Sense and Cents Ability

Home ownership has been a big conversation topic lately with my family and some of my clients. In fact, a couple clients requested I write something about this concern. So, here you go! On demand writing by Tara! First of all, there are a lot of financial questions that come into play once you own a house – and this is something I find a lot of my younger clients tend to forget about when they say “I want to buy a home.” Whenever I hear this from a client, I also ask (if I don’t already know) if they have also considered saving for a few other things, in addition to the downpayment – such as, closing costs, taxes, home inspections, deposits for offers made, any necessary repairs, moving costs, furnishings, etc. Most of the time, they   have not thought of this at all and are solely focused on the downpayment. Not only that, but they are counting every penny they have towards the downpayment! Please, please, please do not do this, dear readers! This will give me nightmares...

In my last post, I had you ask yourself “who are the main characters?” in your life story. These characters play an important role in affecting both what actions and plans you will endeavour, as well as how your story ends. For example, your friends or parents can affect your decision about where or if you will attend post secondary studies. Similarly, having or not having children could affect how wildly you live your life (or not) and what happens to your assets when you die. This is my super smooth segue into discussing estate planning, something with which I have been particularly involved as of late. We are always told when we are little that “sharing is caring” and that we are supposed to play nicely, allowing others to use our toys – at least temporarily. But, what if we really don’t want to? What if you are worried about your rough little brother breaking your favourite teddy bear or colouring outside of the lines in your colouring book? Is it okay to share some thin...

Juliet may ask “what’s in a name?” but today, my question is “What makes the perfect story?” Some may say the characters, an interesting setting, or maybe even the adventure (plot). They might be right, or at least right in that each of those aspects contributes to a great story; however, for today, I am going to answer this question with “the narration.” The reason for this? You could have all the right elements for an exciting story, but still have the delivery ruined by a monotonous, Charlie-Brown-Teacher-like drone! Isn’t that just the worst? The perspective and manner in which the story is conveyed is of absolute importance. This is also how I view financial planning. There is no cookie-cutter solution on the “best” way to manage your finances (although not spending everything you make is a good way to start). Similarly, there are certain elements that when implemented can certainly help with making your plan more effective… but, when and how you utilize each of these vario...