the Road to CA (1)

I've decided to start a mini series of posts about my road to becoming a Chartered Accountant. I myself look back on various blog posts that I've written over the years and I think that reflecting on this new journey is something I'd be interested in reviewing if and when I finally receive my 'CA' letters (and hopefully you, dear reader, find it interesting as well). I hope that it will shine some light on those who are wondering about the entire CA process; maybe someone will come across this series of posts and even find it useful - only time will tell.

I won't get into much of the technical details of obtaining the CA letters today, though that is an important part which I will likely write about later. For this first post, I'll simply share how I personally got the idea of becoming a CA. It's somewhat unorthodox but, as I have come to learn, unorthodox can mean interesting, and 'interesting' in my books is always a good thing.

When I graduated high school in 2005, I was on top of the world. Having worked my way up the social ladder, I had never felt so calm about my position among friends, society, and in life. I had also managed to be a part of a local band which had been growing a strong and steady reputation, one show at a time. Here's a small piece of my musical history:

The issue at hand was the future: to continue the dream or not? The better you are at something, the more serious it gets. In the case of the band, we thought we were getting better each and every day; it was an opportunity too good to pass up. So we collectively decided to pursue the dream, meaning we'd all commit to staying in Ottawa. I passed up residence life for band life (a decision I personally still think about today).

The bet on the band had its ups and downs. Big ups and downs. It wasn't easy coordinating teenagers, and it was difficult booking gigs when some members hadn't even hit the legal drinking age. Some members left, some were replaced, but the important thing was that we seemed to trade up each time. The lineup you see in the video was, in my opinion, the best lineup the band ever had - it was also the one which experienced the highest of the highs (no drug reference, I swear). And, had it not been for the unpredictable departure of our dear guitarist/keyboardist/friend Cameron, I think we may have still been making music today.

Cameron's Tribute Show - Nov. 24 2006

Anyways, one thing that still amazes me when I look back during those years is the fact that the band never lost money. Yes, we were still teenagers living at home with no real life expenses to deal with, but all costs associated with the band were always taken care of by the band account. And, if you haven't guessed, all bookkeeping was done by yours truly. I didn't mind; I actually quite enjoyed it. Eppiphane Music was a registered small business, completely legitimate, and supported all expenses incurred by the five members. I specifically remember crunching numbers in early '06; we had decided to go big with a full length album which would cost us $20,000 to produce. We secured a loan agreement, made the album, released it in June of that year, and paid off the entire balance - all with band generated income - by September. It was ridiculous. I remember making $2,000 deposits on a bi-weekly basis, most of which was made up of sweaty five dollar bills. I ran into the same teller several times; she must have thought I was selling glass.

After Cameron's sudden passing, the dream was over, for me at least. The industry is an unforgiving and brutal place to be, and luck does play an important part. Since I am a supremely logical and rational person, I wasn't inclined to place another bet on the band wagon. I think I slept for a month before dusting myself off.

What was I to do? I hadn't been in school for over a year, and even then I wasn't sure what to study. To pass the time, I landed several jobs; stocking shelves at Dollarama during the day, selling movie tickets at night, and teaching music on weekends. Money was coming in again, and I began thinking about it. A lot. Specifically, how to manage it, track it, present it, etc. It was something that I thought about constantly, and I eventually decided it was worth looking into.

Enter BUSI 1001.

Long Silence

I've been MIA with this whole blogging business for a long while... Don't know what happened, really. Nothing interesting happened for quite some time so there was no incentive to type.

A few small updates on myself:

- I am less than a month away from writing my last undergraduate exam.

- I am just over a month away from writing my first of many CA exams (which will be the CKE).

- I am just over a month away from beginning full time work.

- Plus/Minus has been continuing. My YTD score stands at +5.

- Sandhu and his wife are expecting their first child in February. Insane.

- The next two years, as I foresee it, will bring some of the biggest changes in my life.

More to come soon.

Stone Throwers

I received a little verbal feedback from my last post entitled 'The Stone'. Apparently, some readers felt that the title mislead them into thinking that the post was about Emma Stone. It was not, and this left them feeling somewhat cheated - I thought they were going to throw stones at me. So here is my public apology for using such a title; I meant no harm.

To reverse the harm done, here's something to satisfy those readers...

"Hi there..."

The Stone

Last week I received an invite from someone I used to work for a few years back. I hadn't heard from him in a long time so it definitely made me curious. I accepted his invite and we ended up going out for lunch this past Friday.

This man, for privacy reasons, will remain anonymous in name and business. His company actually gave me one of my first 'real' jobs, so obviously I have great admiration for this person. I also respect him because he simply thrives at what he does, and his path to success was somewhat unorthodox, a bit like my father's path to success.

I really didn't know what to expect from this lunch meeting, and I normally don't like the unexpected. But as I've learned, the unexpected usually yields the best results, and/or the best stories, and I am in need of both. So on Friday afternoon, I trekked to his company's office headquarters to meet him.

The lunch began typically; we discussed anything and everything, i.e. pretty waitresses, the economy, hot yoga, etc. I actually surprised him (and myself) with the amount of information I remembered about him (both personal and business). We began discussing my career path, as well as touched on his.

"You know, after working for myself, I realized something: I could never work for anyone else again. Ever," he said. "That's my motivation nowadays. I know if my businesses folded up tomorrow, I could find a 9 to 5 job, no problem. But why would I want that?"

I guess he had some bad ones.

We talked more about his career choices, especially his calculated risk of quitting his job to pursue his small business (which really isn't 'small' anymore). This ultimately lead to him sharing his highly entertaining 'unexpected' stories, such as flying around the world to sell product, buying race-cars, $12,000 dividends, his real-estate properties, and wondering whether or not he should purchase a Telsa. I'd like to add that he was not showboating; it simply came up in conversation. Before the lunch ended, he asked me something.

"Ultimately, we all have to decide what we want. Do you know what you want?"

I paused. For the last three years I've been centralized around obtaining my CA designation. It's been the light at the end of the tunnel for me. But what did I really want? I wasn't sure, but part of me wanted to have stories like his. And, like it or not, a CA designation won't necessarily lead to outrageous adventures and $250K performance vehicles (though it doesn't hurt to have it, either). Then he asked something which really made me think.

"Would you rather push the stone?

Or would you rather sit on it?"

You're either a stone-sitter or a stone-pusher. There isn't an in-between, really. Most people want to be stone-sitters; they can be their own boss and enjoy the view while others push for them. The problem is finding the right stone, since most aren't strong enough to even support one individual. And then there's the issue of finding strong stone-pushers. It all runs back to risks - calculated risks. Because of this, people end up pushing, not sitting.

Our conversation ended soon after. I went back to his office and had a chance to catch up with some other familiar faces I used to work with. A few handshakes later, I left the office, descended down the elevator, and left the building (which is coincidentally owned by him). He let me know of a few opportunities in the making, both stone-sitting and stone-pushing. It has me intrigued.

I'm taking it Quantitatively

Serious?

Yes - I'm recording my progress. The number of successes (attempted risks) and failures (missed attempts) and running score is provided below:

Why are March and April blank? Essentially, I became a zombie; I got up early, rode the bus, went to work, filed tax returns, came home late, and repeated the cycle. I had no will to seek new challenges and risks. I was, quite simply, worn out by tax season.

Why the decrease in successes and failures after February? Explanation: I attempted a bunch of new things in the first few months; therefore, I couldn't give myself additional points later for attempting those same challenges because technically it wasn't a risk anymore since I had already done it. I'll find more things to do though...

Summer will surely present opportunities.

Plus/Minus - Midseason

Yikes - haven't been here in a long, long time.

Despite what you may be thinking, I have not given up on my New Year's Resolution. Few things annoy me more than fallouts, aka. people who don't follow through with their declarations. I try my hardest to avoid being this type of person; therefore, if I ever head in this direction, I demand you call me out on it.

Thankfully, the months since this episode have yielded some positive results. I've been meaning to provide updates, but tax season showed up like a hurricane and made me hate staring at the computer screen. Now that my workload has died down, I'll report the most entertaining point accumulation, which also happened to be my first multiplier accumulation.

+1 for asking a complete stranger if she was okay. (I guess I should mention that this was immediately after our bus got t-boned by another bus. More on this another time.)

+1 for continuing that conversation with the stranger as we got off the bus and waited at the station.

+1 for getting her number.

+1 for going on a date with her.

What was the aftermath of this date? It was interesting, to say the least. If you want an entire explanation of the story, you'll have to see me face-to-face; the story is much more entertaining in person. Anyway, the point is I wanted to do something and I actually did it. No regrets here.

Hopefully the next six months will yield some other interesting results. Stay tuned. 

After-Tax Math

My first tax season is officially over. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been, but I think that's mostly attributed to good management at the firm. I did work long hours, and occasionally wondered why I signed up for it, but ultimately it was a great experience.

It was amazing to see just how hard some people work. It was amazing to witness smart, simple tax-saving strategies. It was amazing to come out of tax season with ZERO, yes, ZERO paper-cuts. I am astonished.

Though I don't know nearly enough about the Canadian tax system, I did come across a few things that I found helpful which I wish to share with you. If you care to save on tax dollars in future, do consider some of these tid-bits I collected along my tax-season journey.

1. Divide and Conquer I

Essentially, get a wife. Or a husband. Or someone you trust that can split your income. If you can find your tax-saving counter-part, you can potentially save yourself some coin when it comes to tax time. One person will inevitably earn more than the other; therefore, the higher income earner could defer some types of his/her income to the spouse in the lower tax bracket (if they are in a lower bracket), which means less tax. Sweet deal, if you can find that special someone.

 2. Divide and Conquer II
One word: dividends. I prepared some filthy rich returns, and most of them included income from dividends. Dividends are a handy tool, specifically because the income you earn from dividends comes with a dividend tax credit. This dividend tax credit, in theory, is a credit that should offset the tax that is being paid on the dividend income you earned; therefore, you shouldn't be taxed for that dividend income at all. In reality, it's not perfect, but pretty damn good.

3. It's Your Move
This one is pretty relevant to students. If you are a full-time student enrolled in an institution, you can deduct the moving expenses you incurred during the year. You can also deduct moving expenses if you move to a new home due to employment or to carry on a business (read more here).

4. Set Up Your TFSA
There was an article on CBC posted in January 2011 about how the tax-free savings account was confusing Canadians, to the point where some experts called the marketing/advertising campaign for the initiative a complete bust. Nonetheless, TSFAs allow individuals the chance to earn income without being taxed. I saw a bunch of returns this year where individuals had TSFA contribution room, but had set up other investment accounts that were taxable, which cost them tax dollars that could have been avoided.

Those were the easiest and simplest strategies I encountered. Hope you find them useful someday.