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Showing posts with label financial house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label financial house. Show all posts

Renovating Your Financial House Part 4

financial houseThe markets are in turmoil, debt levels are rising, now the economy is slowing. With less income how do you pay off your credit cards, go on a vacation or retire when you planned?

In the fourth part of my series "Renovating Your Financial House" I will be focusing on what you can do improve the income part of your financial house.

Control of your income is central to your success ... but when was the last time your really looked at it? Do make enough to pay for things you needed? What about the things you want? For a quick assessment check your tax summary and then your bank account. How much did you keep last year? For most the answer is NOT ENOUGH!

Maybe it is an extra 5,000 for a vacation each year, 7,000 to clear your credit card debt or an extra 10,000 to finance an early retirement.

Here are few ideas on how to increase your income ...

Open your own Internet business. With little expense and risk you can create your Internet business. You can set up a website or blog at no cost. Do market research on line. Even converse with potential clients from the comfort of your own living room. Keep in mind all business have risk and if you are looking to supplement your current income you don't need to anyway.

Get a part time job doing what you love. If you are an accountant, seniors need your help at tax time, if you are marketing manager provide advice to small to midsized business or maybe you can help the neighbourhood with landscaping. Again the idea is add 3,000 -5,000 a year to pay for your vacation or pay down your credit cards.

Upgrade your current profession or learn a new one in your spare time. Take a course as care aide, or take a sales job for a local company. Find out something new and increase your ability to make money and increase your value to current employer.

If you have been laid off recently or know some one who has check a previous post "Lost Your Job in Kelowna ... Now What".

If you are looking for more ideas check out the 3 other parts of this series. Just us the search tool on my blog using the title "Renovating Your Financial House"


Renovating Your Financial House Part 3

financial house
The markets rise the markets fall ... how can your build savings in an environment like this? Good question.

As part 3 of a 4 part series on Renovating Your Financial House we will be focusing on how Build Saving to create a life for you and your family!

The solution is not the best mutual fund, investment strategy or tax strategy. This is a great way to sell a product ...but it over looks what it really takes to grow net worth ... the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule.

What Pareto taught was for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the cause. So for example 80% of all goals comer from 20 % of the team or 80% of your income come from 20 % of your work.

So you ask how does this relate to building savings?

Here is what I have found after more a decade in the investment business, investment success has more to do with behaviour than the investment. Of course you need the correct product based on your risk tolerance, properly diversified and effectively managed. But this is the 20%.

The 80% is everything else going on in your life that will contribute to a bad financial decision. Things like losing your job, getting injured on the job, separating from your spouse, and premature death of a family member.

If you don't have the rest of your plan set up, along with a contingency fund you will be forced to use your investments at the wrong time. When the job markets are bad, housing prices are down and your accounts are down. And if this wasn't bad enough you may owe taxes as well.

Every year I meet people forced to make these kinds of choices, costing hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars to fix a short term problem at the expense of things that are really important to them.

Unfortunately you can't see the future. The only way to invest or stay invested is to monitor your cash flow and review your plan regularly.

We've all heard "Buy Low and Sell High". Selling high is hard .... because you don't know when the price is really high. But buying low is even harder. Usually when things are really low ... there is a reason. No one has any money. Make sure this isn't you!


If you don't have a written game plan ... now is a good time to put your goals to paper and set up a sound financial house.

In my final week of Renovating Your Financial House we will be covering Income Management and how to create income to fund your financial game plan. Use my blogs search widget to find all 4 parts.

Renovating Your Financial House Part 2

Just last week the Bank of Canada announced household debt is emerging as the the greatest risk to Canada's Financial System! (and so is the risk for the financail well being of families in Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley.)

As part 2 of a 4 part series on Renovating Your Financial House we will be focusing on how to deal with debt and eliminating its effect on your families life!


Can you imagine a life with no debt? No overdraft, credit card, line of credit, car loan or home mortgage. How much better would your life be with no payments? Most have been in debt so long they don't remember what it used to feeling like.

So question is how to your get rid of debt? First get your financial house in order BEFORE you pay off your debt. If you have not read part one of Building Your Financial House go here first Part 1 - Protecting Your Family - Where do you start?

Change the way you think ... pay cash for everything. Sounds easy enough, but when was the last time you paid cash for something? Groceries, gas, or nice iced latte. If you are using plastic you will never see the end of debt in your life.

Make a list of all your debts. That's right ... sit down with everyone in your house hold you spend money with and make a list of all your current balances, payments and interest rates. Seeing it on paper gets everything in open and makes everyone accountable.

Optimize your debts and make a plan. Organize all from smallest to largest and keep us minimum payments on all. The focus all extra income to systematically eliminate your debt. As you pay down each debt and the payment from the previous to next.

In the coming weeks here are the next two areas of Renovating Your Financial House ...

Building Savings. How to get your money working for you. Coming July 13th.

Creating a Written Plan to achieve your goals and dreams. What questions should your financial game plan answer and how to tell if your plan is working. Follow along on part 3.

Now is great time to Renovate Your Financial House and improve your quality of life today and in the future.

Renovating Your Financial House Part 1

It was a stroke of genius. Giving a tax credit for home owners to spend money on a new hot tub, bigger kitchen, or renovate the family room. Improve the quality of your living experience and save some taxes along the way!

What respectable home owner in Kelowna would want a nicer home? According to some polls more than 50 % of Canadians know about the renovation tax credit and many are going to do some kind of work in the next 6 months!

Just like upgrading your home ... renovating your Financial House can radically improve the quality of your life. Whether this means changing your spending habits so you have more spending money, simplify your life insurance coverage to save money, optimizing/eliminating debt to pay less interest or contibuting more to your RSP for a better retirment... a Financial Renovation can do wonders to improve your life!

Over the next 4 weeks I will be discussing the 4 key areas to creating a Financial House you can sleep soundly in.

The four areas are:

Protecting Your Family. Are you spending more than you make, what do do if your EI benefits are late, or the bread winner dies prematurely. It not sexy ... but this the foundation of your Financial House. Check out Part 1 here

Debt Elimination. Debt is the number one issue facing Canadian Families. Can you imagine your life if you had no debt? No credit cards, line of credit, overdraft and mortgage. How much more money each month would you have with no debt. Part 2 here

Build Savings. How to get your money working for you. Creating a systematic way of making money so you can focus on how to live your life and not worry about the markets. Know how your money is invested so you don't have to worry. Part 3 here

Have a written plan to achieve your goals and dreams. So you agree you want to protect your family, eliminate your debt and build saving for the future, is important to your success. What questions should it answer and how to tell if your plan is working. Part 4 here.

Now is great time to renovate your Financial House and improve your quality of life today and in the future.

Lost your job in Kelowna - Now what??

It has happened to all of us. We get called to the bosses office thinking we are going to get complimented on the great job we've done ... only to get a pink slip.

What should you do now?

First see an employment counselor, then see your financial advisor. Here is some things to discuss ...


Update your budget and cash flow. Keep a close eye on how you spend during this time. At times like these it is easy to spend to make yourself feel better, and then later not have enough make ends meet.

Plan if you need to remove money from your emergency funds. Once you have updated your budget and income needs look and see if you need to supplement your income. Rather than taking a large lump sum ... plan for a bi-weekly payment just like a paycheck.

Review your Pension and Medical Benefits. Find out what your options are with your pension and benefits. Does it make sense to transfer your assets, and what benefits may you loose if you do? Get good advice from your financial advisor and an accountant if necessary.

Being laid off is hard enough, and now is the time to get proactive. It might save you money and piece of mind.