Blog No. 5: My Kingdom For A Cipher

Blog No. 5: My Kingdom For A Cipher

 Alrighty then. Listen up troops. Today’s blog was supposed to be about aligning your life’s picture with your financial picture…or at the very least some baby steps in that direction. We’ll get back there, I promise. But, in the interim, because the cool thing about a living, breathing blog is we can adapt on the fly we’re going to do just that: adapt on the fly. Why? Because I had the privilege of presenting at the Every Woman In The World White Rock edition this past Saturday and I was reminded of something important to all you Whos out in Whoville: just how nutty the world of financial acronyms can be for the average Josephine. So my lovelies today we present “Financial Acronyms 101” which is actually more about…

 Do YOU Know WHO You Are Talking To About Your Money?

For many navigating the waters of the financial services world is a bit like learning a foreign language. At first blush, you don’t understand much, if anything. Slowly phrases and proper nouns start to fall into place: RRSP, life insurance, line of credit, and personal net worth statement. Managing to put all these words and phrases into a full sentence, let alone carry a conversation, is another story however and I am here to tell you that if you think you are the only human out there who isn’t sure what CFP stands for or what an LOC is or whether you need someone with a CIM you are among the MANY not the few. However, this stuff matters and it matters in a big way because in the world of money one of the few tools consumers have to begin comparing one advisor to another is the letters behind that advisor’s name.

Dana Fleming, CFP, FCSI, CIM

Yup. That’s me. So what do all those letters mean? Let’s start at the start:

CFP - Certified Financial Planner

The tricky thing about the term “Financial Planner” in Canada is that anyone can use it. So what is a girl to do if she is seeking a qualified professional to assist her with her financial plan? The designation “Certified Financial Planner” is conferred upon an individual, who has taken a specific education stream, passed a rigorous qualifying examination, has experience in the industry, must maintain her continuing education on an annual basis and must adhere to a strict code of ethics and standards. The good news is that you can learn a TON about this on The Financial Planning Standards Council website found here:

www.fpsc.ca

This website is an excellent source for the newbie to the experienced investor and it is worth your time to become acquainted with it. More importantly you can confirm if someone who is advertising or holding herself out as a financial planner actually is a Certified Financial Planner in good standing. There is also a link on the website where you can seek out CFPs in your area to interview as potential planners for you.

FCSI – Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute

I always find this one a bit odd to be honest because the last time I checked I was not a “fellow” and I don’t think the term “fellowette” flies. Despite the gender issue in the name the Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute connotes a dedication to one’s craft and a long-term commitment to education and standards of excellence. You can learn more about this designation on the institute’s website found here: 

www.fcsi.ca

As with the CFP designation, this website also allows you to search out an individual claiming to hold this designation or seek out someone in your area. The site also provides a wealth of information about just what exactly this designation means and why it is important to you as a consumer. 

CIM – Canadian Investment Manager

This designation is a bit more industry specific and harder for a consumer to sift through the information to understand its relevance. The designation is conferred by the Canadian Securities Institute of Canada and you can learn about the coursework, content, hours and topics on their website found here:

https://www.csi.ca/student/en_ca/designations/cim.xhtml

There are a variety of securities courses which allow an individual to recommend investments. Some of these limit the type of investment that an advisor can offer such as mutual funds only or segregated funds only (a life insurance product). It is important that you understand what your advisor can and cannot do for you and to ensure that your needs are best served by her skill set and accreditations.

Other Resources

If you are seeking someone to handle your money, assist you with your financial planning or both do your HOMEWORK. This is one of the most important decisions you will make. A couple of other websites you should check:

Advocis – Financial Advisors Association of Canada

Advocis is an advocacy group for financial advisors to help promote standards of excellence in the advising community and work with government bodies to ensure regulations are in the consumer’s best interest but also not at odds with industry best practices. Advocis has an excellent consumer page which discusses the numerous designations in Canada (http://www.advocis.ca/content/consumers/designations.html).

The BC Securities Commission

The BC Securities Commission has some excellent consumer orientated information available particularly on the topic of not getting swindled out of your money. To get some great education go to the BC Securities website: http://www.bcsc.bc.ca and click on “For Investors” (left hand side).

Canadian Securities Administrators

To learn more about a “registrant” (an advisor you might wish to work with) you can go to the Canadian Securities Administrators website and make sure all is well. Try it - go here http://www.securities-administrators.ca/nrs/nrsearch.aspx?id=850 and type in my name, Dana Fleming for the province of BC. See what you learn! This is a MUST for anyone you will be handing your precious, hard earned coin over too. Non-negotiable.

In summary, I realize this is a rather dry topic to some degree but it is an important one. You are truly the only one who can fully protect and arm yourself with the information necessary to make a wise decision regarding YOUR MONEY or your financial plan. Before you work with anyone on either or both, do your own due diligence: interview a prospective advisor / planner / portfolio manager. In fact, interview more than one. Ask them each the same questions and compare notes. Understand what you are signing up for and when you have all the factual, intellectual data do one last thing – the belly check. Your belly never lies and it’s a wonderful instrument in your decision making process. 

I hope you will check some of the above websites out and get informed. If you are seeking a new person to work with and haven’t a clue what to ask, fire an email to info@visionwm.ca with the words “Inteview Questions” in the subject line and I will happily send you a sample list of questions that you can print off and take to your various interviews. Yes, interviews…that is plural for a reason!

Next time – pizza. Maybe. Don’t you love the suspense?

Be well!

Blog No. 4: Working That Cash Flow

EveryWomanInTheWorld

The Moola Blog “Live” From The Middle of the Olympics…No Really, I’m Not Kidding

My offices are located in the hub of Olympic mania…yup. Right downtown. I work downtown and I live in Squamish. Can you think of a better combination for these two weeks of fun and frivolity? Possibly downtown and Whistler but that’s about it. I must say, the Olympic Spirit that has seeped into Vancouver almost unannounced has been nothing short of breathtaking. As the opening date neared, things started to get a bit “different” in the downtown corridor but in typical west coast style I can’t say there was any real “buzz” going on. Then Friday, February 12^th hit and I do not know where it came from or how it manifested itself by the games were ON and so was all of Vancouver.

I have never experienced so much Canadian pride in such a short period of time: everyone it seems is sporting red, or wearing a Maple Leaf, or something with “Canada” blazing through. I’m not much a fan of the commercial nature of the Olympics but these athletes, well, they are another story for me: they get me every time. Win or lose, I don’t much seem to care because I am so enamoured with their total and passionate commitment to their own personal excellence. The games for me are a reminder of what we can accomplish if we set our mind to something. We can move mountains. We really, truly can. And if you think I’m making it up, just watch some of the Olympic coverage over the next two weeks.

Why am I rambling on about the Olympics? What has that got to do with finances. Nothing and everything. Success in your life is about attitude as much as any other factor. Grab a little of this Olympic energy and put it into your life, your goals and your passions. And heck yes, put it into your financial overhaul. Like everything else, you get what you give and with that in mind my little cash flow trackers…

How did you do? Assuming you all put forth an honest effort and grabbed every receipt imaginable even though you felt ridiculous sometimes asking the guy at the fruit stand for the receipt from the emergency “I’m-starving-banana” you bought while rushing to your next meeting having missed your 10 o’clock snack (again). And you’ve endured the odd and quizzical looks on your friends’ faces as you requested your receipt at the coffee shop, and then again at the magazine stand and at the movie theatre. Yup, you have now enrolled in Dana’s school of financial wizardry and wisdom. Welcome – it will do you a world of good.

Having thus made a month long commitment to this new habit I’m curious. Are any of you considering keeping up with it? You know, there was a bit of psychological warfare going on with this exercise. I read somewhere about a billion years ago that it takes 30 days to instill a new habit for life. I have no science to back that up and cannot remember for the life of me where I came across this but I do know this: when my clients take this exercise to heart and actually do the work their financial worlds change. Hopefully you are experiencing a similar effect because I can guarantee you it is one of the foundations of mastering (or in our case perhaps mistressing?) your money. Good on you regardless of whether you choose to continue or not. Hopefully you found the information useful and perhaps even enlightening.

So now that we have numbers, real numbers, uh…what do we do with them? Let us go back to my original thesis statement: budgets don’t work.

If Budgets Don’t Work What Does?

Excellent question. Ready for some new terms? Here they are (drum roll please): non-discretionary expenses versus discretionary expenses. In my practice we use other euphemisms for these terms such as: the things you don’t have any choice about versus the things you can choose. Whether you see it right now or not your financial world is already “budgeted” (I use the term loosely) for you: there are bills you simply do not have a choice about paying unless you change your circumstances. For example, if you want to keep your home you pay your mortgage but the new shirt well, unless all of your other shirts have been ripped to shreds by an overaggressive pet having a bad hair day, well the new shirt is a choice.

All of this relates back to you understanding where you want to go and what your picture for your life is. We do have some control over our fixed expenses: we can choose to have the big mortgage or not, we can choose to buy the new car or one that’s a few years older, we can choose to reduce our energy consumption and reduce our utility bills. It is a myth that we do not control these things: we do. We control them every single day and they are the products of every decision we make. Choose wisely as your non-discretionary expenses are less easy to manipulate, change and alter than your discretionary expenses.

Here’s Some More Homework

I know what you’re thinking…what is it with this chick and homework? This is just a little, baby task. Promise. Go back to the wonderful tracking you did and divide out those items that are non-discretionary in nature versus those that are discretionary. In other words, separate out those items which you feel are non-negotiable: they must be paid or your credit rating suffers, you risk losing your home, you have no heat, etc. This DOES NOT include your monthly manicure and pedicure – sorry ladies. Even though I have heard some passionate and well-reasoned arguments as to why these are non-discretionary items unless you are a hand and / or foot model and can write this off as a business expense forget about it.

You should now have a total for your non-discretionary expenses and for your non-discretionary. No grab your pay stubs and determine how much moola came into your house after all deductions and taxes were paid (we refer to this as your NET income) during that same period and suss out the good, the bad and possibly the ugly. Did you outspend your income? Did you spend less than your income? Are you right on the line? Do you have savings in your cash flow tracking? Are you a regular saver?

Trick Question: Where would you put savings…non-discretionary or discretionary? (Careful what you answer here…remember who you’re blogging with.)

And finally, what percentage of your NET income (that is your income after all taxes and deductions – in other words the part of your pay you ACTUALLY get in your pocket each payday) is spent on non-discretionary versus discretionary items? Is it 50%? 30%? 70%? Despite all the financial noise that tells you your mortgage should not represent more than 30% of your income the truth is an appropriate percentage is based upon your values and your goals. For some people I work with owning a home is a huge, if not their number one, priority. Their joy and bliss comes from renovating, futzing in the garden, having dinner parties, raising their kids, and generally being homebodies. For them it is truly their quantum of solace and the fact that it represents 65% of their household income is irrelevant because it represents almost 100% of their life.

Can you see where I am going with this? The trick is to get you focused on what matters and what financial tools you have at your disposal to aim straight for that which matters. Congratulations – you’ve taken a pivotal step in getting acquainted with the cash flow (in and out) of your household. Now take a moment and reflect upon what this information is telling you. Are you using one of your greatest life’s tools, your earnings, to fund the life you love? In our next cybermeeting, we’ll talk a little bit more about living the life you love and expressing that with your financial game plan. Until then, keep tracking that cash flow, okay? It’s a good thing. Really.

PS

If you’re a super keener I strongly suggest turning this cash flow gig into a life habit especially if you’re on an Olympic style quest to becoming mistress of your own financial domain.

Blog No 3: To RRSP or Not to RRSP – That Is The Question…

EveryWomanInTheWorld

To RRSP or Not to RRSP – That Is The Question…

Ah yes…that age old and cyclical question that reverberates through the halls of many a Canadian home particularly in the last hours of that month called February…to RRSP or not to RRSP. Today, against innumerable odds, I am going to attempt to answer this age old (okay, maybe not age old – grant me some poetic license here) query just for the sheer fun of it.

Speaking of age old…anyone know the answers to the following trivia questions?

1. Which is older? The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs)?
2. What year were RRSPs introduced to Canada and what Prime Minister was all for this groovy vehicle?

Believe it or not, RRSPs predate the Canada Pension Plan by almost a full decade. This retirement savings vehicle was introduced to Canadians in 1957 under the John Diefenbaker government. Just in case you’re curious, the CPP was started in 1966.

What Is An RRSP And Why On Earth Should YOU Have One?

Most Canadians, if not all Canadians, have heard the term but many still don’t seem to know how it works. Very simply stated, an RRSP is a tax advantaged savings program geared to help you build enough of a nest egg to provide you with an income, or assistance to other sources of income such as your pension plan at work, the CPP and Old Age Security (OAS) programs, when you retire. The plan is tax advantaged in two ways:

1.  The Immediate Tax Advantage Of An RRSP

For every dollar you put into your RRSP you get a tax credit against your taxable income. Read that again…it matters: For every dollar you put into your RRSP you get a tax credit against your taxable income. Let me give you an example to show you just how powerful this is.

Donna works hard for her money, so hard for her money, and earns $60,000 a year as a paralegal. Donna contributes $500 per month to her RRSPs for a total of $6,000 per year. When Donna fills out her tax forms for 2009 she gets to DEDUCT from her taxable income the $6,000 RRSP contribution. For illustration purposes let’s look at two income tax scenarios: one with no RRSP contribution and one with a $6,000 contribution.

*Please note: the illustration is for the province of BC and does not include any other eligible deductions.

How powerful is this? Well, just by contributing to an RRSP account alone Donna in effect made almost a 30% rate of return. How? She put in $6,000 but it only cost her $4,218. Anything that gives you a 30% rate of return on your savings commitment year over year is a very good thing indeed.

2.  The Long-Term Tax Advantage Of An RRSP

Remember I said “tax advantaged” up above…well this is part two of the tax advantaged equation and it is equally as powerful. Your RRSP investments will grow tax deferred until you start to withdraw them. In other words, if you diligently save to your RRSP account for 25 years, you will not pay one penny of tax on any and all of the growth in that plan until you start drawing from the plan. This, my friends, is HUGE.

Think about this for a moment…first of all it only cost Donna $4,218 to put $6,000 away and on top of that, as her nest egg grows, she pays absolutely not one single penny in tax. Want an example of how powerful that is? Let me show you: here’s what Donna’s nest egg would look like in 25 years if we assume a $6,000 per year savings, an average annual return of 7% and a marginal tax rate (the rate of tax Donna pays on the highest dollar earned) of 30%. The math isn’t entirely precise but it’s in the ballpark and will give you a good idea of the effect of deferred taxes.

We’re talking about a $100,000 difference at the end of 25 years which seems a pretty compelling argument to me. Enough said.

I hope I’ve been able to convey the importance of an RRSP to you. In fact, in recent weeks there has been a great deal of news coverage regarding the Canadian public’s general unpreparedness to support itself in retirement. This is a very scary concept because if Canadians continue to believe that the beleaguered CPP and OAS are going to save the day, they had better think again. In my opinion, “to RRSP or not to RRSP” isn’t even an appropriate question. An RRSP is a non-negotiable part of your financial plan and doing something is significantly better than doing nothing, this I promise you.

A Few Fast Facts

No matter how many times I speak about this topic, or write about it, there are always questions. Here are a few quick notes that may help you navigate the waters as well as some important facts.

• This year’s RRSP contribution deadline is March 1, 2010.
• Any RRSP contribution you make within the first 60 days of a new year can be used for your previous year tax return OR your current year tax return (ie you can use a first 60 day contribution for your 2009 taxes or your 2010 taxes). In fact, you can split up the contribution and use some for 2009 and some for 2010. The trick is to get the best bang for your tax buck so make sure you use the contribution amount that gives you the most tax credit. Most home tax preparation software will allow you to run scenarios to determine this and all competent accountants can sort this out for you in a jiff.
• To determine how much you can contribute to your RRSP consult your 2008 Notice of Assessment from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). If you can’t seem to lay your hands on that particular document, you can call CRA and request this information (1-800-959-8281). You can also access this information online once you  have created an “epass” for yourself (http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/tx/ndvdls/myccnt/menu-eng.html).
• It is not actually correct to say you bought an RRSP – you can’t buy an RRSP. You can contribute to an RRSP account inside of which you can buy many different types of investments: cash, GICs, Term Deposits, Bonds, Stocks, etc.
• You can borrow to invest in an RRSP and sometimes this is an excellent idea. However, be aware that the interest you pay on an RRSP loan is not tax deductible and borrowing to invest should be done in the context of a well thought out financial plan.

Bottom line: make your RRSP part of the foundation of your financial plan. Any amount is a good amount and like many other things in life the path to success is habit so get into the habit of saving regularly, in other words, monthly, for your own future. And remember the power of “tax advantaged savings” which immediately improves your bottom line!

So kids, we’ll see you back here in a month and we will be tackling the great cash flow tracking adventure. I hope you’ve managed to do at least 30 days and I would be delighted to learn that you are actually keeping up the habit: it will change your life. Promise.

Blog No. 2: Keeping Perspective During The Holidays

The Moola Blog “Live” From My Parent’s House

Well it’s the holidays. I suppose I should have some sort of holiday themed tune tinkling as you read this or at least a holiday themed background. Where did I put that disk of icons…hmmm…

Today yours truly comes to you live from the Kelowna, BC and the home of my parents Willie and Puds. Christmas at the Fleming household is a very good thing indeed. You can trace some of my money habits back to my adorable parents. One of those habits is the Christmas Budget. For as long as I can remember, we’ve had a dollar limit on the value of the Christmas gifts we’ve been allowed to buy each other. When we were kids, the limit was pretty low in accordance with how realistic it was for a 10 year old and 6 year old, for example, to buy gifts on a lawn cutting and paper delivery income. As we all grew older the limit increased but the limit has sort of stuck at $100 for something like two decades now – this is, of course, inflation adjusted. Remember who your blogging with.

I must say I love this about my family. For one thing it takes a lot of the financial pressure surrounding Christmas off the table. We all know exactly how much Christmas is going to cost each year and it is perfectly acceptable to spend less: it really is the thought that counts. From my perspective it focuses the holidays on what they should be: time with family, time for rest and time to dream and aspire to a new year ahead and all the promise that it holds.

In my practice I also see the other side of Christmas – I see the pressure, the stress and the expectations. For some, Christmas is one of the most loaded words in the English dictionary. There are family dynamics that have varying levels of challenge to sift through and manage and sometimes these dynamics put inordinate pressure upon us financially. And for what? Seems to me, as we get older (and hopefully a tad wiser) the last thing we actually need is more stuff.

If you’ve been continuing on your cash flow tracking hopefully you will have been able to come to terms with the money in / money out concept and hopefully you have used this tool to assist you in preparing for the barrage of “holiday-spending-is-a-good-thing” media that has been hitting you from the moment the Halloween candy went on half price. I assure you, over-indulging in holiday spending / spirit will leave you feeling just as ill as the “50% off” bag of Halloween candy you polished off ‘cuz it was “such a deal”.

Be aware and be mindful. The simplest things can bring you everything you need to enjoy the spirit of the season and can replenish both body and mind. We live in an utterly abundant part of the world and this is a wonderful time of year to give thanks and relish this fact. I wish all of you a safe and happy holiday season. And I hope you will find time to think about what your “Olympic Year”, 2010, will look like for you and yours. I’ll see you again in a month where we will tackle the often misunderstood topic of RRSPs. To RRSP or not to RRSP that is the question…

PS… And don’t you fret…I haven’t forgotten about that wee cash flow exercise I tossed at ya. We’ll get back to that too. Promise.

Blog No. 1: Financial Health - The Beginning...

The Moola Blog “Live” From 43,000 (or so) Feet

It’s all Kerri’s fault. Really. That enigmatic, energetic, enthusiastic and utterly unstoppable piston named Kerri Carlson. Any “Every Woman” who has ever had even a moment’s interaction with Ms. Kerri knows exactly what I’m talking about and it’s her fault that I am somewhere over the plains of Canada at roughly 43,000 feet staring at a blank page ruminating upon this concept of “a blog”. Despite my predilection for all things technical I have never actually “blogged”. Like many of you, finding a moment of spare time in an ever demanding schedule is challenging at best: It leads one to, well, writing blogs on airplanes.

Writing a blog on money, wealth, financial well-being, fiscal responsibility, {insert your own favourite euphemism here} is almost as daunting as trying to set people straight on the birds and bees of cash in a 45 minute session at every WOMAN. Where does one start? And what should one talk about? Money is a big and broad topic, as diverse as the humans I see in my private practice or meet at my various speaking engagements. Money is worse than a four letter word for some. I’ve seen it all in over a decade of practice and nothing, I swear to you nothing, surprises me anymore.

Money brings out all of the monkeys we create: fear, joy, denial, excitement, passion, dread…and the list goes on. There is, however, one common denominator in the world of money and it is a simple one: love it or hate it we all have to deal with it. And it is my humble opinion that how we choose to deal with our money can, and I would argue should, represent our larger world view and our place on this magnificent planet called earth.

Heavy stuff, huh? Maybe – it’s all a matter of perspective. Money is only a tool. I can guarantee you it will not fix anything other than the tangible such as your roof, your car, your furnace. But how you handle your money can and will have a deep impact upon the intangible, the difficult to measure but the so very important: your relationships, your sense of happiness and contentment and your sense of balance in your life. How you handle your money will directly influence what you get out of life and what you can give. And if you are seeking more out of your life, then, believe it or not, your relationship with money is an excellent place to start.

If you have found your way here, to this page, then I’m assuming you are at the very least interested in the topic at hand. If you’re still reading then I am further going to assume that some portion of the above rambling speaks to you and makes sense even if you aren’t sure why yet. My objective in writing this blog is to cover some of the commonalities I see every day in my work: those questions that I am continually asked. There are common themes that come up time and time again so we’re going to tackle them full-on, cyber media style. I hope you find the areas we cover of use and I invite you to use this as your forum and a place for you to seek the information YOU need. I am happy to entertain questions and suggested topics. (I’ll just have to figure out how to be on a plane once a month so I can find time to write this thing.) And now, without further ado, let us begin at the beginning…

Budget-Schmudget

You know that show “Mythbusters”? Well I’m going to steal their title and throw out a little mythbuster of my own. Brace yourself for you are about to read financial heresy: budgets don’t work.

Huh? I know, I know. Just about every single thing you’ve read about working with your hard earned coin preaches the holy grail of budgeting. Useless. Why? Because life happens and budgeting for life is a very, very tricky business. In order to fully understand my blasphemy we need to take a wee trip down “cash flow lane”.

Understand Your Cashflow

One of the prime reasons budgets don’t work is a fundamental gap in knowledge. Do you know what you spend? Do you know, to the last loonie, where your money goes? Most people do not. Trust me. I’m an expert in this. If we follow a line of logic here it becomes crystal clear just why budgets, like diets, fail in the end. (FYI - Read my every-WOMAN-blogging-partner-in-crime Dana Lis’ blog for more on the diet gig – she’s amazing!) How can you set a budget for yourself, your household, if you don’t actually know what you spend to begin with? More importantly, how can you as the CEO of your household make any meaningful decisions about where your money should go if you don’t actually know where it’s going now?

I have a little exercise for you. Yup. Homework. I’m not back in my cyberspace form for a month so here’s a one month challenge. Track every single penny you spend for one month…and I mean EVERY SINGLE PENNY. If you don’t do this already (and few people do) you will find this a very enlightening experience. Stop rolling your eyes, it’s not THAT hard. All I’m asking for is about 30 minutes of your time every Saturday morning and adopting a fastidious habit of grabbing receipts for one month. Here’s how to keep it simple:

• Every time you make a purchase of any description make sure you grab the receipt,
• If the receipt does not detail what the purchase was (i.e. you buy gum at the corner store and just get a receipt for $1.32) take a moment to scribble on the receipt what you purchased,
• Every Saturday for 10 – 30 minutes (depends on how many receipts you have) total up where you spent your money,
• Add in your major monthly expenses as well: rent / mortgage, car insurance, utilities, membership dues, etc.

You can track the above on a simple spreadsheet and if you don’t have access to such a piece of technical wonder then a piece of paper, pencil and a calculator will do. If you need help, fire an email to info@visionwm.ca with “Template Please” in the subject line and we’ll send you a template spreadsheet to help you get started.

At the end of the month you will have a record of how you actually chose to spend your money. In fact, I would actually like you to do this for at least three months so you can see trends and habits more readily and particularly because the holidays are just around the corner (Can someone please tell me when that happened???) and this will impact the perceived “normalcy” of your cash flow tracking without a doubt.  Whichever duration you choose to sink your teeth into have your 30 day or 90 day data ready because in my Olympic Blog (February 15^th) we’re going to tackle our own Olympic Event: Mastering Your Cash Flow.

I’ll see you back here at our cyber-meet next month for a wee chat about holiday joy and holiday stress. Is it just me or do they seem to come wrapped in one, neat, little combo-package?

 Until then, go forth and TRACK!