Gail Vaz-Oxlade's Blog, page 3

The Poetry of David Whyte

David Whyte was born in November, 1955 and grew up among the hills and valleys of his father’s Yorkshire. He now makes his home in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, but his Irish mother imaginative influence is still at play among his words.

 

The Lightest Touch

Good poetry begins with

the lightest touch,

a breeze arriving from nowhere,

a whispered healing arrival,

a word in your ear,

a settling into things,

then like a hand in the dark

it arrests the whole body,

steeling you for revelation.

In the silence that follows

a great line

you can feel Lazarus

deep inside

even the laziest, most deathly afraid

part of you,

lift up his hands and walk toward the light.

 

David is the author of seven books of poetry and three books of prose, A zoologist by training, he loves to travel, and has worked as a naturalist guide in the Galapagos Islands. He has also lead anthropological and natural history expeditions in the Andes, Amazon and Himalaya. You can see his connection to the natural world reflected in his writing.

 

Second Sight

Sometimes, you need the ocean light,

and colors you’ve never seen before

painted through an evening sky.

Sometimes you need your God

to be a simple invitation,

not a telling word of wisdom.

Sometimes you need only the first shyness

that comes from being shown things

far beyond your understanding,

so that you can fly and become free

by being still and by being still here.

And then there are times you need to be

brought to ground by touch

and touch alone.

To know those arms around you

and to make your home in the world

just by being wanted.

To see those eyes looking back at you,

as eyes should see you at last,

seeing you, as you always wanted to be seen,

seeing you, as you yourself

had always wanted to see the world.

 

Working Together

We shape our self?to fit this world

and by the world?are shaped again.

The visible?and the invisible

working together?in common cause,

to produce?the miraculous.

I am thinking of the way?the intangible air

passed at speed?round a shaped wing

easily?holds our weight.

So may we, in this life

trust

to those elements?we have yet to see

or imagine,

and look for the true

shape of our own self,

by forming it well

to the great?intangibles about us.

 

It is Not Enough

It is not enough to know.

It is not enough to follow

the inward road conversing in secret.

It is not enough to see straight ahead,

to gaze at the unborn?thinking the silence belongs to you.

It is not enough to hear

even the tiniest edge of rain.

You must go to the place?where everything waits,

there, when you finally rest,?even one word will do,

one word or the palm of your hand?turning outward

in the gesture of gift.

And now we are truly afraid

to find the great silence

asking so little.

One word, one word only.

 

Are Microwaves Save?

I’m a big-batch cooker. From time to time I put to and make a mess of food, putting it in individual containers in the freezer. This saves me time when I don’t want to have to start from scratch. And since I’m the best mama ever, I end up stuffing my children’s freezers with my lasagna, veggie chili, mac and cheese, stew and soups.

When I reheat, I typically just throw whatever I’m cooking into a ceramic dish and nuke it. I love my microwave. But how safe is it, really?

I’ve was told by a friend that microwave ovens shouldn’t be used to heat water for tea because the microwave tears apart the molecules and ruins the water. I’ve been told that if you have cancer in your family you should lose the microwave ovens. And I’ve been told that eating microwaved food can interfere with hormone production.

That’s all a load of hooey.

Microwave ovens have been around for about sixty years now and they’re damn convenient. I use mine to defrost, steam my veggies and rewarm left-overs. I’ve even baked the odd cake-in-a-cup when I’ve become desperate for chocolate cake and the stores have all closed!

Microwave ovens heat food by producing electromagnetic radiation, which is absorbed by water molecules in the food. The water molecules vibrate and produce heat, which cooks the food. That’s why food with more water in ‘em, like veggies, cook more quickly.

That radiation is one reason why we sometimes refer to it as nuking our food… but that’s probably a bad term to use if you want to believe microwaves aren’t bad for you, right?

Radiation is the release of energy from any source. Not all radiation is harmful. Non ionising radiation has enough energy to move things around inside a cell but not enough to change cells chemically. The radiation from a microwave oven is non-ionizing, much like radio waves and the radiation waves given off by computers and their screens.

But what about the food cooked in a microwave. Have you wondered if foods become less nutritious when microwaved than when cooked on the stove top or in a regular oven?

Researchers say that microwaved foods may be better for you since microwaving results in less loss of nutrients compared with boiling and frying. Turns out water-soluble nutrients like many B vitamins and vitamin C are not leached out of the food when they are microwaved since food cooks quickly, and those nutrients are less exposed to the heat.

There are some nutrients that become more potent when exposed to heat, like lycopene in tomatoes and beta-carotene in carrots. For those, stove-top or oven roasting will make they better for you nutritionally. And the taste, well, the taste of roasted anything really, right? I make a slow roasted tomato, garlic and red pepper pasta sauce with basil that keeps summer in my kitchen all winter long.

The idea is to pick the cooking method that works best for you time-wise and for the nutrients in your food. Boiling and stir-frying may actually be the worst for your vegetables. Putting broccoli in water, for example, destroys it because it’s nutrients are water soluble. And stir-frying it means exposure to high heat, which may rob it of nutrition too. So steam or nuke that sucker. If you like your veggies boiled, save the water and use it to cook your rice or to make your gravy so you don’t pour the nutrients down the drain.

If you’re determined not to have a microwave in your home, that’s fine. To each his own. But if you have a microwave and are happy using it, and someone tries to tell you that you’re ruining your food or exposing your family to danger, it simply isn’t true.

Buying a Home

A single mom wrote to me recently asking for some advice about buying a home. She wants to know how much she should put down, and how much she can reasonably afford to spend. While she’s been pre-approved for a mortgage – a good first step – she’s uncomfortable with the amount the lender seems willing to give her and wants to know what’s realistic.

Lenders use a calculation called debt service ratio to calculate how much they’ll lend you based on how much you can afford to repay each month. Gross Debt Service Ratio is the percentage of your gross annual income that it takes to cover payments associated with keeping a roof over your head: mortgage payments, property tax, heating, condo fees. Total Debt Service Ratio also takes into account other debt you may have like a car loan or lease and outstanding balances/limits on credit cards. Every lender has a limit for how much GDSR or TDSR is acceptable, generally been 32% and 40% respectively. However, for folks with very high credit scores, GDS requirements are often waived and the TDS maximum is often higher. This can get responsible borrowers into trouble because it means they can end up over-extending themselves.

Let’s use the gross debt service ratio of 32% as a starting point to determine how much you can afford. If you make $5,000 a month before taxes, 32% of that would be $1,600 a month, which is what the bank will say you can afford in mortgage payments. With an interest rate of 6%, amortized for 25 years, you could afford a mortgage of about $190,000. Add on your downpayment and violá, you’ve got the amount of house you can afford.

Now I say all this as a guide. And it’s a good guide. But since people are getting into houses today, who would never have qualified to buy five years ago, before you jump into the fray, you need to know the facts.

Let’s work with the following. Let’s assume you’re planning to take on a $250,000 mortgage and that current interest rates for a 5-year term are 5.34%.

First let’s look at how amortization affects your repayment of principal and interest costs over the five-year term.

Amortization           Monthly Payment            Principal Pd              Interest Pd

15                           $2,014                              $62,589                     $58,241

20                           $1,689                              $40,337                     $61,004

25                           $1,503                              $27,579                     $62,588

30                           $1,385                              $19,538                     $63,586

 

The shorter your amortization, the higher your monthly payment and the faster your pay your mortgage off. Going from a 15-year to a 30-year amortization means you’ll pay off two-thirds LESS on your principal over that five-year term. So, over the life of the mortgage you’ll pay a whack-load more in interest. But you’ll have a lower monthly payment to deal with.

Now let’s turn to downpayment. If you buy a home with anything less than 20% down, you’re going to have to buy high-ratio mortgage insurance. This insurance premium is calculated as a percentage of the loan amount, and the percentage depends on the loan to value ratio. The higher the loan to value ratio – the amount your borrowing relative to the value of the home — the higher the premium cost. So the lower your downpayment the more expensive the insurance. How expensive?

If you put 15% down, your mortgage insurance premium will be 1.75% of the mortgage, or $4,375 on your $250,000 mortgage. But if you only put 5% down, your premium will be 2.75% or $6,875. This premium may be paid in cash (nobody does this) or added to the mortgage amount (making your mortgage even larger).

Ultimately, the amount of home you can afford to buy depends on how much you’re spending elsewhere in your life. If you have no student or consumer debt you can spend anywhere from 35-50% of your take-home pay on your shelter costs, assuming all your other costs are in line. Shelter costs include your mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance. Your other costs include transportation: 15%, saving 10%, life (including things like food, daycare costs, and clothes) 25%.

Before you jump up and down clicking your heels together at how much mortgage you’ve been approved for, do the math for yourself: add up all your costs and figure out just how much YOU can actually afford to commit to a mortgage payment.

I’m not trying to scare y’all away from home ownership. I’m trying to impress upon you that home ownership is a BIG responsibility, not one to be taken on lightly. And I’m trying to show you that spending a little time saving for a downpayment makes way more sense than locking yourself into a mortgage payment that strangles your cash flow while paying exorbitant amounts in interest and insurance premiums.

 

This & That: RRSPs & Retirement Edition

J Wrote:   I am 63 years old, employed. Pensions: CPP and Company totaling approx. $1666/mo. I plan on retiring in 2 years. My mortgage is $144,500. RRSPS totaling $160,000. Question is when I retire do I pay off the mortgage so no more mortgage payments or do I withdraw $1000/month from the RRSP? I figured to pay expenses when retired, I would need an extra $1000 per month to sustain, and mortgage payment is $798/month. Does it come down to income tax payable?

Gail Says: If you pull all the money from the RRSP at once, you’ll add the total to your income in a single year, driving up your tax rate and losing a whopping amount of it. You’d be far better off tax-wise drawing only the $1,000 a month from the RRSP.

 

E Wrote: Is it beneficial to have an RRSP if you’re already enrolled in a defined benefit pension plan through work? This has been a source of much debate at work and I need someone to play referee. Personally, I have the notion that you would be taxed more at retirement and possibly be ineligible for government benefits with the RRSP and that a TFSA would be the way to go. Currently, our employer adds in $1.26 for every $1 we contribute to the plan (which is calculated as 6.9% of annual earnings up to the year’s maximum pensionable earnings, and 9.2% above that). I am 31 years old and haven’t decided on an RRSP vs TFSA (but have already contributed $22,500 towards the DB pension) and need your opinion as to which is the best route to go to supplement my retirement.

Gail Says: Like you I believe that if you have a heathy work retirement savings plan in place, you should be doing any additional savings inside a TFSA, to minimize your taxes at retirement. Reality is your RSP limit is affected by your contributions to a company pension plan anyway.

 

J Wrote: My husband and I are retirement age and both will have defined benefit pensions. We have good savings which we would like to access for travel and some fun stuff to provide extra income while minimizing erosion of principal. We are debt free and own our home. Our advisor (Assante) has suggested t- shares as an option. We’ve never heard of them and can’t find a lot of information on them except for institutions selling them. What do you think of them? Is there a better option? Help! We are at a critical change point in our lives and are stressed by this!

Gail Says: T-Class shares are just mutual fund units that are labelled “tax” class because of the high fund distribution that’s touted as being tax free. Most of the fund distribution is classified as a “return of capital” for tax purposes, which means it isn’t taxable. The thing is, if it sounds too good to be true, is probably is. So here’s the problem with T-class shares: Since income can’t be created out of thin air, that high distribution of income comes at a cost. If the fund is not generating enough income to fund the distribution, or there aren’t enough new buyers to drive up unit values the distribution isn’t sustainable and will reduce the value of the units over time. So the income comes at a cost: the depreciation of your asset’s value. Yup, that means the unit value of your investment will potentially go down so when you sell you’ll have a loss.

You might be better off figuring out how much you need a month to fund your fun and making a monthly withdrawal from your investment plan. So if you need an extra $1,000, you’d sell a $1,000 worth of units each month. Remember, you’d only be taxed on the appreciated value so if you bought those units for $900 and sold them for $1000, you’d only be taxed on the $100 appreciation; the rest would in fact be a rerun of capital.

Be careful of “switching” to T-class shares if there’s a commission of any kind that must be paid. If making the change will incur fees like a front-end or back-end load (names for commission), you should weigh that very carefully.

 

M Wrote: I have an RRSP question that I don’t seem to be able to find an answer to. My wife, 5 years younger than me, has a health problem and has been unable to work most of her adult life. As a result I have always contributed to a spousal RRSP for her. I hope to retire at 60 (she’ll be 55). I know there is a 3 year attribution rule, but my question is, if I have 2 spousal RRSPs do I have to stop contributing to both before I can withdraw money out of either or only the one I want to withdraw from?

Gail Says: Yes, the rule is “contribution to any spousal RSP.” If you make your contribution for the year by Dec 31 of that year, it’ll help with the timing.

 

Caribbean Fried Rice

We eat a lot of rice in the Caribbean. Other than provisions (which is the group name given to things like yam, dasheen, eddoes, cassava, breadfruit, sweet potatoes and green banana) rice shows up as a side dish for most mains. Here’s my version of Caribbean fried rice. Enjoy.

 

Caribbean Fried Rice

2 cups pre-cooked white rice, refrigerated overnight
2 cups cabbage chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 carrot grated
2 stalks celery sliced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 large sweet onion
2 tbs garlic oil
2 tbs sweet soya sauce*
1 tsp soya sauce

 

Warm the oil in a large skillet. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes, sprinkling with a small amount of salt.

Add cabbage and onions and continue to cook until onions/cabbage start to soften.

Add the carrot and celery, and continue stirring for a couple of minutes.

Add the red pepper, stir and then add the cold rice. Continue to stir while adding the sweet soya and the soya to the dish.

If you want to turn this into a meal all on its own, stir in some cooked chicken or fresh shrimp just before serving.

 

*If you can’t find sweet soya sauce, use oyster sauce, adding a little bit of honey to sweeten it up a tad.

Stop Buying Nestle Products

When I was at my high school reunion last fall, one of the events was a brunch the day after the gala. I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water and was told that there was a cold bin of bottled water on the patio where everyone was hanging out. Thing is, I can’t drink bottled water anymore. It’s the dumbest way to waste money and it’s elitist. Really, you’re too good for tap water? Get a grip!

Later I decided to grab some ice for my water and when I looked and saw the water was bottled by Nestle, I shook my head in dismay. No way is that company getting another penny of my hard-earned money.

The bottle water industry is enormous. And it continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Just in twenty years Nestle’s bottled water sales in North America have gone from $400 million U.S. to about $4 Billion. As more people decide to forgo pop and other sugary drinks, bottled water has picked up the slack. The thing is, companies like nestle are reaping rewards even as they rape the water table in countries all over the world.

With 29 bottling facilities across North America, Nestle is Canada’s largest bottled water manufacturer. They don’t really manufacture water… the planet does that, but they’re happy to take it out of the water table for pennies a thousand litres and sell it back to idiot consumers at a buck a bottle.

Really, you can’t drink tap water. Or buy a filtration system and fill your own bottles. You’ve got to waste money on plastic bottles filled with the water that’s running underground.

As if the production of plastic – and the garbage that results – isn’t bad enough, this is a serious environmental problem. Nestle has been pulling water out of areas that are prone to drought. Think Califonia. Think Florida. Think British Columbia. And after years of reduced federal oversight, the resource we most take for granted – our water – is becoming a big issue. Those who are watching are concerned that large-scale pumping of water, like Nestle does, could draw contaminants into the aquifer or lower groundwater levels.

Nestle likes to derail the conversation by pointing out that there are other industries that use more water than they do in their manufacturing. That may be true, but it in no way reduces the impact Nestle’s water pumping is having on the environment. And people who are watching aren’t going to let Nestle off the hook quite so quickly as in days past.

Now Nestle has bought a five-acre plot of land near Elora, Ontario. The land comes with a 110 metre deep well and the right to pump 1300 litres of water per minute. Conservationists are perturbed. Wellington Water Watchers, with is a non profit group that considers itself a groundwater watchdog is wading into the issue, as is Save Our Water, another local organization. They are concerned about the removal of the water and they want to know why Elora residents are paying 576 times as much for their water consumption as Neste will be for sucking the community dry.

I’m done with Nestle as a company. I refuse to buy anything that company sells because I think they’re a bad corporation. Recently a U.S. court said Nestle could be held accountable for abetting child slavery on the Ivory coast. Seriously. And Nestle recently admitted to using slavery and coercion in its fishery enterprises in Thailand. Seriously. Even the CEO of Nestle has gone on record as saying that the world’s population may face water shortages within the next 2 decades. That’s actually the rationale he uses for putting corporations in charge to water.

For heaven’s sake, stop buying bottled water people. It is a complete waste of money. All those idiots are doing is pumping YOUR water out of the ground, sticking it in an eco-unfriendly package and selling it back to you at a huge profit. Stop being such a sucker.

Of course, you may not give two hoots about the water issue at all. But surely you care about the slavery thing. Surely.

 

Teaching Kids to Be Smart Shoppers

Spending is a significant part of money management, so it makes sense to try to help kids figure out the best ways to use their money.

The fact that nobody taught most of us about becoming smart shopper is evident in the way we abuse credit. More than half of North America’s credit-card holders have balances owing, paying what can be exorbitant interest rates on products and services that may not even outlive their repayment schedules.

Have you had a look at how long it’ll take to get your credit card balance paid off if you pay only the minimum balance each month? Shocking! And yet so many people fall into the minimum payment trap.

While our values are very different from our parents’ who typically spent only what they had, our “spend-i-tis” is in large part because the money game has changed. Credit cards and lines of credit are relatively new ways of paying for the stuff we need and want. And the statistics on credit balances are staggering. The average level of personal debt in Canada rose 21% in 2013 to $15,910. But that’s the “average.” I don’t have any debt so someone else has mine to add to their pile.

Whether we are aware of it or not, we already play a huge role in teaching our kids how to shop. Each time hit a store we model what a consumer looks like. And whether our model is positive or not our kids are learning.

Teaching our children about becoming smart shoppers means looking closely at how we shop. It also means taking an active role in explaining what we are doing and why. And one of the most effective tools for helping kids understand what a product or service is really worth is the concept of “relative value.”

Relative value refers to the relationship between what an item costs and how many hours you have to work to pay for it. But it’s not as simple as saying that if it costs $140 for a concert ticket and you earn $10 an hour, you would have to work for two days to bring home enough money to afford that concert ticket. There are taxes to be paid, rent or mortgage costs to be covered, food to buy and transportation to cover. Since your essential expenses come first – those are our needs – we have to cover those costs before we can spend our hard earned money on “wants.” That puts a whole new spin on the real cost of that ticket, doesn’t it?

Since it’s your job to make sure you’re raising money-smart kids – have you noticed no one else is volunteering to do this job — you have to look for ways to introduce the idea of relative value. And if your kiddo is spending YOUR hard-earned money, it’s time to share your financial reality with your Mini-me. Hang on now, don’t go screaming from the room. What are you afraid of? If you aren’t prepared to share your own financial circumstances with your child, why should he listen to your money advice?

Tell Little Miss how much money you make per hour; if you aren’t paid by the hour, work it out. Deduct your total expenses (including income tax, shelter, transportation, savings and other essential expenses) from this hourly wage to show your remaining disposable income per hour.

Now it’s time to go shopping. Ask her to write down the price of that new whatever-it-is-she-wants. Divide the price by the hourly disposable income amount to show how many hours you would have to work to buy the item. Ask your child if she would be prepared to work that many hours for that specific item. If she chose a less expensive version, how many hours would you have to work? Is that item more or less important than some other thing your family wants to buy?

Once your child has a job, talk about relative value in terms of how many papers have to be delivered, how many lawns have to be cut, or how many hours he must shelving boxes (or whatever else he does to earn money) relative to the cost of an item. Remember to subtract the money he would have to pay for taxes, his cell phone bill and savings, along with whatever other costs he’s covering from his job, so he knows his real disposable income per hour.

Resist the urge to make every purchase into a lesson. Opportunities will naturally arise when you can reinforce the concept. Teaching relative value shouldn’t be arduous. Don’t lecture. Teach.

 

 

Stop Doing This!

Have you ever noticed that even when something isn’t working for you, you keep doing it anyway. People smoke even though they know it’s bad for them. People drink themselves relationship and career ruin. People choose relationships that are painful because, well, “the heart wants what the heart wants.” Lord love a duck.

These are obvious things — well at least to the people looking in at your life — that continue to contribute to your sense that your life is less than you want it to be. But what about the less obvious things?

Are you a perfectionist? If you’re holding yourself to a standard you can’t possibly meet, you’re setting yourself up to feel less successful, less proficient, less worthy. Stop it! Perfectionism is a trap. Everything we’re good at — really good at — came to be because we made a wholehellova lot of mistakes. And we learned. And we got better. Sometimes good enough is good enough and you have to learn to let go of that burning desire to make it perfect.

Are you a head-banger? You know the saying about doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results? If that’s you, stop it! If something isn’t working for you, instead of banging your head against that wall, take a step back. Look hard: why isn’t it working? What do you have to DO DIFFERENTLY to make the outcome different? If you can’t see it, ask one of your friends. Pick a sensible and supportive one. Then take his or her advice. Sometimes you are so close to a thing you have no perspective, so you have to borrow some.

Are you a procrastinator? Some people procrastinate because they’re lazy. Some procrastinate because they are afraid they’ll fail. And some aren’t sure they want the success that might come; they don’t want things to change. If you’re a procrastinator, stop it! Getting what you need to do done doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself in the doing. Break it down into smaller, more manageable pieces. Then do each piece purposefully and with intent. No more delay tactics, but no rushing either.

Are you too single focused? I have a tendency to be so focused on the outcome I lose track of what’s going on around me. I have to be very careful because when I’m “at work” I can’t hear or see anything other than the goal I’m working towards. (It happens when I’m travelling and never see the lines because I only see the door I’m supposed to go through too. Alex used to give me shite for cutting until we did a lot of travelling together and she realized I didn’t even see the lines.)

Too tight a focus can leave you putting family and friends on hold. Just because those people love you doesn’t mean their patience is unlimited. Eventually, many broken promises mean they’ll stop believing you, stop expecting you to show up. And when you’re done your project and your head comes up, y’know what? They will have gotten a life and it won’t include you. Unless you want to end up lonely and sad, open your focus up. Make dates that are unbreakable. Keep your promises.

This & That: Smart Credit Edition

K Wrote: My husband is 58 and I’m 59. We both work with a combined income of $70,000. We have $170,000 in cash and good credit ratings. No other assets and no debt at all. He will have a good pension and I will have a small one on top of CPP. Should we use the cash for a down payment on a condo and should we carry a mortgage of $230,000. (The bank says yes at 2.59% fixed).

Gail Says: Of course your bank thinks it’s a good idea; they stand to make a lot of money off the interest you end up paying. Amortized for 25 years, your monthly payment will be about $1041 and over the life of the mortgage (assume rates don’t go up… HA!) You’ll pay over $82,000 in interest. But you’ll be paying that mortgage until you’re 83 years old. Ugh. Keep in mind that when your husband turns up his toes, you will receive only a portion of his income from his pension, so having this debt — and a commitment to property taxes, insurance and maintenance — until you’re in your 80s isn’t such a hot idea. To have the property paid off by the time you’re in your 70s would mean a monthly payment of $1859.

I’m not sure why you think buying a home at 58/59 and taking on a mortgage is a good idea. Would you rather maintain the status quo and have a bunch of money in the bank to a) enjoy yourself and b) supplement your income when your mate’s pension is no long in full force?

The very fact that a bank is encouraging you to take on this kind of debt at this age is a testament to just how messed up they are and how vigilant consumers must be.

 

K Wrote: My husband and I are facing very low income versus high interest rates. The funds that we can put towards debt repayment on our credit cards unfortunately covers the interest and very little of the balance. (one card is 29.90%) We tried to talk our interest rates down and no go, especially on the 29.90% (department store card). We also have a personal line of credit that we had to use for a couple of big expenses and it’s almost maxed.

We have talked to our bank and are starting to look into a consolidation loan. Possibly roll it into our mortgage or get a Flex Equity Mortgage. My question is this….One thing we were asked is if the bank could cancel all (or at least most) of our other credit. They would cancel the line of credit (it is with them) and leave the credit card we have with them, but they want to cancel everything else. Can they insist on having our other cards cancelled?

We have one card that I would be so sorry to see go, not because of what it is, but my husband has had it since 1989. Only about 7 late (never missed) payments since then. Unfortunately our stove stopped heating and we needed to get a new one so on it went. We also each have our own business credit cards and we don’t want to lose those. (There are some I don’t mind losing).

If my lender insists on cancelling all our other cards we will have our credit rating probably screwed over. Can we say no you can’t take them all away? Can they cancel the cards themselves whether we want them gone or not?

Gail Says: I have to tell you that I think you are in very serious trouble. You’re asking a lender to consolidate your debt and all you can think about is keeping your existing credit cards. You should want those cards gone so that you can be focused on getting that consolidation paid off as fast as possible. Yes, your lender has the right to tell you to cancel cards as a condition of giving you the consolidation. And you should. Clearly, managing credit isn’t your strong suit so having cards open and ready to use does NOT work in your favour. And you’re not even aware of the damage you’ve done to yourself. “Only about 7 late (never missed) payments” is not a good thing. Each of those late payments sent a signal that you were not responsible and put a mark on your credit history.

 

J Wrote: I’m addicted to paying off debt to the extent of being told (by my wife) I’m out of balance. I’ve always been money conscious, and my wife and I (both in our 40’s) are doing just fine. We have above average salaries, live in a million dollar home, carry no commercial debt, have only a small mortgage remaining, have RESP’s, RRSP’s, pensions, TFSA, and float cash on hand. My problem is that when I get a tax return (home based business) or an extra pay (2 extra bi-weekly pays per year) I always want to pay down my mortgage. My wife would rather re-decorate our home (needs some decor, but not bad) or go on a vacation down south. Am I crazy for wanting to become debt-free before indulging in life’s frivolous pleasures like expensive vacations? How do I gain greater balance in spending when paying off debt feels so good, and spending money frivolously feels so irresponsible?

Maybe you won’t answer my question, maybe you can’t answer my question. Some insight would be greatly appreciated as I’ve been a big fan of yours for many years, and you’re one of the few financial gurus who seems to ‘get’ personal finance.

Gail Says: If it were only you, you could go all out on paying down the mortgage and being frugal. But it is not. It is you and your life partner, whom I assume you want to make happy. And so you must negotiate how good you get to feel and how good she gets to feel so you both get some good feelings. You don’t say how big your mortgage is, but as long as you are going to be mortgage free by the time you retire, you’re on track. If not, then you’re right to put every extra penny to the mortgage until that goal is achievable. Having said that, if you are on track then I think you and your wife should consider splitting the “extra” money so you each get a bit of what you want. You should also have some money in your budget for each of you to do with as you please — you’ll have to negotiate the amount — so that you are both enjoying what your money can do for you. If you want to use all your money to pay down the mortgage, so be it. She shouldn’t have to live your goal to the exclusion of her own goals.

 

C Wrote: I love your shows and watch one every morning while having my coffee. I have $10,000.00 saved up. The only loans I have are my mortgage (200 000.00 @ 2.89%) and my car (10 000 at 4%). My financial advisor says put it on my mortgage, don’t pay off my car, it will be better in the long run. I would like your advice on this please.

Gail Says: If it were my money I’d pay off the car and then use the car payment money to rebuild my savings. Each year I would take a portion of those savings and make a principal prepayment against my mortgage.

 

K Wrote: I have recently paid all my credit card debit off, thank you for the advice while watching your show. I have several credit cards with high credit limits. Since the cards have no balance am I ok to just keep them and charge something occasionally that is paid off immediately to keep them active or would my credit score increase if I cancelled them. If I do should I cancel the highest credit limit? I no longer carry any balances on my credit cards so the interest rate doesn’t really have a factor however if I had to use it in an emergency I would use the lowest interest rate card. Thank you I truly appreciate your show I have learned so much and passing it along to our youngest daughter to teach her to learn to save.

Gail Says: Keep open the lowest interest rate card and the card that has the longest positive history, cancel the others. Then use the lowest rate card consistently for things like gas and groceries, pay off the balance in full every month. In about a year, you can get rid of the other card too.

 

Book, Books, Books

The Language of Hoofbeats by Catherine Ryan Hyde When Jackie and Paula move to a small town to facilitate Paul’s vet practice, Jackie wonders if they’ve done the right thing. How will their young adopted son and two teenage foster children, including the troubled Star, adjust to the quiet? And then there is their crabby neighbor, Clementine, who disapproves of their lifestyle and is incensed when Star befriends her horse, Comet. But Star and Clementine have more in common than the over of a horse. And Jackie must learn to deal with her own feelings about Clementine for the good of her family. There are some heart-in-your-throat moments, some laugh out loud moments and some, awwww moments. Good read.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare tells the story of Tessa Gray who travels from America to England to find her brother. Before leaving America she’s unaware of the magic waiting for her on the other side of the pond. She’s kidnapped by the Dark Sisters who push her until she finally breaks… and in that breaking discovers a rare ability to transform into another person. She takes refuge amongst the Shadowhunters, warriors who keep the balance in the world of warlocks, vampires and other supernatural folk. Determined to save her brother, Tessa must also figure out how she feels about best friends James and Will.

Hero by Perry Moore is so good that comic book legend Stan Lee deemed it “spellbinding” and “totally original”. Pretty high praise. It is unusual to have a superhero who is gay. Thom is keeping it a secret because he’s afraid to disappoint his dad and he’s afraid of how everyone else will respond. Particularly the people who have asked him to join the League. This is a league of superheros, some of who are aspiring, some of who are legends. It’s messy work being a superhero, and when it turns out that not everything in the League is as it seems, Thom has to be even braver than he thought he could be. Rumour has it Stan Lee likes this book so much he’s developing

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott is a book I’ll read again and again, and I don’t often say that. Part autobiography, part lessons on being a writer, it’s funny and informative. Anne doesn’t pull her punches. She tell people who say they want to be writers that there is only one choice available — commitment to the process itself. “The real payoff is the writing itself, that a day when you have gotten your work done is a good day, that total dedication is the point.” From motivation to neurosis, Anne shies away from nothing. She’s taught writing workshops for many years and gives tips to make writing less intimidating.

Blue Lightening by Ann Cleeves When Inspector Jimmy Perez takes his fiancé home to meet his parents, Fran wonders if she could live in such a isolated place. Fair Isle is a tiny island that is a bird-watcher’s paradise. He’s supposed to be on vacation, but when one of the locals is murdered, Jimmy puts on his Inspector hat and gets busy. And then there is another murder. Cripes! Ann Cleeves manages to keep you guessing right to the very end of the book. This is the first of her books that I’ve read, but I’ll go back for more.

The Doll Maker by Richard Montanari was really creepy. Children are being murdered and then posed, like dolls. Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are trying to figure out what is going on. Then seven days later there are two more victims, along with a doll left as a message. Or is it a threat? Fast-paced and suspenseful from the very first paragraph, the mystery holds to the very end. And then there are the creepy Annabelle and Mr. Marseille who love tea parties and beautiful porcelain dolls.