When John recently lost his wife Betty to cancer, their children were surprised to find out that neither John nor Betty had life insurance. As a result, the children ended up paying the cost of the funeral, and John, currently on a fixed income, is left contemplating whether he can afford to stay in the home they had lived in for over 25 years. An untimely death can have a major financial impact on those...
Are you ready to start investing? Investing in the stock market can be particularly rewarding, but not without risk. If you’re particularly risk averse, you may want to consider another method of investing, or start the investment process slowly. This can also be true for older potential investors who do not have the time or inclination to wait out a downswing on a stock. But if you’re fresh out of college, or younger than 40,...
So your landlord has checked your references, received your damage deposit, and given a move-in date - you can finally breathe a sigh of relief as you move into your new place! After weeks of setting up new accounts, finding furniture, packing and unpacking, there is one last question that remains… do you want to purchase tenant’s insurance? Surprisingly, over half of Canadians renting property do not have insurance. That is in stark contrast to...
For many early 20-somethings that are freshly graduated and are now facing credit card and loan bills, the last thing on their mind is investments. Your new job can just about cover rent and groceries but the limitless pocket money of your youth is now a distant memory. Granted, saving for retirement may be a far fetched idea with the mountain of immediate payments piling up; however this does not mean that young Canadians should...
The moment that your first professional paycheck enters your bank account can be a euphoric experience. Finally you can trade in those frozen pizzas and microwavable popcorn for some real food! However, this new cash flow can also be overwhelming - post-university life comes with a host of additional financial and social responsibilities. Although your freshly funded bank account may be displaying numbers you didn’t think existed a few years ago, don’t be fooled into...
Taking control of your financial future is a pressure-filled process. You want to have confidence in what you are doing as well as an overarching plan, yet hearing investing aficionados talk sounds like an entirely different language! Understanding financial terminology can be a dizzying process and nobody wants to be bamboozled when it comes to something as important as money. But fear not, we have comprised a short list of terminology to acquaint yourself with...
The thought of being a millionaire feels like a distant, unattainable dream. The lingering self-doubt within the majority of us assumes those that are rich surely must be smarter than the rest of us regular folks, right? Well, that is not always the case. Those ‘get rich quick’ ads popping up on your browser will not work, nor will pouring blind hope into the lottery. Growing wealth doesn’t occur overnight. Instead, it is a result...
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room that gets swept under the rug all too often when discussing our finances: personal debt. Our bills for borrowing can suddenly rack up as we establish new lines of credit and loans. A 2017 poll conducted by Ipsos noted that Canadians with any amount of debt averaged $15,473 of consumer debt 1 . That is a scary number considering the recent spike in interest rates 2 ....
Human beings spend on average 229,961 hours in our lifetime fast asleep. Imagine how much money we could have made with all of this time at our disposal! Well, sleeping and generating income may not be mutually exclusive. Many of the most successful people in the world generate passive income to accommodate money earned during regular work hours. Passive income is considered earnings in which a person is not actively involved. However, in many cases...
Whether I am busy at work or simply relaxing at home, the one thing that is always by my side is my phone. This is hardly out of the ordinary; over 30 million Canadians currently own a cell phone 1 . Our handheld devices are now the primary method of communicating with others, entertainment, planning our schedules, and even dealing with our bills. Our phones can all too often send us down a spiral of...
If you have woken up in the middle of the night to a money-related panic attack, do not worry - you are not alone. It is natural for us to worry about our financial situation as it dictates so many facets of our everyday life. Nevertheless, financial stress is a big deal and needs to be addressed. Money driven anxiety is also becoming a growing concern for the younger population. Millennials are taking out larger...
While it may not seem so, there are a lot of painless ways to save money. Not just for those who have a limited cash flow, but also for those with plenty of surplus cash who will appreciate ways to cut back on monetary waste. Here are just a few things you can do to save: 1. Use cashback rewards credit cards. While most cards on the market today offer some level of cash back...