Tag Archive for: financial planning

Bang for the buck

Bang for your buck

People often wonder what gets the most bang for your buck, paying off debt or investing for the future ? Well I think it all boils down to which will give you the greatest return. It is best to look at the costs of your debts, do you just have a mortgage with a rate below 5% or do you also have a line of credit, credit cards and a vehicle loan.

If you can generate a greater return in the market higher than what you are paying to service your high interest credit card debt then by all means invest it in the market. However unless you are Warren Buffett, George Soros or Ray Dalio you should start by paying off your high interest debts before investing in the market.

There is one thing to consider before you put … Read more

5 Ways to Avoid a Personal Financial Crisis

Here are some tips on what you should do to avoid a personal financial crisis:

1) Have an emergency slush fund

You should have at least 3 months of living expenses put away in case the worst happens. I am not talking about putting it in your mattress or in a coffee can. These funds should be liquid and fairly easy to access quickly but not so that you can dip into them & buy something if the whim strikes you. My wife and I have used an ING investment savings account, you could do something similar or open a Tax Free Savings account, that way your emergency fund is tax protected.

2) Know your income and expenses

Most people might know how much they make but have no idea how much they are spending. When I got out … Read more

October 2009

Here is October 2009’s monthly update on key economic data. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Pat

p.s- You can find me on Twitter,Linkedin, Facebookand friendfeed.

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Flexible Juggler

Yes as strange as that may sound, but in order to succeed in this day and age you need to be a “Flexible Juggler”. To put this another way, you need to be able to balance several tasks at the same time while maintaining flexibility in your approach to completing each task. Do you want to know who are good at this? Mom’s! Yes Mom’s, my wife is fantastic at this, I get the kids up, she makes them breakfast, referee’s any disputes that may be happening at the same time, motivates them to finish their breakfast, assembles outfits to get them dressed, gets them ready to get out the door, drop’s two off at school and one at day care and then tends to her 85 year old father, picks up the kids for their lunch then back to … Read more

Fired or fired up!

This is not a pep talk, it’s a reality check. Look at your track record, are your results what you want them to be? If not you should either get fired or fired up. By this I mean act as if your were your own boss cause in reality no matter what you do or where you work you are! Think about this for a moment, you did not just wake up today and discover that you were 50 lbs over weight, 150K in debt and in a job that you hated. This was a long time coming and possibly you just realized that today is the day that you are going to do something about it. You have to realize that what you have been doing in the past was not working and should be “fired” and that you … Read more

Star or supporting part?

Put it this way, if there was a movie made of your life, would you be playing a leading role or a supporting part? By this I mean are you making the decisions that determine the overall direction of your life, or it is some other party like a spouse or boss? Don’t get me wrong, this is not a recommendation to act like a dictator. I simply mean that if you do not have clearly defined goals and plans to achieve them, then you are working to help someone else achieve theirs.

Believe it or not, it is not that hard to do. You can start small and work up. What do you want to achieve tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. Then describe in vivid detail what your long term goal looks like once it has … Read more

The importance of Timing

You may, like others think that timing has nothing to do with your overall success, however I believe this is not the case. If you think back to some significant events in your life, either positive or negative, timing played a part . Don’t get me wrong I don’t think that it has everything to do with your outcome, but it definitely plays a part. The harder you work, more opportunities will come your way and the better your timing seems to be. Things just seem to happen when you want them to happen, and that is because you are focused like a laser on your desired end result.

Here are just a few examples that come to mind. Normally I write my blog posts at night and post them first thing in the morning, however last Friday I decided

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Change Please!

Every once in a while you meet one of those people who needs help but can not seem to get out of their own way. I met one of those people yesterday. After analysing their current situation we discovered that what they were currently doing was not getting them the results that they wanted. Which is actually a simple and painless process. After discussing several options we recommended one that would help them meet their needs and put them on track to achieving the goals that they told me about. Done deal one would think, however that was not the case. I learned a long time ago that you can not force square pegs into round holes, so no amount of convincing was going to win them over.  However detrimental as it may seem, they were just happy with the … Read more

Your last day….

Yup, you read that correctly. What would you do if today was your last day? I am not sure if this article was inspired by watching “The Bucket List” last night or hearing Nickelback’s song “If today was your last day”. There is a sad truth that we all have to face is that none of us get out of here alive. However we can make a difference while we are here. You can make an impact (in the world of business, the arts or for a cause), but better yet you could leave a legacy.

Leaving a legacy is a much better move than leaving your family holding the bag. That is what could happen if you leave pre-maturely intestate, that is what they call it when you die without a will. What could also happen in this case … Read more

September 2009

Below are the details on some key factors in our economy. Take a look and let me know what you think. Feel free to to contact me if you have any questions.

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