A critical step in any major purchase you may be looking into not just a home. If you don’t already have a budget YOU NEED TO MAKE ONE!!! Conveniently here is the link to a budget calculator online. Just cut and paiste this web address to your browser.

http://fcac.gc.ca/eng/consumers/itools/budget/index-eng.asp

I found this article over the weekend about pre approvals and their importance.Check it out!

http://www.canada.com/approval+should+square+home+buyers/4320578/story.html

I found this article and thought it was fantastic! While the author is right that you can find stats that will tell you just about anything, be it factual or not, yet there are some stats that show the naked truth and make us face reality.

http://www.squamishchief.com/article/20110218/SQUAMISH0302/302189957/-1/squamish/tightening-our-belts

If you follow my facebook posts you will notice today’s article is about who is supposed to teach students about debt. Being someone who is still paying for student debt, as my wife graduated from Queen’s back in 2003, I can certainly agree that post secondary education is extremely expensive; however, also very important. Do I recall anyone teaching me about debt? I remember very well my dad talking to me about different forms of debt, which ones were “good” debt (home ownership), and which ones were “bad” debt (consumer debt).

Getting back to the original question of “Who is supposed to teach kids/students about debt?” The answer from myself, while I would like to say mom and dad should be teaching there children, given that the average Canadian is buried in debt according to our government, I don’t think mom and dad should be teaching their children since they’re in it themselves. Should it be the government? I don’t know that I would want someone who is $60 BILLION in debt this year alone teaching my son about money since they don’t walk the talk either.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think someone needs to teach people about debt because things can’t continue the way they are because eventually, I’m just not sure who shoudl be the ones to do the teaching.

For those who haven’t read the article on facebook here is where you can find it, just cut and paiste this to your web browser:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/students-need-an-education-in-debt-repayment/article1907460/page2/

In a way it’s funny that we learn about peer pressure in school and then later on in life it’s almost like we have to relearn some of those same lessions. Like in this article, just cut and paiste this to your web browser

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2JEin7/feedproxy.google.com/~r/financialhighway/ray/~3/VePxPehkSuo/

cut and paiste this to your web brower address line to see a very imformative article on credit cards

http://www.financialpost.com/personal-finance/Secondary+credit+card+user+nobody/4266297/story.html#ixzz1Dt51fxe8

I found this article this morning in my daily search for financial & housing news. It says alot of similar things to what I heard in the CMHC seminar from eariler this week (see blog post below) .Cut and paiste this to your web brower and you should be good to go!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/housing-market-will-be-stable-next-two-years-rbc/article1901168/

Here is a great article with some solid tips on saving money, be that money for a down payment on your first home or for RRSP’s.

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/830359–saving-10-things-you-need-to-know

I had the privilage of attending a seminar today by the Canadian Mortgage & Housing Corporation (CMHC) today. Today’s topic was on Kingston’s economy, the housing sector and projections for 2011. I attended a seminar put on by CMHC last year where I heard the same economist speak (Abdul was his name I believe), while at times I do find his accent hard to follow, from what I remember of his seminar last year his assessment of the market was very through, easy to follow and at the end of the year he was quite accurate in his predictions. So what did he have to say for 2011? Kingston is doing very well as a city in terms of its recovery from Canada’s worst recession since the “dirty 30’s” and things are looking good for 2011. Our city has seen a solid growth in several different sectors of employment especially in administration and education. Negative growth numbers were noted in the last 6 months of last year in the retail sector and in construction. Both of these are not surprising, especially construction, given the seasonal change. We also have the lowest unemployment rate in Ontario when compared to cities like Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor, Cambridge and several other major centres.

So what about the real estate sector? Will prices rise? What about rates? Will they rise? How far? His answer to the real estate question was that real estate in Kingston looks “realatively heathly.” We have a good balance of supply (those wanted to sell) and demand (those looking to buy). Prices will rise but not by very much at all. As for mortgage rates. They will also rise, again not by very much. Overall Kingston’s housing market is doing well and is right about where it should be.

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/933279–just-say-no-when-you-re-offered-more-credit