WIHTBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1979, PAGE 23 It's Bîrthday By W. Roger Worth Like carnival barkers flog- ging a sideshow, Ottawa fi- nanced promôters have fanned out across the country cajoling national organizations and the country's media tojump on the "Cmoida's Birthday" band- wagon. "The biggest celebration this country has seen ln a de- cade," predicts a press release from the organizers. Among the events: concerts, camnivals, clambakes, fairs, folkfests, flag raisings, plays, pageants, presentations, races, rallies and rodeos. Roger Worth 15 Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Féderation of Independent Business. Someone in the nation's capital, It seems, wants Cana- dians to be a lot more like their flag-waving Arnerican neigh- bors who pull out ail the stops for that country's July 4 holi- day. Promotitng togetherness and understanding at the na- tional level is an excellent idea,' considering the seemingly end- less series of regional, cultural and pollitical squabbles upset- ting Canadians. Stili, one wonders whether heavy spending on such cele- brations is the solution. This year, for example, Ot- tawa Is klcklng in $3.8 million to promote the cause. The- Council for Canadian Unity gets $812,000 and the Cana- Timfe Again dian Folk Arts Council another $S"3,000. Even the groups involved in promoting the celebration have apparently been flghting over the available funds. While there wiil probably be less soft-sell (and perhaps unnecessary) advertising in 1979, the amount of cash re- served for national - as oppos- ed to local - promotion Is ex- tremnely high. The organizers are justifi- ably big believers in numbers and statistics. They point out that more than 1,500 commu- nities wiil participate in this year's celebration, up fromn 900 in 1978. The major q uestion, though, Is whether the millions now being spent nationally would flot achieve more."bang for the buck"' if the funds were passed directly to local volun- teer organizations. Canada's new Prime Min- ister Joe Clark has stressed that the real action In the coun- try is at the local level. He also believes strongly In the worth of volunteer activity by Cana- dians. SBy pump priming commu- nity celebrations, making extra money available to a broader range of groups (rather than spending the cash on high priced public relations), Otta- wa just mlght get a lot more Canadians Invoive'd. But that's a suggestion for 1980. For this year, let's settle for aHappy lI2th birthday. DOLLAR SEnS Buy a lakeside -cottage for inflation protection By Lymian Maclnnis. CA It is easy to forget about things like inflation when you are lazing about at the cottage. After al], there are' more important things to think about - like what kind of bait the fish are Iiicely to be going for today. Well, the idyllic surr- oundings are not the only buffer against inflation. The cottage as an invest- ment is an excellent protection for your money. Assume you have 835,000- which you plan to Generi financial advice by meinhers of the Inatitute cf Chartered Accountants of Ontario. invest, -reinvesting each year, to mrate a retirement nest egg. Say you invest at a nice safe 10 per cent. Your money will earn $3,500 the irst year. But that income is taxable - at the 50 per *cent tax rate,for example, you would pay $1,750 in income tax. Your after-tax investment would total $36,750 after one year, about 845,000 after five years. That 845,000 figure sounds great, but look at it in terms of worth. Five years down the road, the value of your money will have been substantially eroded by inflation. In recent years, inflation has averaged close to 10 per cent each year in Canada. If we apply that ten per oent to your 845,000, it turns out that by 1984 that sum would be worth about $25,500 in 1979 dollars. The nest egg is fading fast. Now, say that instead of investing in the money markets, you decide to use your $35,000 to buy a lakeside cottage.. If you project your return on in- vestment over the next five years, it is safe to assume that the value of the prop- erty will go up. At the very least, it will not go down. A cottage worth $35,000 in 1979 will stili be worth at least $35,000 .. in 1979 dollars - in. 1984, 0f course, you will have paid property taxes and maintenance couts over the five years, roughtly $4,200 worth - but you are stili farther ahead with the cottage as an investment. The better the location -- waterfront property, prox-, imity to city, landscaping -'- the greater the evenitual resale value is likely to be. In fact, well located real estate will almost oertainiy appreciate in value over and above the rate of inflation. And what better way to' earn money for your retire- ment than by lazily baiting the hook? Mr. Maelnnls is Touche ]Boss & Toronto. wlth Co., ~-. 4