Credit Canada

Laurie Campbell is the Executive Director of Credit Canada and a well known spokesperson on credit related issues.  Laurie has been in the credit counselling industry for over 18 years and has a unique understanding of the financial and socio-economic struggles Canadians now face. (more…)

Words to the wise on personal money management.

To everyone out there who is anxious about money and credit, let me say this: invest in a little knowledge and you will be surprised by how quickly you can leave your worries behind.

A first big step in this process is to do a little reading – or a lot of reading, as the case may be. There are plenty of great books you can buy to help you on the road to sound personal money management. Here, largely from a Canadian perspective, I provide an overview of just a few books of interest, not necessarily in order of importance.

• Findepedendence Day. By Jonathan Chevreau. Publisher: Power Publishers.

One of the best books you will find about financial self help is Findependence Day by Jonathan Chevreau, who writes for Canada’s Financial Post. It’s a beautifully written work that combines fiction with fact, resulting in a terrific story that educates even as it entertains. Here is a tale about a couple who are trying to dig themselves out of a financial hole. The story is about how they do it, with a lifetime of common sense lessons thrown in about how to smartly manage, save and invest money. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. (more…)

On Tuesday, January 19th at noon ET, I will be participating in an online discussion on how to tackle holiday bills and dig your way out of the holiday debt.  Join me in the discussion at globeandmail.com at noon.

It’s not the money, it’s the mindset. Just ask some unlucky lottery winners.

Over time I’ve landed on some strange shores while surfing the Internet. What I’ve found is sometimes appalling. Like stories about big lottery winners who end up being big losers simply because they have no clue about what to do with their winnings.

Well, it actually goes deeper than that. It’s not just that these people lack money management skills, it’s that their attitude towards money is deeply flawed. These are people who by and large believe that money in and of itself solves all of life’s problems. The notion that money is just a tool, and that the (more…)

So, a new year is upon us and with it comes the challenge of making and managing money. Or not.

I address myself to those who are making money but not managing it very well. If 2009 proved to be a difficult if not disastrous time for you money wise, listen up. I bet a dollar to a donut the trouble comes from your insistence on living dangerously – spending beyond your means, and not making what little effort is necessary to create and follow a budget.

Yes, you heard correctly. A budget. In fact, a monthly budget that turns into an annual budget – something that will take you right through to 2011.

Life can be very troublesome without this little aid. You find suddenly that (more…)

Come the holiday season, I can’t help but think about George Bailey of Bedford Falls. Otherwise known as actor Jimmy Stewart, George and his townsfolk have become a staple of Christmas viewing as TV and cable networks air what the American Film Institute has labeled the most inspiring film of all time, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, directed by Frank Capra.

George Bailey offers a life lesson to all of us as a man who gives everything he has to family and friends, only to find that he is threatened with financial ruin; thanks to the dishonesty of Bedford Fall’s sleazy slumlord, Mr. Potter. But as George prepares on Christmas Eve to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, his guardian angel Clarence Odbody arrives to save the day. (more…)