I am a VERY busy mom. I have a full time job, a part time job, two kids under five, a husband, and a household. Ok, even typing that was exhausting. We are all struggling with the demands of life and sometimes it feels like the pressure will never lift.
I’ve noticed, during these particular times of stress, that I tend to overlook certain things. I might neglect to notice the mountain of laundry in the basement or hurry past the cat little box trying to remind myself to clean it out. Well yesterday, as my co-workers can attest, I over- looked a very, very important detail.
Hubby leaves for work in the morning before any of us get up so I’m left on my own.   The night before had been difficult; my two year old was cutting teeth and we didn’t get very much sleep.  I woke up late -at 7:05 - my alarm didn’t go off. I had twenty minutes to get myself and the kids dressed, prepare breakfast, pack lunches, make two stops to drop off the kids before picking up my car pooling colleague. I rushed out of the house with the kids in tow, made the rounds and arrived at work a mere 5 minutes late.
As I’m getting ready for the day another colleague asks “What are you wearing?!?!” My reaction—“Pants?” She laughingly pointed out that I had put my pants on… inside out! I was mortified! In all my rushing I had actually put my pants on inside out and not even noticed!  Good thing this happened before I took my first client!
When we are rushed and busy, we can over look things in our finances that can be more upsetting than wearing your pants inside out. Here are some helpful hints that will keep you on track when your life gets busy:
1. Know your expenses: Either through money management tools like the cash envelopes/jars or through a tracking tool like a journal or software program, you should know approximately how much money you are spending every month on certain item.  Do you really spend $120 per week on groceries or is it more like $150?
2. Is your chequing account the right one?: Go over a month’s worth of bank statements and add up all of the bank fee charges including overdraft, ATM fees, monthly fees. Is this number shocking? You might be in the wrong chequing account. Visit your local branch or search the website to see what other chequing accounts offer. You may qualify for an account that can be saving you money in the long run.
3. Know you debt load: You should know how much debt you have within a couple of hundred dollars. Even better is knowing if it’s been going up or down over the last couple of months.
4. Know your interest rates: We all get our credit card statements but how often do we look at the interest rate. Make sure to touch base with your interest rates every month to see if your lender has increased them. The lender will notify you if there has been an increase but it can sometimes be difficult to find on the bill. You can also call the creditor to confirm the interest rate and possibly negotiate a lower one.
5. Balance protection insurance: Many lenders will call you to ask you to sign up for balance protection insurance on your credit card or loans. It may cover your minimum payments in the event of job loss or illness. Please look over the agreement very carefully. They may have a time period in which you have to apply to receive this benefit, usually 30 days. Interest may also continue to be charged during this time. It’s very important for you, if you choose this insurance, to know exactly what it covers and what you as the consumer need to do to qualify.

Set aside a little time every day or every week to touch base with your financial situation, it will pay off in the long run and will contribute to your sense of balance. I on the other hand will be focusing a little more on my wardrobe choices!

~Nicole Olsen

My husband just got a raise! (It’s about time)

 Surprisingly, I was asked “So, what are you going to buy?” My absolute first thought was to replace my University furniture. I don’t think we have one piece of furniture in our whole house that hasn’t been handed down or salvaged from a garbage bin/side of the road.

I dreamt of walking through Tepperman’s or Leon’s sitting on all of the plush, new smelling furniture. Lying on a chaise lounger and smiling as my 4 year old asked for a coaster for his Kool-aid jammer and my husband waited on me hand and foot,  when a co-worker abruptly halted my thinking with the question “So, what are you going to save? If you don’t save any you’ll be ‘living off the fat’. ”

When I went back to my office as I pondered this query I decided to ask the all knowing Google exactly what “living off the fat” meant. (For fear my co-worker was criticizing my latest attempt at weight loss).

live off the fat of the land - to live on stored-up resources or abundant resources, to have enough money to live in a very comfortable way without having to do much work

I thought, “You’ve got to be kidding? I’ve been living on this skinny diet of a budget for years I DESERVE to indulge a little” Then it hit me. We’re living pretty well actually, I have a decent living environment, we make decent money, we have food on the table, our kids needs are meet and I actually enjoy being frugal.

If I live off the extra income and adjust my standard of living to be higher I will be using up funds that could be better put towards building up resources in case of another recession or job loss. My husband and I devised a plan to use his additional income to increase our savings contributions to our emergency fund and accelerate our debt payments putting us a whole 1 year close to being debt free.

Interestingly enough our lives have not changed at all since the raise… but I did get a nice dinner out of it!

~Nicole Olsen

My sweetie and I were out walking the dog a few days ago. As we were crossing the street I spied a quarter lying in the roadway. Some people may have ignored such a paltry sum, but not me. Oh no!
This was found money! My luck usually tends toward finding pennies (which I immediately put in my shoe), and the occasional dime, but this was a quarter! As I bent to pick it up, two thoughts immediately flashed through my brain. The first was “be sure to wash your hands when you get home” the second was “look around to be sure there isn’t more”.  Sure enough, there was another quarter lying a short distance away. Mindful of an oncoming car, I swiftly scooped up the two quarters and raced across the road.  Oh lucky day! Not only was I fifty cents richer, but I managed to avoid being struck by a car in the process. I happily deposited the quarters in my change jar, adding it to the mix of loonies, toonies, dimes, nickels and quarters my sweetie and I have been accumulating for some special goal not yet defined.

Now, fifty cents is not much in the grand scheme of things. Some people may not have even bothered picking it up.

What would you do if you found a sum of money? Would your answer depend on the amount you found? Would you behave differently if you found twenty dollars instead of fifty cents? Let’s set the ethical debate aside for the moment and assume that you end up keeping the money. What would you do with it?

Believe it or not, your behaviour says a lot about how you are motivated by money.  According to Syble Solomon, creator of Money Habitudes™ having certain habits and attitudes may affect your behaviours and decisions related to money. Solomon categorizes six types.

If you ignore the money completely, and walk right on by, you could be the “free spirited” type, where money is not a priority in your lifestyle.
Or, you could also be the “status type”, where it would be beneath you to stoop over to pick up money, what would people think? Or if the sum of money were enough to make you ditch your dignity and dive for it, you would spend the money on some latest gadget or clothing to impress your friends. For the “status” type, money is used to create a positive image.

If you put the money in your wallet to boost your weekly allowance and immediately spend it, you could be the “spontaneous” type. You live in the moment, and money helps you do that. You are a “Life is short, eat dessert first” kind of person.

If you immediately drop the change into a street person’s jar, or buy a gift for someone using the money, you may be the “selfless” type.  You spend money on others to help you feel good about yourself.

If you tuck the money away in savings account or jar you could be the “security” type, where having a sum of money available to you at all times makes you feel safe and secure.

If you add the money to a fund you have set up for a special occasion you could be the “targeted goals” type. For those folks, money is a tool to help them achieve thier goals.

As for me, I know I am the targeted goals type, as is my sweetie. And sure enough, those habits and attitudes were reflected in what I did with my new found gains.

If you want to learn more about your Money Habitudes, please join us for one of our Money Habitudes™ nights. People LOVE this seminar. Call or email for more details.

According to the Fraser institute, June 4 was tax freedom day for Ontarians. To explain tax freedom day, let’s suppose that you had to pay all of your taxes first, before you could keep any income for yourself. In Canada, the average Canadian would have to work until June 6th this year, before he or she could keep any money. That means that all the income earned up to that date, goes to pay for taxes. Included in this calculation are the usual suspects, income tax and sales tax. But there are a lot of “hidden” taxes we pay that we often forget about. Things like EI, consumption taxes, fuel taxes, license fees, import duties, profit taxes etc, etc., etc..

That’s a lot of tax! Every year when the news comes out, people kvetch about how much tax they pay.  My philosophy is… yeah, we pay a lot of taxes but we have a decent network of social supports that are funded from those very taxes. Could our tax dollars be used more efficiently? No doubt. Even so, taxes are an important tool to even the playing field and make things more equal for all Canadians. At least there is some social good coming from paying all those taxes. Can you say “Universal Health Care”? “Pension Plan”? “Disability Benefit? Those are things that most Canadians still believe in and support.

Let’s carry this a bit further. What if, in addition to paying all of our taxes up front, we had to pay all our debt payments including interest and fees up front? How many more days would you have to add to that tax freedom day before you would be working for yourself? Think about it. Add up all your debt and interest payments for one year and divide it by your daily after tax income. Go ahead, I dare ya!
How many days would have you to add to June 6 before you were free to spend your money on what you need and want?

I can hear it now. “If I didn’t have so much tax to pay, I could manage my debt!”
The thing about debt is; the interest you have to pay benefits no one except to enrich the person or institution that lent out the money. Somebody -other than you - gets rich off of your lack of planning or self-control. And you may have to work many more days each year to pay your creditors before your money is your own.

What would your year look like if you had Zero debt? How many days of financial freedom would you gain if you managed to pay off your debt? It’s not that hard, with a little focus and a good plan. Oh, and the desire to “work for yourself” instead of your creditors aka “da man”.

I heard a radio interview the other day with a man who travelled for work. The news spot was
portraying how the everyday person is being affected by the rising gas prices. In this poor fellow’s
case, he commuted over an hour to work everyday! In our neck of the woods, that’s certainly not the
norm. He did drive a somewhat economical car, (oxymoron- I don’t thing any car can really be called
economical- they’re a major expense and a depreciating asset). What bothered me though was how he
intended to cope with the increase in his gas expenses.

Was he going to share a ride or carpool with someone? No.
Was he going to move closer to his work? No.
Was he going to trim expenses somewhere else? No.
Was he going to look for employment closer to home? No.
His stated intention was to discontinue his savings plan. He said he could no longer afford to save!
Egad!! Danger Will Robinson!

It is advisable to consider the above listed options before taking such a drastic measure as discontinuing
saving. The first indication that a person may be living a lifestyle he or she cannot afford is when they
cannot find any money to save. As with everything, savings is relative. The more money you have
available to provide more than your basic needs, the more money you can save. And save you must. Any
healthy financial plan has savings as a fundamental component. To be financially healthy, savings is not
an option.

A good tip: When planning your expenses for the year, allow for a 2-5 % increase in your expenses,
across the board. Call it a cost of living adjustment that you make every year to your spending plan. That
way as costs rise, you have already anticipated the increase and are prepared for it. You may have to
make adjustments to other categories, if your wage increases have not kept pace. Do it. Is it pleasant to
have to cut back? Of course not! Is it necessary? Absolutely. It’s all about living a life you can afford.

I can’t bear to see the gas prices go up again! Every time I drive past a gas station I break into cold sweats. It seems like the gas stations are competing to see who can get to $1.50/ltr the fastest.
When the price of living goes up, we as consumers are faced with a difficult challenge – what is going to give to cover this new cost. This is where it is absolutely critical to have a budget in place. Typically our income doesn’t keep pace with the increased cost of living so other expenses are going to have to pick up the slack or use cost cutting to help with keeping that budget item down.

Fuel Cost cutting ideas

Gas rewards program - This isn’t a credit card but a program created by the company to collect points that you can redeem for gas. It may take a while but every penny counts.

Fill up your tires – Check your tires every few weeks and make sure they are to the manufactures standards. This can save you some drag on your car and make it more fuel efficient.
Fill up and drive till a quarter tank – Putting small amounts of gas into the tank can actually cost you more because you are driving to the station more times. It’s easier to fill up once and drive around less. Let the tank get down to a quarter tank before you fill up. You will benefit from driving around with a lighter fuel load, constantly topping up creates more weight in your vehicle.

Change your driving habits – Avoid idling, drive at a constant speed, take off slowly from a full stop and reduce your speed. All of these driving techniques can reduce how much fuel your vehicle is using.

Maintain you vehicle – Make sure you are changing the oil and spark plugs on a regular basis. Regular maintenance on your vehicle will keep it performing at maximum capacity.

Shop around for the best fuel prices -  http://www.ontariogasprices.com is a great website to see all of the local gas prices before you fill up.

The little things and big decisions – Consider car pooling, bike riding, and commuter van or downsize to 1 vehicle. Park in the shade to avoid the fuel evaporating and make sure you gas cap has a proper seal.

~Nicole Olsen

Awesome, awesome, awesome. What more can I say? We had a great afternoon event showcasing our agency with presentations on the 10 Steps to Financial Fitness and Mortgage information by Genworth.

We are also pleased to announce the introduction of our new Healthy Money™ program. A culmination of years of professional information and experience, written by our Executive Director, Wendy Dupuis and Senior Financial Counsellor, Pauline Laforet.

The Healthy Money™ financial fitness module system is an easy 10-step system containing topics that will help anyone effectively manage their personal finances.

This instructional information has been divided into a 10 step module system, allowing you to easily and effectively learn the basic information you need to know to help you increase your financial health.

This system has truly been developed with the “everyday person” in mind, so it has been written in a casual engaging style using everyday language with easy to grasp examples. This system is designed using our “bringin’ it to the streets” communication style, allowing you to learn in a relaxed and fun manner. No “accountant-speak” here!

Please check out our review in the Windsor Star for more information on our modules. You may also call 1-877-777-9218 or email info@financialfitnesswindsor.ca

I HATE spring cleaning! There’s just too much to do. Have you heard of hoarding? I actually do the opposite; I throw everything away even if I might use it in the future.

But let’s not talk about the things that provide fodder for my psychiatrist, I want to put out a plan for Financial Spring cleaning.

So go to your home office or file box; first thing you want to do is resist the urge to pour yourself a drink…

Now we’ll get onto the finances,

1)      Get all of your files, bills, records, and paystubs in the same place. Organize them in a way that makes sense to you. Most people will sort them into file folders, chronologically. You may want to use different coloured file folders for each type. I use green for my paycheques (cha-ching!) and red for debt (bad!).  This will allow you to have all of your important information in one convenient place, no more looking for bills in the couch or ruined paystubs in the dryer. Make sure you are only keeping records for their required retention period.

2)      Do a net worth statement. A new worth statement can be a very valuable tool in determining your financial fitness. It gives you a little report card of your finances that can be compared year to year. List everything that you own with value of $1000 or more (beer can collection probably doesn’t count). Now list everything you owe (credit cards, Lines of Credit, Mortgage). Simply take:

What I own  -   What I owe = Net Worth

3)      Resist the urge to pour yourself a drink…

4)      Now would be a good time to review your insurance policies. Do you have adequate coverage? Maybe you can get a better rate? Do some shopping, it doesn’t cost anything to get some quotes and might save you money in the long run. Insurance can be a very valuable tool to cover you and your belongings just in case Murphy’s Law comes a’ knockin.

5)      Get your credit report. A credit report is not only a good way to see how creditors rate your lending worthiness but to check for fraud.  There are 2 major credit bureaus in Canada Equifax and Transunion. All for the price of a stamp you can fill out a form, photocopy 2 pieces of government ID, send it in to EACH bureau and in 7-10 business days get a copy of your credit report.

6)      Review and update your budget. (Hint: if you don’t have one, now’s the time) List all of your sources of income and expenses. How do they compare. Do you spend more or less than you earn? If the answer is yes, you might need to rework it. Use pencil!

7)      List your debts, interest rates and minimum payments. You can find a free debt repayment calculator at Cnnmoney, or come in to see one of our qualified counsellors to discuss your options.

8)      And last but not least savings. What are your dreams? Your goals? Upcoming events for the next year? List some short term, medium term and long term goals. How much will you need to save? Maybe you can’t buy that super awesome 1:16 Millennium Falcon off eBay right now, but can you over the next 10 months?

9)      You’re finished! Put your feet up and relax; you will feel a sense of accomplishment and thank the stars you only have to do this once a year… now to the house…or that drink!

~Nicole Olsen

Every year we prepare an annual report on the Agency's activities for our Annual Members meeting.

In the report we celebrate our accomplishments and the general sense of well-being we all get from a job well done. It is a chance to report on the impact we make in the lives of the people who come through our doors seeking our help. I find it extremely rewarding to pore through the hundreds of client impact statements telling us how we have made a difference in thier lives.

With the issue of financial literacy getting so much attention these days, we appreciate knowing that what we do really does help.

I thought I would share what our clients say about the service they have recieved from us.

“This is the best service possible, it has helped so much”.
“Great program. We have learned a lot about ourselves and how to manage our finances better”.
“…consistently provided guidance in a knowledgeable and empathetic manner”.
“This was the best decision I ever made”
“Without these services who knows what state my life would have been in”.
“Very helpful. I was being buried alive and I appreciated a hand up not a hand out”.
“Right from the start of the meeting there was a feeling that everything would be okay”.
“People would be lost without a place like this”.
“So much weight lifted off my shoulders. I feel great”.
“I’m not afraid to answer my phone anymore and I can sleep at night”.
“All staff have been very accommodating of our situation. Thank you”.
“I appreciate the advice and professional service I receive when I contact (Financial Fitness)”.
“You made it easy for me. Thanks a lot”.

No, cher clients, thank YOU for taking responsibility for your financial lives and allowing us to be partner in your efforts to create a better financial future for you and your families.

Here's to many more years of making a difference.

Wow! Life has been so busy lately with all the projects on the go, a product launch, deadlines, balancing my home life, hardly time to breathe. When life gets crazy busy like this, I tend to lose track of things. Things like making personal appointments and phone calls, following up on details. The house is a little messier; magazines sitting unread, projects that I began a month ago sitting idle, abandoned temporarily as other priorities demand my attention. At work my desk is buried under mounds of papers in what I affectionately refer to as my “organized mess”. Some times the world wants more of me than I have to give. Now I know that I am not alone on this insane hamster wheel. I can hear you now, saying … wow, you think you’re so hard done by, try adding a couple of kids to the mix!
 At times like this, if it weren’t for my calendar and my faithful adherence to checking it regularly I’d be in big trouble. My organizer is my saviour. My strategy for getting through these times is to let go of the unimportant things. I focus on the “need to get done” tasks instead of the “nice to get done”.
When life comes at you at mach speed, it’s easy to lose track of things, like opening mail, paying bills or tracking your spending. Have you ever heard yourself saying “Whaddya mean the hydro bill was supposed to have been paid yesterday, we just received it…oops three weeks ago! Well uhm.. it seems like it’s been that long”!
Before you know it, you’re getting reminder notices in the mail for your bills and there is no money in the bank because you were not minding your budget and overspent just a titch.
Here are some helpful tips to keep you organized and on track with your finances during hectic times.
1. What ever system you use, keep it simple and easy to use. If you are already time stressed, don’t add to it by choosing a complicated organizing system.
2. If you are a techno-geek, there are a bazillion on- line organizers out there. Stay away from any system that offers anything more than pure money tracking and management. Some sites redirect you to all sorts of shady characters willing to help you pay off your debt or repair your credit. Be wary.
3. Set up an automatic withdrawal program with your bank or credit union, so the bills are paid automatically every month from your account. Caution: if you have a dispute with the bill, you will have to take costly and time consuming measures to prevent the company from withdrawing what they think is their entitlement from your account. It may take a long time to get the money back.
4. Typically most bills have a regular due date. Enter the name of the bill on your calendar a few days ahead of its due date. This way you only have to devote a few minutes at a regular time each day to check your calendar. Set up a file or other space where you can keep your bills until they are paid. When the date arrives, pull out the bill and pay it.
5. Use a file box or drawer with files folders labelled from 1 to 31. Each file folder represents a day of the month. When you receive your bill, drop it in the file dated a few days before the date the bill is due. For eg: if the bill is due on the 15th, put it in the file labelled 12, and pay it on that day. This allows a few days for processing. Don’t forget to allow extra time for processing on holidays and weekends.
6. If you have gone paperless, you will be receiving emails instead of paper bills. Be sure to check your email account regularly so you won’t miss your statement. It is still your responsibility to pay your bill on time, regardless of whether or not you receive a statement from the company. The statement they send you is merely a courtesy. It is your responsibility to pay what you owe. If you do not receive your bill when you expect to, call the company immediately. They can send another statement.
7. As far as tracking expenses when you are super busy, designate a spot in home where you will keep your receipts. At the end of each day, put your receipts in this spot. Then take a few minutes every week to reconcile your expenses to your bank account. Taking a few minutes to do this regularly will keep this chore manageable when you are time stressed.
8. Create a system to organize your financial records. Having an organized system takes little time to maintain and you won’t waste time looking for information. It will be at your fingertips.
9. Delegate some tasks to someone who can help. You don’t have to do everything yourself.
10. Ask yourself this question. If you do not have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

A while ago I learned about a therapy called EFT.  This description really doesn’t do it justice, but it is a process based on the belief that the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system.  By tapping with the fingertips on a short series of points on the body corresponding to acupuncture points, you can release the blockage of energy flow cause from the negative emotions.  When the blockage is released the emotions come into balance.

Some of our problems with money stem from deep rooted emotions and beliefs. EFT can help you identify your limiting money beliefs and subconscious self sabotaging patterns. You may find they are not what you think they are! 

As it happens, we have a bona fide EFT practitioner right here in Windsor! She has offered to conduct a session on finances.
If you are arguing with your significant other about money, worrying about paying bills, frustrated over financial issues and wanting to feel more secure this session is for you.

Date:  April 16, 2011
Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Location: 6038 Empress St (Hospice of Windsor-Essex)
Tuition: $25.00
Facilitator: Frances Soda
Register: Call Frances at 519-977-5959
For more information contact fsoda@cogeco.ca.  or see www.tap-eft.net

Hope to see you there!

Hard on the heels of the news release stating that the Federal Task Force on Financial Literacy had released their findings and recommendations came the news headlines that the Average Canadian family’s debt hits 100K.  Timely you say? Absolutely.

According to a report  from the Vanier Institute of the Family, Canadians are indeed more deeply in debt than at any other time in our history. It seems as though despite several warning calls from those who know, we as a nation are heading -eyes wide open-for disaster.

Easy credit and lower interest rates have lured us into leveraging far more of our disposable income than is perhaps prudent or safe. As the report succinctly states “There is too little income, too much spending, too little saving and too much debt.”

What I find interesting, is that accompanying the record levels of debt, is the astounding statistic that we have also seen a jump in average net worth of 60% in the same time period. So as Canadians, we are much wealthier, yet we still carry a boatload of debt. What’s up with that?
Is this something to be concerned about? Only if you are one of the grim statistics.

So, how can you tell if you are in over your head or in dangerous territory?
Okay, you need a few math skills here. There are two stats you need to look at.

One, your total debt service ratio. If your monthly debt payments (including housing costs) are more than 40% of your net income (yes, net income not gross), you are in dangerous territory.  Time to concentrate on lowering that ratio.

Two, your net worth.  Or more specifically, your debt to net worth ratio.
Your net worth is a measure of all your tangible assets.  Check out this handy net worth calculator .  Be sure not to overestimate the market value of your assets.
Next divide your total debt by your net worth. If this number is high, then selling your assets may not cover what you owe. If this number is over 1, you could be in trouble. That means if you sold every asset you had, you would still be in debt.

Don’t be a statistic. If these numbers concern you, or if you need help interpreting what they mean, give us a call. 519-258-2030, in Windsor, 519-542-1130 in Sarnia.
Helping you improve your finances is what we are all about.

Nicole’s Mortgage Strategy.
We are currently in year 2 (ish) of our 5 year term mortgage. Our interest rate is at 5.25%- not great, not horrible. We decided to see what we could do to take advantage of the low mortgage rate at 3.69%.
Our mortgage lender suggested a Blend and Extend Mortgage. Essentially we would be extending our current mortgage for another five years and blending our current interest rate with the new market interest rate making our interest rate now 4.47%, all for a very small fee.
This new interest rate would now lower our mortgage payments. Well, we’ve been managing our current mortgage payments just fine, so rather than take the lower payment  we decided to keep them the same. So, by blending the interest rate  and keeping our mortgage payment the same as they were- we’ve actually save ourselves about 10 years off our mortgage amortization, which now lowers it to 26 years from 36. We get a lower interest rate now and we avoid extending our amortization period. And the best part…  if we stick to the plan we stand to save about $ 66,000.00 in interest charges!
 How cool is that?
Nicole Olsen.

Another way to speed up paying your mortgage off is to adjust the amount of taxes deducted from your paycheque.  Huh?? You say? What does the amount of income tax deducted from your paycheque have to do with your mortgage?
Well, if you are one of those people who enjoy a whopping tax return every year, and your mortgage terms allow it, you can apply that huge tax return as a lump sum payment once per year. However we all know how tempting it is to spend that cash on other things.

You might want to think about giving less to the government up front.  For example:  if my return is $1,200.00 per year, I can instruct my employer to deduct $25.00 less per week off my paycheque. I can then increase my weekly mortgage payments by $25.00.

Here’s an example: On a $100,000.00 mortgage, raising my weekly payments by $25.00, would save me  $27,162.00 in interest charges over the life or my mortgage  which would be reduced by almost 10 years.

I won’t miss the money because I am just redirecting what I would have paid anyway, and instead of a tax return which I might blow on other non- essential things, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I increased my net worth, and made my family a little more secure. All for $25.00 per week.

Remember , small changes over time make a big difference. Who wouldn’t want to keep $27,000 for themselves?

Mike Bergeron

January/February for me is the start of a new financial year. Every year around this time my sweetie and I reflect on our success (&challenges) with last year’s spending plan, and create a new one for the upcoming year. We examine our net worth statement to see how much progress we’ve made on increasing that number.  We receive our T4 slips and complete a preliminary tax return, so we can include the tax refund in our plan for this year.

Each year, when we create our spending plan, we look for an opportunity to accelerate our mortgage.  Every financial expert I know advises that paying off the mortgage as quickly as you can is part of a sound financial strategy.  And, since we are “late bloomers” financially speaking, we need to focus on paying the house off before we retire so we are not carrying a mortgage payment on our pension income.

Our house was purchased in 2003 with a 26% down payment.  We make weekly payments, which helps pay off the mortgage faster. Just by paying weekly, we shortened our 25 year mortgage by 5 years so it would pay out in 2023 instead of 2028.
According to the terms of the mortgage, we are allowed to increase our weekly payments by 25% of the initial mortgage payment every year on or after the anniversary date. That increase goes straight on the principle of the mortgage. So for the past few years, we have been adjusting our spending plan so that we can increase our weekly payments by 25%, which for us works out to just under $40.00. We have had to make adjustments to our lifestyle to manage this. However, after some initial discomfort we really have not missed the money. We adjusted, cutting a bit from each spending category. We were lucky enough to receive small pay raises so some of the discomfort was offset by the raise.

This year, we got out the calculator to see how we will benefit by this strategy.
We based our calculations on our current mortgage interest rate- which is high by today’s standards.

By increasing our payments by 25% we will pay off our mortgage in 2015 instead of 2023.
We will save ourselves $21,633.00 in interest charges and pay off the mortgage almost 8 years early.  For us, that means we can retire mortgage free, which is one of our goals. Talk about motivation!

By combining the ability to make weekly payments with the opportunity to increase our payments by 25%, we hit on a strategy that fulfills our particular needs and circumstances.
This strategy may or may not work for you. It depends on the size of your mortgage, your income, your age etc. Stay tuned for some other strategies that may be more in line with your own particular circumstances, yet with the same goal in mind-a fully paid for mortgage in the least amount of time with the least amount of interest.

Wendy Dupuis

Financial Fitness is pleased to announce that Mike Bergeron has passed the first half of his AFCPE certification. Congratulations Mike. Mike  has earned two of the three  certifcations he needs to become a fully certified OACCS Credit Counsellor. Mike acheived his BIA certification in December, he holds a certificate for completing CTI coach training, and has completed his certification exam in counselling standards from the Association for Financial Counselling and Planning Education.(AFCPE). He is now on the final leg of his certification. 'Atta boy Mike!

This is a particularly challenging time of year for me.  It’s cold outside and sunshine is as rare a commodity as a savings plan.  The holidays are over, the bills are arriving and I just got my T4 slip which means I will have to file my income tax return soon. I feel like staying in my jammies, pulling a blanket around me as I curl up in my big comfy chair and not coming out ‘till spring.

A month ago I had all this energy and enthusiasm for a new year.  I was all set to eat better, get more exercise and explore my spiritual side through meditation.  Yup, I was gonna work on mind, body, spirit balance.

One month later, I can say I have managed to eat fairly healthy, if you don’t count the four bags of bite size chocolate bars that I purchased on a twoferone deal and ate the same way. I have actually managed to get more exercise- five extra hours this month! As for meditation, I did manage to meditate for fifteen whole minutes each day… well maybe not each day… okay once each week if  you add it all up and count the time I was caught daydreaming at a traffic stop. Funny how the horn of the car behind you will snap you right back to the present.

Most people would look at their progress so far and see a decided lack thereof, and throw in the towel. But not me, oh…no. Call me idealistic –it’s the Sagittarius in me- but I am not one to quit. Not at this stage of the game. It’s one of my motto’s, “never give up”.

I prefer to see my progress as just that, progress.  On balance I ate healthier, exercised more and meditated some, which is more than I would have done if I had not bothered at all.
Did I do as much as I intended? No. Could I do better? Absolutely!

I just think that sometimes, I am so busy looking at what I haven’t accomplished, that I fail to realize what I have accomplished. 

I’ve decided to stop beating myself up if I don’t do something perfectly. I am choosing to celebrate even the smallest of achievements and having made that choice, I now feel the motivation to set the bar a little higher for next month.

Of course February only has 28 days……

Wendy Dupuis

So, something truly exciting happened to me on Saturday morning… I had breakfast with the Premier of Ontario! I know I was completely shocked and frankly had a hard time believing it all day.
After our little brunch I decided I needed to go grocery shopping.  Now I have a few rules for myself when I go grocery shopping to help keep me in my budget…
1. I never go with children. They always some how manage to put more things in the cart when I’m not looking.
2. Never go hungry. It’s more like shopping off a menu of what I want to eat rather then what I need to buy.
3. Never shop where I can buy underwear. I don’t know… those one stop shopping places seem to have a minimum spending limit and I can NEVER spend within my limit.
While I was grocery shopping and still reeling from my geeky brush with fame I decided I was going to call all my friends and tell them about it. So I pulled out my Bluetooth and went about my shopping. As I’m going down the isles chattering away (while most people are looking at me like I’m a crazy woman) I’m arbitrarily putting things in my cart. I finally get to the check out and hang-up with my friends mom when the girl starts ringing everything in. When I get the total bill it’s 30% higher then my grocery budget! I was shocked!
Now,  I’ve added one more rule.
I will devote my full attention to my grocery shopping and leave my phone in the car… even for the Premier of Ontario.

Nicole Olsen

I had a conversation with a colleague a few days ago that gave me the inspiration for this post.
We were sharing stories from clients who had been victimized by some rather unscrupulous characters presenting themselves as debt relief specialists before they found us. Our unfortunate clients, who were already dealing with life circumstances that lead to overwhelming debt issues, were bilked into paying thousands of dollars for the so-called debt relief company to act for them.  The outcome resulted not in a partial reduction of debt which had been promised, but in bankruptcy.
Had the clients known, they could have done the same things for themselves at no cost and saved themselves a ton of grief. This is a great example of how a lack of knowledge can end up costing you – big time.

Like every other industry, the financial counselling and debt recovery industry is viewed by some as a lucrative market. It is also largely unregulated which means that anyone can hang up a shingle and call themselves a credit counsellor.   With all the debt relief companies out there vying for business, it’s hard to know who to trust. It pays to be informed.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has a great website that provides objective advice to consumers about how to choose the right product and service for their needs.  It’s a great place to visit to get unbiased information. The tip sheets are easy to read and understand and may help you sift through the confusion when deciding who to trust with your money issues. Check out the tip sheet on Dealing with Credit Counselling Agencies, especially the part on finding a reputable credit counselling agency.
Make sure you understand exactly what you’re getting into before you sign.  It can save you thousands.

Ahhh… New Years resolutions.

I don’t have anything against them, and have been known to make a few every once in a while. I find it easier to stick to my New Year resolutions if I work in a reward for myself. This year my husband has been the one to make a huge New Years resolution and we’ve been able to  take financial advantage of that.

My husband smoked for 15 years on and off. It drives me crazy, but it’s his issue not mine. (I have my own, it starts with “Ch” and ends in “ocolate”). This year, out of the blue he’s decided that he’s going to quit. I was very happy for him and supportive but honestly the first week was awful, then I realized, there’s no real pay off for him.

We decided that with the extra $30 he used to be spending on cigarettes we would now save it for some kind of reward. He’s always wanted to go on vacation and since we have 2 kids, a mortgage and a car payment it’s never quite fit into the budget.  I did a little research and we’ve decided to put that money into a TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account). In a nut-shell this savings vehicle allows us to put money away into savings that can then be invested, providing us with a greater return = MAKE MORE MONEY. Any money we make on the account OR any we pull out is not taxable AND does not count as income. Win, Win. It provides us with something that can make more money than our savings account at the bank, and we don’t have to declare the interest earned as income. It’s fantastic.

So, sometime next year we hope to take out some of his New Years resolution money (tax free of course) and go somewhere hot, with sandy beaches. Now if only I could set aside my chocolate money, we could retire in 5 years!