Tag Archive for: debt elimination

Take it to 11

As Spinal Tap famously said, turn it up to 11. When you think that you are giving it all, putting in all your effort but still not getting the results that you wanted. However most people find that they still have some left in the tank. We only get one go at this thing called life so sometimes it is necessary to take it to 11 to get what you truly want.

Saving up a downpayment is tough, especially in these days of high inflation where everything costs us more. However it is necessary if you are ever to become a homeowner. It is also challenging to improve your credit if you sometimes don’t have enough to meet your monthly obligations.

The good news is that companies are still hiring. The economy is always looking for people who hustle. Don’t blame the economy for your past poor results. Some people have always done well in challenging economic times, be one of them.

Today I am thankful for all the help that I have received in pushing though my limits, keeping cool heads so solutions could be found and enjoying the longest day of the year.

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia Brokerage (2022-3000179) Broker (2022-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here

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 your tax return, your bonus or your big commission towards paying off your debts and that is have you set up and funded your reserve fund? It is important to have a reserve fund with at least 90 days of your living expenses as this will prevent you from falling into credit card debt if you hit a rough patch in the future.

Today I am thankful for a quiet house and the sound of rain, discovering new music or music that I have not heard in a long time by using auto play from Apple Music and for the kind words from clients.

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here

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 of University I worked as a personal trainer for a few years. When I took on a new client, I would have them keep track of what and when they ate for a week to give them a better idea of what is really going on in regards to their health. Your finances are no different, take a 30 day period, create an excel spreadsheet for example and track all income and expenses. Then sit down and take a real good look at it and decided if it is needed or not. Trim the fat and put the saving’s into your newly developed emergency fund.

3) Diversify your income

What I mean by this is don’t put all your eggs into one basket. Develop a secondary income stream incase something were to happen to your day job. Turn that passion or hobby into a business. Invest in real estate. Build a residual income stream by joining a network marketing or direct selling company. Make sure that what ever you do, it’s something that you are passionate about and will allow you to add to your bottom line. The other advantage is that your new business could become a great tax deduction, check with your accountant to make sure that it is structured properly.

4) Give your self an immediate 18-20% return!

How is this possible you may ask? It’s easier than you may think. Do it by paying off your debt. Start with your higher interest debt, your credit cards which are anywhere from 12%-18%, or if it is a department store card, it could be as high as 24%. Next your car payment, unless you have a 0% loan, you are probally paying 7-9%. Lastly your mortgage 3-7%. If you need a detailed plan on how to do this quickly, let me know I have designed quite a few of them.

5) Lastly make sure that your affairs are in order.

I am not trying to sound morbid, but we don’t live forever. Have a proper estate plan, have health insurance for your and your loved ones, and have an insurance policy big enough so that the one’s you leave behind are not faced with an immediate financial crisis. For this point I suggest consulting with your personal estate lawyer as well as your financial planner. If you don’t have one I can suggest for legal advice or here are two good options for financial planning.

Bonus point….and this should be a no brainer.

To achieve anything on this list, you should have a plan. Start with a clear picture of the current state of your finances. How much time do you have between where you are now and where you want to be? With the help of one of the financial planners above or your own, develop your plan and work your plan. Remember to be flexible in your approach, know what’s working or not, and be willing to make the necessary changes to insure that you achieve your goal.

*Note that I receive no gain monetary or other wise from promoting the services or products in this post.

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions and I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Pat

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

I owe, I owe

So as the dwarves in Snow White say “It’s off to work I go”. Below is a great article from The Vancouver Sun, talking about our ever increasing debt load. In fact, that is the number one reason that the finance department reacted with changes to mortgage financing yesterday. As always feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Pat

Our debt-to-income ratio hits an all-time high

BY JULIE FORTIER, CANWEST NEWS SERVICEFEBRUARY 17, 2010 1:14 AM

Although the recession may technically be over in Canada, many households sank even further into debt in 2009, creating the highest debt-to-income ratio ever in Canada, according to the Vanier Institute’s annual assessment report, released Tuesday.

Read more

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 school, cleans up the house, plans supper, pick’s up the kids, more referee time, makes supper, tubby time for the kids, story time, then bed, plans her day for tomorrow, then starts it all over again. I am tired just thinking about it.

If you want something done, then give it to someone with a well managed busy schedule. This can also be said of the person who is in control of their finances. They know exactly what is coming in each month, what their expenses are, how much they can put away for a rainy day or retirement and how much fun money they have. Are you one of these people?  Or does your money run out before your month does? If you fall into the latter rather than the former, it may be time to re-evaluate your situation. What you are doing may be working now, but it is not a long term solution. Sort of like relying on shoe boxes for your filing systems.

If you would like a fresh perspective on how you can achieve your financial goals, then please feel free to give my office a call.I look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,

Pat

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

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 need to get “fired up” about a brand new approach. One that will produce for you the results that you want.

You are actually well on your way to your goal, you know what does not work and you are determined to do something about it. Congratulations on coming to this realization. Next make your plan, and work your plan and be flexible in your approach.

If you have read more than one article on this blog, you may be asking yourself why is a mortgage broker writing about personal development? Well it’s because if you stand still too long you end up getting run over. As well people who are high achievers are driven goal originated people who are believe in constant never ending improvement. I also believe that you are one of them or at the very least want to be one of them. I also commit to help you any way that I can to achieve your financial goals. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Pat

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

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 been obtained. Have your big goal firmly in mind even while working on your short term goals.

If your goal is to be in fitness cover model shape then missing your workouts and eating double cheese burgers may not be in your best interest.  If you are in sales and your goal is to qualify for the company trip then you must make the calls. As well if you want to get out of debt then you must be keenly aware of how much money you have coming in and how much you have going out and to where. Then sit down and see if there are opportunities where you can increase your income, and cut expenses if possible. If you would like help developing a plan to help you eliminate your debt as quickly as possible, please feel free to contact my office. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Pat

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

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 status quo.

So what can I do? I know convincing them will not work, and I do not like to play that game anyway. I have uncovered the truth to their current situation and presented a suitable solution to solve it’s problem. I have been doing this long enough to know that there are just some people that you can not help regardless what you try to do.

Why, it’s because some people are afraid of change! What they don’t realize is that status quo is like sitting on the railway track and change is the locomotive. If you don’t move you are going to be run over. It’s coming whether you want it or not. Change is the one constant to life. Those who adapt quickly survive and thrive, the others just get left behind. What I want you to take from this is to be open minded and flexible in your approach to your goals, as there is more than one way to achieve your objectives. Specially if the one that you are currently doing is not getting your the results that you wanted in the first place.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Pat

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

Pss- if you sand still for too long, you are going to get run over.

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 is you could also make the government your largest beneficiary. Here is the alternative, get in-touch with a good family lawyer to help you do up a will. It is actually a relatively simple and painless process. At this point you may think that’s all there is to it. However I know this from personal experience of having lost both my Mom and my wife’s Mom, that there is more to be considered.

Life insurance, yes life insurance. As exciting as that sounds it is necessary if you have dependents and or debts that exceed the total of your assets. At least that is what most insurance salesman or financial planners would tell you. If this is the case then they are leaving out something very important. The other reason you should consider insurance is to offset any potential estate taxes.

Picture this, you have worked very hard all your life and have built up a sizable nest egg and have very little debt. You have thought ahead and prepared your will and even have insurance. However your insurance policy is old and has not been updated and your nest egg has grown very well over the years. What happens when you pass is your will goes into probate and the end result is your dependents will get what is left after the government takes a huge chunk for estate taxes. So the moral of this story is, get a will and talk with a financial advisor or insurance expert to make sure that you have adequate insurance to provide for your family and to offset any potential estate taxes.

This article was written for the sole purpose of illustrating that estate planning should be part of any complete financial plan. Live each day as if it were your last. Find joy in what you do, see the good in others and pass it on.

As Always, I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Pat

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

In Therapy?

Or on life support? What exactly is the state of your finances? Should we break out the paddles now? This came to mind as I am still suffering from my latest crossfit workout from earlier today. Maybe some therapy would be good right about now.

Anyway back to the topic at hand. Like your physical health, are your finances healthy? Or do they need therapy? One of my favorite quotes from Tony Robbins is this “In your moments of decision you destiny is shaped”. The reason why I put this here is I need to know if you are happy with the way things are or are you ready to make a decision and change your life for the better? In the end it is really up to you and no one else, we are all born with the power to decide our own fate. If you knew you could not fail, wouldn’t you want more? The truth is you can never fail unless you give up, and by saying this I mean settling for what you have right now.

Once you have made the decision, the turnaround can be drastic and immediate or slow and gradual. It’s really all up to you. It is one of those things where you get out of it exactly what you put into it. Success leaves clues, you don’t have to do it on your own. Seek our people who have done it before, read their stores, talk to advisors, make a plan then put it to work. If there is anything that I can possibly help with please feel free to let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Pat

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