Dick was in a bit of a pickle.  He had sold Virgin Music to concentrate of Virgin Atlantic Airways, and British Airways were right on his back.  His planes had become a bit older and he wanted to keep his superior experience advantage by adding the new flat TVs to each chair, which BA didn’t have.  He went to the bank to try to borrow a huge amount that I don’t remember, let’s say a $200 million dollar loan to upgrade the planes, and the bank replied “computer says no.”

We all know that Sir Richard doesn’t stop at anything or take no for an answer, so he went back and asked for a loan for $1 billion to buy entirely new planes!  At that point “computer says yes.” He got his loan and grew his company.

My main point is that we need to emulate the wealthy.  The traditional approach to debt is to cut everything and pay it down, while living on cat food and playing scrabble for ten years.  That is what all of the financial guru’s will tell you. Sir Richard wouldn’t do that. He would ask himself, “how can I get those TVs and come out ahead again?”. So ask yourself “How can I pay off my debt and still live my life?”

Here is what I got off the top of my head – what do you come up with?

1. Do something that you love to make more money.
2. Ask for more money from work.
3. Get a head hunter to get me a new higher paying job.
4. Learn to blog and sell advertising space like me!

Grow your way out of your financial problems and win big!  Living on a restricted budget won’t help you live your best life.

Keep Loving Your Money Like Sir Dick,

Dave

The most sensitive subject that my clients are hesitant to talk about is credit card debt. It is amazing to see how far people will go to not have to talk about it. If you do have credit card debt and it is that thing that you cringe about when you think of the 18% interest accruing each month – imagine all of the relief and even power you would gain back when the cards were paid off. Think what effect the cards have over you right now and how it would all come flowing back when the debt was gone. What a release that would be!

Power also comes from having a whack of cash in your account. Knowing that you could use the money to travel or support your self if you lost your job. The money could really help someone out if they needed the money or get you our of a bad relationship if you were in one. Build up a large amount of cash and see how you start to feel. Knowing how all of the cash gives you options. And those options are a source of power.

Harness the power of the almighty buck and live your best life!

Dave

August 7th – 1pm -5pm

Chapters Bayview Village

2901 Bayview Ave Unit 132

North York, Ontario

M2K 1E6

August 21st 1pm-5pm

Chapters Woodbridge

East Woodbridge Centre, 3900 Hwy 7 West, Unit 1

Woodbridge, Ontario

L4L 1A6

(905)264-6401

August 28th 1pm – 5pm

Indigo Richmond Hill

8705 Yonge Street

Richmond Hill, Ontario

L4C 6Z1

(905)731-8771

September 25th 1pm-5pm

Chapters Woodbridge

East Woodbridge Centre, 3900 Hwy 7 West, Unit 1

Woodbridge, Ontario

L4L 1A6

(905)264-6401

Indigo Yonge and Eglinton – Coming Soon!

Chapters Square One – Coming Soon!

1. First, we split the $50 membership fee so it costs us $25 each. If you go twice a year and shop properly you’ll totally save that $25 back.
2. Many of the Costco products are not that great of a deal if you analyze the price compared to what you can get for a smaller portion at No Frills so only buy the awesome deals. Don’t just do your grocery shopping there.
3. Look for the huge portion products that can be easily split.  Like washing detergent, dryer sheets, razors, shampoo, soap, ketchup, etc. That way if you get four huge ketchups you can divide the lot and then have a stock for six months to a year. Razors are a crazy deal. For $14 you can get 52 razors that can be divided amongst my dad, brother and I to last a good year if I can use one razor every few weeks. Compared to buying three for $8 at a drugstore it’s an awesome deal.
4. Buy the huge cheese, chicken breasts, frozen pizzas and burgers at Costco and then split the product physically. Cheese is crazy cheap compared to grocery stores. We just divide it in 1/2 and then re-wrap.  If you get two boxes x three frozen pizzas you can get them for $4.33 each when divided by 2.  Pizzas are $6-9 at the grocery store and  the Costco ones are loaded with toppings and made in Canada.
5. Candies and gum are also a good deal. You can get huge packs of gum that will last you six months that decease the average pack from $1.25 at a convenience store to $0.33. I also get the huge bags of big feet for my office.  I have  some clients that have a very big sweet tooth. The huge bags are cheaper than the dollar store big feet bags when you add it all up.
5. Furniture is a good deal too. It is hard to divide and re-wrap but I was able to get a cast iron bistro table and two chairs for my balcony that was less than $100! The same styled outdoor set anywhere else is almost twice that.

When you do all of your food and consumer good staples and once every six months it’ll not only save you money but time. Time and money that you can re-allocate to doing something that you love.  Win win.

Have an awesome week,
Dave

Recently I had seen the cost of my bill creep up to around $86 with tax based on my usage.  Knowing that there are all of these new telecom competitors entering our market with fantastic smartphone right now is a great time to smoosh you bill.  I called yesterday and reduced my bill from around $86 a month to $52 including tax!  Total score, right.  If I stay within my plan limits that will save me $408 a year!  That is enough for a flight to LA or NY to have an amazing weekend with friends.  Here are my steps to get those same savings while improving your plan and then re-invest them into your own happiness !  Win win win.

1. Run around town and check out all of the carriers Smartphone plans and deals.  Be sure to check your office fax room fist.  The best deals are offered to employees of large companies so see if you can get a group rate based on your employer.

2. Find the best deal that would reduce your bill to around $50 that includes unlimited after 5pm and weekends calling, over 500MB of date or more based on your usage, unlimited texting, and all the Voicemail and caller ID options.  You should be able to get your smartphone bill down around $50 a month.  No one needs to spend more than this on a phone bill.  If data is your money evil then look for wi-fi locations to use less.

3. Call your carrier and ask them to cheapen your plan based on the fact that there are all of these new competitors out there with cheaper plans.  This guy is just a door to the person who has the real power to humour them as the try to take $5 to $10 off your bill or tell you that is the cheapest.  Say “Thanks so much but it is still way too much, can you now tell me how much it would be to cancel”.  Now watch the alarm bells go off as he offers you the moon and his first born.  Ask to be transferred to the customer loyalty department if he doesn’t send you directly there.  Now you’re “wurking” it out the right way.  You are on your way to crazy savings!

4. When you get to the loyalty department charm them with everything you’ve got.  This department gets all of the livid customers and you being cheeky and flirty is a welcome treat for them.  I’ll joke and say “Sandy – is that the best you can give your favourite customer?  I’d cancel and pay the fee just for the principle that you’re not giving me your best deal!”  ”You know I’m your favourite customer Sandy – give me your best plan”.  The telecoms are being squeezed by the new competitors and they have lists of all the best deals.  Have them compare your usage to the list of competitor plans they have and get the cheapest rate you can.  Play hard to get until you have your ideal plan for as cheap as you can get it.  It’s like dating – they’ll chase what runs!

5. Once you get your best plan keep scouring the earth for a better deal.  If you find one call them up and try to get that option.  If your bill ever gets messed up or they charge the wrong amount – phone your smartphone company and try to get some free stuff.  Again ask for the loyalty department and see what they can do for you.  They’re your money saving buddies!

6. Buy the common stock of your major telecom and let the dividends pay your smartphone bill.  They all pay great dividends, have great growth potential as mobile phone penetration in Canada increases and are telecoms are relatively recession proof.  Your phone would be the last thing you would cancel if you were down on your luck.  If you get a 3-5% dividend yield from owning your own telecom like Bell, Rogers or Telus with a $10,000 investment – you would get $300-500 a year to go towards your bill.  Why not get them to pay the entire thing?

Hope you enjoyed my blog today.  Keep loving your money and there will be $408 savings to love you back from your bill!

Have an awesome week,

Dave

1. Automatic Savings – Transferring just $50 each week to a high interest savings account can add up to $2,600 plus interest in one year.  ING has a rate of 1.3% as of today! 

2. Keep your longer term savings like bonds and GICs in a Tax-Free Savings Account.  It will help you save the most tax on income producing products like GICs or bonds.  You’ll save the amount you would have paid in tax!

3. Change your payments to accelerated bi-weekly and save over $47,000 in interest and shave 4 years off your mortgage.  Based on a $200,000 mortgage at 7% annual percentage rate on a fixed term over 25 years.

4. Make higher payments than the regular payment.  Interest rates are low right now and the easiest 1% increase will add $126 a month on a $200,000 mortgage.  If rates don’t rise that quickly you’ll be paying down your mortgage faster.  

5. Be sure to only amortize your mortgage over 25 years.  30 and 35 year amortization are a newish feature that gets people buying houses they can’t afford.  If you amortize the same $200,000 mortgage at 7% over 25 years compared to 30 years it’ll only cost you $84 per month more and also save you $53,000 in interest!  

Have  an awesome summer!

Dave

Here is a list of ways that you can enhance your money relationship.  Ask your self how you can treat your money better to enhance your commitment to it?

1. Do you always get the highest level of interest from idle money?  Making sure that your money is always getting the highest return is a way to treat it properly.  If you have money sitting in an account and not making a good interest return search for the best premium rate savings account and transfer that money!

2. Are you being charged for having too many bank accounts? Do you go down a block to save other ATM fees?  Do you pay a monthly fee when there is a way to keep a minimum deposit to save that amount?  If you’re charged 8.95 a month in your bank account and it  takes a minimum monthly balance of $1,500 a month to wave that fee – that is a $107.40 savigngs a year equivalent to a 7% return on $1,500.

3. Do you always scan your statements to make sure that you aren’t “dinged” any extra charges?  I’ve saved hundreds of dollars by doing just this to every bill that comes through my door.  It shows that you love your money if you’re always watching out for it.  

4. Do you know what your net worth is right now?  If you don’t add up all of your assets and minus your liabilities.  Knowing how much you are worth will help you make big picture purchases and investments.  It’ll help you keep moving towards your net worth goal! 

5. How much interest are you paying on all of your debts?  Can you lower your interest rates right now and save loads of money?  Put in the time and call your credit card company, bank or loan company.  See how much you can save by lowering your interest rates, increasing your payment amount or payment frequency.  On mortgages these changes add up to a ton of cash. Treat your money like any other relationship and benefit!  

Have a great week,

Dave

Many dividend-producing stocks are our most established companies and that is why I love them. High yielding sectors are financial, telecom, energy, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods. When you pick several great companies from each of these sectors you will be able to build a portfolio where you can always count on the dividends and diversification. Everyone knows the saying that diversification is out only free lunch as investors! Over time these quality companies have continuously increased their distributions helping your portfolio grow.

What I do in my portfolio is quite straightforward. Find an index fund that emulates our best dividend stocks. You can pick a U.S. or Canadian top dividend index and it’ll give you a great place to start shopping for stocks. To work through an example I have chosen the XDV, which is the Dow Jones Canada Select Dividend Index ETF (exchange traded funds) from iShares. On their website they list the top 30 companies on the index with their ticker symbols. It also shows you the breakdown of sectors like financials, energy, materials, industrials, telecom, etc.

 The XDV is comprised of the 30 highest yielding, dividend paying, and average payout ratio companies in the Dow Jones Canada Total average.  They had me at highest yielding!  You’ll recognize almost all of the companies on the list and understand their business, which is important.  Remember Warren Buffet’s rule that you have to understand the business if you’re to own the stock. 

 I take the largest companies with the highest yields, and history of increasing dividend payouts and build my portfolio. Customize it to support your personal yield and risk tolerance. If a stock is yielding a higher percentage and you are convinced of their strong fundamentals, buy more shares to increase your overall yield.  You have so many options with dividend portfolios.  Let the dividends build up in your account and when you have enough money by more high yielding companies from the index.  You can also set your account up on a DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Program) and let it automatically buy more shares each payout for $0 trading costs.  Many of the large dividend paying companies have a discount if you sign up for the DRIP program.  BMO gives you a 2% discount every time your dividends re-invest in shares.  As prices fluctuate you lower your average cost by buying at the lows and increasing your overall yield of the portfolio. 

 Building large positions of these dividend yielding blue chip stocks will also give you sophisticated trading opportunities. You can create additional streams of income from writing “covered option calls”.  These are sophisticated trading strategies that are meant for sophisticated traders but if you master them you can increase your yield dramatically on your portfolio.  The more you learn about money the more you can make to live your best life.  

 My overall idea is that by owning the dividend paying stocks outright you have the potential to make even more money and you know I love to do that.  Creating a portfolio that is diversified and paying solid dividends will ensure a retirement asset to fulfill your goals and aspirations. 

Hope you loved to blog and I hope you have a profitable week,

Dave