Debt & Frugality

As Didi says in the novel (Findependence Day), “There’s no point climbing the Tower of Wealth when you’re still mired in the basement of debt.” If you owe credit-card debt still charging an usurous 20% per annum, forget about building wealth: focus on eliminating that debt. And once done, focus on paying off your mortgage. As Theo says in the novel, “The foundation of financial independence is a paid-for house.”

3 ways to pay off High-interest Credit-card Debt

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | May 10, 2016

By Alyssa Furtado, RateHub.ca

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Credit-card debt can be debilitating.

Because of high interest rates, once you find yourself in the hole, it seems almost impossible to pay down your debt. Not only will this debt put a damper on any future plans of saving for a home or even a vacation, it also negatively impacts your credit score, which will make the idea of owning a home even more difficult to imagine.

If you eventually want to own a home or go on a vacation that doesn’t add to your debt, employ one of the strategies below to start your journey on becoming debt-free.

Consolidate your debt

If you have debt on multiple credit cards, you should consolidate it into one place. You can either consolidate everything onto a balance transfer credit card or apply for a personal loan/line of credit with either the bank or a peer-to-peer lending company, like Grow.

Millennial Blog Wrap: Savings tips & bargains for broke millennials

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | April 30, 2016

Hub Staff

If you’re a millennial who has been having some trouble in the savings department, this new post from Broke Millennial might be worth the read. In it, our heroine talks about a simple way for young people to actively save their money: by putting it into multiple accounts with fun nick-names (although, admittedly, her names are pretty run-of-the-mill).

It’s a fun idea though: it’s simple, people can personalize their account names, and it would be a helpful way for us millennials to visualize exactly what we have stored for each aspect of our lives.

Downsize and travel

A guest post on Making Sense of Cents about downsizing and living a traveling life describes a small family’s life-changing 15-month long travel experience. After they returned to the United States, they decided to take action to make their dream life a reality. It sounds like they’ve still got a lot to do to achieve their dreams, but they’re making passive income by renting out their large bungalow, and are downsizing by selling one item of value per week online. As a seasoned traveller (who is currently living in a space smaller than my parents’ closet at home), I wholeheartedly support this family’s dream of living minimally and experiencing as much of the world as they can. This post reminds us that if you have the desire to change your life and live more frugally, it can be done!

Millennial call to action

Life Insurance after Retirement

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | April 29, 2016

Lorne Marr

By Lorne Marr

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

After serving your workplace for years and decades, it’s that time of your life when you can retire in peace and enjoy your retirement years to the fullest. However, does that mean you should ditch your life insurance policy? Think closely before scrapping your life insurance.

Many individuals might think life insurance is required only when they are young, have a family to support and need to pay off their debts. The very first question that comes to their mind is usually “Why do I need a life insurance policy in my retirement?”

Retirement and Insurance

Firstly, you need to know that life insurance is not about you. People buy life insurance in order to protect and secure the future of their loved ones and whoever depends on the insured’s income. It is there to give your family a future that is financially sound and stable.

Will fin-tech disrupt the asset-based model for dispensing financial advice?

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | April 19, 2016

My latest Financial Post blog reports on the Radius Exchange Traded Forum 2016 conference that began on Tuesday and continues Wednesday at the Design Exchange in Toronto.

You can find the full blog by clicking on this highlighted headline: Robo Advisers and ETFs prove it’s time for a new financial advice fee structure.

That model, described before here at the Hub, consists of taking advantage of the scaling possibilities of so-called “fin tech” (financial technology) like robo advisers and the underlying ETF structures, and moving from an asset-based model based on a percentage of client wealth, and moving to a Netflix-like monthly subscription model.

Needless to say, not everyone in the established financial industry is thrilled by that prospect. To quote one of the experts cited, “Index funds are like garlic to vampires for Wall Street.”

Review: The Procrastinator’s Guide to Retirement

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | April 18, 2016

I have to hand it to financial author David Trahair. He and his publishers have come up with a catchy title that’s bound to sell a few copies of his latest (sixth) book. It’s titled The Procrastinator’s Guide to Retirement and sports an equally alluring subtitle: How YOU can retire in 10 years or less.

You can find a Q&A I conducted with Trahair about the book here at MoneySense.ca.

When I perused the book initially, my first impression was that there seemed to be relatively little about procrastination and the critical last ten years of Retirement. The book doesn’t have an index but my initial perception was that the book is a standard-issue retirement guide covering all the good things you should do throughout your working career, not just the final ten years.

Which came first, the book or the title?

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