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.”

Weekly Wrap: Eternal Truths # 5 & 6, Home Buyer’s Regret, Debt

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Depositphotos_73781057_originalThat’s six Eternal Truths down, one to go.

Today, Saturday, the Financial Post ran instalment number 6 in my 7-part series on The Eternal Truths of Personal Finance: Don’t turn down free money from your boss (employer).

On Wednesday instalment number 5 ran at the FP and on the Hub: Be an Owner, Not a Loaner (although they used a different headline).

The seventh and final instalment likely runs next Wednesday.

Home Buyer’s Regret

Boomer & Echo ran a piece this week riffing off Globe & Mail personal finance columnist Rob Carrick’s Facebook page, with readers stating how big a priority it is for them to reduce debt. It’s certainly always been one for me and I continue to declare that “the foundation of financial independence is a paid-for home.” But clearly, young people these days face different circumstances: home prices are sky-high, especially in Vancouver and Toronto, but balancing that are historically low interest rates that seem destined to stay low for as long as the eye can see. (“seem” being the operative word.) Continue Reading…

Eternal Truth # 5: Be an Owner, Not a Loaner

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Depositphotos_3208371_xs-2Wednesday’s Financial Post ran the 5th instalment of the 7-part series I’ve been writing on The Eternal Truths of Personal Finance.

I originally headlined this one with a title that’s long been familiar to personal finance writers and investors: Be an owner, not a loaner, which is to say emphasize stocks over bonds. The headline in the print edition today (FP5) reads Eternal Truth No. 5: Embrace Risk, pay less tax.

When  I posted this blog, there was no online version available, so I took the liberty of posting my original draft, which may vary from the edited version in the paper. Here’s the link to the first in the series, and nearby should be links to at least instalments two to five.  Continue Reading…

The 12 Tables of Financial Independence

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Author photo 3
Horst Siegler

By Horst Siegler

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

The Twelve Tables formed the basis for Roman law. The twelve suggestions below form the foundation of a sound financial plan. It should be devised and agreed upon by you and your partner and should result in a secure financial future.

1.) Believe you can succeed

No enterprise, be it financial success or otherwise, can succeed without a belief that it is possible. Much else goes into accomplishing your goals but without a belief you can succeed, they are doomed to failure.

2.) Agree on the definitions of the terms in your financial plan

You and your partner must have the same idea of what wealth, risk, budget and a lot of other terms mean or you will be working at cross purposes.

3.) Assemble a financial team Continue Reading…

Summer is Here! How to Avoid The Financial Heat Wave

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Linda MacKay RSI
Linda MacKay

By Linda MacKay

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Today is the first official day of summer as well as Father’s Day. So it’s entirely appropriate that parents across the country are busy lining up activities to keep their kids busy while they’re out of school.

Many parents find it a juggling act to pay for the additional expenses. According to a recent survey TD conducted – 71% of Canadian parents with children under the age of 18 who incur additional costs for their child during the summer spend up to $999 per child and half (51%) find budgeting for these additional summer costs stressful.

To help manage the financial heat wave that summer may bring, here are five quick tips for parents: Continue Reading…

Weekly Wrap: Eternal Truths 3 & 4, psyching up for Retirement, best rideshare deals

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Home sweet home concept illustartion with house, ribbon, bird and flowers

This week, two more instalments of my “Eternal Truths of Personal Finance” series were published in the Financial Post.

Wednesday featured Eternal Truth #3: Get out of Debt.

Saturday featured Eternal Truth #4: Buy a Home and Pay if Off as Soon as Possible. At least that was my original headline: you can find it online under the title Eternal Truth #4: Don’t be a Renter.

In my book, Findependence Day, this truth is expressed as “The foundation of financial independence is a paid-for home.”

Of course, in cities like Vancouver, Toronto,  San Francisco and several other California cities, critics of sky-high housing prices continue to argue that renting and putting the difference in the stock market may make more sense. In Friday’s Financial Post, just this argument was made in no uncertain terms: You’d have to be crazy to buy real estate.

I’m not sure I’d be buying at these prices today but am glad we bought a starter home in 1988. It didn’t stop us from building a healthy stock portfolio as well: I don’t see home ownership and investing as mutually exclusive propositions. Continue Reading…