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Sudden collapse of Target stores is a lesson for us all Dollars & T Sense he unexpected collapse of Target stores last week can be a valuable lesson to us all. Bad things happen and in a perfect world, you are prepared to deal with declining nancial circumstances. In nancial planning, it is advisable to have an emergency fund available in case sudden nancial dif culties occur. That is the theory and it makes perfect sense. You might lose a job or encounter unexpected major housing repairs, a family emergency or another event affecting your pocket book. These unplanned situations do happen. The idea is to have a certain amount of Guest Contributor 19 | Thursday, January 22, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Peter Watson money put aside for that rainy day. This amount can be related to how much you earn. For example, have six month's salary or enough cash to pay your living expenses for a speci c period of time. It would help if you knew the type or magnitude of your surprise downturn, but to state the obvious, you don't know what the future will bring. Most of us are either optimistic or just turn a blind eye to negative "what if" scenarios. If you are saying "this type of thing could never happen to me," well, it does. Sit down and fasten your seatbelt because real life does throw us some curves, no matter how invincible you think you are. These nancial surprises do happen. If it can happen to Target stores, it can hap- pen to you. When Target announced it was preparing to invade the Canadian retail market, there was speculation about which competitors would be forced out of business, or at least would be reduced to a fraction of their former self. A retail David-and-Goliath battle was going to play out as Canadian consumers would switch their current shopping patterns to get better prices from a giant U.S. icon retailer. There wasn't going to be room for all competitors. We just did not know which competitors would falter. see Most on p.20 Terrace Ford Lincoln would like to welcome Jeff Novosel to the Sales Team. Jeff invites all his past and present clients to come visit at his new location... Personalized Tree Care in Oakville Terrace Ford Lincoln 900 Walkers Line · 905.632.6252 www.terracefordlincoln.com Call Storybook to assess your Trees Today 905-491-6860