Evelyn Jacks: In a Fragile World, the Healthy Bear Many Burdens

This week, a friend in business lamented the shocking loss of a key employee. The unanticipated death closed down the firm for several days as fellow employees absorbed this traumatic loss. It was the tenth death within this circle of employees, suppliers and clients and their respective families. When it rains, it often pours.

Although very difficult emotionally, conceptually we understand the consequences of human frailty and demise. As humans, we do our best in times of great change: we rally around those who are vulnerable. Again and again, we cope with the stages of grieving ó moving from shock and denial to pain and guilt to anger and bargaining and, finally, to the beginnings of acceptance: reflection, re-organization and re-construction.

People around the world are reacting to the disruptive and sometimes devastating effects of the extended global financial crisis with this same shock, denial and anger. And the challenge for governments is to manage these global economic threats to our fiscal health while keeping cherished social benefits in place.

In Canada, there are big issues ahead for the large, baby-boom generation and the government that counts on boomers' continued contribution to its tax coffers. For their part, boomers are at the front door of retirement and are facing significant changes to Canada Pension Plan benefits and, possibly, access to Old Age Security. This comes after a decade of zero returns on their savings or, worse, the reduction or demise of their employer-sponsored or private pension plans.

For its part, the federal government is already seeing interest charges on our public debt and support to the elderly eat up 11¢ and 13¢, respectively, of a dollar of government revenue. On the revenue side, the federal government counts on personal income taxes to provide 48¢ of every dollar of revenue collected. This source of revenue will be difficult to grow as this significant group of taxpayers heads into retirement.

Fortunately, Canada is in a good position to balance global economic threats and preserve social benefits. According to the federal Department of Finance's Fiscal Monitor, released last week, the budgetary deficit for the first eight months of the government's 2011-12 fiscal year was $17.3 billion, vs. $26 billion a year earlier, a 35% improvement. Net tax revenues were up; program expenses were down. Public debt charges, however, increased and that is a threat for retirees. Higher deficits cost more money to service and, should interest rates rise, the ability to maintain or increase existing social benefits will be squeezed. It's important to anticipate that now so you can chart an alternate course if required.

And so it goes: the burden of the healthy is to manage the consequences of decline and loss with grace and strength and to take the very best possible care of those who are vulnerable.

It's Your Money. Your life. Things change. This tax season, take the time to find ways to save more of your income, so you can build and grow family wealth. Challenge your tax advisors to dig for every tax deduction and credit to which you are entitled, so you can reduce non-deductible debt and invest more tax-efficiently. This is one of the best ways to build your pensions and investments so you'll be ready for unexpected personal and/or economic shocks.

Evelyn Jacks, President of Knowledge Bureau, is author of Essential Tax Facts 2012 and co-author of Financial Recovery in a Fragile World. Mrs. Jacks will be launching her books and addressing today's financial and tax issues in Toronto on Feb. 7 and Winnipeg on Feb. 9. To register, click here.