Head Tale

I suspect I’m not the only person in Saskatchewan who has a complicated relationship with the oil and gas industry.

I think even people who work in the industry and/or who are pro-oil know that there are environmental impacts (though they will argue about the extent of those impacts – anywhere from “oh, it’s just a small spill” to “okay, climate change is real but fUck tRuDeAu anyhow!!”)

On the other hand, people who recognize the many negatives of oil and gas are also usually willing to acknowledge that oil and gas bringing in huge amounts of economic activity and jobs to our province which impacts everything from housing sales to funding for healthcare, education and other government programs to secondary economic impacts – all of which increase our overall quality of life.

Personally, I am very concerned about climate change and our society’s reluctance to move quickly and fully towards more renewable forms of energy.

But I have also directly benefited from the oil & gas industry since I was in high school if not earlier.

My grandfather held mineral rights for his farm in the heart of SE Saskatchewan’s oil patch and when oil was found there, he received royalties – both for oil companies to access his land and then a royalty for the production from any wells on his land.

Eventually, he began gifting a portion of those royalties to his children and grandchildren and though it was not “Beverly Hillbillies” money, it was enough that it helped me in various ways over the years – from giving some cushion when I chose to work in low-paying but extremely fulfilling non-profit organizations to helping me to make quite a few major purchases over the years to helping offset the losses when I’ve made stupid financial decisions – often also involving “advice” from my grandfather! 😉

For example, on my grandfather’s advice, I had extremely good returns buying oil & gas-based income trusts over the years since I had my first job in high school.  But when Ralph Goodale and the Liberals brought in new tax rules for income trusts in 2006, their value dropped significantly.

I called Grandpa for advice and he said “Buy low and sell high!” so I bought more income trusts (partly using student loan money since I was doing my MLIS at the time – using borrowed money to invest = not a great idea.). And of course, the price of income trusts kept dropping!

Again, luckily I’d made very good money from the income trusts I owned for maybe 10-15 years before that and also had cushion from money grandpa had gifted me from his own oil royalties over the years too.

So that more than helped offset the unexpected losses.

But it still hurt to see something that was paying ridiculous returns was basically killed overnight (though again, I had conflicted emotions because, yes, there shouldn’t be special rules for certain investment vehicles to avoid paying taxes, even if it meant that investors got better returns!)

Anyhow, I got my annual royalty cheque from White Cap Resources the other day and between it (which is the same amount every year) and another cheque which varies based on the price of oil and production levels, I’m thinking of maybe investing in something else that has some amazing returns.

Anybody know anything about cryptocurrencies? 😉