Some loans feel like you’ve been paying them forever without an end in sight. In other cases, you may even be surprised to see your loan balances grow instead of shrink with regular payments. On today’s podcast, Doug Hoyes and Ted Michalos define important terms for understanding how loans work, how to spot an expensive loan, and the risks you face with longer term loans. They also teach you how to avoid borrowing more than you can afford and provide practical advice for what to ask your lender ...
Nov 28, 2020•27 min•Season 7Ep. 326
An unprecedented number of Canadians went from being office employees to working from home during this pandemic. Many also took on home office costs in 2020. So, what does this mean for our 2020 income tax filing? Which expenses will we be able to deduct and which ones will we not? On today’s podcast, Ian Martin, CPA and Licensed Insolvency Trustee, shares his thoughts on how the CRA may approach expenses like office supplies, masks, furniture, internet and rent next year. Ian also gives us his ...
Nov 21, 2020•34 min•Season 7Ep. 325
Every January, we meet with clients who tell us they spent way too much during the holiday season. But given the current pandemic, income problems, and gathering restrictions, will 2020 finally be the year when Canadians spend less? On today's podcast, Diane Cunha and Doug Hoyes discuss what generally drives people to spend so much over the holidays and why this year might be different. They share practical advice for how to cope with COVID fatigue and resist the temptation to over-buy. Diane al...
Nov 14, 2020•36 min•Season 7Ep. 324
It's the 10th annual financial literacy month sponsored by the federal government. Are we more financially literate than we were 10 years ago? Our debt levels keep increasing, so it doesn’t appear so. Is it possible to learn money management skills, or do you have to be born with it, like athletic ability. On today’s short podcast Doug Hoyes explains why he believes you can learn to manage your money, and he gives four lessons on how to do it. #FLM2020 Time Stamps: 7:28 – Lesson 1 – What do you ...
Nov 07, 2020•18 min•Season 7Ep. 323
Every financial guru says you need an emergency fund. But if you also have debt, is it possible to balance saving and paying down high-interest credit cards or lines of credit? What are the steps to get started? On today’s podcast, Diane Cunha, Certified Credit Counsellor at Hoyes Michalos discusses the different types of emergency funds, teaches us how to set aside cash even if we have debt, and gives tips on where to store our savings so they are easily accessible. Tune in to the show for lots...
Oct 31, 2020•33 min•Season 7Ep. 322
Description: Amid economic uncertainty, side hustles have become a popular way to earn extra income. But while many side hustles are good, some are risky and can lead to serious debt problems. On today's podcast, guest and Hoyes Michalos LIT Julie Wildman discusses the risks of multi-level marketing ventures (or MLMs). While an MLM can seem like a great opportunity to "be your own boss" and work from home, it often comes with significant upfront costs that are rarely recovered. Julie walks us t...
Oct 24, 2020•28 min•Season 7Ep. 321
As of August 31st, 778,000 Canadians with a mortgage at Canada’s big banks deferred or skipped a payment on their mortgage. The deferral periods for many mortgages and other credit loans and products have now come to an end. What does this mean for your debt? On today’s podcast, Ted Michalos and Doug Hoyes review different credit products (mortgages, credit cards, lines of credit, auto loans) and discuss what may happen to your balances and debt carrying costs now that the deferral periods are o...
Oct 17, 2020•32 min•Season 7Ep. 320
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) has now come to an end and is transitioning to four different financial aid programs: EI, CRB, CRSB, and CRCB. But what do these income supports mean for Canadians’ household budgets and debt repayment? Will they be enough to help Canadians still battling the financial effects of COVID-19? And which individuals no longer qualify to receive federal help? On today’s podcast, our guest is David Macdonald, Senior Economist at the Canadian Centre for Polic...
Oct 10, 2020•43 min•Season 7Ep. 319
Filing income taxes can be complicated, especially if you're a self-employed individual. And if you can't afford an accountant, you fall behind on filing your taxes and face trouble with the Canada Revenue Agency. Could we make the Canadian tax system simpler? And what would a simpler system mean for tax deductions? Enter Neal Winokur, author of the The Grumpy Accountant - One Fed-Up Tax Pro's Practical Plan to Fix Canada's Senselessly Complicated Tax System. On today's podcast, Neal shares his...
Oct 03, 2020•36 min•Season 7Ep. 318
Today's first time guest is Jeff Rubin, who was the Chief Economist at CIBC World Markets (where he worked for over 20 years). He has just released a new book: The Expendables: How the Middle Class Got Screwed by Globalization , where he says that the decline in permanent, well paying full time jobs is a direct result of free trade agreements that transferred jobs to lower wage countries, leaving factories in Canada idle. On today's show Jeff Rubin argues that globalization allows the rich to ge...
Sep 26, 2020•35 min•Season 7Ep. 317
Like debt problems, food insecurity can happen to anyone. What causes individuals and families to require food assistance? On today's podcast, we have first-time guest Wendi Campbell, CEO at The Food Bank of Waterloo Region to help us get a better understanding of local food issues and what "food insecurity" really means. Wendi also addresses common misconceptions surrounding food bank visitors and discusses the importance of working together as a society to help alleviate the problem of food in...
Sep 19, 2020•37 min•Season 7Ep. 316
Last week, Doug Hoyes walked us through several key statistics, including insolvency filings, household savings rates, and loan deferrals. On today's show, he digs deeper into the 'whys' behind the numbers with guest Ted Michalos. Tune in as they give an update on why personal insolvencies are down and how much longer they expect filings will decline; They also discuss why savings rates are up and whether they will remain high; and why car sales have increased despite many people working from ho...
Sep 12, 2020•31 min•Season 7Ep. 315
Welcome to the season 7 premiere of Debt Free in 30. It's only September but it's been an eventful year already, eh? Insolvency filings were high at the start of 2020 but fell to record lows by the month of May. Unemployment is high, but so is the savings rate. How is that possible? Today we discuss these stats, and look ahead to the Fall. Collection agencies are starting to make more calls, so will insolvencies go back up? The federal government has also announced that the CERB will soon end an...
Sep 05, 2020•19 min•Season 7Ep. 314
Millions of Canadians have received CERB (and may have a tax debt next year), and many Canadians have incurred and deferred debt to survive the pandemic. How will they repay that debt? First aired in May, today we have a new introduction and update, and then we rebroadcast our episode on an ancient concept that is getting a lot of new interest: a debt jubilee. Enjoy! Helpful Reads: Is A Debt Jubilee the Solution to Our Collective Debt Problem: https://www.hoyes.com/blog/is-a-debt-jubilee-the-sol...
Aug 29, 2020•28 min•Season 6Ep. 313
Costco became the "go to" store during the 2020 pandemic, as long lines formed so we could all buy toilet paper. Today we revisit our podcast on that wonderful, magical place called Costco, with some updated thoughts on the pandemic. Is it a store? A finance company? Something else? And why does it matter? All that and more on today’s podcast (and I’ve got slides, so if you want to see the numbers, the video is posted on the Debt Free in 30 channel on YouTube).
Aug 22, 2020•26 min•Season 6Ep. 312
Is it possible to financially recover from the coronavirus pandemic of 2020? Yes, but it starts with $20. On today's podcast we discuss the pandemic, and then present a special rebroadcast of the fable of the 20 dollar bill, and explain how $20 can set you up for financial success. A fable, as it were. Enjoy!
Aug 15, 2020•23 min•Season 6Ep. 311
Doug Hoyes explains why even with high debt and high pandemic-related unemployment bankruptcy filings continue to drop, and he gives his predictions for the next few months, and then, given the stress caused by the COVID-19 lock down, we rebroadcast our conversation with Shannon Lee Simmons, author of Living Debt-Free: The No-Shame, No-Blame Guide to Getting Rid of Your Debt about how negative feelings towards debt can create more debt and strategies that can put you in the right direction when ...
Aug 08, 2020•39 min•Season 6Ep. 310
Doug Hoyes gives an update on how collection agents are dealing with the COVID shut down (spoiler alert: they've found a way to keep calling), and then we rebroadcast our discussion with Blair Demarco-Wettlaufer, a real-life collection agent, who explains how a collection agent gets paid, and how you can negotiate with a collection agent. Enjoy!
Aug 01, 2020•45 min•Season 6Ep. 309
Are you a success because of your superior brain power, and skill, and hard work? Or was it all luck? If you are having a rough time, is it because you screwed up, or was it bad luck? On today's show Doug Hoyes days that most of what happens to you and me, good or bad, is luck. We've all just endured the great coronavirus lock down of 2020, many businesses have failed, millions of people lost their jobs, some permanently. That was all bad luck. None of us caused the big bad virus, but we are all...
Jul 25, 2020•24 min•Season 6Ep. 308
As a new parent on maternity leave, you'll have a lot to do. The last thing you want is to worry about how you will make ends meet. On today's podcast, we have first-time guest and Hoyes Michalos Licensed Insolvency Trustee, Julie Wildman. Julie is a mother of two young children and recently returned from her second maternity leave. She outlines how expecting parents can prepare financially for the income drop that happens during mat leave, how to navigate the different benefits available in Can...
Jul 18, 2020•34 min•Season 6Ep. 307
When this podcast was recorded on the morning of July 8, 2020 the Canadian government was projected to run a deficit for the year of $250 billion. By the end of the day, after this podcast was recorded, the Finance Minister was projecting a deficit of $343 billion. That's a lot of debt, and it leads many to wonder how we'll ever pay it back. But a prominent economist, Dr. Stephanie Kelton, says the government shouldn't be concerned with massive deficits as long as they control the printing of th...
Jul 11, 2020•27 min•Season 6Ep. 306
Life's milestones like going to college or university, buying a house, or getting married cost money. And often the pressure to achieve these milestones at a young age leads to hasty decisions that come with a big debt load. But what if you took time off before making a major financial move? Would life turn out so differently if we didn't follow conventional wisdom? On today's podcast, Scott Terrio and Doug Hoyes explore the idea of delayed gratification and discuss why pausing before big decisi...
Jul 04, 2020•31 min•Season 6Ep. 305
A lot has changed as a result of COVID-19. There are obvious reasons for pessimism, but there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic. For example, more people have made meaningful changes to their financial habits. Canadians are saving more and some are even able to pay off more of their debt. Many of us have also used the time to learn a new skill. With every major life transition comes positive and negative change and we are forced to adjust to a new reality. On today's podcast, Doug and Ted sh...
Jun 27, 2020•31 min•Season 6Ep. 304
We have record unemployment and millions of Canadians are relying on CERB payments to make ends meet, and yet our savings rate is increasing. How is that possible? On today's podcast, our guest is author and financial analyst, Hilliard MacBeth, who provides insight on how the savings rate is calculated, and whether increased savings mean Canadians are curbing their appetite for debt. We also discuss what to expect with the real estate market and deflation, and we talk about Modern Monetary Theor...
Jun 20, 2020•42 min•Season 6Ep. 303
If you're thinking of buying a small business, this podcast is for you. Over the years, we've had a lot of clients who decided to buy a business either because they were frustrated with working for someone else and they wanted to go out on their own, or maybe the owner of their company wanted to retire. While there are benefits to small business ownership, how do you avoid the debt traps? How can you make the most of your purchase and avoid undervaluing your own contributions? And what does owni...
Jun 13, 2020•39 min•Season 6Ep. 302
After a three year absence (she was a guest on episodes 131 and 133), Victoria Ryce is back on the show, and today we discuss transitions, like having a child, getting married (or separated), and starting or completing a consumer proposal or bankruptcy. In a crises we tend to freeze up; Victoria has lots of practical advice on how to make a plan to manage transitions, and what to do if you have an unplanned transition. We recorded this episode just before the COVID-19 lock-down took place, but t...
Jun 06, 2020•35 min•Season 6Ep. 301
This is episode #300, so for something completely different, today we discuss whether or not you can create your own reality. That would appear to be a silly thought; if I hit my thumb with a hammer, I can't create a reality where my thumb doesn't hurt. I can't just imagine that I'm the King of England. That makes logical sense, but it is also true that how we see the world determines how we respond to it, so in that sense we can create our own reality. There is of course a lot more to it than t...
May 30, 2020•26 min•Season 6Ep. 300
With many Canadians facing a cash crunch during the COVID-19 lockdown, a quick-fix solution has been to defer debt payments. Deferring a debt payment can provide you with funds in the short-term to pay for needed expenses. But what you may not realize is that a deferment will raise the carrying cost of your debt overall. On today's podcast, Ted Michalos and Doug Hoyes explain how much more expensive a mortgage, car loan, and credit card can get if you defer payments and offer practical advice to...
May 23, 2020•22 min•Season 6Ep. 299
We've heard from the economists, statisticians, and politicians but what's really going on with everyday individuals and the state of their finances after several weeks of lock-down? On today's podcast Scott Terrio returns to talk about what he's seeing “on the ground”. How are people's stress levels? Are credit limits being reduced as a result of CERB? Who is calling in for debt help? Is there a rise in homeowner bankruptcies? Tune in for a lively discussion, including the answers to our Twitte...
May 16, 2020•35 min•Season 6Ep. 298
Canadians are carrying a record level of debt, and while we are off work during the pandemic of 2020, many of us will pile on more debt. Small businesses and contractors will take on debt to pay rent while they generate little or no revenue. Consumers will take on additional debt to make their mortgage payment or pay rent, buy groceries, and pay for necessities. Unfortunately, much of this debt will be of the high-interest sub-prime variety. Payment deferrals may help in the short term, but will...
May 09, 2020•25 min•Season 6Ep. 297
