Personal Finance in the News – October 2021: Welcome to Money News – October 2021, and Happy Halloween! This month we look at the end of the Canada Recovery Benefit, the state of Canada’s housing market, and shifting mortgage market dynamics. This update also covers North America’s ongoing labour shortage, and if it pays to be in a relationship. Read…
Tag: mortgage
Welcome to tags! Here you will find all the relevant blog posts and content tagged with or discussing the term “mortgage”.
Money News – September 2021
Personal Finance in the News – September 2021: Welcome to Money News – September 2021! This month we look at what the Liberals plan to do for housing affordability now that the election is over. Other topics we’ll cover include climate change and insurance, minimum wage increases across Canada, and the “great resignation”. Read and Watch: Now that the election…
Money News – May 2021
Personal Finance in the News – May 2021: Welcome to Money News – May 2021! Noteworthy news this month includes reflections on past inflation cycles, changes to the housing market with stricter stress tests starting June 1, and banks misplacing their clients’ money. Read: A lot of people are talking about inflation after both US and Canadian inflation accelerated at…
Housing Market Solutions
Sky high real estate prices, bidding wars, and bully offers have many Canadians asking about housing market solutions in this country. Recently, Rob Carrick and Erin Anderssen from the Globe & Mail sent out a Tweet asking Canadians to weigh in on potential solutions. I decided to add my two cents. Below is a copy of what I wrote. Central…
Money News – January 2021
Personal Finance in the News – January 2021: Welcome to Money News – January 2021! I have four noteworthy news topics for you this month. Read: For those of you interested in stocks, this month has been bonkers, with the market ripping higher. Most noteworthily, an online community of individual investors (often called retail investors) has taken aim at institutional…
Money News – December 2020
Personal Finance in the News – December 2020: Welcome to Money News – December 2020! I have four noteworthy topics for you this month. Read: The era of low interest rates and high real estate prices continues. This month, HSBC offered a mortgage rate below 1%. This is a first in Canada, and a record low. Though rates could still…
Money News – October 2020
Personal Finance in the News – October 2020: Read: The Bank of Canada has ended a pandemic program that helped real estate prices surge. This largely unknown but wide-reaching policy saw the Bank of Canada buy nearly $10 billions in mortgage bonds. This artificially lowered borrowing costs and helped send home prices through the roof. What happens now is anyone’s…
Money News – June 2020
Personal Finance in the News – June 2020: Here’s a summary of June 2020’s Money News: Read & Watch: CMCH is tightening mortgage rules for homebuyers. Credit scores are becoming more important and debt service ratios are becoming more conservative – therefore more mortgage conservatism may be a good idea given the debt loads out there. For more on that…
Liquid Net Worth
Liquid net worth is an unfamiliar term for most people. Many know about net worth, but few understand liquid net worth, what it means, and why it is important. This article will explore the term and unpack its usefulness. What is liquid net worth and how is it calculated? While net worth measures the value of all the assets you…
Money News – May 2020
Personal Finance in the News – May 2020: Here is a summary of May 2020’s Money News. This time around, topics that grabbed my attention included mortgage deferrals, COVID-19 scams, and changes in consumer behaviour. Read & Watch: Canadians are falling victim to a variety of new COVID-19 scams. These articles by BNN-Bloomberg, CBC, and Richmond News detail the common…
Money News – April 2020
Personal Finance in the News – April 2020: Here is a summary of April 2020’s Money News. As you can guess, COVID-19 and the global health crisis continue to dominate everything, including personal finance. Read: Many families have been deferring their mortgage payments as layoffs mount and the recession bites. As of early April, almost 500,000 Canadians had requested mortgage…
How to Live on Less
Are you wondering how to live on less? A lot of people are these days. COVID-19 has resulted in record unemployment claims, and the economy is facing an ugly recession. Whether you’ve lost your job, had your hours reduced, or are just uncertain regarding your future finances, it never hurts to think about how to live on less. Below are…
Money News – March 2020
Personal Finance in the News – March 2020: March 2020’s Money News is here! As the global health crisis goes from bad to worse, the economic costs are piling up and spilling over into significant financial hardship. Read: The US and Canada have reported their largest weekly initial unemployment claims ever at 3,280,000 and 929,000 respectively. For perspective, the previous…
Personal Finance and the COVID-19 Coronavirus
Introduction: COVID-19 is a real wake up call for how we should be managing our finances. Aside from the health impacts, COVID-19 may result in real financial hardship for many. Quarantines, school closures, and lockdowns could result in lost time at work and reduced incomes. In the bigger picture, employers may be forced to lay off workers and reduce staff.…
Money News – February 2020
Personal Finance in the News – February 2020: February’s Money News has been a rough month for financial markets as the COVID-19 virus continues to spread. Though this outbreak has understandably dominated headlines and may have widespread financial impacts, there were many other interesting personal finance stories this month: Read & Watch: These articles by the Globe and BNN discusses…
How to Track Your Net Worth in Excel – YouTube Video
My Money Moves Presents our first YouTube Video: Want to know how to track your net worth in Excel? Some readers of the blog post Net Worth 101 have asked how I track my net worth in Excel. Some have also asked how to use the Excel template available on the Free Financial Resources page. Though the Excel sheet provides…
Net Worth 101
What is Net Worth? Net worth measures how much money you have. The formula for net worth is very easy: Assets – Liabilities = Net Worth Remember, assets are things you own, and liabilities are things you owe (e.g. debt). Here’s a simple example: If all you have is $10 in your pocket, but you owe your friend $3, your…
Seven Financial Rules I Live By
Personal finance can be complicated. For me, I’ve found that simplicity serves me best. Here are some of the basic financial rules I use with my money: 1. Budget & Track Your Spending No matter what your finances are like today, they’ll probably be better if you start tracking spending each month and building a budget. This will let you…