Posts Tagged: Debt

1 in 4 Canadians feel helpless to control holiday spending

  When making decisions about where to spend money, generosity often trumps or supersedes money concerns at this time of year. For some, it can be so difficult to go against this pattern, they actually feel helpless to control their spending, budget or not. In a recent Investors Group poll, 1 in 4 Canadians feel helpless to control holiday spending....

How fixed expenses creep up

  Fixed expenses directly impact our discretionary spending ability, and our ability to save. Some fixed costs are inevitable: We need to pay down our mortgage, pay our utilities, and make good with the phone company every month. These so-called “fixed” expenses, though, have a way of creeping higher across the board, under the radar, without us acknowledging their impact on...

Your Standard of Living Bubble

No matter who you are, no matter what you do, no matter how much income you earn each year, if your debt is growing, even just a little bit, your lifestyle is not sustainable. Why? Because eventually, that debt will start eroding your lifestyle. Even before you get to that point, you will probably feel stress, or other unpleasant emotions....

Tax refund madness

The urge is typical. You’ve completed your tax return, happily confirming your hope the government owes you a refund. Before you’ve even received your refund in that recognizable brown envelope, it’s likely you’ve already earmarked that money for goodies you want, but haven’t had the chunk of cash to pay for. In the back of your mind though, you know...

Savers versus Spenders: A Matter of Perspective

Why are some of us natural savers, while others are spenders? In a way, it’s a matter of perspective. The main difference is that savers take in the big picture, while spenders only see things as they are, or as they appear to be at that moment in time. We say savers tend to have an Encompassing Perception, where spenders...

Consolidation and the Never Ending Mortgage

In this time of historically low interest rates, you would think people must be paying off their mortgages at lightning speed. Why? When interest rates are low, less money from each payment goes towards paying interest and more money is applied against the principal of the loan. This means homes can be paid off months, maybe even years earlier. The...

The “Shopaholic” Spouse

Money may not be the root of all evil, but overspending can cause a whole lot of disagreement in a marriage. It’s assumed and fair to say that the less money a couple makes, the more arguments there are likely to be. If there is shopaholic in the relationship though, even top earning couples will fight about money.