There were plenty of laughs as Farm Credit Canada delivered three motivational speakers to cheer up clients at a Dec. 5 event in Saskatoon.
This is the third year for the FCC Forum and it attracted 800 people.
Larry Hayes, FCC district director for Saskatoon, said with agriculture getting more complex, farmers need more training.
“We do a large venue like this to help people to develop a better understanding and to transfer knowledge.”
After the event, audience member Valerie Wright of Moose Jaw said the speakers were positive and uplifting. She added that farmers “need to be happy in our positions.”
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Journalist Rex Murphy related the loss of Newfoundland’s cod industry a decade ago that hit 31,000 fishermen to Ontario’s population, saying it would be like losing 600,000 jobs overnight. The auto sector in Ontario has 400,000 jobs.
He also noted that his stories for CBC about the fishery crisis generated thousands of letters, 80 percent of them from the Prairies. He said farmers were reacting to the sense that in Canada, communities bond together to help each other. Primary producers everywhere understood the loss, he added, just as the Atlantic provinces sent salted fish west during the Dirty Thirties.
“When one of those (primary) industries is threatened, it is different than when a Staples or a car dealership closes.”
Joan McCusker, Olympic curler, passed around her Olympic medal and allowed each member of the audience to hold it.
She joked that her background as a farm kid in Saltcoats, Sask., one of seven children in a house with one bathroom, trained her for the mandatory urine drug tests required of Olympic winners.
“We waited over two hours for Mike Harris’s team (silver curling champs). They’re city boys, not used to peeing in front of others.”
She also joked that her curling team was happy alcohol was not banned because it is not regarded as a performance-enhancing substance.
More seriously, she said perseverance unites Olympians and farmers. Attitude is the one factor producers can control in an industry dominated by weather and world markets.
Dave Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber, closed the day with a lesson in perspective and risk. He cashed in all his savings and RRSPs to self-publish his book, which grew to be a best seller in Canada, selling almost two million copies in 20 years.
When commenting about the world’s financial crisis, Chilton said governments should not throw more money at the banks and make credit easier to get because “that’s what got us in trouble the first time.” He also noted that today’s situation is not as drastic as what happened during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Chilton had tips for individuals:
- Save as much as you can and start in your 20s. By your 40s and 50s, when you have more money, you also have a certain standard of living to which you have become accustomed.
- Buy mutual funds with no fees because deferred sales charges penalize you when you are trying to escape a bad investment. Today, picking a winner has more to do with luck than skill.
- Focus on nondeductible debt. Paying off your mortgage or credit card quickly is better than having money in the bank.
- Buy gold as a hedge against inflation, but don’t buy racehorses.
- For estate planning, don’t stick your children with a big tax bill because the value of the farm or cottage has risen. Instead, buy an insurance policy on the parents and have the children pay the premium. The policy payout will pay for the taxes when they inherit.
Also, parents who have money they don’t need in their retirement should give it to their adult children now when everyone can enjoy it.
- A house is not a financial plan. Seniors in Canada tend to stay in their house rather than move. Don’t be house rich but cash poor.
