It’s not just the fact that taxes were due over a week ago and you haven’t gotten all your ducks in a row… It’s more that you don’t even know how many ducks you have and where they are! Do you worry about money and how much you have and if you will make it through the next month? This is not right and it absolutely should not be this way…

Well, According to Money Coaches Canada; The good news is that you’re not alone. Many people have a crippling fear of finances, and it’s no wonder:

Every time something catastrophic happened in life, one of the first thoughts you probably had was how you were going to pay for it. You might even have felt that devastating feeling: the sinking realization that you can’t afford the crisis at hand.

That can make you want to keep as much distance between you and your finances as possible.

There’s just one problem: That’s the wrong move.

This Fear Gets Better When You Face It

When you avoid your financial situation, it can only get worse. You can’t solve a problem if you don’t understand what the problem is in the first place.

The closer you look at your money, the more you’ll realize it’s not a terrifying force that’s out to crush you, controlling your life. Money behaves in very predictable ways. It can be managed and understood. It’s not a monster with a mind of its own; it’s more like a household pet.

Here are 3 Steps to take provided by Money Coaches Canada:

Step #1: No Judgment

Wherever you are is where you are. It’s likely that one of the reasons you’re so afraid of money is that you’re embarrassed or ashamed about where you think you might be right now. You might be in a less-than-ideal place, and you think that’s a dirty little secret you should hide. You feel that people are going to be judgmental.

Here’s the truth: No one needs to know about your financial situation but you.

You can keep this information entirely to yourself and never tell a soul.

You’ll still know where you are, money-wise, whether you tell others or not. And when you know where you are, you can start to move forward to where you want to be.

Step #2: Know the Truth (the Whole Truth)

It’s tempting to guess at how much debt you have and call it a day. It’s close enough, right?

If you do this, the problem is that you’ll always know that the number is maybe not quite what you thought it was. You’ll worry that it’s worse than you thought. You’ll still be hiding from the truth.

We want to face that fear, not run from it. That’s the only way to stop fearing money in the first place.

Start by writing down the number that’s in your checking and savings accounts right now. If you have investments, write down the totals in those accounts as well. If you own a house, include the equity you’ve paid on the house. Tally all of those numbers up into one big number.

These are your Assets.

Then go through and check the balance on all of your credit cards, and write those totals down in a separate column. Got a mortgage? A car loan? Student or personal loans? Put down those numbers as well, along with the interest rate you’re paying on each loan or debt.

Tally up those numbers. These are your Liabilities.

Now take a deep breath, and subtract your Liabilities from your Assets.

That’s where you are with your money right now.

Step #3: You Can Do This

The number you’ve arrived at may worry you. If you’ve been scared of looking at your finances for a long time, it’s very likely that where you are with your money is in the negative. It may even be a pretty sizeable negative number.

That’s okay.

That’s okay because now you know – and knowing where you are is always better than not knowing.

You have something to work with. You can turn that number from a negative into a positive. You can do this with your own attention and care and ingenuity. And you can do it for yourself – to make it possible for you to enjoy even more of the things you truly want in your life.

Money Coaches Canada has created the Money Map Coaching Program, and this special, interactive program is entirely dedicated to YOU and your financial success. You’ll learn about managing your money in a way that completely takes away all your fears and sets you on a confident path to success. Check out the program: Money Map Coaching Program! Do not miss out on the opportunity that will impact the rest of your life.

It’s time to spend and make special memories with the ones we love. One thing you may not want to do over the holidays is call your accountant. Don’t worry, we’re not offended! However, businesses still buy and sell, file their HST and pay their workers so entrepreneurship never really goes silent. But, things slow down and we find ourselves (hopefully you have finished all your holiday shopping and preparations by now!) with some extra spare minutes.

The following suggestions will not take too long but will make a big impact and you won’t have to think about them for the rest of the year!

RRSP’s: Call your bank or go online and starting in January, set up a regular monthly contribution, by automatic transfer. Making automatic monthly contributions (amounts are different for each individual) allows you to forget about making the payments. You may not even notice them coming out of the bank!
Emergency Records: You don’t often think about it, or want to think about it but it does happen. Fires, floods, an death or illness… If any of this would happen, would you or your loved ones know where all your accounts were, who you were insured with, what credit cards you have available? And the account numbers for all of these? Heres what to do:
- Go through your filing drawer.
- Photocopy the latest statement/ renewal for each account/ policy you hold, or grab an old one if the account details haven’t changed.
- Photocopy your passport, driver’s licence, OHIP and SIN card.
- Repeat for each household member.
- Put in a sealed envelope and write contact details for your executor, lawyer, and accountant on the front.
- Give to someone you trust that doesn’t reside in the same location to keep safe.
- You can also create a digital copy of all of the above and store in a password protected folder in the clouds and give the password to a few select people.
- Do the same next year.
Done!
As you know, the tax year ends on December 31 – for all individuals, and for many corporations too. All the big firms publish “Year-end guides for tax planning”, although many of them are broader tax planning documents, rather than what to do in December. These guides are worth reading at some point however they me be a little heaver of a read… Here are some pointers to get you started:
- If you need to take money out of savings – say, to pay holiday bills – take it out of your Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) in December. That way, you can put it back in 2019. If you wait to 2019 to withdraw, the headroom isn’t topped back up until 2020. [Flip side: Money taken out from RRSPs are taxable withdrawals. Push these withdrawals back to January, so they’re taxable in 2019.]
- Review your debts. The interest paid on money used to earn business or generate investment income can be used as a tax deduction.
- If you need to purchase a car or musical instrument for work, do so at the end of the year to enjoy the benefit of accelerated capital cost allowance claims.
- Donate shares instead of cash. Not only do you get the charitable donation deduction, but by donating the shares you’re not subject to capital gains tax.
- Check out this year-end tax planning checklist via pwc Canada.

From our family to yours, we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!