Personal Finance
Money and Happiness
A famous study co-authored several years ago by Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman offered some fascinating insights into the relationship between money and happiness. The study, which analyzed the responses of 450,000 Americans, revealed that people who earned less than $75,000 per year were more likely to feel sad or stressed about their day-to-day lives.…
Read MoreWhy An Emergency Fund Is Still A Necessity
There have been a lot of news items (CBC news example) about massive layoffs resulting in bankruptcies, money crunches, and home foreclosures that I wonder if the financial planning concept of having an emergency fund is passé. Lots of people don’t think they need one. They don’t really believe an emergency would happen to them.…
Read MoreIs Impulse Buying Setting Back Your Goals?
When it comes to finding extra money for saving in your budget, we’re often told to look at your regular spending patterns. You know the drill – cut out your Starbucks habit, bring your own lunch to work, take the bus. But often it’s the irregular impulse buying that can wreak havoc on your budget. You…
Read MoreFinancial Management By The Decade – The 60’s
Your retirement should be almost within reach (if you are not already there) and all those years of saving are over. This is the decade when government pensions kick in. You can start collecting a reduced CPP as early as age 60 and, if you are close to this age now, OAS at 65. This…
Read MoreThe Real Cost Of Personal Debt
We are constantly reminded about the rising level of outstanding personal debt carried by Canadians. Every few months we hear about the perils of rising interest rates that may leave many in financial difficulty. The reality is – debt is not all bad. Most of us wouldn’t have been able to purchase our homes without…
Read MoreFinancial Management By The Decade – The 50’s
Welcome to age 50. Are you prepared? Turning 50 is a milestone for many reasons. Children are grown, the big debts such as saving for university and the mortgage, should be making less of a dent, and you are reaching your peak earning years. You now realize that your target retirement age is in sight,…
Read MoreGood Habits In Fitness And Finance
Recently I’ve become more aware about how often I sit throughout the day. Research even suggests that too much sitting can be worse for you than smoking. I sit a lot! Since I work in an office environment, I can be sitting at my desk for hours during the day and then come home and…
Read MoreDeceptive and Misleading Advertisements
It drives me nuts when I see deceptive and misleading advertisements in the financial services and investment industry. Personal finance can be complicated enough without having to bring a lawyer and a magnifying glass with you to interpret the fine print of every deal. Worse, still, is that many consumers take the bait without fully…
Read MoreFinancial Management By The Decade: The 40’s
Your forties are a good time to check out how you are doing financially. Many people find that they are finally getting some results. Salaries are likely to be higher, you are making some headway in decreasing your mortgage, and the kids may be at the age where they are not as financially draining as…
Read MoreBudgeting For Irregular Expenses
I’m about to build our household budget for 2016, which is to say that I’m going to take a copy of our 2015 budget, adjust the expenses for inflation (and necessity), and simply plug those numbers into an Excel spreadsheet. It’s easy to forecast our expenses for the next year when five years of spending history is…
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