We hear the same thing repeatedly. If you rent, you’re throwing away your money. Why? Because you have nothing to show for it at the end of the month. On the other hand, if you own your home, you’re paying down your mortgage and building equity. But is this true? Why can't you build wealth by renting? Today's guest thinks you can. Some points to consider, according to Alex Avery: It’s not one-size-fits-all. Buying isn’t for everyone. Neither is renting. Consider how long you expect to be in a pa...
Jan 13, 2018•41 min•Season 4Ep. 176
Because it's not the level of debt that causes the problem necessarily. It's whether or not you can service it. On show #174, we gave the example of someone with a $500,000 mortgage and 25-year amortization. If the interest on it went from 3.29% to 4.29%, the monthly payment would go from $2,400 to just over $2,700. That's about an 11% increase. On today’s show we discuss which debts should you pay first, and how to make that decision.
Jan 06, 2018•18 min•Season 4Ep. 175
What will happen in 2018 that could water the seeds of a financial crisis? Ted Michalos and Doug Hoyes believe there are three big stories to watch in 2018: Minimum wage going up in Ontario from $11.60 to $14.00, effective January 1st. This means any employer that is already marginal or has very tight margins is probably going to employ fewer people. Debt. According to the Canadian Payroll Association's September 2017 survey, 49% of Ontarians are living paycheque to paycheque and 43% of them sav...
Dec 30, 2017•30 min•Season 4Ep. 174
On today’s podcast we explain how, even though your house may have increased in value, if you don’t have enough cash to meet your monthly expenses, you are house rich but cash poor. We give four tips to avoid being house poor. The most important tip: decide what kind of life you want, and use that decision to decide on the house you really need.
Dec 23, 2017•15 min•Season 4Ep. 173
Every year, the focus of the holiday season is on consumerism and the need to spend money on the perfect gifts, the perfect decorations and creating the perfect dinner. And every year, Canadians end up spending too much money, putting them at risk for financial difficulties once the holiday season is over. On today's show we rebroadcast a podcast from 2015 where my guest is Heather Cudmore, who at the time was the manager of Credit Counselling at Carizon Family Services in Kitchener, and is now ...
Dec 16, 2017•22 min•Season 4Ep. 172
Should you ever loan money to family and friends? It’s a tough question. Some of you might say, “sure, why not?” And others might think, “Maybe just to family.” Well, if you do decide to loan money, I’d recommend asking yourself this question: Do I have to borrow money to do it? If you do have to borrow to help, you shouldn’t loan money… even if it’s to family and even if they say they’ll pay you back. Now I realize that sounds harsh, but it’s in your best interest to not get yourself into finan...
Dec 09, 2017•11 min•Season 4Ep. 171
On today's show, I review 10 personal finance books that would make great gifts and/or would be a great start to your own personal finance library. All 10 books are listed below, with the time stamp from the podcast, if you wish to jump ahead and listen to my comments on a particular book: General Money Management The Wealthy Barber Returns by David Chilton (2:35) Wealthing Like Rabbits by Robert Brown (3:20) 397 Ways to Save Money by Kerry K. Taylor (9:40) Stop Over-Thinking Your Money by Preet...
Dec 02, 2017•33 min•Season 4Ep. 170
Have you ever wondered why a credit card isn’t called a debt card like it should be? Think about it. That’s what a credit card really does – it gives you debt. Well, I’ll tell you why. Because it’s not good marketing. And credit card companies know this. In Myth 4 of my book, Straight Talk on your Money , I point out that financial institutions know we are guided by our emotions. Banks and credit card companies have manipulated you into thinking that credit is good, and they do it constantly. Cr...
Nov 25, 2017•8 min•Season 4Ep. 169
On today’s show we discuss the different forms of income that can be garnisheed (or not). Here are the types of income, with the time stamp if you want to fast forward to that section: Wages – 3:21 Ontario Works – 8:31 Disability Pension – 9:58 ODSP – 10:00 Retirement Pensions – CPP – 12:36 OAS – 13:35 Basic Income – 19:19 Full links to all legislation mentioned in the show are on our website at https://www.hoyes.com/blog/wage-garnishments-what-income-can-be-garnisheed/...
Nov 18, 2017•32 min•Season 4Ep. 168
How important is your credit score? In my book, Straight Talk on Your Money , on page 48 I discuss the “Credit Score Scam”, and on page 52 I say that you should not focus on your credit score. (Apparently I’m not a fan of credit scores). It was those passages from the book that prompted Ross Taylor, a mortgage broker, to email me and say: I noticed when reading your book we do not completely agree on the importance of one’s personal credit history. I emailed Ross back and said “great, come on th...
Nov 11, 2017•41 min•Season 4Ep. 167
November is financial literacy month in Canada , and for the seventh straight year the government will encourage Canadians to: take concrete actions to better manage their money and debt, including making a budget, having a savings plan and understanding their financial rights and responsibilities. So, the solution to all of our financial problems is to make a budget. I disagree. In my experience, budget’s don’t work for most people, because they don’t stick to them. They get discouraged, and th...
Nov 04, 2017•16 min•Season 4Ep. 166
Registered Disabilities Savings Plans are geared towards helping families and individuals who are living with a disability. RDSPs can only be setup for someone who is eligible to receive the Disability Tax Credit. If this is for your child, you can only begin making contributions after your child is diagnosed with an eligible disability . This is one of the main reasons RDSPs aren't as commonly used, or as frequently discussed. On this week's podcast we're welcoming back Alan Whitton, the voice ...
Oct 28, 2017•24 min•Season 4Ep. 165
Everyone thinks that a house provides both stability and financial security, but on today's show, we'll explain why that is not always the case. It is true that if you live in the same home for many years, you have stability. But there are significant costs to owning a house. You pay real estate commissions when you move, but you also pay a penalty to break a fixed mortgage. As we explain on today's show, the penalty for breaking your mortgage can be a lot higher than you expect. The big banks h...
Oct 21, 2017•14 min•Season 4Ep. 164
In some cases it is your fault, if your debt was a result of reckless spending but, in my experience, most people get into trouble because "life happens". Many of my clients have debt problems caused by a job loss, or reduced income, or a life event like a relationship break-down or a medical condition that forces them to take time off work. On today's show we hear the story of Mary, how has debt problems. I'll leave it to you, the listener, to decide if her problems are her fault, or if there w...
Oct 14, 2017•10 min•Season 4Ep. 163
There are recent interest rate increases from the Bank of Canada that will affect many Canadians. But the question of the day is: Do you know how a 1% interest increase will affect your budget? Today's guest is here to discuss just that. Brent Hughes and his team discovered that there are two times throughout the life cycle of a mortgage that people receive professional advice: the beginning, and the end. His company Monitor my Mortgage helps give people the information they need to make the rig...
Oct 07, 2017•28 min
On today's show, I discuss the news that data from Equifax was "hacked". It appears that "only" 100,000 Canadians were impacted, but even if your data was not impacted by this event, it's a good wake-up call for all of us: So how can you protect yourself? My full comments are in my post on Equifax Data Hack: Insolvency Trustee Gives Advice on How to Protect Yourself but here's an important point: your data is already out there; you can't pull it back. If you have ever applied for credit, you hav...
Sep 30, 2017•23 min
For more than a decade the "go to" source for Canadian personal finance information has been the Canadian Personal Finance Blog operated by Alan Whitton, more commonly known as the Big Cajun Man (listen to the show to find out where that name came from; having met him to record this podcast, I can confirm that he is a big guy). The Big Cajun man has accumulated the best resources on the internet on RDSPs, so next month he'll be back to do a full show just on that topic. On today's show we addres...
Sep 23, 2017•32 min•Season 4Ep. 160
Over the years I have had hundreds of clients who financed a house, or a car that ended up being more expensive than they could afford, and that one purchase caused other debt problems. When I ask them why they made that purchase, even though in hindsight it was obviously more than they could afford, they give me many rational reasons. They tell me the mortgage payments were cheaper than rent, or they financed a new car covered by a warranty to avoid car repair costs. Humans Can Be Irrational Th...
Sep 16, 2017•15 min
Student loan debt is a massive problem in Canada. The average student loan debt resulting from a four year degree program is over $26,000, and a student could end up paying more than $10,000 in interest before the loan is repaid. A government guaranteed student loan is only discharged in a bankruptcy if you have ceased to be a student for over seven years at the time you file bankruptcy. So it is very sad that 15% of our clients still have student loans at the time they file with us, meaning the...
Sep 09, 2017•24 min
Welcome to the first show of Debt Free in 30 Season #4. I know this isn't a TV show, and you're not supposed to have "seasons" on a podcast, but I think seasons are a good way to organize what we do here on Debt Free in 30 . As I discuss on today's shorter-than-usual show, we will continue to have great guests discussing personal finance and debt issues. But this season I also plan to delve deeper into the debt issues that impact society. Next week we'll discuss whether or not student loan debt ...
Sep 02, 2017•7 min
The book is called Straight Talk on Your Money – The Biggest Financial Myths and Mistakes … and How to Avoid Them. I wrote the book because based on my 30 years as a professional accountant, and after personally meeting with over 10,000 people, I believe there is not enough straight talk about money. There are lots of sales pitches, but that’s not what we need. On today’s show I explain why I wrote the book, how you can get a copy, and why I think all experts are biased, and how you can make bet...
Aug 26, 2017•11 min•Season 3Ep. 156
For our final rebroadcast of the summer, we are rebroadcasting our most downloaded show from the past year. Sean Cooper returns to the podcast today to talk about his new book, Burn Your Mortgage , to be published on March 1, 2017. Sean worked up to 80 hours a week for many years to save for a down payment, and then he managed to pay off his mortgage in less than four years. He held a mortgage burning party that was covered by the CBC, and that's where the fun began. Some people applauded his fr...
Aug 19, 2017•33 min•Season 3Ep. 155
This is a special rebroadcast of one of our most downloaded shows: it’s my father-in-law, telling me how he retired at age 48, and has now been retired for longer than he worked at his job! If you are like most Canadians, you dream of a long and enjoyable retirement. Is it possible to retire early and achieve that by the age of 48? While it is an anomaly, my guest today did just that. Bob Lassaline worked for 30 years and retired when he was 48 years old. He is 80 years old today, so he has been...
Aug 12, 2017•39 min•Season 3Ep. 154
As we continue to rebroadcast our top downloaded shows this summer, today we replay our first ever Debt Free in 30 broadcast LIVE on video, over YouTube. The response was fantastic. We asked our listeners to leave us questions through sound clips, email, twitter and Facebook in advance of the show and took questions during the show. Doug Hoyes and Ted Michalos answered as many of those questions as we could during the webcast. We talked about debt, consumer proposals, car loans and mortgages. We...
Aug 05, 2017•52 min
When this show first aired back at the end of November, 2016, the real estate markets were booming, and mortgages were easy to get, but my guest, Ben Rabidoux, had some very specific predictions. First, he predicted that Ontario would implement a foreign buyers tax, just like happened in Vancouver. Bingo. In April of this year, five months after we aired this interview, the Ontario government announced a 15% tax on foreign real estate buyers. Second, he also predicted that mortgages would be mor...
Jul 29, 2017•44 min
Today’s show is a rebroadcast of a show that first aired in October, 2016. My guest is David Bond, who has a PhD in Economics from Yale University, and he makes a number of interesting points. We discuss the high level of Canadian household debt, and we talk about the most popular topic here on the podcast in the last year, and that’s the Canadian real estate market. Mr. Bond has some very definitive views on income inequality and taxation, and he has some thoughts on Basic Income. Mr. Bond poin...
Jul 22, 2017•32 min
We just celebrated Canada's 150th birthday and this is Debt Free in 30 episode number 150 so to celebrate both of these milestones I'm bringing back a guest from one of our most popular shows ever. Back in season number one, show number 33, originally broadcast in April of 2015, my guest was Leigh Taylor and the topic of that show was smart ways to pay off debt. Even though that show aired more than two years ago it is still downloaded many times each month and as of today it is one of the top t...
Jul 15, 2017•30 min
This is a special rebroadcast of show #111, originally aired on October 15, 2016. We all want to help when someone is in trouble. But helping someone out of financial trouble can come with unexpected costs and consequences. It is for that reason that I strongly advise against ever loaning money to family and friends. On today's show we hear three stories: Mabel is a widow who chose to help her adult son who was struggling financially after a divorce. In the end, Mabel ended up maxing out her own...
Jul 08, 2017•20 min
There's a growing number of people owing money on their tax debts. This is in part because more people are self-employed, or have more than one job, and partly due to a growing seniors population. Getting into tax debt can be relatively easy, and dangerous to your financial health if you don't deal with it quickly. Today's podcast discusses ten tips on dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency and tax debts from our in-house tax expert and Licensed Insolvency Trustee Ian Martin. Your income tax is ...
Jul 01, 2017•35 min
Debt doesn't start out as an obvious problem. For many people, lack of personal finance knowledge leads them to make poor decisions with their money. Once you figure out how easy it is to get credit, you start spending more and more because, hey, it's there. Today's guest is a former Hoyes Michalos client, and like many of our clients, he struggled with severe debt. Beau started gambling at a young age through seemingly harmless games like scratch tickets. From there, it evolved to online card g...
Jun 24, 2017•34 min
