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Tag: emergency savings

  • “I have the dream job”: Brian Scudamore on making meaning with your money – MoneySense

    “I have the dream job”: Brian Scudamore on making meaning with your money – MoneySense

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    Dragon’s Den cast: Wes Hall, Michele Romanow, Arlene Dickinson, Brian Scudamore and Manjit Minhas.

    Who is your money hero?

    One of my fellow “dragons,” Wes Hall, who I got to know a little bit this year, during filming. I’m so inspired with how he spends money. He’s very different from me in the sense that he’s got the fancy cars and the big mansion and so on. I drive my Ford pickup truck and I have a modest home. But I’m inspired by how he puts charity first. He takes care of other people before he takes care of himself. He grew up in Jamaica. He didn’t have a lot, but he says, “This is about helping others.” He’s made it, and I think that’s what money is all about.

    How do you like to spend your free time?

    I love traveling. I love eating. For example, this summer, I went to France with my family. It was just a combination of family, friends, great food, some wine, practicing my French. That ties in everything I love.

    My wife and three kids—we were in Paris as a base, we went down to Cap Ferret, which is just south of Bordeaux—a beautiful little peninsula, beach town. We hung out in Lille for a little bit to watch the Olympic basketball. We spent time in Bordeaux and went to some wineries. Paris is such a well-travelled place, so we had dinners with different friends and their families who were in town. I just I love that country.

    What’s your first memory about money?

    My dad, who’s a liver transplant surgeon, is not an entrepreneur or a business person. But he taught me early on to be purposeful with money. What am I doing with even the cheques I would get from aunts, uncles and grandparents for the holidays? He had me write thank-you notes, which no kid likes to do. I had to tell them how I was using the money they gave me.

    My dad really hammered into me to save that money for education. And I did, but it was really ironic, because here I am, a high school dropout, a university dropout. But I valued learning about money from my dad and just being wise with how I spend it and being purposeful.

    But one of my early memories was when I saved up my life savings as an eight-year-old and bought a brand-new bike. A couple of days later, I put a big basket on it so I could deliver newspapers more efficiently. I put that prized bike to work. I learned from my dad that money was about investment—a purposeful investment.

    There’s also a frugal side of me that thinks, “Do I really need that?” Fancy cars wouldn’t bring me joy. Would I rent a Ferrari for a day on the coast of Italy? Heck, yeah. Would I ever buy one? No. And he got me to think about the value of money and what you can do with it.

    If money were no object, what would you be doing right now?

    Nothing different. I have the dream job. I am so excited to be a “dragon” and to help inspire others, give some wisdom, shared learnings to the pitchers on Dragon’s Den. I love building and growing my companies. Not to make more money, but to grow opportunities and possibilities for other people, and for the freedom to travel and spend time with family and friends, which I love to do.

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    MoneySense Editors

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  • 5 ways young Canadians can prepare financially for what awaits in 2024 – MoneySense

    5 ways young Canadians can prepare financially for what awaits in 2024 – MoneySense

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    3. Food prices will rise, but at a slower pace

    Compared to previous years, food prices should stabilize in 2024. However, keeping your kitchen stocked will still keep your grocery bill high. According to Canada’s Food Price Report 2024, overall food prices are expected to increase by 2.5% to 4.5% over the course of next year (whereas food inflation jumped by 4.7% in November 2023). So, if you’re a single adult who spent roughly $375 on food per month this year, you can expect to shell out from $385 to $392 monthly by the end of 2024. 

    The Food Price Report suggests that you can expect baked goods, vegetables and meats to take a big bite out of your budget. However, you’ll get some relief with canned goods and dried pasta. The good news is that food prices will increase at a more gradual pace than in 2023.

    What you can do: Consider meal planning 

    During the pandemic, I started meal planning as a strategy to deal with grocery costs. It’s been helpful in ensuring that our family stays within our food budget and doesn’t fall into the temptation to order takeout. Meal planning consists of deciding what you will eat for the upcoming week and then adding only the ingredients you need to your grocery list. 

    Personally, I like to make extra lunch portions when preparing dinner, which helps cut back on costs. Another option is to buy items in bulk when they go on sale and then divvy them up into smaller quantities and store them in the freezer. This works well for sliced fruits, vegetables, meats and seafood. 

    4. Consumer debt will continue to grow

    Gen Z will continue to face financial pressure in 2024, so managing debt will become even more important. Between Q3 2022 and Q3 2023, the average credit card balance in Canada increased by 9%, according to TransUnion Canada. The increase was fueled by an increase in the cost of living and the cost of credit, thanks to higher interest rates. Unless the Bank of Canada starts reducing interest rates and daily living expenses start to come down, it’s likely that debt will continue to grow in 2024.

    What you can do: Start a side hustle to pay off debt

    To become financially secure, 40% of Gen Z are interested in generating more sources of income, such as starting a side hustle, according to a BMO survey. Considering there’s only so much you can do to cut expenses, you might want to consider growing your income so you can more easily pay down your debt. 

    Once you have some disposable income, prioritize paying off high-interest debt, such as credit card debt, which can help to squash your debt load. If you’re carrying a monthly balance, call your credit card provider and ask if they can lower the interest rate. If you’re fresh out of school and borrowed money to pay for your studies, it’s a good idea to focus on repaying your student loans.

    5. Travel will rebound in spite of high travel costs

    Despite rising travel costs, young travellers are eager to escape the daily grind. Many young people would rather spend their hard-earned money on experiences instead of goods. Regardless of being in a tight financial situation, 2024 may be the year many Gen Z make their dream vacations happen.

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    Sandy Yong

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  • How to prepare for possible job loss in Canada – MoneySense

    How to prepare for possible job loss in Canada – MoneySense

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    Let’s back up a bit to explain how we got here. When the COVID-19 lockdowns ended in 2022, financial experts warned that the economy would be due for a contraction. That’s partly because of years of massive spending and borrowing by the federal government and historically low interest rates set by the Bank of Canada (BoC), as well as rapid hiring when the world opened up. And there is good reason to ask about Canada’s employment—persistent inflation means that the BoC has been aggressively hiking interest rates since March 2022, and is willing to risk a recession to do so. Plus, Canadian and international companies have started to shed the jobs they created during the pandemic. Headline-making mass layoffs from X, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Alphabet (which owns Google) have shaken up the tech industry, stoking fears that other companies would follow. And several have—so far in 2023, Canadian communications giant Bell has laid off 1,300 workers, Qualcomm will lay off 1,258, Canopy Growth has lost 35% of its staff and Shopify reduced its workforce by 20%.

    There’s good news, though. So far, the Canadian job market has proved to be more robust than anyone expected. In July, job vacancies decreased by 28.1% year-over-year to 701,300 (the most recent data available). Employment has increased recently, rising by 0.3% in September, Statistics Canada said in its labour force survey. 

    Here are some strategies to help you prepare your finances so that you can cope with a job loss—just in case. (Read more on how to prepare for a recession.)

    Signs your company may have upcoming layoffs

    Often there are warning signs when a company is considering shrinking its workforce. A major one is obviously the economy—in a recession, companies may look for ways to cut costs. What about your place of employment? Have you noticed signs of cost-cutting? Other signs: It keeps missing its earnings targets, its share price is falling, or other companies in the same industry are starting layoffs.

    Know your rights when it comes to layoffs

    You do have rights if you are laid off. Each province and territory in Canada has its own employment laws governing notice for termination, pay in lieu and other termination processes. Generally speaking, if you are laid off in Canada, your employer must provide you with two weeks’ notice, or two weeks’ severance pay if it fails to give you notice. Some employers provide laid-off employees with a combination of advance notice and severance pay. There are some exceptions to this requirement, when the mandatory notice and pay in lieu of notice do not apply—such as being dismissed for just cause (which is usually serious misconduct), when the layoff is temporary or if the laid-off employee has been working for their employer for less than three months. 

    This severance pay should cover a couple of weeks or months of living expenses until you can find another job or switch over to employment insurance (EI).

    Fiona Martyn, an employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, an employment and labour law firm in Toronto, recommends taking your severance package to a lawyer for review before signing anything. Even though you signed an employment contract upon being hired, sometimes the termination clauses are unenforceable, as the law may have changed during your tenure. “What [an employment lawyer] can do is help you negotiate a better severance package which reflects factors like your age, length of service and position. Severance packages help to bridge the [financial] gap until you find a new job,” she says.

    That’s exactly what Michael did (last name withheld for privacy reasons). Michael, who lives in Toronto, lost his job at a large tech company in 2019. “I saw the writing on the wall from a mile away,” he says. “I started getting my ducks in a row.” He was disappointed with his settlement offer—the company let him go only weeks before his stock options would have vested, so his total compensation package was much lower than he expected. 

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    Danielle Kubes

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