Tag Archives: saving

The critical role of planning for Cash Flow

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | August 17, 2016

By Ennio Longo

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Are you like so many Canadians? You have a good paying job, are in a two-income household, own a home and yet you run out money before you run out of month?

The majority of Canadians are spending more than they make. If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. We are trying to put some money aside for the future as we have been told we should, but we also want to enjoy today; take that trip, get a new car, renovate the kitchen. We cannot just live for tomorrow. WE WANT TO ENJOY TODAY.

The reason we have this shared experience is that we never went to school to learn how to “handle” our finances or how to manage our CASH FLOW. With so many different companies from financial institutions to consumer goods vying for our money, managing our cash flow on a monthly basis can be very difficult for many people; myself included.

Certified Cash Flow Specialist

With a four-year business degree and a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) and CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter), one would think that I would have received a formal education in cash flow planning as well, but I didn’t; at least not until I received an actual formal education in cash flow planning and became a CCS (Certified Cash Flow Specialist). Continue Reading…

Review: How NOT to Move Back in with Your Parents

Posted By Helen Chevreau | July 30, 2016

You’re a millennial. You’ve recently graduated from university and are beginning your career. You aren’t making quite as much as you’d hoped for, and as it turns out, rent is crushingly expensive.

Okay, you’ll just put off moving out for six months, save some money, live at home. Everyone’s doing it these days. You’re sure that before you know it you’ll be on track to success, living it up in homeowner-ville, sitting pretty. You’re not quite sure exactly how you’ll get to homeowner-ville, but it can’t be that hard, right?

If any of this sounds plausible, I would seriously consider reading this wonderful book called How Not to Move Back in With Your Parents – The Young Person’s Guide to Financial Empowerment by Globe and Mail personal finance columnist Rob Carrick. I don’t want to be dramatic and say it will be your new finance bible, but it’s definitely a book you’re going to be referencing time and time again throughout those first few post-graduate years.

Something I really love about this book is that it’s broken down into great detail. Not only that, but it’s organized according to when in life you should be needing the advice.

Covering all the financial bases

Young, saving, and hopefully one day buying a house

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | July 9, 2016

By Helen Chevreau

Hub Staff

The cover story of this month’s Toronto Life magazine caught my eye straight away. “Young, Rich, and Totally Not Buying a House” it boldly claims.

As a young, not-yet-rich millennial who has no immediate plans to get into the housing market, I was intrigued. The article is written by 31-year-old Tony; a pharmacist who lives with his parents and eschews the traditional rites of passage of his peers, like home ownership.

Before I actually read the article, I was sure I wouldn’t like Tony, wouldn’t relate to him. Growing up in Toronto I’ve seen his type countless times. Money is no object, and he’s not shy to show it. A common defence from this kind of person is that ‘normal’ or ‘rational’ people who are judging him are jealous or boring (or both).

What I found interesting about this piece is that Tony seems very self-aware about his spending and lifestyle choices. He’s accepting of his friends who do choose to be “shackled to a monstrous mortgage for the next 30 years,” and he understands that sometimes it just isn’t possible to have it all.

Though much of what Tony talks about in this article is out of reach for most normal millennials (last minute trips to Asia, $200 bottles of wine), I appreciate the sentiment. Continue Reading…

How the Age of Longevity will change your life and mine

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | July 2, 2016

100-plus-book — 100 Plus by Sonia Arrison (SingularityHub.com)

One of dozens of books I read for a talk I gave on how Longevity Changes Everything is entitled 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity will Change Everything, from Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith.

The author, Sonia Arrison, challenges the reader to at least open one’s mind to the possibility of human beings reaching the age of 150, which of course is a good 30 years longer than the age reached by modern centenarians, although still much less than the biblical Methusalah, Noah et al.

Certainly, as I was reading at the same time Moshe Milevsky’s new second edition of Pensionize Your Nest Egg, I was conscious of the financial implications of breakthroughs in human longevity. Milevsky’s preferred form of “Longevity Insurance” is life annuities and new hybrid variations of Variable Annuities that provide both stock market exposure and some guarantees and mortality credits provided by insurance companies.

Financial implications of Longevity

3 money hacks for Millennials

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | June 25, 2016

By Helen Chevreau, Hub Staff

I think it’s safe to say that by our mid-twenties, most of us millennials have received ample financial advice — be it desired or unsolicited. Oftentimes much of it boils down to the same few nuggets of wisdom. We hear those same phrases over and over throughout our childhood and young adulthood so often that sometimes, the value behind them begins to lose its potency.

I know that personally, the phrase “don’t live beyond your means” was a household mantra. If I had a dollar for every time I’d heard that from my dad growing up, I wouldn’t need to be worried about following it! (Editor’s note: see Helen’s bio below).

This week, we’re lucky enough to be working with TD Canada Trust to get to the bottom of what these oft-heard universal personal finance phrases really mean. According to a recent TD survey, the three most received pieces of advice from parents and guardians to millennials have been to live within their means, to save a percentage of each paycheque, and to save for a rainy day.

These are all wonderful pieces of advice, and every millennial should be following them to the best of their ability. However, sometimes these overgeneralized statements ( especially something like “saving for a rainy day”) aren’t helpful to a millennial who has yet to encounter a “rainy day,” and so doesn’t know what to expect from it.

This is where Shirley Malloy, TD’s associate vice president of Everyday Banking comes in. She is here to share a few ‘Moneyhacks’ that will turn these financial ‘truths’ into measurable goals that any millennial (or other financially-inclined individual) can implement.

Nugget #1: Don’t live beyond your means

Actionable takeaway: Don’t mistake credit for cash.