mixed income area where we continue to come up with empowered, creative ways of helping each other out.

Instead, I am personally witnessing a reckless, market-only-driven displacement of members of my community. It’s happened so fast and furiously there hasn’t been much chance to react.

But here’s an opportunity.

1. You can read Jean Swanson’s (the loveliest, loveliest presence and coordinator of the Carnegie [Centre] Community Action Project) distress call on her blog.

2. You can ask yourself: what kind of city do you want to create (we DO have a say, you know) and take appropriate action.

3. You can do what I’m doing, and e-mail city hall requesting that the condos slated for 58 W. Hastings Street be stopped, as an indicator to developers that Vancouver will do something more visionary in the dtes/gastown neighbourhood than simply let market forces dictate.

Note: I don’t see this as even particularly political. I see this as sound judgement and good business sense: having a plan, and a vision that shapes development. As things are going right now, it will be too late before we know it.

Here’s the letter I sent:

The Chair, Development Permit Board
c/o Alison Higginson, Project Facilitator,
Development Services
453 West 12th Avenue
Vancouver BC
V5Y 1V4

Dear Alison,

As a professional and property-owner on Alexander Street (converted warehouses) since 2000, I am both fiercely proud of my dtes/gastown community and hold out a vision for the neighbourhood.
That vision entails a thoughtful, respectful, collaborative approach to development. I envision an area ultimately respected globally for the way in which those of us
with money, and those of us who are marginalized, are integrated and, indeed, one community.

I am increasingly distressed and panicked by the fast-and-furious displacement of our city’s most vulnerable, my neighbours, (and isn’t the civility of a nation judged by how well we
care for the vulnerable?) in order to accommodate market-driven demand for housing.

I am writing to request that the brakes – screeching brakes – are put on further development in the dtes, until it can be done in the context of a well-thought-out vision that respects all stakeholders, not only market demand and the desire of developers.

Specifically, please stop the condo development for 58 W. Hastings.

In hope, and with vision,

Nancy Zimmerman

___________________________________________

It’s not an easy area. Let’s not do the easy thing and let this community get snuffed out.

PhotoCredit: Squeeky Marmot