All posts by Michael Drak

Have advertisers put a spell on you?

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Teenage wizard girl with magic wand casting spells in a enchanted fantasy forest

By Michael Drak

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

“Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need.”

— Will Rogers

Recently the Contessa (my wife) and I went to see the Bette Midler show and at the unbelievable age of 69 she put on one heck of a performance. She still has it and had us laughing when she was poking fun at herself singing I Look Good and I Still Have my Health.

This was followed by a standup comedy routine in which she threw her usual zingers into the crowd. “I still look good, but I don’t know what happened to some of you,” she teased. “It’s 50 shades of grey in this section right here. I don’t know whether to sing to you or tell you something about reverse mortgages.”

At one point in the performance she came out dressed as the witch character from her 1993 film Hocus Pocus and sang one of my favourite songs,  I Put a Spell on You.

Which brings me back to the subject of this article.

Honey, I think our computer is possessed!

Continue Reading…

Some Early Stage Encore Career Observations and Recommendations

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A metal toggle switch with plate reading Change and Same, flipped into the Same position, illustrating the decision to work toward changing or improving your situation in lifeBy Michael Drak

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

I started my own encore career back in February 2015;  here are some of the things you might want to consider when planning your own encore career:

Should you tell your boss you plan to leave and start an Encore Career?

Bosses can start to act a little funny after you tell them you plan to leave the company at some point in the future. For some reason they believe that you are no longer fully committed to your job and that your performance will start to slide as you focus on getting ready for your new career.

This can cause some friction, so it’s best to make sure you have the bulk of your encore job preparation completed prior to dropping the bomb, just in case. In my own situation within three months of having declared I was planning to leave I was pleasantly surprised to receive a buy-out from the company. Was it a coincidence? Who knows, but I’d rather receive a payout versus a gold watch any day, plus it provided me with some liquidity until my new business starts generating a profit.

Do as much advanced preparation as you can prior to leaving your job

My original plan was to tell everyone that I was leaving in two years and during that time learn to run a blog and start working on my retirement book. Getting bought out accelerated things. In hindsight, it might have been better to have started the book and other projects prior to making the announcement.

 Have a safety net in place so you can sleep at night Continue Reading…

A Mother’s View on Increased TFSA Limits

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By Michael Drak,

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

“I want you to get up right now. Sit up – Go to your windows – Open them and stick your head out and yell – I’M AS MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!

Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first, get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

The above scene is from the 1976 film, Network, and my mother thought it might be an appropriate response to Jonathan [Chevreau]’s recent article on TFSAs:  “Memo to Liberals: lots of older middle-class Canadians have $10,000 TFSA capital “lying around.”

Here is her story.

‘I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everyone knows things are bad.”

My mother currently resides in a retirement home and is able to afford the hefty monthly rental payments via a combination of CPP/OAS and unregistered savings. Continue Reading…

Crashing Through The Retirement Barrier

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A green word Freedom crashes through the walls of a maze to break through the barriers of oppression

By Michael Drak,

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

On May 6th 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person in the world to run a sub-4 minute mile. At the time no one believed the human body was capable of going that fast and although many had tried none had succeeded up to that point. Then along came Roger Bannister, who ignored the nay-sayers and posted a mile of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

The interesting thing is that after the sub-4 minute mile limitation was broken many other athletes posted sub-4 minute times, starting almost immediately after Roger Bannister proved it could be done.

Self-imposed mental barrier

So what happened, why the sudden success? Continue Reading…

One Thing I Wish My Father had Taught Me

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Drak 2014
Michael Drak

By Michael Drak,

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

As I was growing up my father taught me many important lessons. I was taught about the importance of getting a good education and using that education to get ahead in the world.

He instilled in me the need for working hard, making good money and providing for family. He taught me the importance of saving and having the goal of eliminating debt as quickly as possible.

But what he didn’t teach me was about the important concept of Findependence and how it would positively impact my life once it was achieved.

It really wasn’t his fault for not making me aware of Findependence [a contraction of Financial Independence] because back when he was working the goal was to find a good-paying job with a solid company, try to stay there for the rest of your working life, and eventually retire with a defined benefit pension in your back pocket.

Days of a single employer for a lifetime are almost gone

Life was so simple back then but times have changed. Continue Reading…