Picture this scenario – you receive a phone call from your bank asking if you purchased something for $215.63 from an online retailer yesterday. You confirm that no, you did not. Your bank tells you that it appears as if you have been the victim of fraud and identity theft and that they will reverse…
Nothing like waking up on a Friday morning to find out that the Bank of Canada governor says house prices are overvalued by 30 %. As reported in the Vancouver Sun, Stephen Poloz, the Bank of Canada Governor said, “The vulnerability associated with household indebtedness is edging higher and the overall risk to financial stability…
Today there is good and bad news. The good news came from a StatsCan report about all of the household debt in Canada that many experts have been complaining about – how Canadians have been accused of being bad money managers but guess what? This report confirms that we are not broke and precariously dangling…
A good friend of mine knows all about phishing and never to visit unknown websites – or to open unexpected attachments. Even so, last Friday night at 11:30pm he received a file he was expecting from a known colleague. The files were big and were sent through Sendspace. When he got it he clicked on…
At the start of a New Year, many of us feel the urge to create resolutions. But, as you might have heard, the average New Year’s resolution is abandoned a few weeks into January. If we know how often we fail our resolutions, why do we create them in the first place? Most people feel…
By Courtney @ Women & Money Inc. The other night I received $20 worth of coupons to use at a local restaurant, with no restrictions. We had never been to this restaurant before so I checked out the website to read the menu, which had a variety of tasty sounding dishes as well as kid’s…
Are the credit card bills piling up from your holiday spending? If you won’t be able to pay them off for a while, you’re probably resigned to the fact that debt is just a part of life. Debt comes, and it may go, but more will come. Debt will always be a part of your…
Recently I met with a couple to do their bankruptcy counselling, and as we were talking the wife asked me a very interesting question. She asked my opinion on joining a “gifting circle” after being invited to do so by a close friend. The buy-in was $5000, and the promised reward was $40,000. Sounds too…
Doing It My Way: How to Organize Your Affairs, Clarify your Wishes and Leave a Lasting Legacy By Margaret H. Johnson When my dad passed away very suddenly, his financial affairs were well organized, but we didn’t know what any of his last personal wishes were. My mom, siblings and I had to make difficult…
A fresh new year is a motivating time for change; you want to move closer to your financial goals, you want to gain new habits; you want things to be different this year. This is how most of us feel this time of year — it’s in our nature. But you’re not quite sure how…
By Margaret H. Johnson It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – now that I pulled myself away from the internet and escaped to Vancouver Island to pick up my mother. 2014 has been such a busy and fulfilling year for me, for my staff and all the programs we have worked so hard…
Do you remember the last piece of really good money advice that you got? Who did you get it from? Was it your parents, your co-worker, your neighbour? Was it from a magazine at the dentist’s office or an inspirational Pinterest board? Where ever you heard it, chances are you remember it because it resonated…
How much would you consider spending on a luxury item that you really, really coveted? How about a lavish designer purse, like a Louis Vuitton or a Chanel? We’ve all seen the gossip magazines – the ones that feature celebrities carrying expensive, outrageously priced handbags. How can one purse be worth $5, 000, or even…
You have big dreams, you know things need to change, but you just can’t seem to get out of the money rut you’re stuck in. You’re not sure what you’re doing wrong or how to fix it. Well you should know, your current financial position is the result of your “money relationship”. The deeply entrenched…
Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I haven’t, but I’m starting to think of gift ideas and asking the yearly dilemma, to make gifts or to buy them? For me, this is an annual question which could go either way, some years I make gifts for family, other years I buy specific items or…
Do you often look at the clock at the end of a long day and wonder where the time went? Do you compare your life to other people’s, especially on social media sites? Do you find that you are stressed out, irritated, and generally unhappy most days? According to some individuals, you might be a…
I often speak with individuals who claim that they’ve made money mistakes in the past. “Why didn’t I just do __________!” they tell me, often very regretfully. While some people are quick to learn from their money blunders, others repeat them without realizing where they went wrong in the first place. As you probably know,…
International Day of the Girl Child is October 11. Each year since it was declared by the United Nations in 2012, the day has been centered on a different theme of girls rights. In 2012 it was ending child marriage, in 2013 it was innovating for girls education, and this year 2014 the theme is…
It’s that time of year again… back to school. With the kids returning to school and the fresh crisp air of fall, back to school season brings such a feeling of fresh beginnings as much as the new year in January. Many of us have grown tired of the lazy, laid back days of summer…
For many couples, money is the source of constant arguments, frustration, and, oftentimes, separation or divorce. What causes financial discord and how can you prevent it from happening in your relationship? Let’s look at an issue that has been percolating for hundreds of years (probably longer!) and see if we can gain some modern day…
