December 18, 2024 • 24 mins
Norm Murray speaks with Geoff MacGillivray, President of Blue Harbour Financial, about Financial Goals for 2025. He is the "Go-to Guy"! Visit Savings | Ask Geoff | Ontario
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The views expressed in the following program are those of
the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of
SAGA nine sixty AM or its management.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm Norm Murray.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
You're listening to News Talk SAGA nine sixty.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Nice to have you long today. I hope you're enjoying
your week.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
And you know what, as we get closer to the
holidays and closer to the end of the year, there
are some things that come to our mind. Besides you know,
missiletoe and you know what's under the tree and all
that sort of thing. And I'm talking about turning to
our friend Jeff mcgilvy, go to ask Jeff dot ca A.
Jeff mcgilvy is the go to guy and helps you
(00:59):
to achieve your financial goals, support your future needs, giving
you honest, straightforward financial advice and solutions that make sense.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And right now it's a great.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Time of year really to talk about your financial goals
potentially for twenty twenty five. Hello, Jeff mcgilvy, how are
you today?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Great?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How are you great? Thanks?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Looking forward to learning as we always do about financial goals,
whether it's in the middle of the year or certainly
as we come to the end of the year, because
some people might be thinking, Okay, what can I do
to the end at the end of the year here
to maximize what is happening next year. So there's a
lot of ground to cover here. Where do you want
to begin.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Let's talk about debt. I mean, we're going to bring
up debt and budgets throughout the time that we have together, say,
because lots of these things all revolve around debt and budgets.
But the first thing is is not using your overdraft
or your credit card for household builds. There's millions of
people that keep up with our household bills based on
(02:01):
credit cards or overdraft protection, which can get very costly.
Some overdraft some of the banks will charge forty percent,
and that the average credit card debt for a percentage
is like twenty two percent for an average interest rate
on a credit card. So one of the things that
I challenge people to do in the new year is
to stop using those and creating a budget and coming
(02:23):
up with that emergency fund so that we don't have
to use those credit cards.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
To do that.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Absolutely, but it's so tempting, you know, Jeff, We've got
the overdraft. Sometimes it's five hundred or one thousand or
maybe more. I don't know, depending on your own situation.
It's tempting just to dip into that and think, oh,
you know what, at least that's you know, going to
BUYE me over for a while. But it does catch
up with us, and so does the.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Interest rate in our credit cards.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
We're carrying this debt and before you know it, at
the end of the year, like right now, you can
look back and go, Okay, how much did I actually
give away to interest?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Right?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, yeah, it's phenomenal, Like it's the number is so big.
I don't just from just seeing clients and no balances
that people have on credit cards. And then there's there's
smart ways with these credit cards, and that's using the
credit cards per points for flying or for cash back rewards.
And if you're one of those people, congratulations that are
(03:20):
doing it properly. The credit card companies don't like us,
but we use it to our advantage. So there's there's
good and bad things. Just don't use it for the
bad things.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It takes a whole different type of discipline, I think,
but repaying debt is not something anybody wants to really
talk about. I suppose it's that hidden thing in our
lives or we're moving forward, we're trying to maintain a
lifestyle at the expense of repaying debt that's glaring us
in the face. You know, I've got the extra five
hundred dollars, what do I do with it? Well, you
(03:50):
know what, I'd like to do this, but really I
should be putting it to paying down that interest.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Right, Yes, So paying debt could be really really simple.
And so the first thing we have to do is
we have to identify what debts we have. So get
all your credit card statements, your mortgage teams, all that stuff,
put it together, and then the second thing is put
them in the order of priority. So there's this really
neat concept called debt stacking or debt snowballing. And if
(04:16):
people don't understand when we're when I'm explaining this, just
jump online and google it. But normally, if I said
to you there was you have five credit cards and
you make just over the minimum payments on every single
credit card, and I said what credit card do you
have to pay off first, or what one would you
like to pay off first to get out of debt?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
What would your answer be, Oh, the one with the
highest interest, right.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
And everybody says that, So it's a test. I knew
you were going to say that that may that may
be true, it may not be true. So I'm going
to challenge listeners to instead of going after the one
and changing your mindset the one of the highest credit cards,
let's look at the one with the smallest balanced. So
if your minimum payments on every card is one hundred
(05:00):
dollars each and you have five cards, but you're putting
one hundred and twenty on each one, so you're paying
in extra hundred dollars each month, I'm going to challenge
you to do the one with the smallest debt, the
smallest bounce, And you're going to make the minimum payments
on cards two, three, four, and five, But the twenty
that you were putting on those other cards, you're going
to put it on the first card with the smallest bounce. Now,
(05:24):
what you're going to have is that one of the
smallest bounce is going to disappear quick because you're putting
all the extra money on that one card. Well, when
that one card gets paid off, I don't want you
to take that money and go and spend it that
you had on that card. I want you, I want
you to snowball that money. So what you were paying
on that first card, now you're going to pay what
you paid on the first card and what you paid
(05:44):
on the second lowest bounce. You're going to make that
much bigger payment on the second one, and you snowball
to number three, number four, and number five, and you'd
be shocked at how much interest you can save and
how quick you can pay off the debt by doing
what's called debt stocking.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Okay, so yeah, it kind of makes me feel psychologically
better too. And I know that I don't have let's
say it's five cards, I've only got four now or
three as you go forward, right.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that psychology thing really gets us too.
We feel we feel like we hit a goal if
we pay off a card. Yeah, yeah, you feel better
about You're like, yeah, I only have a bounce on
four cards now. It's but are fine.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
This is the kind of advice we need, and Jeff
mcgilvrey is the guy to give it to us. Go
to ask Jeff dot ca a. That's a s k
G E O F F dot ca a. He is
the president of Blue Harbor Financial. Uh, so you know,
going along with that in mind, expensive debt is a
real problem obviously, paying off debt that could cost you
(06:47):
your home. What do you mean by that kind of debt?
Are you talking about your mortgage specifically?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
No, so debt that could cost you your home if
you're gonna go bankrupt, or anything that's going to land
you in court, anything like that. Really bad debt. One
of the bad debts that and it won't cost you
your home, but if you wile bankrupt, I mean there's
there's things that can happen. But one of the debts
that I always say stay away from is the past
cash stores. You know the ones that are on every corner.
(07:15):
Oh yeah, fast cash er, money market or all these
different names like stay away from those ones. They're they're
just there's just the devil of of loans.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Wow, how can I you know, I have to ask
you this, And I wonder if anybody else is wondering
this also, How can something like that be legal?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Well, they have to disclose everything to the client. I've
actually done a radio show on a different show a
while back about these fast past task stores and maybe
we'll do one and we'll talk about it for the
listeners that do have it and show you exactly how
they work, because they they just get you to sign
things and you don't read the fine print to realize
(07:55):
how the interest can keep stacking up on you. And
it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Well, there's got to be ways to save too. I mean,
you know, it seems so daunting debt, debt, debt. When
am I ever going to actually be able to save money?
Put away money for a rainy day? As they say,
you know, are there new and easier ways to save?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:17):
So again, like I said, ready at the beginning of
the show, we're going to talk about paying off debt
and doing budgets and finding new ways Like easy ways
to save is all about budgeting. So what I do
as a service to my clients is I have a
budget worksheet that is frequently on the website, and I
will sit there and have a conversation with people to
talk about creating your budget, because there's no reason why
(08:38):
you can't pay off debt and save at the same time.
And we have some great ways to save. The tax
Free Savings Account if you're younger, the first time Home
Savers account, if you're saving for retirement tor RSPs. There's
so many great ways to save out there, But what
a lot of people think is, oh, I have this
debt or I'm living paycheck to paycheck, I can't save.
(08:59):
Let's have a serious conversation about your budget and let's
see where you're actually spending money. Now, I'll be the
first one out there to say I could probably have
more personal money because I waste money on things too,
but I'm also not living paycheck to paycheck. So have
a third party person looking at your budget, whether it's
a parent or a friend or a financial advisor. I
(09:21):
guarantee you there's ways that you can save money instead
of buying pizza twice a week every single week, maybe
do it once a week and you'll be shocked at
how many people do things like that.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
So that's a financial planner. I guess are you do
you also do that financial planning for people?
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Yeah, so that's that's all. Some advisors will only talk
about retirement. I think the regulator should make debt part
of that financial plan because technically it doesn't have to be.
I already think tackling debt is at your life insurance
is at the base of that, and then paying off
debt would be one step above above the life insurance,
(09:59):
because I like insurance is ensuring your debt if you
pass away, that your loved ones don't get stuck with them.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
We're speaking with Jeff mcgilvery here is the president of
Blue Harbor Financial. Go to ask Jeff dot C. That's
ask GEO f F dot C. Helping to provide financial
solutions for you and your entire family, and he helps
to match the needs with the right company and product
and such to properly protect your family also and help
you reach your savings goals going forward and to live
(10:29):
better and you have more peace of mind. I mean,
I've heard the slogan on television, you're richer than you think.
Does that mean that somewhere somewhere with everybody we've got
missing money, perhaps that we just don't we aren't conscious
of that we can use to our benefit, Jeff.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
So tracking on missing money is quite interesting and I
do this with every time I bring on a new
client because one of the big ones where we find
missing money is in pensions where people had used to
work or a loved one had passed away that had
a pension. So I can say that I've sat down
with numerous clients that are thirty, thirty, five, forty years old,
(11:08):
and one of the questions I ask is not just
where you work now, but where have you worked in
the past. So a lot of companies they have pensions,
and if you leave with like prior to a two
year period, they've got what's called a two year vesting period.
So if you leave prior to two years and they
had a pension, you don't get it, But after two
years it becomes vested and after you know, if you're
(11:29):
with a company for two years, there might not be
a lot of money in that pension. But imagine if
you work for a company when you were going through
college and you were just working and you were contributing
to a company like like that pension, like Safeway or
any of these places, and you go through your life
and you never ever think about a pension because you
were twenty years old when you were working there. So
(11:51):
I always ask where they are because I always say,
did you work there for longer? And two years? And
then we research and see if they have a pension,
and then we call the company up and they say, yes,
we have some money here that is in your name
and then we're able to transfer it out. And another
scenario is one that's more personal. My father's being passed
away for a number of years and when I got
my license, I was learning about pensions and stuff like that,
(12:14):
and I said to my mother, I said dad worked
at Kimberly Clark and she said yes, I said how
long did he work there? For? It was five or
six years he worked there. I said, have you ever
called him to see if there was a pension after
he passed away? And she never thought of it? And
we got ahold of We found the pension company that
did the pension for Kimberly Clark and we found it
wasn't a lot, but we found some money that was
(12:36):
sitting there that my mom was entitled to have.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Wow. Yeah, that's a great example.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And you just never know until you get somebody on
your side working for you and with you and really
knows how to dig and what corners to look at
or to investigate in, for example, tracking down missing money.
That's really important too. And then you know, fun people
don't really understand the whole r RSP and TFSA set
(13:05):
up and what it really means. You know, we we've
heard the term before. We think, oh, yeah, I've got
a little bit of money here, a little bit of
money there, but to maximize the benefits and there are
many that I think most of us don't even know.
And then also as we get older here Jeff with
that in mind, the r rs P TFS says, I
don't know how much I'm going to need to have
(13:25):
to actually live. I know what I'm making now, and
I know my lifestyle is the way it is now,
but how do I know what I will need for retirement?
Speaker 4 (13:34):
So that's that's so there's a lot of retirement calculators.
I know. Right on my website, I have a very
simple little video where you can actually put some basic
information in and it will tell you if you're on
track or not on track. So definitely go on to there.
It's very very simple to use, and what you'll see
is you know, do you are you? Are you on
track for retirement? Is there a shortfall? So one of
(13:56):
the questions I ask people in retirement, you want your
lifestyle to be the same, better or worse. And then
through through some financial planning software, we figure out a
number I call it a financial independence number in number,
and that number is basically how much money do I
need to be able to maintain the lifestyle that I
want at whatever age are retired, Because you have to remember,
(14:18):
if you want to retire at sixty instead of sixty five,
you're going to need more money because you're no longer
working in retirement. So the financial independence number is a
number that I use that to determine how much money
you need in retirement.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
And when it comes to everybody's income streaming nowadays, it
seems because you know, we're all trying to get a
little bit ahead and have a little side gig here
and there, or at least many people are, and they're
looking for ways to do that effectively and legally. Obviously,
I mean, are there many other ways that you can
make extra income?
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I mean legitimate ways?
Speaker 3 (14:54):
We all see the ones that come through on my
Instagram feed that I'm not sure whether they're real or not. Yeah,
what are some of the ways or how do we know?
Speaker 4 (15:04):
So a lot of people will just rent out to
a students reomemboard. If they've got a five bedroom house
and the kids have all moved out, they can rent
a room out to a student that's coming in. Some
people I've heard they'll rent a garage because they don't
use their garage much, so they rent a garage out
to somebody for storage space. The other one is simply
(15:25):
is get a side game, get another job, working part
time somewhere. If you have debts, or you want to
maximize out your RSPs, or you've got certain goals, it
doesn't hurt. There's a lot of people out there right
now that work full time and have another small part
time job. And maybe I know people that do it
just not for money, but they also do it for
the discounts. I know people that go work at winters
(15:45):
part time because they get discounts on the clothes that
they purchase all the time, and they also get the
first stab at all the new clothes that come in.
So maximize income streams to see, because let's face it,
if you're living paycheck to paycheck and you can't follow budget,
the next easiest way is to get a part time
job and use that money to pay off the debt
because if you're going to keep carrying that debt, the
(16:09):
end scenario could be bankruptcy and we don't want that.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
What are your thoughts. I know this is a bit
off topic. Here your thoughts on cryptocurrency now that you
know a bitcoins over one hundred thousand and all this
and it's very hot in the news with Donald Trump
winning the election and such. All it's tied in. Just
could you give us a few moments or at least
a thought on that.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
So a lot of that has to do with people's risks.
So all cryptocurrency is it's a very risky investment, and
we've seen last year when it crashed very very quickly,
and now it's went up very very quickly. So the
first thing that people have to determine is are they
going to like that roller coaster ride because a lot
of people don't like that roller coaster. It's just like
(16:53):
buying a stock versus a mutual fund. Your stock is
going to have more risks than a mutual fund would have.
And then there's a lot of controversy around cryptocurrency and
what it could be used for because it's not controlled
by anybody, so as there's not a lot of spots
that you could use it as of right now. But
they're talking about in the US where they're going to
(17:13):
make that more available in places to use a cryptocurrency.
But at the same time, it could also be used
for money laundering and terrorism. So a lot of people
have mixed feelings on whether or not their their cryptal
fans or non cryptal fans.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I guess it really is to each their own and
everybody has an opinion on it. But it's very very
much in the news now. But so making extra cash
of course, side gigs and side hustles and all that
sort of thing. What about you know, people generally speaking
do not like conflicts, and I guess with the talk
of the you know, the postal strike, union involvement, the
(17:50):
negotiations and such, what I'm getting at is here, it's
not always easy for people to ask for more money
at work when they feel they deserve it. And I
guess that's where unions have stepped in and said her,
let's all get together here, we'll make sure you get
raises regularly and such. How do I go about approaching
that effectively at work when I'm not in a union
(18:11):
and running the risk of some sort of negative response,
which is what I would be afraid of, It would
be fear. I guess that's guiding me along here, Jesse.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, And you know what business owners they love it
when people don't ask for a raise, because you can
have a top producer doing whatever they're doing and being
really good at it and never asked for a raise,
so they're underpaid. So my advice being the owner of
a business, I mean, I've had people come and talk
to me about a raise, and what I would say is,
(18:41):
don't be afraid to ask for a race, because the
worst thing that's going to happen is they're going to
say no. But what you need to do is you
need to gather evidence. Evidence can say that word right now,
Evidence to determine why. So I'm coming to you to
ask for a raise. This is what I bring to
the firm. Why do I expect that race? And here's
the proof in it? And I can tell you you know,
(19:03):
I sold furniture for a number of years, and my
very first year of selling furniture, I became the second
pop guy out of eleven or twelve of us. And
I said, hey, I my first year and I've never
sold a thing a day in my life, and I
became the second top person. I think I need a raise,
and I had the proof in it and I got
(19:25):
the raise.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Good. Yeah, they didn't want to lose you that exactly excellent.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Well, you know, getting a pay raise is one way
obviously of giving yourself a little bit of a bump,
and it gives you a little more breathing room along
the way. It's not always easy for everybody, I know that.
But and then at the other end of the scale,
at the end of our life, one of the biggest
questions that comes up is well did they have a will? Well,
if I'm in my thirties or forties, I may not
be thinking all the time about well I got time
(19:54):
for that.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I got lots of time for that. That's just for
old people pretty much, right, Jeff.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Yeah, And that's what people think that everybody thinks we're invincible,
and we've found out after a pandemic that we don't
have control over a lot of those things. So there's
a lot of ways you can get online wills. You
can go to chapters and find out how to make
a will, books and all this other stuff. My advice
is is actually go see a lawyer. I know they're
(20:20):
more expensive, but there there's a lot of weird situations.
You might come from a blended family like myself, where
the traditional will that you get online isn't isn't going
to work because there's so many different variables in what
happens there, or if you own a business, or if
you have a lot of properties or a lot of wealth,
(20:41):
stuff like that, having a will will prevent the government
from distributing the finances for you on your behalf.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, there's so many variables in a family and everybody's family. Everybody,
I say, every family has got variables. Nobody nobody's the same, Yeah, exactly,
And it's not so clean cut and dry and getting
a family lawyer, I guess it would be to guide
you along the way because it may be several hundreds
of dollars or maybe even a couple of thousands of dollars,
(21:10):
I don't know, depending on where you go and how
complicated it is. But boy oh boy, putting that aside
and realizing, okay, at least I've got that taken care
of and the people I care about are going to
be taken care of rather than the government coming in
and making decisions is a real stress relief I would.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Think there too. Yeah, so yeah, I agree.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
You know, financial advice really isn't only for those who
have a ton of money to move around. That's what
I think. Some people think, Well, I don't have any money,
I don't have much money. Why would I need financial advice.
I'm just barely getting by with the grocery bill every week.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
What would you say to people like that?
Speaker 4 (21:47):
So right back to the beginning when we first started talking,
norm financial advice is creating a budget and starting somewhere.
You need insurance to cover any debt that you have.
Then what we need to do is to figure out
how to pay off that debt. We need to figure
out where we can free up money to pay off
that debt. And then when we freed up that money,
(22:08):
how do we get where we want to in retirement?
And there's so many different variables, and this is what
financial advisors do for a living. So talking to a
financial advisor is definitely one of the most important things.
Because even when it comes to investments, I call it
the emotional roller coaster of investing. You can go online
and you can do investing on your own, but the
(22:29):
computer is going to do what your emotions want. So
if you're going to sell, the computer doesn't tell you
not to. And a lot of people sell when the
markets are at the bottom, and then they buy when
the market's at the top. A financial advisor is going
to help you manage that emotional roller coaster of investing
to know when to stay in or to be able
to help you make smart decisions. Whereas the computers they're
(22:50):
not doing it your emotions and the computer is going
to do what your emotions are wanting it to do.
This is where we come in and we hold your
hand and talk to you say, yes, the markets are
down right now, but this isn't the time to sell.
Where could we free up some more money during this
downturn in the market to be able to take advantage
of it by low sell high, not sell high in Sorry,
(23:16):
sell buy high and sell low.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, yeah, I knew what you meant. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
And financial advice is so important really as soon as
you can possibly start uh doing it and accepting it
for you and your whole family at pretty much any age,
and if you have young children, start their good healthy
financial habits young, because it's not really something we learned
in school unfortunately, Jeff, I know I never did growing
up anyways, and I really think it's important. Jeff mcgilvrey
(23:45):
is the president of Blue Harbor Financial go to ask Jeff.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Dot ca A.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
That's a sk G e O f F dot c
A and providing financial solutions is what he does. That's
what he lives and breathes. And that's who I want
working on my financials because I don't live and breathe that,
but I want somebody.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Who does, like Jeff. Jeff.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
This is so informative and we thank you very much
for your time as always.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Today, thank you again.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Absolutely financial goals for twenty twenty five and it just
makes sense. It makes sense, good financial sense. Ask Jeff
dot c A A s k G e o f
F dot c A. I'm Norm Murray. This is News
Talk SAGA nine sixty. We'll be back right after this.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
No Radio, no Problem. Stream is live on SAGA nine
sixty AM dot c A
The views expressed in the following program are those of
the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of
SAGA nine sixty AM or its management.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm Norm Murray.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
You're listening to News Talk SAGA nine sixty.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Nice to have you long today. I hope you're enjoying
your week.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
And you know what, as we get closer to the
holidays and closer to the end of the year, there
are some things that come to our mind. Besides you know,
missiletoe and you know what's under the tree and all
that sort of thing. And I'm talking about turning to
our friend Jeff mcgilvy, go to ask Jeff dot ca A.
Jeff mcgilvy is the go to guy and helps you
(00:59):
to achieve your financial goals, support your future needs, giving
you honest, straightforward financial advice and solutions that make sense.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And right now it's a great.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Time of year really to talk about your financial goals
potentially for twenty twenty five. Hello, Jeff mcgilvy, how are
you today?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Great?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How are you great? Thanks?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Looking forward to learning as we always do about financial goals,
whether it's in the middle of the year or certainly
as we come to the end of the year, because
some people might be thinking, Okay, what can I do
to the end at the end of the year here
to maximize what is happening next year. So there's a
lot of ground to cover here. Where do you want
to begin.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Let's talk about debt. I mean, we're going to bring
up debt and budgets throughout the time that we have together, say,
because lots of these things all revolve around debt and budgets.
But the first thing is is not using your overdraft
or your credit card for household builds. There's millions of
people that keep up with our household bills based on
(02:01):
credit cards or overdraft protection, which can get very costly.
Some overdraft some of the banks will charge forty percent,
and that the average credit card debt for a percentage
is like twenty two percent for an average interest rate
on a credit card. So one of the things that
I challenge people to do in the new year is
to stop using those and creating a budget and coming
(02:23):
up with that emergency fund so that we don't have
to use those credit cards.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
To do that.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Absolutely, but it's so tempting, you know, Jeff, We've got
the overdraft. Sometimes it's five hundred or one thousand or
maybe more. I don't know, depending on your own situation.
It's tempting just to dip into that and think, oh,
you know what, at least that's you know, going to
BUYE me over for a while. But it does catch
up with us, and so does the.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Interest rate in our credit cards.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
We're carrying this debt and before you know it, at
the end of the year, like right now, you can
look back and go, Okay, how much did I actually
give away to interest?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Right?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, yeah, it's phenomenal, Like it's the number is so big.
I don't just from just seeing clients and no balances
that people have on credit cards. And then there's there's
smart ways with these credit cards, and that's using the
credit cards per points for flying or for cash back rewards.
And if you're one of those people, congratulations that are
(03:20):
doing it properly. The credit card companies don't like us,
but we use it to our advantage. So there's there's
good and bad things. Just don't use it for the
bad things.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It takes a whole different type of discipline, I think,
but repaying debt is not something anybody wants to really
talk about. I suppose it's that hidden thing in our
lives or we're moving forward, we're trying to maintain a
lifestyle at the expense of repaying debt that's glaring us
in the face. You know, I've got the extra five
hundred dollars, what do I do with it? Well, you
(03:50):
know what, I'd like to do this, but really I
should be putting it to paying down that interest.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Right, Yes, So paying debt could be really really simple.
And so the first thing we have to do is
we have to identify what debts we have. So get
all your credit card statements, your mortgage teams, all that stuff,
put it together, and then the second thing is put
them in the order of priority. So there's this really
neat concept called debt stacking or debt snowballing. And if
(04:16):
people don't understand when we're when I'm explaining this, just
jump online and google it. But normally, if I said
to you there was you have five credit cards and
you make just over the minimum payments on every single
credit card, and I said what credit card do you
have to pay off first, or what one would you
like to pay off first to get out of debt?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
What would your answer be, Oh, the one with the
highest interest, right.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
And everybody says that, So it's a test. I knew
you were going to say that that may that may
be true, it may not be true. So I'm going
to challenge listeners to instead of going after the one
and changing your mindset the one of the highest credit cards,
let's look at the one with the smallest balanced. So
if your minimum payments on every card is one hundred
(05:00):
dollars each and you have five cards, but you're putting
one hundred and twenty on each one, so you're paying
in extra hundred dollars each month, I'm going to challenge
you to do the one with the smallest debt, the
smallest bounce, And you're going to make the minimum payments
on cards two, three, four, and five, But the twenty
that you were putting on those other cards, you're going
to put it on the first card with the smallest bounce. Now,
(05:24):
what you're going to have is that one of the
smallest bounce is going to disappear quick because you're putting
all the extra money on that one card. Well, when
that one card gets paid off, I don't want you
to take that money and go and spend it that
you had on that card. I want you, I want
you to snowball that money. So what you were paying
on that first card, now you're going to pay what
you paid on the first card and what you paid
(05:44):
on the second lowest bounce. You're going to make that
much bigger payment on the second one, and you snowball
to number three, number four, and number five, and you'd
be shocked at how much interest you can save and
how quick you can pay off the debt by doing
what's called debt stocking.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Okay, so yeah, it kind of makes me feel psychologically
better too. And I know that I don't have let's
say it's five cards, I've only got four now or
three as you go forward, right.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that psychology thing really gets us too.
We feel we feel like we hit a goal if
we pay off a card. Yeah, yeah, you feel better
about You're like, yeah, I only have a bounce on
four cards now. It's but are fine.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
This is the kind of advice we need, and Jeff
mcgilvrey is the guy to give it to us. Go
to ask Jeff dot ca a. That's a s k
G E O F F dot ca a. He is
the president of Blue Harbor Financial. Uh, so you know,
going along with that in mind, expensive debt is a
real problem obviously, paying off debt that could cost you
(06:47):
your home. What do you mean by that kind of debt?
Are you talking about your mortgage specifically?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
No, so debt that could cost you your home if
you're gonna go bankrupt, or anything that's going to land
you in court, anything like that. Really bad debt. One
of the bad debts that and it won't cost you
your home, but if you wile bankrupt, I mean there's
there's things that can happen. But one of the debts
that I always say stay away from is the past
cash stores. You know the ones that are on every corner.
(07:15):
Oh yeah, fast cash er, money market or all these
different names like stay away from those ones. They're they're
just there's just the devil of of loans.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Wow, how can I you know, I have to ask
you this, And I wonder if anybody else is wondering
this also, How can something like that be legal?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Well, they have to disclose everything to the client. I've
actually done a radio show on a different show a
while back about these fast past task stores and maybe
we'll do one and we'll talk about it for the
listeners that do have it and show you exactly how
they work, because they they just get you to sign
things and you don't read the fine print to realize
(07:55):
how the interest can keep stacking up on you. And
it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Well, there's got to be ways to save too. I mean,
you know, it seems so daunting debt, debt, debt. When
am I ever going to actually be able to save money?
Put away money for a rainy day? As they say,
you know, are there new and easier ways to save?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:17):
So again, like I said, ready at the beginning of
the show, we're going to talk about paying off debt
and doing budgets and finding new ways Like easy ways
to save is all about budgeting. So what I do
as a service to my clients is I have a
budget worksheet that is frequently on the website, and I
will sit there and have a conversation with people to
talk about creating your budget, because there's no reason why
(08:38):
you can't pay off debt and save at the same time.
And we have some great ways to save. The tax
Free Savings Account if you're younger, the first time Home
Savers account, if you're saving for retirement tor RSPs. There's
so many great ways to save out there, But what
a lot of people think is, oh, I have this
debt or I'm living paycheck to paycheck, I can't save.
(08:59):
Let's have a serious conversation about your budget and let's
see where you're actually spending money. Now, I'll be the
first one out there to say I could probably have
more personal money because I waste money on things too,
but I'm also not living paycheck to paycheck. So have
a third party person looking at your budget, whether it's
a parent or a friend or a financial advisor. I
(09:21):
guarantee you there's ways that you can save money instead
of buying pizza twice a week every single week, maybe
do it once a week and you'll be shocked at
how many people do things like that.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
So that's a financial planner. I guess are you do
you also do that financial planning for people?
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Yeah, so that's that's all. Some advisors will only talk
about retirement. I think the regulator should make debt part
of that financial plan because technically it doesn't have to be.
I already think tackling debt is at your life insurance
is at the base of that, and then paying off
debt would be one step above above the life insurance,
(09:59):
because I like insurance is ensuring your debt if you
pass away, that your loved ones don't get stuck with them.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
We're speaking with Jeff mcgilvery here is the president of
Blue Harbor Financial. Go to ask Jeff dot C. That's
ask GEO f F dot C. Helping to provide financial
solutions for you and your entire family, and he helps
to match the needs with the right company and product
and such to properly protect your family also and help
you reach your savings goals going forward and to live
(10:29):
better and you have more peace of mind. I mean,
I've heard the slogan on television, you're richer than you think.
Does that mean that somewhere somewhere with everybody we've got
missing money, perhaps that we just don't we aren't conscious
of that we can use to our benefit, Jeff.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
So tracking on missing money is quite interesting and I
do this with every time I bring on a new
client because one of the big ones where we find
missing money is in pensions where people had used to
work or a loved one had passed away that had
a pension. So I can say that I've sat down
with numerous clients that are thirty, thirty, five, forty years old,
(11:08):
and one of the questions I ask is not just
where you work now, but where have you worked in
the past. So a lot of companies they have pensions,
and if you leave with like prior to a two
year period, they've got what's called a two year vesting period.
So if you leave prior to two years and they
had a pension, you don't get it, But after two
years it becomes vested and after you know, if you're
(11:29):
with a company for two years, there might not be
a lot of money in that pension. But imagine if
you work for a company when you were going through
college and you were just working and you were contributing
to a company like like that pension, like Safeway or
any of these places, and you go through your life
and you never ever think about a pension because you
were twenty years old when you were working there. So
(11:51):
I always ask where they are because I always say,
did you work there for longer? And two years? And
then we research and see if they have a pension,
and then we call the company up and they say, yes,
we have some money here that is in your name
and then we're able to transfer it out. And another
scenario is one that's more personal. My father's being passed
away for a number of years and when I got
my license, I was learning about pensions and stuff like that,
(12:14):
and I said to my mother, I said dad worked
at Kimberly Clark and she said yes, I said how
long did he work there? For? It was five or
six years he worked there. I said, have you ever
called him to see if there was a pension after
he passed away? And she never thought of it? And
we got ahold of We found the pension company that
did the pension for Kimberly Clark and we found it
wasn't a lot, but we found some money that was
(12:36):
sitting there that my mom was entitled to have.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Wow. Yeah, that's a great example.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And you just never know until you get somebody on
your side working for you and with you and really
knows how to dig and what corners to look at
or to investigate in, for example, tracking down missing money.
That's really important too. And then you know, fun people
don't really understand the whole r RSP and TFSA set
(13:05):
up and what it really means. You know, we we've
heard the term before. We think, oh, yeah, I've got
a little bit of money here, a little bit of
money there, but to maximize the benefits and there are
many that I think most of us don't even know.
And then also as we get older here Jeff with
that in mind, the r rs P TFS says, I
don't know how much I'm going to need to have
(13:25):
to actually live. I know what I'm making now, and
I know my lifestyle is the way it is now,
but how do I know what I will need for retirement?
Speaker 4 (13:34):
So that's that's so there's a lot of retirement calculators.
I know. Right on my website, I have a very
simple little video where you can actually put some basic
information in and it will tell you if you're on
track or not on track. So definitely go on to there.
It's very very simple to use, and what you'll see
is you know, do you are you? Are you on
track for retirement? Is there a shortfall? So one of
(13:56):
the questions I ask people in retirement, you want your
lifestyle to be the same, better or worse. And then
through through some financial planning software, we figure out a
number I call it a financial independence number in number,
and that number is basically how much money do I
need to be able to maintain the lifestyle that I
want at whatever age are retired, Because you have to remember,
(14:18):
if you want to retire at sixty instead of sixty five,
you're going to need more money because you're no longer
working in retirement. So the financial independence number is a
number that I use that to determine how much money
you need in retirement.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
And when it comes to everybody's income streaming nowadays, it
seems because you know, we're all trying to get a
little bit ahead and have a little side gig here
and there, or at least many people are, and they're
looking for ways to do that effectively and legally. Obviously,
I mean, are there many other ways that you can
make extra income?
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I mean legitimate ways?
Speaker 3 (14:54):
We all see the ones that come through on my
Instagram feed that I'm not sure whether they're real or not. Yeah,
what are some of the ways or how do we know?
Speaker 4 (15:04):
So a lot of people will just rent out to
a students reomemboard. If they've got a five bedroom house
and the kids have all moved out, they can rent
a room out to a student that's coming in. Some
people I've heard they'll rent a garage because they don't
use their garage much, so they rent a garage out
to somebody for storage space. The other one is simply
(15:25):
is get a side game, get another job, working part
time somewhere. If you have debts, or you want to
maximize out your RSPs, or you've got certain goals, it
doesn't hurt. There's a lot of people out there right
now that work full time and have another small part
time job. And maybe I know people that do it
just not for money, but they also do it for
the discounts. I know people that go work at winters
(15:45):
part time because they get discounts on the clothes that
they purchase all the time, and they also get the
first stab at all the new clothes that come in.
So maximize income streams to see, because let's face it,
if you're living paycheck to paycheck and you can't follow budget,
the next easiest way is to get a part time
job and use that money to pay off the debt
because if you're going to keep carrying that debt, the
(16:09):
end scenario could be bankruptcy and we don't want that.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
What are your thoughts. I know this is a bit
off topic. Here your thoughts on cryptocurrency now that you
know a bitcoins over one hundred thousand and all this
and it's very hot in the news with Donald Trump
winning the election and such. All it's tied in. Just
could you give us a few moments or at least
a thought on that.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
So a lot of that has to do with people's risks.
So all cryptocurrency is it's a very risky investment, and
we've seen last year when it crashed very very quickly,
and now it's went up very very quickly. So the
first thing that people have to determine is are they
going to like that roller coaster ride because a lot
of people don't like that roller coaster. It's just like
(16:53):
buying a stock versus a mutual fund. Your stock is
going to have more risks than a mutual fund would have.
And then there's a lot of controversy around cryptocurrency and
what it could be used for because it's not controlled
by anybody, so as there's not a lot of spots
that you could use it as of right now. But
they're talking about in the US where they're going to
(17:13):
make that more available in places to use a cryptocurrency.
But at the same time, it could also be used
for money laundering and terrorism. So a lot of people
have mixed feelings on whether or not their their cryptal
fans or non cryptal fans.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I guess it really is to each their own and
everybody has an opinion on it. But it's very very
much in the news now. But so making extra cash
of course, side gigs and side hustles and all that
sort of thing. What about you know, people generally speaking
do not like conflicts, and I guess with the talk
of the you know, the postal strike, union involvement, the
(17:50):
negotiations and such, what I'm getting at is here, it's
not always easy for people to ask for more money
at work when they feel they deserve it. And I
guess that's where unions have stepped in and said her,
let's all get together here, we'll make sure you get
raises regularly and such. How do I go about approaching
that effectively at work when I'm not in a union
(18:11):
and running the risk of some sort of negative response,
which is what I would be afraid of, It would
be fear. I guess that's guiding me along here, Jesse.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, And you know what business owners they love it
when people don't ask for a raise, because you can
have a top producer doing whatever they're doing and being
really good at it and never asked for a raise,
so they're underpaid. So my advice being the owner of
a business, I mean, I've had people come and talk
to me about a raise, and what I would say is,
(18:41):
don't be afraid to ask for a race, because the
worst thing that's going to happen is they're going to
say no. But what you need to do is you
need to gather evidence. Evidence can say that word right now,
Evidence to determine why. So I'm coming to you to
ask for a raise. This is what I bring to
the firm. Why do I expect that race? And here's
the proof in it? And I can tell you you know,
(19:03):
I sold furniture for a number of years, and my
very first year of selling furniture, I became the second
pop guy out of eleven or twelve of us. And
I said, hey, I my first year and I've never
sold a thing a day in my life, and I
became the second top person. I think I need a raise,
and I had the proof in it and I got
(19:25):
the raise.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Good. Yeah, they didn't want to lose you that exactly excellent.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Well, you know, getting a pay raise is one way
obviously of giving yourself a little bit of a bump,
and it gives you a little more breathing room along
the way. It's not always easy for everybody, I know that.
But and then at the other end of the scale,
at the end of our life, one of the biggest
questions that comes up is well did they have a will? Well,
if I'm in my thirties or forties, I may not
be thinking all the time about well I got time
(19:54):
for that.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I got lots of time for that. That's just for
old people pretty much, right, Jeff.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Yeah, And that's what people think that everybody thinks we're invincible,
and we've found out after a pandemic that we don't
have control over a lot of those things. So there's
a lot of ways you can get online wills. You
can go to chapters and find out how to make
a will, books and all this other stuff. My advice
is is actually go see a lawyer. I know they're
(20:20):
more expensive, but there there's a lot of weird situations.
You might come from a blended family like myself, where
the traditional will that you get online isn't isn't going
to work because there's so many different variables in what
happens there, or if you own a business, or if
you have a lot of properties or a lot of wealth,
(20:41):
stuff like that, having a will will prevent the government
from distributing the finances for you on your behalf.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, there's so many variables in a family and everybody's family. Everybody,
I say, every family has got variables. Nobody nobody's the same, Yeah, exactly,
And it's not so clean cut and dry and getting
a family lawyer, I guess it would be to guide
you along the way because it may be several hundreds
of dollars or maybe even a couple of thousands of dollars,
(21:10):
I don't know, depending on where you go and how
complicated it is. But boy oh boy, putting that aside
and realizing, okay, at least I've got that taken care
of and the people I care about are going to
be taken care of rather than the government coming in
and making decisions is a real stress relief I would.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Think there too. Yeah, so yeah, I agree.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
You know, financial advice really isn't only for those who
have a ton of money to move around. That's what
I think. Some people think, Well, I don't have any money,
I don't have much money. Why would I need financial advice.
I'm just barely getting by with the grocery bill every week.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
What would you say to people like that?
Speaker 4 (21:47):
So right back to the beginning when we first started talking,
norm financial advice is creating a budget and starting somewhere.
You need insurance to cover any debt that you have.
Then what we need to do is to figure out
how to pay off that debt. We need to figure
out where we can free up money to pay off
that debt. And then when we freed up that money,
(22:08):
how do we get where we want to in retirement?
And there's so many different variables, and this is what
financial advisors do for a living. So talking to a
financial advisor is definitely one of the most important things.
Because even when it comes to investments, I call it
the emotional roller coaster of investing. You can go online
and you can do investing on your own, but the
(22:29):
computer is going to do what your emotions want. So
if you're going to sell, the computer doesn't tell you
not to. And a lot of people sell when the
markets are at the bottom, and then they buy when
the market's at the top. A financial advisor is going
to help you manage that emotional roller coaster of investing
to know when to stay in or to be able
to help you make smart decisions. Whereas the computers they're
(22:50):
not doing it your emotions and the computer is going
to do what your emotions are wanting it to do.
This is where we come in and we hold your
hand and talk to you say, yes, the markets are
down right now, but this isn't the time to sell.
Where could we free up some more money during this
downturn in the market to be able to take advantage
of it by low sell high, not sell high in Sorry,
(23:16):
sell buy high and sell low.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, yeah, I knew what you meant. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
And financial advice is so important really as soon as
you can possibly start uh doing it and accepting it
for you and your whole family at pretty much any age,
and if you have young children, start their good healthy
financial habits young, because it's not really something we learned
in school unfortunately, Jeff, I know I never did growing
up anyways, and I really think it's important. Jeff mcgilvrey
(23:45):
is the president of Blue Harbor Financial go to ask Jeff.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Dot ca A.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
That's a sk G e O f F dot c
A and providing financial solutions is what he does. That's
what he lives and breathes. And that's who I want
working on my financials because I don't live and breathe that,
but I want somebody.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Who does, like Jeff. Jeff.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
This is so informative and we thank you very much
for your time as always.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Today, thank you again.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Absolutely financial goals for twenty twenty five and it just
makes sense. It makes sense, good financial sense. Ask Jeff
dot c A A s k G e o f
F dot c A. I'm Norm Murray. This is News
Talk SAGA nine sixty. We'll be back right after this.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
No Radio, no Problem. Stream is live on SAGA nine
sixty AM dot c A
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