They looked like deer in headlights. After delivering the last of the content for the two-hour Women’s Money Group meet-up on investing basics, I actually said, “You look shell-shocked!” Normally, after the meetings, the room is abuzz with conversations and laughter as the women pack up their things and make their way out. This night […]
Minimizing Exposure and Financial Risk During Separation
Emily* is concerned. She is preparing to leave an abusive marriage and she’s worried that when she leaves, her husband will try to sabotage her financially using their shared credit accounts. They have a joint credit card, which has a balance in the low four-figures, but most pressing is their Home Equity Line of Credit, […]
TFSAs and RRSPs Are Not Investments
If you open a TFSA and put some money in there, is it invested? Is the money you put into that account guaranteed to grow? Can you simply pull money out of your RRSP to use it for other purposes, like paying down debt, without any issues? Is that possible? I’ve just had several conversations […]
How To Get Your Credit Score For Free – And What The Catch Is
A venture capitalist, doubling as a professor during a week of mini university for high school students, told my daughter the following: When you get something for free, you are the product. They were looking into free apps and how companies make money when they give their products away for free. There’s always a catch. […]
Financial Lessons From a Taxi Driver
I don’t know what it is about me and taxi drivers. Whenever I’m in a car alone with them – something that happens infrequently – they tell me their life story. Four years ago, I was told by a driver that he was too old to succeed and that I am really old. Well, that […]
Two Words for Women: Be Bold (A Rant)
Warning: Bold language ahead. Proceed at own risk. When I was in Grade 12, I was obliged to have a meeting with our school’s guidance counsellor about my future. I was applying to universities and his task was to help me make wise choices regarding my career. The results of my aptitude test (I did […]
When It Makes Sense To Rent a Home Instead of Buying
When I published my last blog post on the fact that it does not always make sense to keep the matrimonial home in a divorce, I received emails from people heading into a divorce for whom that issue was timely. Should they rent or buy another home, they wanted to know? Then I heard from a […]
Not All Dollars are Equal in Divorce Settlements
Tim and Connie decided to call it quits after more than a decade of marriage. There wasn’t a big crisis; it’s just that they grew apart. While one of them wasn’t entirely happy with the decision, they both came to accept that separation, and ultimately divorce, was inevitable. There was just one problem: they both […]
Paying Off Debt: An Effective Budgeting Approach
If a woman is trying to pay off debt, should she let the cleaning lady go? Is that a superfluous cost? What about expensive hockey team fees and equipment costs for her son? Are you tempted to say yes in both cases? If so, consider this: Years ago, two women, Gwen and Jean*, approached me […]
Where do you cheap out?
Have you ever done this: You sit down for a restaurant meal and the waiter hands you the menu, asking if you’d like something to drink. “Water would be great, thank you,” you respond. Then you look over the food offerings with one eye on the items and the other on the price. Your choice […]
