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A new year, and a new beginning - after 2008 led to a boot out the corporate door on my birthday to usher in Freedom 55. I am not alone, though I must confess I had been seeking freedom from the long daily commute and unhealthy, toxic atmosphere in a corporate world gone mad with layoffs and dwindling profits while employee stress hits meltdown.
My daughter Skye, a cancer survivor, taught me life is too short and what truly matters is your own inner happiness and living life to the fullest - not killing yourself as a slave to the system. But, let's be real. We all need to work, make money and provide. And for many years, I was very happy at the Sun where I had a platform to try to liberate the people into financial freedom and happiness. Luckily, I followed my own advice and was already planning my "Findependence" Day, which is the topic of Jonathan Chevreau's great new book. Read it, it will set you free. When my new streaming videos are up and running, Chevreau - the popular personal finance expert at the National Post - will be my first interview, where we'll be talking about my new independence and how others can make the dream of retirement come true. But trust me ... though you can call it semi-retirement - I, by no means, plan to retire. There is still so much to do, and so much to say. Not only am I booked for TV shows, financial seminars and speaking engagements, but I am working on two new books - a sequel to my first book Money Is A Girl's Best Friend, called Money Is A Kid's Best Friend, and another book, which is closest to my heart, The Great Cleansing of Capitalism. My loyal fans will know I was the only journalist in Canada to predict this Economic Armageddon that is before us, and now I plan on trying to help, as best I can, to get us out of this mess. In cleaning out my office, I came across a number of letters from Sun brass congratulating me on a job well done on my advice articles and crusades I took on for readers. But one letter that stood out was from Sun founder Doug Creighton, who commended me on the direction I was taking the Money section, after one of our yearly editorial meetings. Those were the days before continuous layoffs at The Sun when I had staff and space. In his note, Creighton offered a word of advice. Negativity, he said, led to the demise of the David Peterson's Liberals, and though we were in a deep recession and Bob Rae's NDP deepened the deflationary spiral with their tax and spend policies, now was the time to try to be positive and offer advice. I led a tax revolt at the time, but advice I also gave with how to survive seminars, a job bank to help the desperate find work, and a first-ever Survival Summit, where we brought in New Zealand's outspoken finance minister, Sir Roger Douglas. At our roundtable Douglas cautioned Canadian politicians to get out debt. At our second summit, we brought to the table former finance minister and PM Paul Martin and offered him Seven Summit Solutions. At first, he did not listen. But then I got a call that Martin would meet with me behind closed doors just before releasing his budget. "Linda, I'm giving you your tax cuts," he said, also outlining a debt-free strategy to rid Ottawa of annual deficits. He had a puzzled look when I remarked to the finance leader of the G-7 nations that we had a bigger problem ... growing corruption in our capital markets. Again, I was ahead of myself. I am forever grateful that Martin listened, though sadly he did hike the federal excise tax on gasoline in his debt-cutting strategy. He promised to roll back the 1.5 cent a litre hike when the books were balanced, but even after Ottawa was sitting on surpluses, the 10-cent tax remained. Today analysts say because of Ottawa's balanced books, Canada is in much better shape than other global nations to fight this Economic Armageddon. But the fact remains. The U.S. is our largest trading partner, and when it catches a cold, Canada suffers pnemonia. In this new global world, we are not an island. Meanwhile, as Ottawa shed debt, Canadians - once the world's best savers - were going deep into the red. Today, as this economic meltdown deepens, households are drowning in a sea of debt now at a record $1.3 trillion. Yes, about two-thirds is mortgage debt, but with our hot real estate market now suffering a correction, Canadians can no longer count on rising home equity to keep creditors away. Before my exit from The Sun I was planning a new Survival Summit. I was also leading a new crusade into the high cost of credit, arguing rates charged on outstanding credit card balances should not be rising as the Bank of Canada rates was falling to historic lows. Readers poured in hundreds and hundreds of protest coupons. Liberal MP Dan McTeague, consumer critic, along with Catherine Swift, CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, who's worried about the rising cost of debit and credit card transaction fees for small businesses, will keep the fight going. So will I on this website. I also promise to keep offering advice on how to survive this economic storm, and will answer questions for fans who email me. In life I live by four old, wise sayings. One is a Viking slogan that I will not mention right now, dare it be misconstrued as negative. Another I once sent to Creighton, who always followed the beat of his own drum, despite criticism from the masses. The saying was "If You Follow The Herd, You'll End up a Lambchop." Investors today would be wise to heed this saying. Creighton replied with a return note. "Yes, and cream always rises to the top." The third saying goes like this: "While everyone is grasping for the Ring, what they forget it's the ride that's the real thing." Well, it was a great ride at The Sun, and I want to thank my loyal readers and Doug Creighton. But this new ride promises to be even better, so please come along. And the last saying? "Do unto others as you would others do unto you." Too bad it's forgotten in these dying days of greedy capitalism and misguided corporate policies where employees pay the price for poor leadership. But we will survive and flourish again. Just watch. Linda Leatherdale. |