I attended a conference last week and two of the keynote speakers stood out from the others: A Canadian astronaut A former Whitehouse Chief Information Officer Although each had very different experience and delivery style, their messages were based on common ground: Set goals and develop a plan to get achieve them Run the ‘worst […]

I thought the days of the UCCB (Universal Child Care Benefit) were gone once our girls turned 6. Although the $100 per child per month wasn’t much and certainly didn’t cover even a tiny amount of their child care fees, it covered half of their annual RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan) – $1,200 of $2,500! […]

If you owe money to CRA (Canada Revenue Agency), you’re not a happy camper but if you have a tax refund coming to you…you are likely smiling!  Essentially it’s money you’ve paid to the government in one form or another but after reconciling your 2014 income and deductions with what you truly owe, you didn’t […]

Quite a lot – I think. No one likes them and neither one is the ticket to success. That’s the first question – How are you defining success? The key is to define your goal using SMART elements (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely). You may begin by saying that you want to lose 10 […]

If a client asked me that question, how would I respond? That’s easy – I’d suggest they check their plan! Our plan has 4 key objectives: RSP and RESP Savings Extra Mortgage Payments Big Trip Savings Other Big Item Savings The majority of RSP and RESP savings is achieved through regular monthly savings incorporated into […]

The weather in Vancouver was gorgeous today and spring flowers have been popping up everywhere. You may wonder what on earth that has to do with money – in fact working on your finances might be the last thing you thought of dealing with today! The parallel is this – planting seeds today means beautiful […]

A Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) is a program under which you can save for your child’s education. As parents we try very hard to give our children every opportunity and one of the foundational bricks of many paths in life is education. The cost of post-secondary education increases each year and who knows what […]

It’s all planning until you turn it into reality…it’s not as tricky as you might think! It helps to be organized in terms of your filing system but the organization essentials are more about minimizing the administration. Credit Cards – Hold and carry 2 (put away or cancel the rest) Bank Accounts – 1 Chequing […]

This is Part 1 of a 2 part process to get your plan developed and implemented because it’s one thing having a plan but it’s another to make it happen! That’s the key – put your ideas into action to make your dreams a reality. There are essentially 2 steps to Part 1: Understanding the […]

Last week was the ‘why’ and this week is the ‘who’ and ‘what”. Who is you! Now you need the ‘what’ to put together a picture of your finances. Your prioritized goals from last week. A list of your assets and liabilities. Assets = Things like real estate, vehicles, savings and investments and Liabilities = […]