Tag Archive for: economic crisis

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!

Ok I am not asking you to kiss your sister. There is nothing unpleasant here (for you or your sister). Heck it’s practically free. I am going to break with one of my golden rules and talk to you about mortgage rates. Now before you get too excited, I am doing it to illustrate an opportunity rather than as a price comparison tool.

In the 7 plus years that I have been a mortgage broker, I have seen rates go up an down. I have seen 5 year fixed rates as low as 4.5% to as high as 6.2% for the discounted AAA rated clients. The current turmoil in our financial markets has caused a liquidity crisis for many major lenders ( specifically in the US). This has made it necessary for the US government to inject Billions into the capital markets and to the banks them selves. Our Canadian government, thanks to our stronger banks, only had to inject money directly into the capital market. Anyway back to my point, these injections of large sums of cash are now finely finding their way into a position to benefit the consumer. As a result rates are at all time lows. Current 5 year discounted AAA money is at 3.95% and this is unheard of.

You are probably asking yourself, “well what’s in it for me?”. Let me tell you, if you are a home owner and you currently have debt outside your mortgage, like credit cards ( interest rates of 17.99% or more), Car loans (6-9%), unsecured personal loans (at 20% or more), there may not be a better time than now to look at putting all your egg’s in one basket. Doing this will lower your overall cost of borrowing and possibly save as much as several hundred as month.

However I must tell you that there is a downside to these low interest rates. Yes you heard that right, and you deserve to know the truth. You may not know but mortgages are contracts, and if you are in the middle of your contract term and you go to break it, there will be penalties. If your banks says that they are not charging you a penalty that they are just giving you a blended rate, you are still paying the penalty but in the new rate. Unless you have a closed term you can get out of your current mortgage with either a 3 month interest penalty or an interest rate differential penalty. The banks will charge the greater of the 2 penalty’s.

I had a client call me recently about refinancing and they had just signed a new 5 year mortgage about a year ago at posted rates ( which are higher then discounted, today’s posted is 5.45). I did a calculation for them and found out that their penalty would be over 15K. Now don’t get caught up in the number, if you end up saving more over the 5 years than the penalty then it is worth it to pay the penalty. In this case it was not. Please contact my office today to find out if this makes sense for you.

Cheers,

Pat

p.s- You can find me on Twitter,Linkedin, Facebookand friendfeed.
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PatSawler@Craigburn.com

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How low can this go?

Over the past year or so our world economies have slid downward toward a recession. Now that we are in one, the question that comes to mind is how low can this go? Have we hit rock bottom or are we still digging deeper? Even though we may have very little impact on the general direction of the overall economy, we can however have a great impact on our own and even improve it for the better in spite of these challenging economic times. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

1) Have your personal finances been effected by the downturn?

2) Are you spending more or less? 

3) Has your employment status changed?

4) Do you think that your employer could make your position redundant?

5) Do you have a rainy day fund with 3 months income saved up?

If by answering these questions you are somewhat concerned, then you should take a long hard look at your own personal finances. There is no better time than now to start making some drastic improvements to your bottom line. Your overall objective should be that what ever happens to the world economy that you personally will not be effected. Learn to operate on cash, pay off your debt and build a strong and solid net worth. If you want we can help you create a plan to eliminate your debt as quickly as possible. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Pat

p.s- You can find me on Twitter,Linkedin, Facebookand friendfeed.
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Bank of Canada sets key overnight rate to 1%

Well the Bank of Canada has done it again. They cut the key lending rate by another 50 basis points. So it is now at 1%. They are doing this because of the current world wide economic crisis, and the belief that our economy will shrink by another 1.2% this year. The central bank also said that the current global financial system must stabilize before any economic recover is to happen.

For those of you who have not been keeping track, the Bank of Canada has cut the key lending rate by 350 basis points ( or 3.5%) in the last 13 months. Some also say that there is a possibility for another rate cut at the next scheduled meeting in March.

The charted banks quickly reacted by lowered their prime rates from 3.5% to 3%. Even though they matched this rate cut point for point, don’t forget that they have not always done so in response to recent rate cuts. So even though the Bank of Canada is cutting rates to stimulate the economy, some of the banks are trying to hold on to some of that discount rather than pass it on where it is really needed.  

This is important to you if you have a variable rate mortgage or line of credit. You are now paying less. However I would suggest keeping your payment fixed to a certain dollar amount so when and if it drops again you are paying more principal off of your loan. This will allow you to pay off your debt quicker.

Contact my office if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Pat

 

p.s- You can find me on Twitter,Linkedin, Facebookand friendfeed.
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Quickest way to recession proof your life!

We all would love to have the same level of comfort we were used to when the economy was booming. Now that things are less certain, the spectre of job losses impacting our own income is looming large. How can we protect ourselves before the worst happens?  What if there is an option available, one that does not require hours and hours of your time?      

We have looked around and found inspiration in the mindset many students have.  Not the ones who are stressed out trying to make their grades, the other ones: the ones who are making their grades and paying their way, the ones who don’t get stressed if the job at the store ends.  If that happens, they simply find another job to take its place or they don’t stress at all because that was their “fun” money, and they still have other sources of income which provide the necessities.  

Now, by no means am I suggesting you give up your current job and take on several others … to anyone with a mature family, taking on additional time-consuming workload is simply not an option.  But what if there was another way, a simple way, that could add to your current income?  What about simple ways you can develop multiple streams of income just by doing the things you are already doing anyway – with no extra time required, no special meetings, no products to buy or learn about?  

Actually the answer is much simpler than you may imagine. It’s not lottery tickets, bingo or blackjack!  It’s not Multi-Level Marketing either! 

 Hey, I’m not going to take up your time on this mail – this is just a short invitation – you can attend a webinar on Monday December 29th at 9pm Atlantic Standard Time.  It is about ways you can begin to monetize the value you are already giving to other people, doing the things you already do.  It also gives back rewards directly to you, in addition to earning you income.  

Join the webinar, there is nothing to buy, nothing to do, just options that are open to you, options that you can consider giving you additional comfort.  On the webinar you will receive information about how you can add more income to your life without adding many hours to your already busy schedule, while getting other rewards as well  – A win-win for everyone. Join our webinar – conference call & web seminar – and learn how you can recession proof your life.  

Places on the call are limited (sorry, the technology stops us opening the call to everyone) – so click here now for more information and get your official invitation reserving your place. 

Cheers,

Pat

 

p.s- You can find me on Twitter,Linkedin, Facebookand friendfeed.
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Bank's overnight rate drops to generational low!

The Bank of Canada just lowered it’s key lending rate by three quarters of a percentage point or .75 basis points. Assuming the banks follow the BoC lead ( they have not always the past few months) that will make the prime lending rate now 3.25%. This latest act of desperation by the BoC is to prevent us from dropping into a deeper and more prolonged recession, because of a world wide economic crisis and a troubled U.S economy.

This is all in an attempt to increase the flow of funds and to increase consumer confidence. In layman’s terms it is supposed to give you (and businesses) incentive to go out and spend some of your hard earned cash. This will not result in an immediate reversal of fortune, that will take some time. The immediate result they are looking for is to generate some heat on the frozen credit market. In other words, they want to make it easier for businesses and consumers to access money to borrow.

What does this mean to the average Joe or Jane? Well if you have a variable rate mortgage (one that is tied to prime rate) or a line of credit, then your payments will go down. That is if your bank follows the BoC’s lead, and there is now evidence that they are not. Other than that, there is not really enough incentive to run to the mall with a wad of cash. People are still losing their jobs at a record pace, because their companies are suffering and trying to remain solvent. 

So what can you do? Try to improve your personal financial situation by eliminating your debts as quickly as possible. Call my office today for a no obligation debt analysis so you can see where you are at and to get an opportunity to get a plan to eliminate all your debts in a very short period of time.

Cheers,

Pat

 

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