BAKER'S BLOG
Spring is finally here, at least according to the calendar and as the temperature begins to rise and the snow begins to melt it’s time to start thinking about that other season that 
Imagine you are in a grocery store; you go up and down the aisles filling your cart with various items, a combination of your needs and wants. You get to the checkout and as the items are being run through you realize that you don’t have enough cash to pay for it all; oh yah, in this scenario you actually use cash to pay for things. You are now faced with a choice, you can quickly scan over the items and pick which ones to get rid of, most likely this will be in the ‘wants’ category, or you can pull out the credit card and go into debt for it.This is how we typically live our lives; we make our choices then deal with the consequences afterwards. Considering the average Canadian debt level sits at around 167% of income, it would seem that we are heavily dependent on the debt option to get us through. As a result, debt levels rise and the ‘wants’ suffer. Now imagine that before you entered that grocery store, you knew exactly what you were going to buy and you knew that you would not have enough money to pay for it all outright. Now you have more options, you can be proactive instead of being reactive. You still have the same two options as before:
I was recently told a wonderful story about a young woman who came across our book “Life, By The Pie – Financial Management, Managing the Ingredients of Your Life”; the book inspired her and her husband to examine their life. They decided they were going to try to live their dream of traveling around the world and use Life By The Pie™ to help them do it. They quit their jobs, sold their house and
One of the most valuable lessons I ever learned came from a University economics course; since then, Opportunity Cost has turned out to be the driving force behind all my spending decisions and is at the heart of the Life By The Pie™ philosophy. Your Opportunity Cost is the cost of choice, the trade-off between choosing one thing over another. Specifically, your Opportunity Cost is identified as your next best option.
We actually have quite a lot of choice in our lives, the problem is most of those choices aren't very viable or desirable. You could, for example choose not to...
With the Tax Free Savings Account still being a relatively new thing, many people may be left wondering
“Registered Retirement Savings Plan or Tax Free Savings Account? What's the difference and how can I choose which one is right for me?” In fact, it may not be a question of which one, but of what balance. TFSA's offer tax free earnings, whereas RRSP's are tax deferred. RRSP contributions are deducted from your taxable income, effectively reducing the amount of income you have to pay tax on; however, when you take this money out later in retirement, you pay tax on it then. So the question, “RRSP or TFSA?” depends on
With the average Canadian debt level at 162% of disposable income, debt might be the most important thing to talk about. We have developed and fostered a culture of "now", and with the availability and ease of use of credit “now” has become more and more pervasive and it comes at a cost. So what is the cost of "now"? That depends and this might be a good place to start the conversation. What does credit cost? In the olden days, if you wanted to buy something you simply had to save up until you had enough money to buy it. Now, you can just swipe a card and be off enjoying your new purchase; but just how much that purchase will cost you depends on what interest rate you pay and on how long it takes you to pay that balance off.
The average credit card balance sits at around
It may seem needless to say, but it’s cheaper to start earlier; for whatever you’re saving for starting sooner allows you to put a smaller amount aside on a regular basis and that sum will earn more interest over its lifetime. In the case of education savings you have some extra options. Take the CESG for example; what is the CESG you ask? The Canada Education Savings Grant, of course. This is a terrific program that will beef up your education savings. The CESG will add 20% to your RESP contributions, up to a yearly maximum of
Although the answer may seem obvious, the word budget is quite often misused and misunderstood. To begin, what you spend your money on IS your budget; good or bad, whether you know it or not. For this reason a budget cannot be created so much as it can be modified.
Trying to set a budget, without fully knowing where all of your money is going leads to significant problems; you may see short term success, but in the long run the budget is doomed to fail simply because it’s not in line with your reality. Let’s say you can accurately list 80% of all your expenses; if you were to ‘create’ a budget based on those expenses, you’re going to run out of money. Something is going to have to pay for the remaining part of your life that has not been accounted for; that something
The Life By The Pie™ system enables you to take control of your finances in a unique way as it is financial management with fulfillment in mind - your fulfillment (what a concept).
The laws of money may be willing the battle with you, but you have not yet lost the war. By making daily decisions to win back more control of your life, you can be inspired to see a brighter future. A future that is consistent with your true taste; a pie made to your own liking and taste.
If you become inspired, you may chose to inspire others - help them to take more control of their lives and make a pie of their own.