Thinking continued, without the snow

Yesterday, if you missed it, was a long political post. Timely, I hope. If you want to read it go here, but the important thing is to look past the partisan hype to check out your local candidate, and then GO VOTE!! There are advance polls and other options. Just do it. Take a friend. It's fast, painless, and you don't even have to wash your hands afterward.

Back to other thoughts.
Most of my life I've been putting money into RSP and other investments, building up savings to draw on at need. That really took off when an employer handed me a retention bonus that I had no immediate need to spend (I didn't have a photography hobby then) so I found a financial advisor and plowed it into a RSP. That and my regular contribution created the biggest refund I'd ever had to date. So of course that all went back into the RSP. You can see my example here.

At one point my corporation had a pile of money in the bank account. Corporations aren't allowed to buy RSP so I bought a mix of other investments, hoping to make more money than bank interest. I did, but I just recently sold them as part of the planned shut down of my corporation.

There's more to this than I thought. I started the corporation to give me some more options about working, and it's done well. If you're a contractor it simplifies some things. It helps if your spouse is working a job that gets benefits, and at best, a defined benefit pension. As a couple that gives you the best of both worlds. But all good things come to an end. I was getting sick of the oil and gas roller coaster ride. At one of my contracts there was one guy still working because he needed the money, and he was clearly past his best before date, much to the frustration of his colleagues. I didn't want to be that guy. The rule in show biz is always leave them wanting more.

I figured since I was retiring for good I'd shut the corp down and save myself a bunch of money in annual fees. I was encouraged to change it to being a photography based business, but I don't want to do photography as a business and certainly not enough to make it worth running the money through a corporation. I want it to be fun. Besides, it's a tough way to make a living.

How complex can shutting it down be? You might be surprised. There's lots to considering, much of it revolving around the phrase tax efficiency. That's what much of today has revolved around. It's all good.

(Zooming past a bunch of software related stuff you probably don't want to read.)

Thinking about displaying photographs. There is lots of discussion in the photography world about printing your work. Displaying it on your walls or a gallery's walls. But printing is complicated, and ink for printers is one of the most expensive fluids on earth. Futzing with home printers gets you into a world of hurt if you are fussy about how your work looks. Fortunately there is Resolve Printing. I've had several prints done by them and am completely satisfied. The problem with more is that I'd quickly run out of wall space.

Or, books. I keep forgetting about this. I can't imagine why since there are several thousand in the house already. Plus they make great gifts. Lots more thought to go into this over the next little while.

Kathleen Lake, trying to show the awesome autumn colour combinations.

Kluane Lake

Lynx of the Day

Deadwood of the Day
Fish Creek near the Bow river, in April.