Author: Creditaid

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Get your Finances in Shape with Budget Bootcamp

Deciding to set up a budget is the easy part of organizing your finances; doing it effectively
is where things begin to get tricky. Every day we hear from clients who say they attempted to
budget, only to find that they were no better off at the end of each month. It is an extremely
frustrating position to find yourself in, and one that seems hopelessly irresolvable. However,
we at Creditaid know from experience that budgeting works, as long as you have the drive,
the right tools and a well executed plan.

Everyone’s circumstances are different, so what works for your friends and family may
not work for you. We have always been conscious of this, which is why we have created a
number of tools to suit every need. With the Creditaid Budget Bootcamp, however, we have
taken the battle against financial hardship to a new level. The strategy we are bringing to you
today will take you step by step through a comprehensive budgeting plan, aided by many of
the tools we use to help our clients on a daily basis.

The Budget Bootcamp consists of a free five day plan, delivered to you by email. At each
stage you will receive tips and advice on creating a budgeting plan and prioritising your
finances, as well as access to tools that will help you along the way. We appreciate that you
may have questions that are not addressed in the plan, but don’t worry, we won’t leave you to
fend for yourself. Each email you receive will contain links to relevant help pages and tools,
along with a link that you can use to contact us by email. Subscribe today and look out for
your introduction email, which will guide you through the first steps on the road to financial
freedom.

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Helping Canadians Get Out of Debt

How well do you know the credit counselling agents that you deal with? Are you looking for a more personal experience with a high level of discretion? At Creditaid, we offer you a different kind of experience. Personal finances can get very complicated. Budgets and bills are not just numbers on a piece of paper – they have real life
implications.

How well do you know the credit counselling agents that you deal with? Are you looking for a more personal experience with a high level of discretion? At Creditaid, we offer you a different kind of experience. Personal finances can get very complicated. Budgets and bills are not just numbers on a piece of paper – they have real lifeimplications.

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Its True – Cost of Kids is Rising

You are not imagining things, the cost of raising kids has indeed increased. Everything from food, entertainment, education, sports and clothing, comes at an astronomical cost. We are living in times where prices are rising faster than we can shuffle our budget to accommodate them. We all want the best for our kids, however, we need to step back and redefine exactly what that means. Here is a hint – it doesn’t mean the product with the highest price tag.

Food is perhaps the quickest way to make savings. Buying fresh ingredients, bulk buying staple foods at discount and pre-planning meals are all great ways to cut down your shopping budget. Forget about the high priced brands too, find a cheaper equivalent. Coupons have not gone extinct either, so seek them out in newspapers, stores and online. Most importantly of all, reduce food waste as much as possible. You paid for it, so make sure you use it.

The word retro is your friend – at least when it comes to clothing, sports and entertainment. Ask any musician or sports fanatic and they will tell you that used equipment is best. Second hand musical instruments and sports equipment will dramatically cut your costs. Similarly, you can find last season’s clothes, along with some in-style throwbacks, in any thrift store. As for games consoles and media – pre-owned means paying half the price within a month of release. The average game takes less than a week to complete for most avid gamers. Your kids can also trade in their games, once they have completed them.

Planning for your children’s education will require the most forward planning. Start saving for school, college and university from the second that you find out you are expecting. Contact schools to find out about the annual costs of books, extra-curricular activities and other expenses. Compare college investment plans and choose the one that best suits your budget. When your child begins school, re-evaluate your plan year on year.

Kids can be expensive, but if you plan and spend sensibly, you can greatly cut the cost.

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How to Prioritize Your Expenses

You may feel tempted to pay expenses to those who shout loudest; however, you need to prioritize. Rent, electricity, water and food. Without those things you do not have a functioning home, and you will find yourself in deep water for not keeping up with payments. Next, you have to consider the things that enable you to earn a salary, such as your car, travel costs or childcare; including child maintenance payments. All these expenses are absolute necessities, and you will find that out the first time you let your payments lapse. In short – unless an expense can put you out of your home, take food off your table or prevent you from earning money, it is not your first priority.

Now, that is not to say that your other expenses are unimportant. Keeping up all your payments, even if you are only able to pay the minimum, is of huge importance. Your credit cards, loans and other expenses may not be secured loans, however, neglecting them will only serve to perpetuate the cycle of debt. Once you have allocated funds to priority expenses, budget the rest of your cash flow to cover your other expenses. This will provide a template for how to best pool your financial resources. If you are having difficulty finding the cash flow to cover all your expenses, speak to your creditors. They would rather work with you to come to a payment arrangement, than not receive payment at all.

As tempting as it may be, never hide from your debts. Speak to all your creditors, explore the possibilities of reallocating funds and create a budget that is both realistic and workable. When you do prioritize your expenses, consider that money as gone. It is not available for juggling debts or tapping into it in the hope of securing future funds. If you have to seek additional disposable income, then do so; however, never stretch your budget beyond its means.

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Automate Your Payments – Takes Away The Temptation

Automating payments presents a number of advantages. You can earn discounts, budget your cash flow better and forecast your financial requirements. When you get used to set amounts debiting from your account, you will eventually remove them from the equation. This takes away the temptation to tap into those funds, allowing you to create a workable budget that won’t leave you deeper in debt.

Remembering scattered payment dates throughout the month can become confusing. Your aim is to allocate money then forget about it – until such a time as you need to re-examine your budget. Depending on how often you get paid, you should set all your automated payments to come out on the same date, each month. To better manage your finances, there are various online apps and resources that can help you. Applications such as Mint, You Need a Budget and Mvelopes, are ideal. However, if you are not tech savvy, then keeping a calendar of your automated payments, when they reduce and completion dates, will suffice.

Another important point to remember is that automated payments do not only apply to regular household bills. You can set up regular payments for insurance policies, retirement funds, college plans and investments. Although many of these payments are not essential to everyday life, by budgeting automated payments, you are preparing for the future. Before you know it, that money won’t even exist in your mind. In fact, you will probably find yourself looking for other sources of income before even thinking about touching your monthly automated payment funds.

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Getting Married? Have You Had the Debt Talk?

So you have decided to get married. No doubt you have planned everything with meticulous precision, right down to the smallest detail. However, there is an elephant in the room that no one wants to address. It’s time to have the debt talk – and how you approach the issue could make or break your marriage – before it has even begun. The good news is, with honesty, commitment and forward planning, there is no reason that debt should stand in the way of a lifetime of marital bliss.

They say a problem shared is a problem halved; but when it comes to debt, it’s not quite that simple. One partner may have significantly more debt than the other, for instance. However, that does not automatically mean that they are less frugal. Although a high debt amount should ring alarm bells, how that debt was accrued and the measures your future spouse is taking to address it, will paint a much more accurate picture of what you are getting into. This is why honesty is so important. When all the cards are laid on the table, you can assess where you are and how you want to move forward.

Marriage is all about commitment. You are not just committing to each other though, you are committing to each other’s debts as well. When having the debt talk, it is important to examine how each of you has addressed your own debts. Before you even think about marriage, both of you must prove a commitment to making regular payments towards debt, that won’t completely cripple your lifestyle. Approach the problem with the same precision that you would when planning your actual wedding. Make no mistake, debt is a big deal when considering marriage. Forward planning will prevent any nasty surprises; so make sure you are both prepared for the financial strains, before you say those vows.

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Get Closer to Your Goals with Multiple Savings Accounts

Have you ever tried to perform mental gymnastics with your finances? It is no mean feat, and you are quite likely to forget at least one important payment. Creating a budget is one thing, but ensuring that all the funds in your bank account go where they should is not so easy. When you created your budget, you probably divided all your payments into categories. If you didn’t, then now is the ideal time to create a system that is both efficient and easy to manage. This will make life so much easier, once you split your payments across multiple accounts.

You would imagine that trying to manage multiple bank accounts would be a nightmare. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Separating your monthly expenses and savings across multiple accounts will help you focus on your budgets and goals. There are cost effective accounts like Tangerine Bank where you can have multiple accounts and even name the account the same as your budget category.

If you have financial goals that you are determined to achieve, focus on each one individually. Create an account where you can save towards specific goals. Once you have reached your target, you can use that account to work on your next goal. Keep all your regular payments in one account, where you can allocate a set amount each month, with the security of knowing that you will not overdraw. Next, create an account for your irregular payments. This account should allow for enough breathing room to accommodate ad hoc payments.

Should you be lucky enough to consistently have cash flow to spare, you may want to set up an account for luxuries. Filter your spare cash flow into this account, whenever you can. Once you have been using your multiple accounts for a while, you will find that management your finances becomes much less of a chore.

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CIBC Study – Canadians Want to Lower their Debt Load

There was an encouraging note in recent financial news when CIBC released the results of a telephone survey taken earlier this year. Of the 2003 Canadians surveyed, 72% said that they had some form of personal debt – a mortgage, credit card debt or student loans. The encouraging news about those debt holders was the fact that 49% of the said that they had made a lump sum payment against that debt during the previous 12 months in order to help bring their debt load down.

With interest rates low, the temptation to borrow funds and go further into debt increases. However, it appears that the majority of Canadians are taking the wise track and developing strategies to lower their overall debt rather than add to it.

If you are among those who have made the choice to apply extra lump sum payments to your household debt during the last year, we applaud your efforts and the self-discipline that it takes to so so. The greatest means of reaching true financial freedom rests in the hand of each individual. As individuals and families take control of their finances and make the commitments and sacrifices necessary to reduce their household debt, they often find that their lifestyle improves and the decrease in finance related stress is one of the big bonuses that goes with it.