Tag Archives: Money Coaches Canada

Money, Happiness and Our Vision for 2015

The end of a year is often a time for reflection. What are we thankful for? What challenges did we face last year? What do we want from the coming year for ourselves, our family and our community? Often the short answer is that we want to be happy. We want those we love to be happy. A simple, common word that can be hard to explain, because while Webster’s dictionary may define it as ‘having, displaying, or marked by pleasure or joy,” ultimately we must each define how we achieve happiness for ourselves.

When we founded the Women’s Financial Learning Centre (WFLC) and Money Coaches Canada (MCC), our vision was, and still is, to help Canadians do much more than pay down debt and plan for retirement. We want our clients to achieve a level of financial well-being and contentment they never thought possible. Continue reading →

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Can money make you happy? Try giving some away.

By Kathryn Mandelcorn, FMA

Money Coaches Canada Giving and happiness

Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843. Most people know the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly man who transforms his life after three spirits teach him the joy of giving. It seems Dickens was way ahead of the research on money and happiness.

Dr. Elizabeth Dunn an associate professor of psychology at University of British Columbia and Michael Norton an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School wrote an article in which they say their research has shown that “people with a comfortable living standard are happier than people living in poverty.” But once people reach a “comfortable standard” of income, which falls somewhere around $75,000 a year in the United States, additional income doesn’t create additional happiness. Continue reading →

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Glossary: Mortgage and Equity terms

Financial literacyEvery profession, sport and hobby has its own expressions, jargon, and acronyms that can leave those less familiar with them a little lost or confused. Helping our clients understand the language of money is one of the things our coaches take pride in, because we want to ensure that we are always talking with you, not at you.

To that end, we’ve decided to start a glossary of terms we are often asked to clarify, and what better time to begin than November, which is Financial Literacy Month in Canada.

Here are four terms related to home ownership:

Term of a Mortgage vs. Amortization period 

The mortgage term is the number of years the loan is valid. Mortgage terms range from six months to 10 years. Mortgage rates vary depending on the term, usually the lower the rate the shorter the term. At the end of the term, if the mortgage is not paid off, it will be renegotiated at a new rate for a new term.

The amortization period is the number of years it will take to pay off the entire mortgage. Usually the more years over which you spread the mortgage, the smaller the monthly payment will be, but, and it’s a big but, the longer you take to pay the mortgage the more you will pay in interest over the long term. Continue reading →

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Cracking your personal money code – the psychology of money

By Karin Mizgala, BA Psyc, MBA, CFP® 

Prescriptive advice is the staple of magazines and blogs. It’s often presented in easy to read lists with catchy headlines like: How to…. 3 ways to… 7 habits of…. We’ve all seen the format, we even use it here on this blog. It’s a popular style because it gets right to the point with actionable steps to make changes in everything from your health, your parenting, and of course your finances.

So why aren’t we all healthy, wealthy, fantastic parents? Well, some people are. But many others find that somewhere between information and action, something disconnects. It’s that space between that motivates Vancouver psychologist turned financial advisor, Tracy Theemes, to explore the psychology of money, especially as it pertains to women. Continue reading →

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The biggest money mystery – Why do I do what I do? (Part two)

Depressed woman By Melanie Buffel, BA Psych, MBA candidate

In part one we met Jill, a successful single women in her early 40’s who was laboring under debt and stuck in a pattern of avoidance and confusion with her money. She tried many times to create a budget but just couldn’t seem to make it stick. A big or unexpected cost always seemed to come up and lead her to overspend. She felt like the universe was conspiring against her, “This always happens to me!” One month it was her property taxes, the next month it was a vet bill and then a car repair and then her parents came to town and then and then…. Once the budget was blown for the month she didn’t see the point in being careful with her spending and would “treat” herself with a new outfit, a new haircut and dinners out to deal with the anxiety. Her VISA bill climbed and her sense of failure deepened.

The eight money archetypes, as defined by Deborah Price in her book Money Magic, offer a way to build our awareness of what fuels our money behaviours and transform our relationship to money so we can release the fears and live from a deep sense of abundance.

I shared the first four archetypes in part one. The remaining four types are described below. Do you recognize what archetypes Jill is operating from? Do you have a sense of what archetypes most influence your behaviour? Continue reading →

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The biggest money mystery – why do I do what I do? (Part one)

By Melanie Buffel, BA Psych, MBA candidate

woman with question markJill is a single woman in her early 40’s. She enjoys her job and has interesting hobbies. She has good friends and family who often remind her how fabulous she is. Her cat seems to think so too, at least when he’s hungry.

Jill makes $75,000 a year, significantly more than the average Canadian income of $48,250. Yet she feels trapped by her money, always chasing her debt and never managing to put anything away in savings. How do other people manage she wonders?

I’m not giving any secrets away if I tell you it is relatively easy to create a spending and savings plan for Jill. We can add up all the numbers and create a balanced plan that provides a good lifestyle today as well as put money away for a dream vacation, some renovations on her condo and toward her retirement. We can easily make the numbers add up on paper. But then the real work begins. Continue reading →

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Should you give your kids an allowance?

By Karen Richardson, HBOR

Kids with their expert piggy bankParents often ask me if they should give their children an allowance. The answer is yes! As our children grow and change they will have many different dreams for their future, but whichever path they take they will need to know how to manage their money.

You may have read Money Coach Kathryn Mandelcorn’s recent post about being the architect of your financial future, she suggests people look at their  family history around spending and saving to understand their current relationship to money. Your children’s future habits are being shaped right now. The good news is you’re in a position to help shape them.

Of course not everyone sees that influence as good news. One of the concerns I hear from many parents is that they don’t think they are doing a great job with their own finances, so they shy away from “teaching” their kids. I say that’s all the more reason to make teaching their kids about money a priority! Kids are watching and listening all the time, so you are either actively or passively teaching them your attitudes to money every day.

So where do you start?
Continue reading →

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Six steps to begin your career change

By Karin Mizgala MBA, CFP

iStock_000037313958SmallThere is a popular expression, that’s actually the title of a book published in the 1980’s, “Do what you love and the money will follow.”  But my experience as a financial planner and money coach tells a different story.  The people who are most successful following their bliss are the ones who don’t just assume the money will follow, they take charge and make a plan. These six steps are a great way to start.

Step 1: Evaluate. Look at this career change decision as an opportunity to evaluate your mindset around money. Examine your limiting thoughts, and be determined to believe in yourself and your ability to take charge.

Step 2: Take stock.  With a positive attitude in place, take stock of your assets, savings and debt level. You can use this Net Worth Statement to get started. If your debt is high, (especially credit card debt) you will want to work on lowering that debt before you make changes. But don’t let debt stop you, let it take you to step 3. Continue reading →

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Understanding investment fees

WebFee has become a four letter word.

There is a lot of talk in the financial media about investment fees; is there enough transparency, are people getting what they pay for? Many Canadians would probably say they aren’t really sure how much they are paying and many are disgruntled.

It’s not surprising then, that we frequently receive calls from people wondering if they should manage their own investing to avoid fees, and whether a fee-for-service money coach or financial planner can help them. Continue reading →

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Do you have a debt free date?

Credit is seductive. Credit card companies spend millions of dollars to convince you to borrow their money. They have catchy slogans like:

  • It’s everywhere you want to be. (Visa)
  • There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else there’s Mastercard.
  • What’s in your wallet? (Capital One)
  • Don’t leave home without it. (American Express)

Couple Calculating BudgetIt’s no wonder that credit monitoring agency TransUnion is predicting the average consumer’s debt will reach an all time high by the end of 2014. It’s also no wonder that if you google debt stress you’ll get over 69 MILLION results

But there are things you can do right now to lower debt and debt stress. Continue reading →

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