30-Day Wealth Builders Masterclass for Canadians and America

Video Transcript:

Hi everyone it’s Christine, welcome back. So here is the secret to building wealth: all you have to do is earn more than you spend, and invest the difference for an ongoing income. Put another way,there are three ways to increase your cash flow. You can increase your income, decrease your expenses or both.

In this section we will talk about pumping up your income, and just a heads-up, your challenge exercise for this unit is to find a way to increase your income either on the job, or some other way. But don’t worry, we will cover every step of the process . The first step, if you're currently employed, is earning as much as you can, at the job you’re in right now. If you’re looking for work right now, be sure to listen in as we’ll be addressing that as well.

Now I’ll talk more about this in our our Financial Independence, Retire Early course, but basically there are a several ways to increase your income on the job: you can ask for a raise or a promotion, you can move to another company for a better salary, or you can transition into your own business, which we’ll cover in the next lesson. When positioning yourself for a raise, do some research on what other people in the field are earning, and look at other employment options at the same time. Be open to improving your skills or certifications, if that can get you where you want to be.

You can also take on more of what you’re already doing: offer to put in overtime, or work more projects for your current employer, if that’s what you need to do to increase your earning capabilities.

If you are in the market for something new, it’s actually a pretty good time to be looking these days, as a lot of things have changed and people are in transition.For better or for worse, the workforce is in flux, so you might just be in a really good spot.

A word of advice is to do some really good research into job prospects and earning potential, especially if you’re moving into another field, or just getting into the job market for the first time. If you’re lucky enough to live in Canada or the United States, check out your local library, as they tend to have access to some very good databases covering career prospects and potential income, and they can probably connect you with some excellent resources. So start to review your options, as you plan to increase your income on the job.

Video Transcript:

Hi, everyone. We are talking about earning more to build wealth. We’ve talked about increasing income on the job, and in this section, we're going to talk about launching a side business for income. I invite you to download the first of the free ebooks included with this course, “425 Tips to make money, save money, and live a great life,” and take a look at some of the options out there, as you consider how to earn more, towards your goal of building wealth.

Probably the most important step is to be creative. Start to consider what you’ve got to offer: do you have specialized skills or experience? One option is to do what people already want to hire you to do, as a consultant, for your current employer or to your personal connections

The so-called gig economy is worth looking into as well, so consider what might be in the opportunities of certain niche markets or interest groups. Ask around. Consider yard work, child care, computer IT services, bookkeeping, accounting, website design, anything you can do in person or online is something that you can set up as an ongoing revenue opportunity. Get creative, put yourself out there, and start thinking of ways to diversify into different income sources, to start up your wealth-building process. And, you can use your ideas to complete your challenge exercise for this unit, which is to find a way to increase your income, either on the job or on your own, towards your goal of building wealth. See you next time.

Video Transcript:

Hi, everyone, Christine here, and we’re talking about income. Every once in a while, something amazing happens: you get a bonus coming, a gift, a tax refund, who knows, but when that moment arrives, you need to be ready to leverage it to push you towards your goals. Here are seven ideas to leverage a tax refund or any kind of unexpected income, to get you started on the road to wealth:

1. Your first priority should be to pay off high interest debt. Take a look at our Debt-free living section for details, but essentially, credit cards, department store cards and payday loans are some of the worst offenders. You will never, ever find a guaranteed risk free 18 to 21 percent return in the stock market or in any other kind of investment. But by paying down your credit cards, risk-free 18 to 21 percent return is exactly what you get. You’ll feel great and save yourself lots of interest expenses right away.

2. Build up your emergency fund. Start with as little as you like, but over time, your goal is to have six months of expenses stashed in a risk free savings account to cover emergencies like job loss or medical emergency. If six months is unrealistic, aim for two months, two weeks. Whatever you can start with, use at least part of your next windfall to build up your emergency savings account.

3. Gain a tax advantage for the future. Contribute to your retirement account, TFSA or RRSP for Canadians or IRA or Roth IRA for Americans. We’ll talk more about this \ later in the course, but this is a very nice way to directly build your wealth, while also getting a handy income tax benefit.

4. Does your employer match retirement savings contributions? This is increasingly rare. It basically means that for every one dollar you contribute to your investment account, your company will contribute an additional dollar to your account, or fifty cents, if it’s a 50% match. It’s well worth taking advantage of if you’re one of the lucky ones to have access to this kind of thing. This is one caveat: remember to diversify your assets, if your company requires you to invest exclusively in company shares. Think very carefully about how to balance your investments into other areas.

5. Invest in yourself or your children with an education fund, more schooling, or a business launch. These are great ways to get a head start for yourself or your children, so consider that option.

6. And look, if you get to a point where you’re pretty well positioned financially, consider spending some money on yourself or your family. Now might be a great time to consider a special family event or purchase that everyone can enjoy, if you’ve ticked off most of the other boxes.

7. Give back. If this windfall truly came out of the blue, you might want to send some along to something or someone you care about.

The important thing is to mindfully use these opportunities to launch you towards your next step. So, thanks and see you next time.

Video Transcript:

Hi, it's Christine here. Welcome to our Debt-Free Living module. The first lesson is Debt: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It's important to remember that not all debt is a bad thing.

Examples of positive debt can include education loans, if they're in line with reasonable income projections; a home mortgage; debt for a rental business, or a business enterprise. Also, age is a factor. In general, young people tend to have more debt than older people because their expenses tend to be quite high and their earning power might be quite low.

But we all know that owing money can sometimes devastate our best efforts, even threatening our health or relationship. The real problem is consumer debt. Consumer debt is any debt acquired to purchase things you will use or consume instead of investing in yourself or your portfolio. Credit card debt especially, and I would add payday loans, can be hard to get out of. In this series, we're going to make a plan to review your debt and strategize how to pay it off.

If you feel uncomfortable about your debt load, take heart. You'll be surprised how motivated you'll feel with a clear, practical system in place. You will have a plan in place, you’ll be making progress, and you’ll be sleeping better before you know it. I'll see you next time.

Video Transcript:

In a moment we will discuss ways to reduce your credit card interest rates. First, we’ll look at some out-of-the-box options, and then we’ll work on a do-it-yourself way to get your interest rates down.

Consolidation loan - they will only do this once.

Go to a non-profit credit counseling agencyLower rate credit card - not a quick fix

Bankruptcy: no child support, no student loans,co-signers get the full debt, problems getting credit,

Do-it-yourself:

Take a deep breath, telephone each company, and ask for a break on the interest rate.

Not sure what to say? Explain that you are a long term customer if you are, that you always make your minimum payment if you do, and you always pay on time (if this is true.

Or just say you’re working hard to get your account current, and you’d like their best interest rate to help you meet your obligations.

It’s not a bad idea to mention another credit card starter rate as an example.

If they say they can’t help you, ask (politely) if you can speak to a supervisor. Almost always you can get a cut on your interest rate just for calling.

Be sure to write down the date and the name or employee number of the person you talked to, with a note about the new rate and minimum payment. Update your spreadsheet, and congratulate yourself for a job well done. You just saved yourself hundreds or thousands of dollars with a few phone calls.

Video Transcript:

Hi everyone, welcome to Debt video lesson “Time for Clarity”.  Students will complete this lesson with a clear understanding of exactly how much money you owe and to whom, and major step towards peace of mind. First gather documentation for any amounts you owe, including credit card, department store cards, car loans, payday loans, education loans, home equity loans and mortgages, as well as any personal or family loans.

After this it gets easier. We promise.

For each loan find the most recent statement. Put the others aside.

Download a copy of the Debt Spreadsheet. Or, prepare a sheet of lined paper with these headings: Loan company, total owed, monthly minimum payment, finance charge if any, and annual interest rate, and due date if any.

Remember to include personal and family loans. At the very end, just total it up. That’s it, that’s the end of the lesson.

Hi Everyone, it’s Christine here. Welcome back!

This lesson is Choose your Target to Prioritize your debts. You will complete this lesson with a priority decision of which debt to pay off first and a strategy to get where you want to be.

I invite you to pull up the spreadsheet from the last lessons. You should have filled it out with totals at the bottom. If you haven’t then go back to lesson number one and do this.

Now there are two options for how to target your debts. You might want to choose the lowest debt amount, for a fast payoff, and quick motivation.

Or, you might want to choose the debt with the highest interest rate. This is the debt that will save you the most money. It’s entirely up to you. Let’s start with the simple stuff. Your spreadsheet might look a little like this. You’ll notice that credit card number one has a loan amount of just $45, so circle that, circle your lowest loan amount. That’s your first option.

The second item is, go over to the far right and look at your interest rates, and here the highest interest rates are 12%, so circle both of them. Those are our highest interest rates. So you want to circle the lowest loan amount, and the highest interest rate.

In this case the lowest loan amount is $45, and the highest interest rate is 12 percent. So what we’re going to do is kind of a hybrid. We’re going to select credit card number one for a fast payoff, since that has a nice low amount due, and a pretty high interest rate. So your strategy is to continue to make minimum payments and target your top priority debt, whichever one you choose, with everything you can throw at it!

So you’re targeting this very first credit card. And you’ll notice instead of just paying the minimum payment of $10, you’re going to pay off that loan amount. You’re just going to add $35 on there, just $35. And now you’re paying off $45, and it’s paid off.

And this is where the magic happens. Make minimum payments plus a small amount extra, and you’ll see the debts start to disappear.

So here we are! You’ve already crossed off your first debt, it is gone. So now you’ve decided to target credit card #2, because it has a high interest rate. Now if you look over in that far right column, you’ll see the interest rate is 12 percent, and it actually will take three and a half years to pay off that $2200. But what you’re going to do is scoot that extra $45 down from last month, so instead of making a minimum payment of just $66, you’re going to make a minimum payment of $111 on this account.

Now this is important. Keep the monthly payment at the same level, even as you’re decreasing your debt amount. You’re just putting the same amount of money in there, and decreasing your debt load, and look, now you’ve already paid off credit card number two. Maybe another credit card or loan gets paid off in the process. It looks like Uncle Bob got paid off as well; that’s great.

So now we’re targeting the car loan. So the $270 is our minimum payment, but we’re carrying down that $111 from the previous debt.

So instead of only paying $270, we’re paying $381 a month. So, at 6 percent, instead of three years and one month, it’s only two years and two months, and this is how it goes. Take the total amount you’ve been paying, and pour it into the remaining loans. They’ll go down faster and faster, as you pay them off one by one. End of lesson.

Hi Everyone, this is Christine here. This actually is a bonus lesson, a word about payday loans. If you have payday loans, just take a look at this. It will only take just a few minutes here, and you will complete this lesson with a clear understanding of why payday loans should be first on your list of debt paydown priorities.

So I filled in our debt list here, and I’ve included what’s called a payday loan. You should know that in some jurisdictions these are outlawed, and in other jurisdictions they are tightly controlled. But there are some jurisdictions where these have free reign and I’m going to want you to know what these are about, if you have payday loans.

So here I’ve got a creditor, a payday loan here. The loan amount here is $100. There’s actually no minimum payment, you just pay back the full amount after ten days, whenever you get your paycheck in, and there’s actually what they call a financing fee of $15.

Now if you think about this, for interest rates, $15 for a $100 loan actually doesn’t look that bad. It looks a little bit like a 15 percent loan, which isn’t so bad compared to the interest rate on the credit cards.

But that $15 is actually not over a year, it’s over ten days. So, I want you to see this, the interest rate, if we scoot over to this next item here, we see it’s actually 391% percent.

So if you roll this $100 for a full year, you would end up paying $391, plus the initial $100. That is a lot of money! So remember that payday loans should not be part of your credit strategy, and you need to pay those off very quickly if you possibly can.

So now, your list is going to look like this; you’re going to pay off that payday loan, you’re going to have a nice big line through that and you’re going to be very proud of yourself.

That’s it! That’s the end of the lesson. Good work.

Hi everyone, it's Christine here, welcome back! In this lesson, you will supercharge your debt paydown, and I'm going to give you some really good news about this process, so you'll complete this lesson with tips and tricks to pay down your debt, plus very good news to keep you motivated.

So first of all, this is pretty obvious, pay on time. Don't pay late on your debts on your credit cards, or even pay early. You don't have to wait till your bill arrives. You can pay biweekly every time you get a paycheck in, or you can make paydowns as early and often as possible. That will reduce your interest charges. The quicker you pay it off, the less you pay in interest.

Keep the amount consistent. Even as you pay off your bills each time you pay off your credit card, take the amount you've been paying towards that card, and send it down to the next one and then it will be like a snowball rolling downhill and getting faster and faster.

Remember that done is better than perfect. Life does happen. If things fall apart, just get back on your plan. It will go smoother as time goes by.

Don't lose hope on this and I'm going to tell you something that will make it worthwhile. Are you ready? Here's a tip for the real payoff: In this process, the skills and strategies you're using to become debt free are the same skills and strategies you use to build your wealth portfolio. Take the money you've been paying every month and start putting it towards your wealth, when you're done.

I'll say this again when you're done paying your debts, take the money you've been paying out every month towards your debt, and start putting it towards your wealth, and you will get very rich. Remember that these skills will not only get you debt free, but they'll build you into a wealthy person if you stick to them.

This is your get rich plan. Keep applying your magic monthly payments towards your debt, and towards your wealth plan, and soon you will be celebrating your own beautiful, sexy, amazing debt free life.

Good work! End of lesson.

Hey everyone, it's Christine, welcome back. At the beginning of this course I said that there are three ways to increase cash flow: earn more, spend less, or both. We’ve talked about earning more, to build wealth, and we’ve talked about taking steps towards debt-free living. Now it’s time to discuss spending less, to build wealth.

In this first lesson, we cover the basics of how to minimize spending on a home mortgage, if you are considering one or have one already. This lesson might feel a little bit dense, but I urge you to take a look because you can save tens of thousands of dollars on your mortgage if you use just a few of these handy tips.

OK, so tip number one when buying a home is to buy to live, don't buy to invest. A home is for living in. Certainly I do favor an investment plan, but unless you’ve thought it through very carefully, it’s a good idea to keep your living plans separate from your investment plans.

Tip number two is to buy a home to stay there. People used to buy a “starter home,” which isn’t a bad idea of your planning on having children in a few years and needed more space later, but keep in mind there are a lot of fees involved in mortgages and moving house, and you want to avoid those fees by planning to stay at least three to five years, or preferably ten years, in one place. Constant upgrades can really eat into your capital, so try to find a place you like and stay.

Tip number three: while there are certain tax benefits in both the US and Canada that are associated with home mortgages, remember that a mortgage is primarily a loan, NOT a tax benefit. Typically, the benefit, if it exists, only covers the mortgage interest, not the principal, so don’t get a loan just to tell yourself it’s a great tax benefit.

Tip number four, and this is especially valid right now as I’m recording this: assume that the interest rate could go up, especially in times of inflation, , which means that in five years or so, whenever you renegotiate the terms of the loan contract, you might be paying a higher monthly payment.

So cut yourself a little extra slack. The banker will review your finances and tell you how much money you are “qualified to borrow”, but you don’t need to borrow that much! Don’t overborrow just because the bank says you can. Keep your mortgage principal reasonable to keep your payments reasonable, and you will be very glad you did.

Here are a couple basic terms:

A mortgage is a loan. The principal is the amount of the loan, the total amount that you are borrowing to make your purchase. The interest is the additional amount you pay for the privilege of borrowing.

The interest rate is the annual percentage interest you pay on the loan, so it’s a good idea to ask around at different banks and credit unions for the lowest interest rates.

Also, many times the mortgage banker has some flexibility on the interest rate, so be sure to ask if they'll cut you a little bit of an extra break on the interest rate.

Typically, you have a monthly payment, which is how much you pay every month.

Amortization is how long it would pay off the full mortgage at the current rate of interest. Traditionally, these were 25 years, sometimes 30 years, which means it might take 25 or 30 years, at the current rates, to pay off the loan. If you want to pay less interest over the length of the loan, you can ask for a shorter amortization, of perhaps 10 or 15 years. The bank makes a lot less money off you that way because you pay much less in total interest, but, you’ll end up paying a bit more each month, so if you can afford that, it’s a nice way to end up paying lots less in interest over the years, and own your home a lot more quickly.

The mortgage term is how long the loan contract is, and typically, you sign a five year mortgage term, and at the end of the contract term, you have to go back to the lender and renegotiate the rates and the payments. If the interest rates rise, you could pay a higher interest rate in the next five year term, which means a higher monthly payment. So the term is usually five years, and the amortization is 25 or 30 years, but you can reduce the total interest paid by asking for a shorter amortization.

There are other ways to pay less interest on your mortgage, and own your home sooner. You can ask for an early paydown option, which is when the bank allows you to put down extra on your loan every year, or every month, to pay it off much faster. You can also arrange a biweekly mortgage payment instead of monthly, which also pays it off more quickly. When you ask about this, be sure any prepayments are applied to the principal only so that you're reducing your principal and not just giving them more interest payments. I’m going to try to include a mortgage calculator with this course, so you can spend some time playing around with numbers and see what works best for you.

Also remember that each mortgage payment amount might be a bit higher with these strategies, but because you’re paying it down so much more quickly, you can save tens of thousands of dollars over time and own the property, outright, much more quickly.

Thanks. Next time we’ll talk about the number one best way to cut your tax bill. See you then.

Hi, everyone its Christine here. I'm going to talk about the number one way to reduce your tax bill, and it's a pretty big deal, so stick with us.

The number one way to set up your investment portfolio as a government-designated “tax favored” investment. If you’re in Canada that means setting up your account as an RRSP or a TFSA, and if you’re in the United States you will use what’s called an IRA, or a Roth IRA, or perhaps something like a 501(k) if that’s offered at your workplace. And other countries have these too by the way; I believe Australia has something called a Superannuation Pension, so definitely investigate your options.

There are two terrific ways these types of investments can save you money. First, the IRA and the RRSP will allow you a tax deduction for the amount of your contribution, which can be very nice especially if you’re paying tax on a fairly high income. You can even carry forward the deduction amount to future years, so even if your income isn’t that high now, consider contributing to this type of account.

The other truly amazing way these investments can save money is by reducing your tax obligation when you cash in the account later on. The Roth IRA and the TFSA both allow you to withdraw income that has increased in value over the years, without having to pay capital gains tax on the income.

And listen, I want to give a special shout-out to the Canadian TFSA solution, which does not have an age requirement to cash it in. That means you can set up your initial SAVINGS account, as a TFSA, if you’re Canadian, and you can withdraw that money whenever you need, even if it’s long before retirement. Do not miss out on these awesome opportunities.

One caveat: there are very specific limits of how much money you can apply to these accounts, and if you exceed those limits, you could be subject to a very rigorous government penalty. So when you set up the accounts, check very carefully with your banker or advisor and be sure you’re not over-contributing. Stick to that, and you will see substantial tax savings over the years, through these lovely tax-favored investment vehicles. Join us next time, when we’ll talk about even more ways to cut your tax bill. Thank you.

So we’ve already covered tax-favored investment options for Canada and the US. T he second way you can reduce your tax-related expenses is to actually file your tax return. Nobody likes filing a yearly tax return, but if you earned any money, you’re required to, and it will help you in a number of ways.

First, if the government owes you a tax refund, you’ll get your refund that much quicker if you file your return on a timely basis.

The second is even if you don’t owe any taxes, and you haven’t earned any money you still might be eligible for certain government income benefits, if you file your tax return.

Third, be sure to file a return even if you’re very young and have a very low income, because it allows you to start accumulating RRSP contribution room in Canada, or IRA contribution room if you’re American, which will help you in future years.

If you actually owe money on your taxes and can’t pay, you still need to file your taxes.

First of all, you will avoid late filing penalties. If you can’t pay, you can usually arrange something with the authorities to minimize the extra interest, but if you file late, then you owe a late penalty on top of that and you definitely want to avoid that if you can. So that’s why filing your taxes on time, can actually help you.

The second way to reduce your tax bill is something I’ve already talked about in this course, and that is to own your own business or side business, and keep track of your business expenses for a write-off, against whatever income you make from the business. You can minimize taxes on a home office area, on a vehicle, and on mileage if you travel to visit clients, and items like computers and equipment if you use it primarily for your business. Check with your accountant for specifics, but at least hang on to your receipts, even if you're just making a few hundred dollars on the side every month or so, so it can be applied against your business income.

Tax reduction strategy number three: A lot of people don’t think to do this, but if you have a year of very expensive medical costs, definitely keep track of all those costs, and that would include medical, dental, any sort of disability expenses, eye expenses, prescribed lenses and glasses and contacts, any medications that are not reimbursed, an even in some cases travel back and forth for specialized medical treatment. It has to equal (or exceed) a certain percent of your income, maybe 3%, so definitely keep track of all those receipts for you and your family because it’s cumulative. Not only that, but you can spread things out over two calendar years if they are still within 12 months of each other, so hang on to everything if you and your family have a really high-expenses medical year.

Number three: You probably already know this, if you own your own home it can be an advantage. In the United States you get a tax benefit you can write off the interest on your mortgage for your primary residence, your home. In Canada you can get what’s called the Home Owners Property Tax grant for your home and I suspect it’s very similar in other countries as well. So owning your own home or condominium, can definitely work to your favor if you’re interested in doing that.

Four: At the present time there are no estate taxes in the United States or in Canada, but you can reduce probation fees and lengthy waiting time for your family, if you set up a solid estate plan. I’ll talk about this later in the course but keep this is mind as an important part of your financial strategy, and a way to reduce costs over the long term.

Strategy Five: Sales tax is a little tricky. We all want to minimize sales tax, especially now that inflation is becoming such an issue again .

Most of us know that if you’re buying gasoline it might be a good idea to go to another nearby jurisdiction where they might have lower gas prices and taxes. I think there’s actually a cell phone app that will do a price comparison for you.

Also, understand there is one item that is usually free for sales taxes: that is essential groceries. It varies by state, but essentially things like fruits and vegetables, or fruit juice, are usually free of sales tax, while soda or sugary fruit “drink” is not sales-tax free. If you buy potato chips at a convenience store, you might pay sales tax, but if you buy them at a grocery store, they might be free of sales tax. So do a little experimenting in your state or province and keep your eye on the grocery receipts, to see how best to minimize tax, and maybe even maximize health and wellbeing at the same time.

Strategy six is charitable giving. If you do make regular donations to a charity or religious institution, they’ll usually send you a receipt at the end of the year, so hang on to that receipt and you’ll get a partial income tax write-off.

Okay that’s six additional tax-saving strategies. Remember to keep your taxes low and your income high.

Hi, everyone, it's Christine here, and today we’re talking about building wealth by spending less. You’ll find lots more in “400 ways to make money, save money, and live a great life”, one of two ebooks included with this course. Today I’ll be listing ten sources for great free stuff, plus there's an extra bonus, number 11, thrown in, just for fun.

OK, a great source for basic financial advice is your bank or credit union. Just go in or make an appointment and ask for a debt review, financial review, or education loan planning meeting with one of their people. They can usually help you by explaining budgeting, savings accounts, checking accounts, basic tax vehicles or investment fund options, if you do business with them, and use their products.

Two: Easy budget tracking for free on Mint.com. Originally in the United States, I think they’ve recently opened in Canada as well, so if you live in Canada or the United States, Mint.com is great for budgeting, account tracking and investment and loan projections for free. It’s a great way to know exactly how much you’re spending and where, how much you’re earning, and where it’s all going.

Source number three: Free internet access you probably already know is available in some cities, so if that’s you, then you’re lucky, otherwise go to your local library, some local retailers and cafes, and your workplace in your off hours if you need to if you don’t want to pay internet fees.

Source number four: if you're a little bit tired of paying for the Microsoft Office suite you have several options. First, look into the Google options, they have internet connected GoogleDocs, as well as a very nice slide presentation alternative and a number of others as well. If you don’t have easy access to the interest, there’s an excellent freeware option called OpenOffice.org which you can download and use on any computer. I myself used it for several years and I found the learning curve extremely easy. So It's well worth looking at.

Five: Free blog posting, you can start a blog at WordPress.org. You can also get on to HubPages which also allows income sharing options if you'd like to work towards becoming a blogger, but don’t want to set it up yourself.

Six: For free household stuff, definitely check out Freecycle dot org. I have found it's especially great for kids' stuff and clothing. Also, look at Craigslist and Kijiji and of course local facebook pages, and be sure to pass on the favor when you have things as well that can be passed on to the next household.

Seven: For free home repair advice I routinely walk into my local hardware store and say, Hi, this little thing is no longer connected to that little thing and I don’t know what to do. How can I fix it? And they will hand you an item for $7.49 and tell you exactly how to fix it. Even if you're a complete amateur, so do talk to the pros at your local hardware store for home repair advice.

Source Eight: Hey, I cannot say enough great stuff about the local library and their website. So many libraries throughout the US and Canada offer free ebooks, free e-readers, online articles, children's books and programming ,teen groups, technical and job search assistance, English as a second language training and lots more. Do not miss out on this amazing resource.

Nine: For fitness, I really like the local community recreation center which is not free, but very cost efficient. For free options, I like the Darebee workout at Darebee.com, and Yoga by Adrienne on youtube. You can also be like one of those extra-cool folks who, during the COVID lockdowns, took the time to set up a low - cost weight room in the garage or spare room. I’m a big believer in fitness, so use your creativity and come up with something that works for you.

Source Ten: For a free good deed click to give at GreaterGood.com. I always go straight to the animal welfare page, although I see they’ve got a Ukraine fundraiser posted on there at the moment. You can set up a daily email with one click as a reminder and there’s no cost.

This is a bonus: for another very cool free good deed option, check out Kiva.org. With Kiva.org, you can lend a small amount of interest free money, whatever amount you like, as a loan for Micro Enterprise in developing countries, so people can get a small business going, and then they pay it back to the fund in small amounts. So it is free. It's really easy. You do forfeit the interest return so you do not make interest. However, repayment rates are very strong. You can take your money out, but I just keep ours rolling in there, so lots of people can benefit over the years, and, it allows you to be a venture capitalist, supporting small businesses around the globe.

So that's 10 great ideas for great free stuff, plus the 11th for free. So take a look, and I hope it really helps. Thanks.

Welcome, so we’re here to talk about how to build wealth, and wealth-building is not complete unless you’ve made a plan to pass it on to the people who depend on you. So we’re going to talk about how to set up a will and estate plan. And by the way, you are not too young to think about this; I made my first estate plan when I was just 26 years old. So now is the time.

So when I was a lawyer in Chicago many years ago, I used to design estate plans for high net worth clients, and today, you’ll hear what an estate plan really is, what is included, and the purpose of each element, so you’ll know what to expect.

An estate plan is usually designed by a lawyer, solicitor, or a Notary Public. An estate plan acts to ensure a fair and speedy distribution of assets upon death, and sometimes will reduce taxes and fees for the family. Think of it as a gift to your loved ones.

An estate plan usually includes a will, which is a signed document saying how your assets will be passed out, when you’re gone.

If you have children, you include guardianship instructions, to appoint a guardian to make sure someone reliable is available to raise them.

An estate plan may include a trust, which is when property is held by one person (the trustee) for the benefit of another, the beneficiary, who is typically a child, or unable to take care of their own finances. There are revocable living trusts, there are charitable trusts, and there are special needs trusts designed for those with mental incapacity, so this is where you talk to a legal advisor.

Powers of attorney are typically also included, which is when you select someone you trust to make medical or financial decisions for you. Generally, if doctors determine a patient cannot make or communicate decisions, that's when the power of attorney kicks in. And it doesn’t kick in at all, unless it’s needed, and we also include living will. A living will includes directions for medical care in the most extreme situations.

Most lawyers will recommend property ownership review. If you own property jointly with another person, the joint owner inherits the property, which is fine, if that’s what you want to happen. So be aware if you add an adult child onto your bank account to help you pay bills, that adult child will automatically inherit that full account, and be subject to lawsuits from the other heirs, which is why we need to do a careful review.

A life insurance review is also a good idea, in case it's needed to finance child care or living expenses for your loved ones. Term life insurance is less expensive than universal life insurance which lasts through your whole life and costs more.

All right, so those are the basics. In the next lesson we’ll talk about red flags. If these red flags apply to you, then you especially need to prioritize a good estate plan. See you then.

Welcome everybody. It's Christine here and this is Wills and Estates lesson two, red flags for an estate plan. To review, an estate plan is a fundamental element of your financial strategy. It is for your partner, your children or your dependents. It's also for you, in case you need help with medical care, or financial decisions.

OK, red flag number one. If you have minor children, older family members, or mentally disabled family members who depend on you then you want to prioritize an estate plan. You’ll set up guardianship instructions, a life insurance review, and perhaps a special needs trust, so it’s a good idea to address that.

Red Flag two: if you have recently married or divorced or common law, or if you've recently given birth or adopted a child, you need to get an estate plan review to clarify the beneficiaries of your assets and insurance. This is especially important in a same-sex partnership. Marriage laws are different in different jurisdictions, and this allows you to make your own law, for who inherits your assets.

And red flag #3: if you're married or in common law relationship in Canada, and have children from a prior relationship, then an estate plan with a trust, might be a really good idea to designate how assets are distributed between your children, and your current partner.

I also think it’s a good idea to review your estate plan if your family has a history of Alzheimer's disease or dementia, just to be sure trusted powers of attorney are in place for late-life care.

So, in short: If you have any children, anybody who depends on you. If you are recently married or divorced; If you're partnered, with children from a previous relationship, if you’re in same-sex partnership, or if you have a family history of illness, consider it a special invitation to prioritize your estate plan, or plan a review, if you haven’t done that in the last five or ten years. See you next time.

Hi everyone, welcome back. It's Christine here. We're going to talk about investment basics. The first issue is when to invest, and when not to invest. We’ll talk about the difference between investing and saving, and the principle of asset allocation.

So very quickly, we're going to distinguish between a savings account versus an investment account. A savings account is easily accessible in times of emergency, whereas an investment account can take longer to access. A savings account is created to access any time it is needed, whereas an investment account is invested forlong term growth, usually five years or more. A savings account earns interest, and grows at a slow and steady rate, just a teeny tiny bit more than inflation, whereas an investment account might grow a lot more quickly, but it can also sink depending on the market, so it tends to be much more risky, which is why we never use investment accounts, as an emergency savings vehicle.

So I’m a big believer in building wealth, with investments, but it's important you do not invest until you’ve met a few basic requirements.

Number one. Do not open an investment portfolio until you’ve launched an emergency savings account. You can start with as little as you like, but experts recommend you build up your savings account to cover three to six months of expenses, because if you invest, and your investment sinks and then you have an emergency, you’ll lose your shirt. So, savings account first.

Second, you probably shouldn’t invest until you've paid off most or all of your high interest debt like your credit card or your payday loans. When you pay these off, it’s the equivalent of a guaranteed 18 to 20% or more investment return, because that’s how much money you won’t be having to pay any more to the credit card companies. The sole exception typically, is if your company fully or partially matches your investment contributions, in which case an investment probably would be a good idea, but in all other circumstances, pay off your high interest debt first. If you’ve met these requirements and you’re ready to get started, join us for our next lesson with two most important keys to investment growth.

Studies indicate that two factors fundamentally impact how much growth you will experience in your investment wealth portfolio. The two most important factors are early investment, and asset class distribution, and we’ll be discussing both today.

Early investment is crucial. In general, the earlier you start investing in your life, the longer your timeline, and the better and the more your investments will grow over time. So if you are ready to invest, get started right away even if you feel you haven’t got much to start with. It makes a difference.

There are five investment classes: stocks or shares, bonds, cash accounts or cash equivalents, real estate, and commodities, which are things, like art or coin collections. The most common portfolio assets are stocks, bonds and cash.

First are stocks. When you own stock, you own a share of a company. You buy the stock, the company invests the money to grow the company, and if the company grows, you get dividends back from the company. You can also sell the stock on the open market and get whatever people are willing to pay for it. If you get back more than you paid, your capital “gains”, get bigger, so you pay capital gains taxes. If you make back less, then you experience capital losses and get a capital loss deduction from future taxes.

After stocks, we have bonds. A bond is an IOU. That is, you loan money to a company for them to grow with, and then they pay you interest, and pay back the loan. You can also sell the bond on the open market for whatever people are prepared to pay for it.

Stocks and bonds are the two most important asset classes of an investment portfolio, and the interesting thing is balance against each other. Stocks, of course, tend to be much riskier than bonds, but bonds tend to be more reliable. Not only that, but when stocks are rising in value, bonds are usually falling in value, and vice versa, so they stabilize each other to an extent. The key is to have enough stock exposure that you will experience significant growth, and enough bond exposure that you can maintain some stability.

If you’ve ever answered questions or filled out a questionnaire when discussing an investment portfolio, you know that one of the questions is about your age. That’s because, younger people have a longer timeline before retirement, so they can afford more stock exposure, because they have more time for those ups and downs to balance out; whereas older people can’t afford quite so much volatility, from the word volatile or explosive, can’t afford so much volatility because they are closer to cashing out.

There's actually a formula that experts use to determine, in general, what your asset class balance should look like: Subtract your age from 100, and that is how much you should have invested in stock.

So if you are 30 years old, subtract 30 from 100 and you get 70, so you might invest up to 70% of your portfolio in stocks, and perhaps 30% in bonds.

If you’re 70 years old, subtract 70 from 100 and using this rule of thumb, you would invest only 30% in stocks, and 70% in the much more stable bond market.

The other consideration of course, is risk tolerance. Can you stand seeing your portfolio plunge to the ground on a semi-regular basis, without wanting to yank it out and lose everything you might have gained, if you’d just waited it out? So age, and risk tolerance, are a few of the considerations to consider in your asset class balance.

The third asset class is cash or cash equivalent, which is simply a small amount that is kept in the investment account that the manager can use to make purchases in case a really good deal comes up. So you might see 3-5% of the portfolio in a money market fund, just to provide some liquidity in the asset class distribution.

So that’s it: timing is important; do it soon, start early if you can, and balance your asset classes to maximize performance, while hopefully minimizing volatility. And next time we’ll talk a bit more about how a small investor can minimize that volatility in the marketplace. See you then.

I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that, unlike a savings account that earns interest, an investment account is never guaranteed. You never know which companies are going to do well, and which stocks are going to outperform the market. Over time, the stock market has historically gone up, but in the short term there are a lot of ups and downs. So, how do you get around all that uncertainty?

Two ways. The first is, don’t put all your investment in one basket, in one stock, because if it doesn’t do well, you’re going to lose your shirt. We call this strategy diversification, which means variety. It’s best to diversify with multiple companies and multiple stocks, different counties and industries, to get a better chance at riding the full stock market, in its historical rise.

The problem is, all us little bitty investors don’t really have the resources to research and invest in multiple stocks and bonds, which is why you want to look at mutual funds, or ETF funds. A fund is when a whole bunch of investors like you and I, pool our money together and get the advantage of bulk buying as a group. So that is how you manage diversification, as a small investor.

Now every fund has to have a fund manager or manager team who makes investing decisions, and every year the fund takes money out of our accounts to pay their managers. The problem is, we don’t know ahead of time which fund manager is going to be great, and create great returns, and which fund manager will have returns that lag behind the market.

So experts recommend something called an “Index fund”, which is a fund that automatically targets itself to one of the worldwide stock indexes, for example. NASDAQ or the TSE or Standard and Poor's 500. When a fund is set up to follow the rest of the market, they don’t need a fancy manager, only a plan to follow what the rest of the market is doing. And that means, lower management fees.

The advantage of an index fund or index ETF is that they tend to cost less because you pay less for the manager, since all they do is follow what everybody else is doing. Their goal is to follow the market, and as the market traditionally increases over time, your money would also increase over time, and you’ll pay less for it. That smaller management fee, or MER (management expense ratio) as it’s called in Canada, means less of your money is skimmed off every year, and more invested, and decade after decade the difference can be substantial.

So consider a diversified index fund portfolio, to benefit from diversification, while minimizing management fees and maximizing returns to follow the market.

The next problem is timing. When can you buy stocks at the best price? Well that’s actually pretty obvious, but only in retrospect. Nobody knows what the market is going to do from day to day or week to week. What if the day you buy, is the day stocks are really high, and then they go down again and you lose all that value?

That’s when you pull in a final strategy, called dollar cost averaging, which simply means you set up an automatic regular purchase, perhaps with every paycheck, of a specific amount of money that will be used to pump up your portfolio. Sometimes those dollars will buy more stocks, sometimes they’ll buy less, but over time, that will average out, to the average stock cost. And that is the dollar cost averaging method of building your portfolio.

Simply set up an automatic purchase plan, with an index fund portfolio, with an appropriate asset class balance for your age, goals and risk tolerance, and you are miles ahead in building your wealth, with an investment portfolio. Next time, we’ll talk about what to do if you’re getting right up to retirement.

Hi everyone, welcome back. It's Christine here and this lesson is about how to plan for Retirement.

So if you’re interested in retiring at a relatively young age, our Financial Independence/Retirement Early course is currently in production.

For now, we’re going to focus on the typical retirement age. Retirement typically happens when you are lucky enough to reach an age when you can no longer work, or you no longer want to work. Retirement planning is about ensuring your financial needs are met and you can live a decent life.

Now we all know that things are changing all. The. time, and I’m 100% with the many experts who say it’s up to us to rethink retirement. So, I’m going to start with some traditional retirement advice, just for background, and then I’ll discuss some more updated ways of looking at retirement preparation.

So, retirement is traditionally envisioned as a stool with three legs, and the three legs of retirement are, or were, personal savings, company pension, and government old age benefits. I will touch on each one, before moving on to a paradigm that’s a bit more relevant to our times.

If you’ve viewed the wealth portfolio planning section, you know that it’s about investing in a portfolio primarily composed of stocks and bonds, and a few cash instruments. Over time, the stock market has consistently increased in value, and eventually you will most likely get to a point where you have enough assets to live off the proceeds, typically using the 4% rule to ensure you don’t spend down the principal.

Company pensions are far less common than they once were, but if you’re lucky enough to have access to one of these, they typically are one of two kinds. The first is called defined benefit, which is when the monthly benefit is known ahead of time, which is very nice because you know exactly what your income will be and can budget for that retirement reality. The second and more common is a defined contribution plan, which is when you know how much you contributed, but you don’t know how much the benefit amount will be. If you have access to any kind of retirement pension, you are very fortunate, but if it happens to be a defined benefit plan, you are going to have a much easier time in your retirement planning.

So we’ve outlined two of the three legs of the retirement stool, as it’s called, and the third leg as I mentioned is government retirement benefits. Originally, government retirement benefits were designed to assist people for only about five or seven years past age 65, when people lived with their families and died early and it was a very helpful program for those few years.

These days, you can expect to live a healthy life for decades into retirement, and while the government benefits amounts feel very low, remember they were not intended to support people, only to act as a buffer to prevent destitution.

So with all that in mind, we’re going to need some fresh ideas, and here are some initial thoughts.

First, there is good news, and that is these days, it’s much easier for regular people who are building their own retirement portfolio to have the benefits of large-scale investment alternatives. I outlined a lot of that in the wealth portfolio section, with practical tips, so be sure to get over there and check it out so you can get as much benefit as you can from launching your own portfolio.

On top of that, consider:

First, Don’t plan to bolt out of the workplace the day you turn 65.

In fact, it’s a good idea to plan to work as long as you can. Work part time, stay in the same industry or, find a completely new field if you wish, but having some kind of income as long as possible works for you in two ways:

1. You give your investment portfolio a longer timeline, and that typically results in increased growth. Consider that what’s called the rule of 72, states that if your investments are growing at 8% a year, your investments will DOUBLE in just 9 years. In nine years, your investments will double, if you have an 8% return.

The point is, the longer you let your investments sit without you removing money, the more time they have to increase exponentially, and that time can be the difference between a very nice retirement and a VERY. Nice. Retirement . . .

1. Secondly, that extra time in the workplace means that depending on your income, you may be able continue to add even more to your retirement investment portfolio. So we’ve got even more growth on your side.

2. And three, working without having to work can be a benefit. Better heath, more mental engagement, and more social connection might be a real advantage, instead of sitting home all day. It’s worth thinking about. So it’s a good idea to keep working, even part time or in another career, as long as you’re able.

But what if you’re not able?

The second retirement strategy is to plan to pay off all your debts beforehand.

As you know, I recommend paying off ALL high interest debt before you launch an investment portfolio. On top of that, financial planner Suze Orman talks about the incredible emotional boost you get from paying off your own home ahead of retirement, and in my own experience I find that to be true. More importantly, it means you’ve significantly reduced your monthly expense requirements, and you’ve got a lot more freedom in retirement, when you don’t have that monthly burden hanging over you.

And that’s a nice segway into the next consideration for a financially sound retirement, which is to reduce your expenses. If you can enter retirement debt- and mortgage-free, you will become much more independent and secure in your financial situation than others who still owe money.

Some of that will be pretty easy. You probably won’t be paying as much in commuting expenses and professional clothing, and you may be spending less on children’s education at that point. And of course, if you’re not working, you won’t have to budget putting aside money for savings and investments anymore.

Depending on your situation, you might not need to change, too much else.

If you need to get more aggressive, there are other options. If you have a detached home, and don’t wish to relocate, you can consider taking on boarders, or renting out space for storage or parking. If you’ve made it this far, you’ve probably learned a few things over the years, so now is the time to get creative about bringing down your expenses.

So here’s a recap: retirement is traditionally founded on the three legs of personal investment, company pension and government benefits.

These days, you want to consider more creative options. For one thing, plan to work as long as you can, in some capacity, if you can.

Secondly, pay off your debt and even your mortgage for the independence that will bring you.

And third, take more aggressive steps, if you need to, to reduce your living expenses. YOu might discover that retirement is one of the busiest, and most interesting times of your life.

challenge: Launch your wealth portfolio.

You will complete this course with a personalized, custom-tailored Wealth builder plan. An important part is an investment portfolio. This challenge has two parts. You will determine if an investment is right for you at this time, and if so, for this challenge, you will launch your wealth portfolio.

First, determine if you are ready to start an investment portfolio. Open a page of your personal Wealth builder plan notebook and write “My Wealth Portfolio Plan” across the top. Ask yourself, and answer these questions. Be honest!

1. Have you paid off all high-interest consumer debt, including credit card, payday loan and department store cards?

2. Have you built up a solid emergency account with at least 3-6 months of expenses put away?

If the answer is “in progress”, then congratulate yourself. You are positioning yourself to be able to launch your own personal wealth portfolio. BUT, you need to focus on these goals first. THEN you can funnel the money you would put into these accounts, into your portfolio program. (Of course, if these goals are not yet in progress, then you need to go back and take the previous Financial Plan challenges!)

If, on the other hand, the answer is “yes I have paid off high interest debt and YES I have a robust savings account,” then you are indeed ready to launch a personal wealth portfolio.

You need to do some research and educate yourself. Book an appointment with your bank or credit union for ideas, and remember that most options offer a minimum amount of as little as $100 or $500 to get started. Index funds and exchange traded funds (ETF’s) are a nice way to proceed, because they are low-cost, and tend to follow the market without a lot of management from expensive professionals or from you personally. Be sure to set up an automatic investment program, so you’ll be buying funds on a regular basis, regardless of whether the market is expensive or cheap. (This is called dollar-cost averaging, and is a great way to ensure you get slow and steady growth regardless of market fluctuations.)

Remember these types of investments are not insured, so you can Invest only money you can afford to lose. You are aiming for long term growth, not short term fireworks. Mark a big “DONE!” across the page when you’ve launched your plan! Or plan to come back to it when the time is right.

Hi everyone. This unit is about how to pay for college or university. This first lesson is how to invest for college expenses ahead of time, lesson two is where to go to school for a cost-effective education, and lesson three is how to look for outside funding sources. As you review the options, remember that most people use a combination of different strategies, so educate yourself on the options and get creative, to put together the best plan for a cost-effective higher education.

The first step experts recommend is to discuss the issue with your children early and be very clear about plans and expectations. Start when they’re perhaps in middle school, and continue to repeat yourself over time so there are no surprises. Let your children know if you expect them to prepare for college or university, and let them know what you can pay for ahead of time. For example:

“As you know, your father and I expect you to start college after high school. We are willing to pay for you to attend state college. If you choose another option, you'll need to come up with a clear plan to convince us that it will be worth it to invest more at another school”, or “you need a clear plan to show how you will pay back any additional loans you may need.”

When you’re considering how to fund higher education, there are a couple options. First consider your employment. If you work for a college or university it's very likely that you and your children will be eligible for tuition discounts. Also consider where you want to live: if you live in an area with a really good college or university it might be well worth it considering that ahead of time.

If you decide to put away money ahead of time there are a couple very nice options. Both Canada and the United States have a government matching program where the government will provide a partial match for dollars that you invest to an education fund, perhaps contributing an additional 20% of whatever you invest towards that process. Another option, if you have more financial resources, is to set up a trust, with you as the trustee, and the minor as beneficiary. This has the advantage of trust income being taxed to the minor and not the adult, so talk to a lawyer if that interests you.

And of course, the longer your timeline, the better your investments typically will do, so start thinking when your child is young, and you can position yourself to be very well-placed by the time the funds are needed. See you in the next lesson.

Okay, welcome back to paying for College or university. We’ve talked about how to get started investing for higher education, so the next step is, where can a student go for a solid, cost-effective higher education?

But first, it’s smart to ask yourself if the student has reached the maturity level to handle a full-time college career, and there are options here as well. You can look at vocational training or certification, and the student can work towards online or local college later on, or even plan to get employer funding if possible. Adult education students are much more common than they used to be, and it is not at all unusual for someone to enter the workforce first, and then take classes later towards a higher education, when they know what they want to do and maybe get employer support.

So the next question is, if you decide to move forward, how do you pick the right school? Start with state and provincial universities which tend to be very good, and the costs are partially subsidized by taxpayers, so that’s one option.

Some state colleges actually have a reciprocal financial arrangement with other state colleges. Students living in California, for example, can attend university in other Western states, and vice versa, at state-subsidized rates. So find out if your state or provincial university has a reciprocal arrangement with any other local states or provinces.

An even better option might be to attend a local community college, even if just for a year or where you can get a very good education at a very reasonable price, and in some cases, these are free of charge to local residents. If you go this route, it’s very important to be sure the courses you take at community college are transferable to the university of your choice. That way you can ensure you’re carrying your credits with you, if you decide to transfer to another institution.

One thing I should mention is that higher education is relatively less expensive in other countries. If you truly want an international experience, at a very good price, consider Germany, France, or any number of other countries outside North America as an option.

If you decide to stay local, you can save thousands and thousands of dollars on room and board, by registering as a commuter student, and living at home. You can even consider online learning as an option, living at home, maybe working part time, and educating yourself with distance learning.

.On the other end of the scale, I have heard of parents buying a condo or buying housing for their children to live in and rent out to other students as roommates, while attending College. Afterwards, the property can be sold again. The point is, you can work out a lot if you stay creative. And getting creative is what we’ll talk about in our next lesson, about outside funding options for college.

So how do you pay for a college or university education?

First, as I mentioned in lesson one, a combination approach is best.

First, consider whether family tuition benefits might be part of the parents’ employee benefits package. People who work at a local college or university, typically are eligible for tuition benefits for themselves and their children. Plus, many hospitals are connected with universities as well, and if you’re in medicine or medical administration, and looking for work, consider family educational benefits when you make your decisions.

Employee benefits might also be an option for the student, just finishing high school. A number of employers including Walmart and Starbucks currently offer tuition benefits to their employees for online higher level learning, and it might be worth looking into.

And remember that even if it’s not advertised as an official policy, many companies will cover tuition for valuable employees to advance their education, if you ask. At the very least, an adult learner will often get reimbursed for advanced courses, if they maintain a good grade average. So there are options for outside funding, if the student is open to working while being educated.

In fact, there are other steps students can take to advance their education funding goals. Taking college level courses ahead of time is a great strategy, or testing out with AP (advanced placement) or CLEP tests (College level educational placement). This is also the chance to pump up grade point averages, in preparation for scholarship opportunities.

And that brings us to outside funding sources, which generally scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study programs. A scholarship is a gift, in any amount, that is traditionally based on scholarship, the student’s ability as a scholar, and it might be based on grades, academic standing, or test results. These days, scholarships are also offered based on ethnic affiliation, family or group, or the student’s club or interests or area of study. A scholarship can be quite small, even just $100, so definitely do an extensive search and look at lots and lots of options to find out what scholarships might be out there.

The second outside funding source is a grant. A grant is also a gift, and does not have to be paid back. A public grant is usually from the government, while a private grant is from a non government source.

The student can also work while attending college, and many campuses offer formal “work study” programs so the student can work on campus, to earn money towards tuition.

The next outside funding option is a loan. A loan needs to be paid back over a period of time, usually starting after graduation. An education loan usually has a fairly low interest rate, but you will have to pay interest. So understand that in the first three to five to ten years of your working career, you will be repaying this loan on a monthly basis. It’s a good idea to find out how much money you can realistically expect to earn in your career, before you decide on a loan amount.

Sometimes the government will provide a loan forgiveness program, based on your promise to work in a certain career. For example, medical professionals sometimes get loan forgiveness if they agree to work a certain amount of time in a very remote area, and teachers sometimes get loan forgiveness if they work in a troubled school district. The military also offers a very nice tuition benefit program, so definitely consider that as an option as well.

So we’ve talked about how to get started investing for higher education, as well as where to go to school for value and where to live, and we’ve discussed outside funding options such as employee tuition programs, scholarships, grants, work-study programs and loans. Do some thinking, do some research, and with so many options out there, you’ll be able to come up with a plan that works best for a quality, affordable higher education. See you in the next lesson.

Hi everyone, I came close to calling this section: “Yikes, it's a whole new ball game!” Sometimes you wake up, look around and you realize you are nowhere near where you want to be financially and it hurts. If you've recently been kicked to the curb in your financial life. This section is for you. Let's review the situation and take a look at ways to pull things together to get.

Back on track as soon as possible. So here's the scene. Maybe you've lost your job. It's happened before. You know you'll survive, but your financial life is on hold. Money is tight. Maybe a new baby is on the way, or an aging parent has special needs and someone in the house needs to give up a paying job for a while to provide support. Sometimes disaster hits, the market changes. You know you'll get through this, but you suspect your plans are permanently shot.

So how do we fix it? We'll work through seven steps to put the brakes on the problem, review the situation and get you back on track, and next time life smacks you around, you'll be that much better and more skilled and more powerful.

Step one is face up to the process. You know something is wrong and you're trying not to think about it. You've put off addressing it because you don't have the time, energy, focus right now. Most of all, you don't have the desire to deal with this. Stop, take a break from whatever you're doing to avoid the situation.

Clothe yourself in what's left of your dignity. Reach out for a pencil or a keyboard and take a deep breath. You are moments away from clarity.

Step 2 is determine where you stand. When a powerful storm blasts through your neighborhood, the first thing you want to do is get out there and check the damage. So quickly outline your financial assets and liabilities for revised net worth statements. This is a snapshot of your assets, what you have, and your liabilities, what you owe.

Then quickly list your income and your expenses for an income statement. As you know from other lessons an income statement, or cash flow statement, simply reviews what's coming in and what's going out, usually on a monthly basis. Basically you want to get a rough idea of what's going on with your finances.

Are you showing some forward progress? Are you right back where you started? Are you continuing to fall behind no matter the outcome? All is not lost. The skills and focus you have developed from creating your financial program are still with you. For now, take a good hard look at where you stand. You're on your way to recovery.

Step three: determine what caused the problem. After you gain a sense of your current financial state, take a few minutes to figure out what made you veer off course. There might be several causes. Sometimes the problem is you - honesty is the best course of action here - were you slipping into old bad habits? If so, join the rest of the human race. Immediate gratification is always the easiest, most attractive solution to your problems. Instead of taking the easy route, take an honest look at what went wrong.

Sometimes the problem is other people like family members or resistant partners.

Sometimes the situation is truly beyond your control. Despite the best laid plans, life sometimes runs us smack into a ditch when we least expect it. The new house needed repairs, and of course they cost twice what you expected. Hospital bills spiraled. You ran smack into some bad luck. To paraphrase a well known quote: “stuff happens.: Chalk it up to one of life's little surprises and take some steps to limit the damage. Don't blame yourself; how you deal with this difficult time is a test of who you really are.

It's also possible that you don't have a problem at all, despite appearances. You may be handling things exactly as you should. Consider. Have your goals changed without you realizing it? Childcare, eldercare, a lower paying but more rewarding career or more relaxed lifestyle, may all be reasons why your financial plan is not where you think it should be. That is not necessarily a problem. Join us next time for more.

Hi everybody, welcome back to 7 steps to get back on track. You’ve taken a hard look at the situation, and you’re starting to see through the fog. Now we're on Step 4 which is to revisit your touchstone values. Whatever your definition of wealth, ask yourself what deep down values or personal principles create resonance for you. Why are you doing this?

Perhaps you crave independence from the employment run around the freedom to choose a career, or work that truly satisfies you . . . or the pride or security of knowing you're providing the best possible future for the people you love. Find your touchstone values and you'll begin to reconnect with the process again.

Personal values change. Sometimes independence, which was once such a driving force for you may grow into a craving for greater connection with family, community or the environment. The desire to be a terrific parent for your young children may evolve as you aspire to provide the best possible model for an independent, fulfilled adult. Consider adjusting your timeline, reconnecting with your deepest principles as one of the most important lessons in creating your own version of financial independence.

Step 5: It is time to take steps to get yourself back on track. If you've made it this far, you probably already have a lot of the skills you need to make your financial goals of reality.

Make a list of three crucial steps you need to take to redirect yourself in your financial life. If you can't do that, take one small step, just one to start with. Get online to start an automatic debt repayment schedule, or book a networking event, resume review or volunteer opportunity to get yourself out there. Log in to a website and put something up for sale if you need extra cash, or post a room for rent or storage space. Take one small step today and keep on keeping on.

And that leads us to step six, what if the time is not right for action? Sometimes we're stuck, we're waiting for the kids to start school so we can take that job. We're waiting for the house to finally sell so we can relocate or for the court case to be resolved, or you're laid up and can’t get anything done just yet. This might be the most difficult of the seven steps. Stand your ground and keep your eye on your core values. This is the time to position yourself. Take care of yourself and those who rely on you. Stay positive.

Get support. Get right with yourself. And get your plan in order so when the time comes, you'll be ready to hit the ground running. Join us next lesson for the final step to get back on track.

Hi everyone, welcome back to 7 steps to get back on track. Step 7 deals with the human factor: resistance. Sometimes the problem is us, but sometimes the resistance comes from other people. Resistance from other people is tough to manage and can deep-six your financial plans like a stone in a paper boat.

So take a good hard look and take steps if you need to. Maybe your partner won't let go of destructive spending habits. Your kids pressure you to spend money in ways that no longer are in your family's best interests. Your friends pull you back into routines that don't work anymore. Try to slow down. Sometimes we expect too much too fast in our family members. Our children and partners have a lot invested in the status quo, and people are notoriously resistant to change of any kind.

Take your financial changes at a slow, steady pace and your loved ones will find the process much more palatable. Include them in the planning process. Kids might like to brainstorm ideas for reducing household expenses, especially if you work with them to see if it benefits everyone together. Your partner might hate the idea of buying things second hand until they find out they've got a real knack for negotiating the best price.

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Your friends may come around, and even offer some valuable suggestions for keeping costs down, once you explain how important it is to you. Remind them why you're doing this and that leads us to . . . sabotage. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you regretfully conclude that someone who should have your best interests at heart doesn't.

Your sister may be jealous.Your boyfriend may not want you to succeed or your parents may be more comfortable with you as a dependent child instead of a confident and responsible adult. Perhaps your old friends don’t want you to grow too far past them.

If these people support you in other ways, they may be consciously or unconsciously having mixed feelings about your success. Quietly separate yourself from their feedback on this issue and start on your own path. If your partner flat out refuses to cooperate, you may want to consider separating your finances as much as possible, especially where debts are involved. They might start to follow your lead, or maybe not, but at the very least you can start to see results in your own life.

When all else fails, you may need to extricate yourself from a consistently negative relationship.Recognizing that not everyone has your best interests at heart is a step towards living your own life. Perhaps you have allowed yourself to be vulnerable to the criticisms of others, because a part of you feels you don't deserve the best in life. Maybe you feel out of line with your deepest values. Or maybe you're frustrated with having to keep deferring gratification in your financial life.

The strategies for internal resistance are the same as those for dealing with other people. Slow down.Review your motives and determine how to follow a plan that works for you. Be responsible with what you can do, and try to minimize the damage of your own worst behaviors. Sometimes, simply recognizing that you're sabotaging your own progress can free you to behave in a way that is founded, for the first time, on your personal values.

You're embarking on a difficult and noble task. Now is the time to take a deep breath. Remind yourself of what you're trying to accomplish and stick with the process. You will reach financial freedom on your own terms. You will triumph, and when you remember how you overcame these obstacles, you will relish your success. When the time is right, you'll be ready. Thanks for joining us and see you next time.

It's bad, it's ugly . . . it's unemployment.

Hi everyone, this lesson is on unemployment. If you are here then welcome to the rest of the human race because we have all been here at some point in our lives. And who does not hate looking for work? But I want you to keep a couple things in mind as you go through this process.

First, just now, a couple years out of COVID is probably the number one best time to be looking for work. A lot of things are in flux , a lot of people are moving around and you are probably very well positioned to find something that really works for you. Congratulations.

But I would also point out that our life is much more important than any job. Definitely look for work, but also while you're doing this, try to take care of yourself.

If you can, use this time to build memories with your children or with older family members or people or animals you care about. Think how great it would be if your children looked back on this time for the happy memories that you built with them. Or you looked back on this time with the seniors of your life, grateful that you were able to spend with them these days?

It’s a good idea as well to Invest in your social network. Volunteer with your community group or with a professional group. Perhaps you want to launch a new business venture. Educate yourself, take a class, do some reading, get fit and strong. Organize a community preschool or some sort of venture. Use your time in a positive way if you can.

Have some sort of plan and then when you get back on the job you'll be ready. See you next lesson.

Hey, everyone. Okay, we're going to build a net worth statement. In business, it’s called a balance sheet. The net worth statement is basically a snapshot of where you are financially, and it’s valuable as a benchmark to launch from. So as you proceed in your financial planning, you can use the Net Worth statement to track your forward progress, and designing your personal Net Worth statement will be your next challenge exercise.

A net worth statement is actually really simple. It is just a list of what you've got right now at this moment in time, financially, minus your debts.

So I invite you to download the Net Worth statement worksheet from the course website, or just write up your own. As you can see, the first section is what’s called assets. Assets include cash, checking accounts, savings accounts, perhaps very valuable personal property and maybe a vehicle or two.

The important thing is to write down an approximate value of what you would get now, if you sold it today, and not what you originally paid for it. So write down an estimate of the market value for any personal property.

If you have them, retirement accounts, stocks, mutual funds, bonds, would all be entered here, as well as a home or condo, and any other property you own. And, when you’re done listing any accounts or property you have, add up the value, and this is the value of your current financial assets.

Now we do exactly the same thing for liabilities. If your home has a mortgage, include the approximate value of the mortgage here, and include any amount spent on a home equity loan as well. Student loans can be written down here as well, and write down any car loans, credit card or department store card balances and any personal loans. Now total up this section, and these are liabilities.

Keep in mind that as I mentioned early on in the Debt-Free Living unit, not all debt is bad, especially if you’re relatively young, so don’t panic about this. It’s a benchmark for forward progress, a snapshot, nothing more.

So at the top you’ve listed your assets, and below that is liabilities, and at the very bottom is the “bottom line”, and the bottom line is your assets, minus your liabilities. This might be a positive number, or it might be negative, which means at this moment, your debts exceed your assets. Fortunately, this course is called “Building wealth”, and if you plan to do that, you’re in the right place.

There are three ways to increase your financial bottom line: you can increase your assets, decrease your liabilities, or both. The next few lessons are about making a concrete strategy to increase your bottom line. So strap in, and join us for the next powerful tool to build your wealth.

Hey everyone, for our next challenge exercise, we’re going to fill out a cash flow statement, which is basically a tracking mechanism of how money is spent over a period of time. If you have ever said “I don't know where it’s all going,” and especially if you’re wanting to pump up that bottom line on your Net worth statement, then this lesson is for you.

Download the cash flow statement worksheet from the course website, or follow along and make your own. We’re going to track your monthly cash flow, and the first step is to write down your monthly net income, after tax and after any special deductions like child support.

If you’re not sure of your exact income, go back and check your pay stubs, and if you have variable income, take an average of income over the past year. The key is to be as accurate as possible, so you can use the cash flow tool to increase your financial net worth, and build your wealth.

Just an fyi here - if you are paid every two weeks, take your net after-tax pay stub amount, do not multiply it by two since months are longer than just four weeks. Instead, multiply your after-tax biweekly pay stub by 26, and divide by 12, in order to get an accurate monthly net income.

Now that you’ve written down your monthly income, you need to write down your monthly expenses, and you need to include everything! And, your income has to equal your expenses. If they don’t equal, then you are spending money you’re not aware of, so keep at it, until you get a sense of where it’s going.

There are a couple ways to do this. The classic, black-belt, I-am-so-serious-about-this strategy is get in the habit of keeping a notebook for a full month or more, writing down every single purchase, and check your bank and credit card statements as well for larger purchases that may come automatically out of your account. There is NO better technique for knowing where your money is going, than writing it down day by day and moment by moment.

Another option is to do a deep dive through those bank and credit card statements, writing down your spending on each category and every area of your life. I’ve included a number of categories including home, family, children, pets, clothes, restaurants, and lots more, but that stuff doesn’t really matter. What matters is what YOU spend your money on, so feel free to set up your own categories. It’s a good idea to do this exercise over several months so you catch everything, but remember, it’s not forever, and when you get to the next section, you’ll be glad you did.

And keep in mind that whichever strategy you use, or a mixture of the two, be sure to average out any expenses that only happen at certain times of the year, like gifts, seasonal expenses, annual fees or payments, or anything else that might not show up in every month of your calculations.

The next lesson is the great part. You’ll learn to leverage your cash flow statement to build your net worth, and your wealth, and it’s surprisingly easy. See you then.

Hi there, welcome back, it’s Christine here. If you’ll remember, we started this unit with a net worth statement, which I said is a benchmark for tracking your progress to building wealth. Then we worked on a cash flow statement.

In this lesson, we finally get around to the actual mechanism for increasing your bottom line net worth. And, this lesson is actually easier than the last lesson, because you get to spend some time reviewing that cash flow statement you worked so hard on, and deciding which expenses are worth it to you, and which aren’t.

So take a look at the cash flow statement worksheet, and if you downloaded it from the course website, you’ll notice a very thin column on the far right of each expense category. In fact, it’s just enough space to add a tiny pencil mark.

For this challenge exercise, spend a few minutes going through your cash flow expenses and decide, for yourself, if the amount of money spent on each category feels worthwhile to you.

If you feel that the amount of money you spent is appropriate and you got good value , just put a little checkmark in that area on the right. If, on the other hand, you feel you are overspending, compared to the value you’re getting, then put a small “down” arrow to indicate you’d like to decrease that expense.

For example, you may notice you spend quite a bit of money on restaurant meals with your family or your partner, but on reflection, you feel that money is well spent. So, put a little check mark in that area, to indicate the value makes sense to you and no changes are necessary.

On the other hand, you may find you’re spending a lot on lunchtime delivery, which you would rather direct towards wealth-building. If that’s the case, make a small downward facing arrow, to indicate you plan to decrease this expense, and direct that cash elsewhere.

You might even find a category where you are underspending, and would like to invest more money, because it represents something of value. In that case, include a small upward facing arrow, indicating you’d like to increase spending in that area.

Don’t worry yet about how you might make changes; the important thing at this point is to consider every category, and ask yourself if the value you receive is worth the expense.

Now here’s the important part: as you get creative with ways to spend less on low-priority items, you free up more funds to pay down your debt, or bump up your savings or investment assets. That means that your cash flow statement is directly connected to your net worth statement, and in fact, your changing cash-flow statement is the secret to building up the bottom line of your net worth.

Hi everyone, welcome. At the beginning of this course I promised you would complete this course with a detailed personal financial plan. The Future plan checklist is key to your plan and it is pretty fun. Just go ahead and print a copy, or follow along and make up your own.

Now that you’ve had a chance to view the lessons and work on your wealth-building plan notebook, it’s time to “cap off” your own personal financial plan. What’s next for you? What do you need to work on at this point, and how will you continue to track your progress, not just financially, but in the things that are your real priorities?

At the top, write down your top three priorities. Your number one item at this point might be to leverage your cash flow plan to . . . increase your income on the job. Perhaps number two might be to pay off your debt. And three, might be to save up for a nice weekend away with your partner. It’s up to you.

Section two of the Future Plan challenge worksheets lists all the challenge exercises we’ve worked on in this course. Just put a quick check mark for each item, in the column that says completed, scheduled (and that means you have to schedule it), or not applicable. So every item should have a checkmark.

As I mentioned, you should be doing a Net worth review, with cash flow analysis, at least every couple months, to achieve liftoff on your financial plan. Include this checklist with your review, and you will be well on your way to Building Wealth. Thank you for joining us.

Hi everyone, welcome back. As you engage in building wealth, you’ll find that the more generous you can be with others, the more that positive energy will come back to you.

In my experience, money does not grow in small dark places. We want to give money plenty of sunshine and fresh air and part of that is making a portion available for sharing outside of your household. Trust me, even a small amount to your favorite charity or cause will make you feel rich, and that will pull you along the right direction.

To make it painless, I recommend you automate the process. A little bit going out every month, or every paycheck, will be beneath your notice.

Challenge yourself when you set it up. Tell yourself you can always cancel your regular contribution, if you need to. Usually you won't even notice it. (And, hang on to the charitable receipts you receive at the end of the year: these can help keep your tax bill low!)

As you know, you’ll be regularly reviewing your wealth building plan on a regular basis, and when you do, consider increasing your contribution just a tiny bit. Once again, you can call in and reduce that amount, any time.

Take a look at the challenge exercise for details, get it set up, and you’ll be glad you did. You’ve worked really hard so far, and I want you to know the next lesson and the next challenge are very easy and lots of fun so definitely plan to join us.

Hi everyone, welcome. At the beginning of this course I promised you would complete this course with a detailed personal financial plan. The Future plan checklist is key to your plan and it is pretty fun. Just go ahead and print a copy, or follow along and make up your own.

Now that you’ve had a chance to view the lessons and work on your wealth-building plan notebook, it’s time to “cap off” your own personal financial plan. What’s next for you? What do you need to work on at this point, and how will you continue to track your progress, not just financially, but in the things that are your real priorities?

At the top, write down your top three priorities. Your number one item at this point might be to leverage your cash flow plan to . . . increase your income on the job. Perhaps number two might be to pay off your debt. And three, might be to save up for a nice weekend away with your partner. It’s up to you.

Section two of the Future Plan challenge worksheets lists all the challenge exercises we’ve worked on in this course. Just put a quick check mark for each item, in the column that says completed, scheduled (and that means you have to schedule it), or not applicable. So every item should have a checkmark.

As I mentioned, you should be doing a Net worth review, with cash flow analysis, at least every couple months, to achieve liftoff on your financial plan. Include this checklist with your review, and you will be well on your way to Building Wealth. Thank you for joining us.