The End: Betiana Namambwe Mubili, 1988-2017 + MORE Oct 18th

Betiana Mubili.
Betiana Namambwe Mubili, whom everyone called Betty, was born on April 14, 1988, in Kitwe, Zambia. Her father, Viktor, left for England on a two-year engineering scholarship shortly after. While he was gone, her 17-year-old mother, Betsy, married another man.
Betty could be a feisty, stubborn young girl, and she sometimes squabbled with her father on his return from England. “She had personality,” says Viktor. “She loved life.” When Betty was eight, Viktor decided he wanted sole custody. Under Zambian custom, he first had to pay a US$600 dowry to Betty’s maternal grandfather.
Viktor’s family complained, the price high by Zambian standards. But, he says, “I looked at Betty as the ultimate investment. I knew that I would be able to make her into a responsible human being.”
Work took Viktor to Saudi Arabia in 1996. Fearing how women are treated in that country, Viktor left Betty with his older brother in the small Zambian city of Mansa. He visited every six months…

Finance Minister Bill Morneau is adjusting his tax proposals on passive income so only three per cent of the “most wealthy” privately owned corporations will have to pay higher taxes.
Morneau confirmed the changes Wednesday at a cafe in Hampton, N.B., a small community east of Saint John in an area where the Liberals’ tax reforms have not been well-received.
The minister said the system will now allow a threshold of $50,000 of passive income investment annually to be sheltered.
He says that will help small business owners put money away for retirement and parental leave, but help reduce the practice of privately held firms using the method purely as a way to cut taxes.
“By providing a window so they (business owners) can continue to have money inside their business, we’re creating the opportunity for people to continue to save, to continue to be able to have their retirement taken care of,” he said.
“But (it’s) not an opportunity for the most wealthy to use this vehicle purely as a tax-planning strategy…

Q: My income fluctuates quite widely from year to year. How do I plan for this and how do I handle the tax implications of such income swings?
—David
A: Yours is the challenge of many a commissioned salesperson or business owner, David. The thought of a stable salary and defined benefit pension plan may be appealing to some, but others, like you – and me – prefer a little more control over destiny. That control doesn’t always mean stability, however.
For starters, I think everyone should have a reserve or emergency fund, particularly those whose jobs are riskier or whose income is variable. An emergency fund doesn’t necessarily mean having six months of expenses sitting in a savings account earning pennies in interest. It could mean a healthy TFSA balance that includes an allocation of conservative, liquid investments. It could mean a secured line of credit available with a low interest rate.
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Having tens of thousands of dollars sitting idle for your whole life may be comforting, but it could usually be put to better use invested in an RRSP or TFSA or used to pay down debt…

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