Susan Jung, MBA : Recent Articles

Credit Education Week 2011  launches on November 14 and runs through to November 18.

“So what?” you might ask; why do Trustees in Bankruptcy care about Credit Education Week anyway? Well, we are so glad you asked.

Credit Education Week is a week of financial literacy events.  Speakers include CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos, and financial writer Alison Griffiths.

One of the interesting features this year will be an essay contest, to run until October 21, and open to both school students and adults.

Grade 12 students will write a short essay about “What is the dumbest thing I have ever done with my money and what did I learn from it?”, and first prize is $5,000!

For adults, the subject is: “The real empowering freedom you get after making it through a wicked desert storm – that’s what I got when I conquered my financial challenges.”  The best entry also gets a $5,000 prize.

Full details can be found on the Credit Education Week Essay Contest webpage.

Hoyes Michalos is not a sponsor of Credit Education Week; in fact, we are not involved with it in any way.  So why are we publicizing it here?

Because we believe that credit education is very important, and we are pleased to support credit education.

As bankruptcy trustees we want you to gain control over your financial life.  In fact, the law requires every Trustee in Bankruptcy to educate you about all of the options that exist for you to deal with your financial challenges – imagine that… there is an actual law that makes it impossible for a Trustee to tell you what to do. By law, we have to explain ALL of your options to you, so that you can make the decision that is best for you and your family. Like Credit Canada and all of the other participants at Credit Education Week, a Trustee in Bankruptcy can help you to understand how you can manage your debt, improve your credit and enjoy more peace of mind.

We share the same vision as the founders and participants of Credit Education Week; simply put, Hoyes Michalos and Associates wants to help you to “start enjoying life again”.

So, dare to imagine that there really IS help available – have a look at the Credit Education Week website – there are lots and lots of things you can learn just by visiting the site, and even more to learn if you attend one or more of their events.

PEACE OF MIND and a PLAN to START ENJOYING LIFE AGAIN may be just one simple click away.

Each and every day I meet with or talk to people on the phone who are struggling with debt. The Blahs of Debt really are very similar to the Blahs of Winter.

I don’t know about you, but the after Christmas let-down can be pretty hard. I love the anticipation of Christmas – decorating the tree, seeing the children in my family shudder with excitement and scream with delight as the day grows nearer, getting together with family and laughing so hard that our jaws hurt the next day. Then, in a seeming instant, it is all over. Everybody goes home, the tree is tucked away for another year, work routines normalize and all that is left is dealing with winter.

Some people love winter – I don’t so much. I drive a lot for work, so I am always worried about the weather. I am not much for outdoor sports; aside from walking my dog, I pretty much avoid the outdoors. It is too cold, and just simply too much work. I hate shoveling the drive. Well, I think you are getting the picture. For some of us, winter is just not that much fun. It is easy to cocoon ourselves until Spring and that can leave us feeling pretty blah.

Just like winter, finances can leave us feeling a little cold, blue and blah. Just like winter, when dealing with debt, it sometimes just seems easier to pull the covers over our heads and wait for Spring. This is one strategy, but it is probably not the most healthy approach. Here are some alternatives to consider:

1.) Find the strength to take stock of your debt: how much do you owe? Are you behind in any payments? What would you have to do in order to get back on track? Use a debt options calculator to see what it would cost to get out of debt. Here is a credit card calculator that is a great tool to help you figure out what it would take to become debt free on your own

2.) If after taking stock, you determine that managing on your own is not a realistic option, make an appointment with your financial advisor or your bank manager – is there something that they can suggest that can help you to get your finances under control? Would you qualify for a debt consolidation loan?

3.) In some cases, banks and financial advisors can help, in other cases they can’t – if they can’t, there is another professional that I would encourage you to see – a Credit Counsellor – credit counsellors can be a very helpful and objective set of eyes – they may be able to suggest some changes that you can make to your monthly budget that can be effective in helping you deal more effectively with the debt. In other cases, they may be able to negotiate with your creditors – this is called a Debt Management Plan.

4.) Sometimes there is really only one professional who can give you the help you need to get rid of the blahs of debt – this is a Trustee in Bankruptcy – for many people, the realization that they may need to file bankruptcy in Ontario makes them feel even more blah, but this is most often because they don’t really understand how Trustees help. Lots of people make assumptions that they will lose everything and that bankruptcy is the only alternative. While talking to a Trustee can certainly be a difficult thing to do, in most cases the clients who do, are glad they did. Why? Because a Trustee can help them beat the Blahs of Debt. Whether through filing bankruptcy or a consumer proposal, the debt gets effectively dealt with. Most people tell us that by simply talking to us, they feel a weight lifted from their shoulders and their blahs turn into hope for the future.

Although dealing with the Blahs of Debt is similar to dealing with the Blahs of Winter, there is one very big difference. We can’t do anything about Winter – it’s here. But you can do something about your debt. We’d be pleased to help you understand what all of your options are. Give us a call at 310-PLAN, or send us an e-mail – let us help you put the blahs of debt behind you.

Last week we talked about how to avoid debt and have a stress free Christmas. This week we offer even more money saving tips for Christmas:

1. Make a budget and Stick to it: figure out how much you have to spend, set that money aside and insure you don’t go over the budgeted amount. Going over means someone doesn’t get what they want (and you will feel badly about that) or you end up using credit that you may not be able to afford to service (and that will also make you feel badly).
2. Make a Christmas Gift List: this is a great tip for a few reasons – first, it really is the only way that you can effectively organize your Christmas shopping. Second, a list allows you to project how much money you will need for your Christmas spending and third, making a list and sharing it with other family members can insure that your nephew does not get three Toronto Maple Leaf hockey shirts (especially if the Boston Bruins are his favourite team).
3. Buy one or two “Oh my Goodness, I forgot to buy for…” Gifts: it is not uncommon to get the call the day before Christmas that someone else will be joining you for Christmas dinner or to realize that you forgot to put Great Aunt Sally on your list. Rather than rush out to buy a gift (and likely end up overspending), consider buying a couple of generic gifts specifically for this purpose – a gift card to a local mall, a box of Laura Secord chocolates (can rarely go wrong with chocolate) and movie tickets are all good choices.
4. Avoid buying to impress: many budgets have been blown by trying to impress or overwhelm. Most often these kinds of gifts are high price items that we really cannot afford, and the purchase can end up causing endless sleepless nights. Worse yet, sometimes the gift we think will impress, doesn’t impress, and then we end up agonizing even more over the money we spent.
5. Wrapping Paper: colorful magazines, the comic section of our local newspaper or children’s artwork are great alternatives to store bought papers. Does it ever make sense to spend $15 on a piece of Christmas wrap that only ends up in the garbage 2 minutes after the gift is unwrapped?
6. Gift cards: some people regard the gift card as the lazy shopper’s solution to Christmas. Those who request or receive them might disagree. Why struggle with trying to find the pair of skinny jeans that your daughter had on her list, only to find that you picked out the wrong pair and your teenager hates them. Give her a gift card and she can pick out the perfect pair. In fact, you can get some extra “Mom is great” mileage and arrange a special shopping day to go to the mall together. Consider attaching a home-made coupon for a “Day of Shopping” with the gift card.
7. Establish a “One special Gift” tradition: Create a tradition of having immediate family members pick out 1 special item that they would like for Christmas – set a dollar limit on this item – it has to work within your budget. Beyond that 1 special item, consider a Christmas Stocking stuffed with other dollar store treasures.
8. What is a good Christmas Gift? Personally, a Mercedes would be a good gift, but it is unlikely that anyone is going to give me one for Christmas. What constitutes a good Christmas gift otherwise really is an individual thing, but for me, I like to receive things that I don’t like spending money on myself. I guess this is a kick back to my childhood – as a child, I hated getting socks, underwear and deodorant – as an adult, I think this is great – each Christmas, I get stocked up for the year, and I can spend my money on other things. So, don’t feel bad about spending $30 on essentials as gifts – some of us really appreciate them!

Christmas is a great family time of year, so focus on family time, and not on spending money and incurring debt.

Several surveys conducted by organizations around the world have found respondents still feeling the effects of the recession. In one survey, when asked about their spending plans, 51% of respondents stated that they would be spending less on Christmas this year. More than half of respondents said that the recession has given them cause to rethink how they would give gifts this year.

So, does cutting back mean you can’t enjoy Christmas this year? Absolutely not, but we really do need to be thoughtful and intentional in our approach to the festive season. And, we may have to rethink what enjoying Christmas is really all about. Even though retailers would have us think otherwise, Christmas really isn’t just about the gifts. Here are some tips and suggestions:

What we can do:

1. Look at your budget and try to be honest about how much money you really have to spend this Christmas. Ideally, the money we have to spend is the cash that we have saved specifically for this purpose.
2. Explain to your young believers, that Santa wants to make sure that all of the children in the world get the 1 gift they really want this year, and ask them to choose what their special gift will be. Beyond that 1 special (and usually more expensive) gift, head to the dollar store and pick up some extras – dollar store finds are perfect for stocking stuffers, and the best part – you can buy a lot of stuff for very little money.
3. See if family members might agree to not buy for the adults this year. I saw a client this week who shared with me that this year, everyone in his family over the age of 16 will be buying a $20 gift certificate – all of the gift certficates will be put into a pot, and each person gets to draw their gift. What a great idea!
4. Consider a pot-luck Christmas dinner – share the costs and the work. My family and I have adopted this tradition, and it is always an overeating success – we all make each other’s favourite dishes and we have a fabulous feast.

What we should not do:

Let’s face it, most of us would like to have more money than we have. Christmas is one of those times when we are generally even more aware of this wish – we want to buy our children everything on their wish lists; we want our spouses and sgnificant others to be dazzled and overcome when they open that special gift. Unfortunately, most Canadians are not in the position of being able to do it all. And, this is where Christmas can get tricky and even very risky. Credit cards can make it easy for us to have it all, but the problem is that “Having it all” in December sometimes turns into “Losing it all” in February or March.

That’s not to say that making Christmas purchases on credit is a bad thing. Sometimes it’s not – if you can manage to pay the debt off in no more than a few months, then it may be a reasonable plan, but if you can’t pay it off on a timely basis, or worse yet, you already have substantial debt that is already a burden, adding to the problem is simply not a good idea.

I know that is not easy, and life’s financial burdens can weigh that much heavier at this time of year; the desire to simply worry about things after Christmas can be a powerful motivator to simply use credit to get through the season.

I’m sorry if I sound like the Scrooge in Christmas – I really don’t mean to, but I do want you to try to PLAN for Christmas this year. A PLAN can take many forms: if you have manageable debt now, don’t let impulse make it unmanageable in the future; if you are already struggling with debt, don’t make it worse; and… if the stress of debt is making it difficult for you to even think about enjoying Christmas this year, we may be able to help – for further information, please  call us at 310-PLAN, or try our free debt options calculator to review your options. Let us help you Turn the Worry of Debt into a PLAN for a Less Stressful Financial Future.

Whether you are a first time or regular visitor to hoyes.com, it probably didn’t take you very long to figure out that there is a LOT of information on this site. So, why is information so important to Hoyes Michalos & Associates? Well, quite simply we firmly believe that information is empowering; the more information you have about the options you have to deal with your money and your debt, the more empowered you will be to make good and informed decisions. There are many resources and events available to Canadians to assist them in making good financial decisions; one such event is Credit Education Week.

Credit Education Week Canada

Credit Education Week Canada launches its 4th annual weeklong event on November 15, 2010. This is a free event that “promises to teach you everything you need to know about managing your money and taking control of your financial future”. The Language of Money is this year’s theme, and will provide visitors with information on a variety of topics such as “Consumer Credit Pitfalls” and “Helping Consumers make informed financial decisions”.

Many of this year’s topics are very timely for Canadians. This week, for example, the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals released its finding that outstanding mortgages are at an all time high, indicating that many Canadians are making the decision to purchase a home. Credit Education Week Canada addresses the topic of “Making Informed Homeownership Decision” at their November 16 kickoff event. So, if you are thinking about buying a home, this may be a great event to attend.

Navigating our financial system can be difficult for anyone, but can be particularly difficult for newcomers to Canada. Credit Education Week Canada 2010 focuses this year on New Comers and features speakers who will provide information about the supports available to our new Canadians.

We invite you to visit the Credit Education Week Canada website – here you will find details of the event, a directory of resources including a list of non-profit credit counselors, along with lots of tools and information on a variety of money management and planning topics.

Whether you are a newcomer to Canada or have lived here forever, we encourage you to take this opportunity to educate and empower yourself. Hoyes Michalos & Associates is here to help – if you have questions, feel free to give us a call at 310-PLAN, or complete our free on-line evaluation, and let’s get started.

I spoke to a client this past week who was worried that if she called us, she would have to file bankruptcy. Calling a Trustee in Bankruptcy is no different than calling any other professional and asking for help. The decision to file bankruptcy or a consumer proposal is your decision. The job of a Trustee in Bankruptcy is to insure that you are empowered with the information you need in order to make the decision that is best for you. So, what will happen if you call Hoyes Michalos & Associates? First, you will speak to one of our professionals who will answer the questions you have about your financial situation. If YOU decide that you want more information, a free consultation can be arranged. It’s as simple as that. There is no obligation.

The Hoyes Michalos & Associates team is committed to educating you about your options. If you are struggling with the stress of debt, and need some information about your options, please call us at 310-PLAN, or e-mail us a question.

There are many reasons that so many Canadians find themselves unable to manage their debt. I see many clients who have fallen behind in their payments to creditors because of illness. As long as we are working, and able to meet our financial obligations, life continues on. So often, however, we are faced with a crisis that suddenly, and often without warning, changes our lives in a very dramatic way.

Dealing with illness is one such crisis. We can be well one day, only to wake up to a debilitating illness the next. In my former career on the front lines of the healthcare system, I was part of a team that assisted people back to the path of physical wellness.

Now, as a member of the Hoyes Michalos & Associates team, I see another side to illness; the side that deprives people who are ill of their ability to manage financially. The combination of financial and physical stress is compounded by the emotional stress that accompanies illness.

If you are dealing with illness, and are struggling to manage financially, we may be able to help. Call 310-PLAN to book a free consultation, or e-mail us a question, and let’s get started.

Some lenders require thier borrowers to sign a form called a “Voluntary Wage Assignment”, which allows the borrower’s wages to be garnisheed if they do not repay the loan as agreed upon. Pay day loan companies and Credit Unions commonly ask borrowers to sign these types of forms. In the event that the loan is not repaid, the form is sent to the borrower’s employer.

I am often asked if it is possible to stop a voluntary wage assignment without declaring personal bankruptcy. Here are the facts: In order to garnishee your wages in Ontario, a creditor must take you to court and sue you, and then obtain a Garnishment Order from the court. The only exceptions are a Credit Union to whom you have given an assignment of wages, or Canada Revenue Agency. If the creditor has not taken you to court, and has not obtained a Garnishment Order, the only way that the voluntary wage assignment can be enforced is if you consent to the employer garnisheeing your wages.

Said another way, even though you have signed the voluntary wage assignment form, the form is not legally binding in Ontario; you can instruct your employer to not enforce it, and your employer is required to do as you ask.

While generally, you can ask your employer to stop a voluntary wage assignment, the wage assignment may be a symptom of a greater financial problem. If you are having problems meeting your financial obligations, please contact us to arrange a no charge consultation with one of our professionals.