By Melanie Buffel, BA Psych, MBA Candidate

November is Financial Literacy Month in Canada and this is a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other’s experience, sharing our knowledge and feelings about money.

There are so many financial concepts, products and services that one of our goals as Money Coaches is to increase each client’s financial knowledge and skills. We intend that after our work together is complete, clients have a financial direction and plan, are confident making financial decisions and know what questions to ask when buying products and services. Financial literacy is power.

When people are in what I call the “Money Fog,” where they feel overwhelmed by the details and choices in front of them, the numbers on a spreadsheet or in a bank statement feel disconnected from their life and behaviours. Together we take action to clear that fog and make sense of the numbers, with decisions driven by goals and a clear path to achieve them. Financial literacy is about more than the difference between an RRSP and a TFSA, (although that’s important to understand too). Financial literacy is about clarity around your goals and a feeling of connection to your money. Continue reading →

By Sheila Walkington, Co-founder and CFO Money Coaches Canada

How would you react if I told you that many of your friends are in debt? You probably wouldn’t be shocked. You’d probably nod your head in agreement, and say something like, who isn’t? Because the likelihood is you are probably in debt too. According to Statistics Canada in 2012 71% of all Canadian families had some debt. Gradually the stigma around debt that our grandparents would have felt has softened into an irritating, but accepted side effect of the good life.

The odd thing is, you would think that the less money you made the more likely you would be to be in debt. Not so. According to a recent May 2015 article by Theresa Tedesco in the Financial Post; “Today, households with at least $100,000 or more in total income account for 37 per cent of all debt in Canada. Households with income of at least $50,000 but less than $100,000 represent 38 per cent.”

I think there are two factors at work here; rising expectations, and hefty demands on time. Continue reading →

By Janet Gray, BA, BAdmin, CFP^™, CHS, EPC, CPCA

I am often asked, “Do I have enough to retire?” It’s an earnest question, asked by smart, educated people with good incomes, who want to be sure they are making good decisions about their future. They hear all sorts of mixed messages in the financial media, or maybe even from friends, about how much they need to retire. You need at least X amount of money saved, or you must have Y% of your pre-retirement income still coming in.

I call those sorts of statements or formulas top-down planning. With top-down planning you’re trying to meet an external expectation that has nothing to do with you and your needs. Top-down plans are the ones that make many people nervous and worried about the future.

I believe the way to create a personalized retirement plan that excites you rather than unnerves you, is through bottom-up planning. As you may have guessed, bottom-up planning is not about meeting an external expectation it’s about meeting your needs. And it begins by being very clear on your current expenses. Continue reading →