It can be so difficult to say no; whether it be a friend’s invitation when you are pooped from a long hard day, a favor from your work colleague when you just don’t have the time or that second giant helping of grandma’s lasagna when you are absolutely stuffed. Most of us try to please those around us either to avoid confrontation (the idea to just doing it will be faster/easier than giving excuses) or it’s a classic case of doormat syndrome (people know that you feel guilty easily and use that to their gain). Just be mindful. Yes, it is good to help others when you can as long as it does not hurt YOU in the meantime.

A friend of mine is a classic case! She was approached by a family member for a loan. This relative wanted to fly his daughter in from South America for a visit; however, not having a credit card meant that my friend had to purchase the plane ticket. Now, she is tight on cash herself but never-the-less found herself playing the role of travel agent between both parties looking for the cheapest option and did indeed put the $1400 expense on her credit card in the hopes of soon being reimbursed. As far as I know, she is still waiting on that cheque and is too shy to ask.

Moral of the story: never loan more than you can afford to loose. And this doesn’t only apply to money. Years ago I lent a gorgeous wine-coloured sweater to a friend and it was never to be seen again. I imagine it is now in sweater heaven mingling with cashmeres and the like. We all have things that go poof when left in the wrong hands. The key is to listen to your inner voice when your brother-in-law desperately needs a set of wheels for the weekend, your neighbour would love to wear your trendy black pumps for a wedding she’s going to or a friend of a friend sure could use your deluxe fabric steamer. What happens if these things get lost or broken? What is the etiquette here? It seems to me the polite thing to do is to replace something if you are responsible for its loss but you just may find that others “conveniently” avoid the topic. Bye bye cosy sweater!

So next time you get a request that is out of your comfort zone, stick to your guns, apologize and wish them good luck. Trust me you’ll sleep a lot better than my friend who is waiting for her “cheque in the mail”.

Out with old man 2011 and in with 2012’s cute and cuddly baby wrapped in a fuzzy blanket and soothing with a pacifier. A good friend of mine recently welcomed a baby boy to her family. He is an adorable bundle of joy, cooing and sleepy-eyed while his parents shower him with admiration and loving cuddles. Not being a parent myself I got the full low-down on how stressful 22 hours of labour can be for a first-time mom and a few pointers on how they plan to save a penny here or there when it comes to raising little Jeremy. If you are a new parent yourself consider some of these parental savings tips:

• Breast-feeding is not only better for the immune system and development of the baby, it’s also FREE FOOD!

• Plan ahead, look into RESPs for your child’s future education (and get the government to pitch in a little bonus too)!

• Invest in some jars and make your own baby food with a food processor. It’s much healthier to avoid all of those preservatives and cheaper in the long run.

• Cloth diapers are a good way to save money if you don’t mind some extra laundry/mess. If you decide to opt for a pick-up service then the price may not be much better than buying disposables but it is still better for the environment and wearing cloth lets your baby’s tushy breath.

• If certain genetic diseases are common in your family you may want to consider cord blood stem cell banking. This can be a pricey treatment since you most likely will have to pay for yearly storage but it could also help save your child or another family member down the road. Even if it is not right for you, the science behind it is quite interesting.

• Check out your local library and community centre. There are often free children’s activities like story time that you can take advantage of.

• Wait until AFTER the baby shower to start buying baby items. You may be surprized with how generous your friends and family can be. It’s becoming more and more popular to register for gifts so that others will know that you really like those yellow ducky bed sheets.

• When you do purchase baby furniture, clothing, toys and anything else consider buying second hand instead of new. There are stores that sell gently used items at half the retail price and will also buy back items later on if they are still in good condition.

So while your new bundle of joy may be keeping you up at night, spitting up on your favourite shirt or smelling up the car, at least your pocketbook can take a sigh of relief by following a few of these suggestions.

Happy New Year!

This is one of those stories that’ll make you love the world all over again! So last Friday I headed downtown for a girls’ night out with some old friends. Lately I have been getting too many transaction fees when using my debit card so I decided to budget how much I was allowed to spend and carry that day in cash only. I got to the bank literally five minutes before they closed and withdrew $250. I have budgeted $50 dollars for the night and the rest was for a bill I needed to pay on Sunday. I zipped up my little black pouch and headed over to my girlfriends house.

The club was more fun than I had first expected. The crowd was amped, the drinks were cheap and the music was simply amazing.  I was so glad we had planned this night, it was definitely needed. By the end of the night my feet hurt so much from all the dancing so I decided to switch over to some comfy flats I had in my purse. I kept digging in my purse but couldn’t find them so I started to take things out to clear the clutter. I placed my little black pouch on the edge of a small flower garden close by my girlfriend’s condo. Finally I found the flats and was on my way to get some sleep.

The next morning, we woke up and reminisced about the night before as we made breakfast. Around noon I said my goodbyes and started digging into my purse once again but this time for my pouch. I kept looking and looking but my pouch was not in my purse. At this point, there’s about a million tears in my eyes, I can’t breathe and I’m thinking of a million things all at once. I had $200 in cash, my IDs, my debit card and not to mention two fully loaded Credit Cards. This was a disaster waiting to happen. I was so convinced my pouch was long gone that I kept rejecting my girlfriend’s suggestion of going to look for it further. How on earth were we going to find a bag full of money in downtown Toronto? There was no doubt in my mind that someone had found it by now. I wasn’t entirely wrong.

After an hour of crying, I finally decided it was worth a shot. We left the building and started to retrace our steps. Forty-five minutes later, no pouch and more tears, my girlfriend turned to me and said “Oh my God, there it is!”, pointing to the small flower garden by the building. In my bitter mind, I was prepared to see my pouch cut up and hung around a pole in some vicious act…instead, this is what I saw.

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME” were the first words out of my mouth. “No, No, NO!! Call him, HE HAS IT!” my girlfriend screamed with joy. So I took my phone out, still shaking out of bliss, and called Matthew. I loved every word out of his mouth. I was still in complete awe that people like him exist. He told me that he had seen my pouch and felt bad for me after realizing I was a student as well. He said he tried to find me on Facebook at first but when he couldn’t he decided to make a sign in hopes of finding me. I thanked him a million times and we arranged to meet so I could retrieve my pouch.

I met Matthew for a few minutes and even though I insisted on a reward, he refused and said it was the right thing to do. I opened my pouch and not even a penny was missing.  It’s safe to say, I now have faith in Humanity. The world needs more Matthews.

After this experience I’m really interested in knowing how many of you have you ever lost your wallet? Was it ever returned and would you ever go out of your way to return something you found?

*George Michael: Genius, train wreck, handsome man.

Back in 2009 Credit Education Week Canada’s theme was Couples and Money. A survey released at the time showed that 86% of couples admit to arguing about money. To the 14% who didn’t admit to arguing about money, please!

Money is cited as the number one reason for the breakdown of a relationship. When I first started working at Credit Canada I spent a year in the intake department and quickly learned that one of the top reasons for financial hardship is the end of a relationship. The loss of an income, support payments and alimony, to name just a few, are large expenses that no one in their right mind accounted for in their budget. If you’re ending a marriage, heck knows it’s not cheap to lawyer up!

Unfortunately, the end of a relationship is not necessarily the end of your woes if you have joint accounts. To your bank joint does not mean 50/50. If you have a joint savings account it does not mean that you are entitled to 50% of the balance. It means that two people have unrestricted access to the entire balance. If you have a joint savings account and are going through a nasty break up you need to lace up your runners tout de suite and hope that you get to the cash machine or local branch first. If not, you could get there to a zero balance. Your bank couldn’t care less if your ex honey is a jerk, whoever gets there first gets all the cash. It’s not their job to mediate.

If you must have a joint savings account you can usually specify how many signatures are required for withdrawal. It may not be romantic to specify two signatures for withdrawal but romance and finance are matters best left to their own confines.

If you have a joint credit your lender will not politely calculate 50% of what you owe and then stop collecting on your balance when you’ve paid your half.

The basics on debts in the event of a break up:

Debts in your name only are your responsibility. Debts in your partner’s name only are their responsibility.

If you’re dealing with a debt in both of your names you’re both responsible to maintain the payments. The lender couldn’t give two hoots who used the funds or who is paying fairly and will expect the payments to continue being made in full and on time. If payments are missed the lender will try to collect from both of you and both credit reports will be impacted even if you’re paying what you deem to be your half; if the payments are not made in full the account will default.

Please note that the term ‘co-signor’ is a euphemism for joint with the added kicker that you have no claim on the funds or asset. When you co-sign a debt you are not just helping someone get a loan; you’re guaranteeing the payments. You will be on the hook for any missed payments and so will your credit score.

It’s something to think about. We all have friends who have suffered from mixing romance and finance and know how complicated it can get. You may be able to offload a bad relationship but if all the things you sign and the things you buy are joint, they’ll keep you together for longer than you imagined. If you’re half of a couple experiencing money problems in a relationship that is otherwise perfect, please call us.

Got financial problems? Well, I’ve got a money quiz that could be quite helpful. It’s about childhood, which may seem to be off topic. But I assure you, it is very much on topic. Permit me to explain why.

Here’s what we know about people who, though gainfully employed, are always behind the eight ball in their finances.

Throughout their adult lives, they repeatedly behave in self-defeating ways because of the beliefs and attitudes they adopted about money during childhood. So it is that one of the first steps to taking control of personal finances is to return to one’s past to determine and frankly face the origins of these beliefs and attitudes.

The process can be painful, or at the very least uncomfortable, so one has to be stalwart. Recalling matters concerning money means remembering a host of experiences surrounding one’s early years, particularly in relation to mom and dad, or others in childhood of strong influence. However, the benefits of the exercise can be great, shining light into the dim corners of memory, and opening paths to new ways of seeing while establishing the basis for new modes of behavior. 

Of course, honest self-analysis alone will not solve all money problems. But it does set a solid foundation for mapping out a plan of action. And in terms of taking action, anyone can count on Credit Canada for expert guidance and support. We offer an initial, free counselling session that introduces options and possibilities for a life in which one is finally free of all the encumbering childhood baggage concerning money.

Any financially troubled soul can get started on the path right now by taking part in a quiz Credit Canada offers concerning childhood money messages. Actually, the quiz – adapted from “Couples and Money” by Victoria Collins – is a part of our new Financial Coaching Series, probably the best program of its kind anywhere for personal financial literacy and the development of financial skills that last a lifetime.

Below is a link to the quiz in a document that provides spaces for responses to each question. You can print out the PDF document for your handwritten responses and keep it close at hand. Periodic review of the quiz helps to improve self-awareness about money matters, particularly in relation to negative financial attitudes and imagining what can be done to change them for the better.

And, as I say, if through this exercise the decision is made to seek out advice and other tools that will make change happen, we’re on hand at Credit Canada with all kinds of assistance.

As someone once said, those who forget the past are sure to repeat it.

Click on the following link to view the quiz: Quiz_Childhood Money Messages.

Thank you for participating in this quiz. Better yet, thank yourself for doing so.

There is no doubt that debt loads have never been higher in Canada and it comes as no surprise that a report by the Vanier Institute on the State of Family Finances notes that household debt has now reached the six figure mark.  The attached article click here demonstrates how easy it is to find ourselves in financial difficulty.  Although it is no small feat, the individual mentioned in the article manages to completely reevaluate her financial situation and take control of her finances to a successful end with the help of Credit Canada.  At Credit Canada we encourage all Canadians to make 2011 the year to take financial control and to start realizing the amazing benefits of having a solid financial plan.    The article is just one small example of the many success stories we have here at Credit Canada.

Here at Credit Canada, not only do we put you on a budget, we’re on a budget too!

So when three of my favourite gals suggested we take a trip to New York I was in but only after scrutinizing the price.  New York doesn’t come cheap but they assured me it potentially could.

The plan was thus:  Ten hour bus ride overnight to Lower Manhattan and hotel, name unknown, booked online.  Just as I was about to utter, “Um yeah, I’m busy cleaning my communal bathroom that weekend” I heard the words, “less than $250 each” and it was on.  At that price, suddenly ten hours on a bus seemed like an adventure and staying at a hotel you only knew the name and address of once you’d paid seemed like a fun bonding experience that every group of friends needed to do at least once. 

So we were off.  Teen mags, iPods, snacks, a Nintendo DS I borrowed from my nephew when he wasn’t looking and witty banter at the ready.  The journey there was, well, long but just a moving example of what we like to do anyway…talk a lot!

The Manhattan skyline immediately erased the memory of the journey and when we got off the bus, surprisingly not one of the passing New Yorkers pointed and laughed at us.  The hotel was great for the price, a well known chain.   The way home however, was the pits.  Ten hours turned into thirteen owing to an incident at the Canadian border involving an ‘illegal’ on the bus (not me, I swear!) and the people in front of us had packed an endless supply of egg sandwiches.  The smells, oh the smells!  But at the end of it all we stepped off the bus in Toronto in one piece and we’d all had an AMAZING time.

When we got back people were keen to know what the bus journey was like given the considerable savings on the price of flying.  I still haven’t decided if it was a hell I wouldn’t repeat again or a discomfort I would revisit after a reasonable amount of time had passed but there’s no doubt that we saved a fortune and the journey, albeit long, wasn’t that bad really.  However if you have the money for a flight then fuggedaboutit!

I’ll be doing some travelling next year and would love to hear any tips or recommendations on ways to cut costs.

For many of us, it’s not January but September that qualifies as the start of the new year in Canada. Come the end of the Labour Day weekend, there’s a feeling the whole world is getting back into gear. Schoolrooms, boardrooms and businesses come alive; social and cultural events start ramping up; hockey season gets underway – and on and on. It seems we’re all full of enthusiasm to take on new challenges and to get stuff done.

Given the mood of the moment, I can think of no better time to put personal finances in order. With the right tools, it isn’t difficult. As a matter of fact, we make it easy at Credit Canada thanks to a bevy of online money management tools that can help you fine tune your life. The tools cover everything from setting budgets and tracking spending patterns, to analyzing mortgage payments and planning for retirement – plus much more.

Join me now for a closer look at each of the tools, which can be accessed anytime at www.creditcanada.com.
 
Piggy Pal – Your Money Tracker

PiggyPal is a true friend when it comes to managing money. Track your daily spending habits online or through your mobile handset while you’re on the go. Click here.
 
Piggy Pal Challenger

A fun, interactive game that tests your money management knowledge. Click here.
 
Benefits of Spending Less

A few reductions in your personal budget can free up money for investments. Here’s a calculator that shows you how to lay a new nest egg. Click here.

Budget Tracker Booklet

A pocket-sized booklet that helps you track monthly spending so you can budget intelligently. Click here to download the booklet.

Buy or Lease Calculator

Is it better to lease or to buy a car? This calculator offers answers that can put you in the driver’s seat to savings. Click here.
 
Debt Calculator

With this tool, you’ll discover how much interest you’re actually paying a creditor over the life of a loan. Click here.

Home Budget

Get your house in order with a calculator that helps you determine where your money is going. Click here.

Mortgage Rates

A tool that helps you compare mortgage rates from big banks, credit unions, specialty lenders and mortgage brokers in one search. Click here.

Mortgage Comparison Calculator

With this tool you can sort through monthly payments, fees and other costs associated with getting a new mortgage. Click here.

Mortgage Payoff

This calculator shows you how much interest can you save by increasing your mortgage payment. Click here.

Rent or Buy?

Should you rent or should you buy your home? This calculator helps you weed through fees, taxes, and monthly payments. Click here.

Retirement Planner

With this tool, you can lay the groundwork for a retirement plan. Click here.

RRSP Loan Calculator

Use this calculator to see how a RRSP loan could help you with your retirement savings plan. Click here.

Savings Calculator

Learn how even a modest but consistent savings strategy can work wonders. Click here.

Savings Goal

A tool offering you the big picture on the financial results of your savings plan. Click here.

Shopping Quiz

Test yourself with this shopping quiz to see if you have financial blind spots and are in need of credit counselling. Click here.

Student Budget Calculator

A calculator specifically designed to help students understand their expenses and income while attending a university, college or other full-time educational institution. Click here.

So that’s the kit. Feel free to use any or all of the above items anytime. And please share them with family and friends if need be. After all, the beauty of these tools is that you don’t have to worry about returning them to the box.

Here is an interesting article by Derek Abma in the Financial Post on a  CIBC World Markets report about household debt slowing. It seems that for the six months that ended in March there has been a slowing of household debt.  This is good news but are we out of the water yet? I would say ‘no’ to that. 

We have to remember that we were in the deep end with personal debt just six months ago as a nation. So before we collectively exhale and say ‘all is good’ I say beware and be careful!   The Vanier Institute reported in their 2009 State of Family Finances report that Canadians owed $1.45 for every dollar they made.  It is certainly going to take more than a few months to turn this around. So while I applaud all of us for curbing our appetite for debt, I would also say let’s please all of us move forward cautiously.  I  am interested in your thoughts. Are we in the clear or not?

Click here for the full article.