My name is Ira Smith, president of Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver Inc.
First,
the Ira Smith Team hopes that you had a restful and enjoyable holiday season.
Happy New Year.
And we hope that you remain healthy,
safe and secure during this coronavirus pandemic.
I want to assure you that the Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver Inc.
Team is available at any time to answer any of your questions.
Both myself and Brandon Smith
are available and we are holding meetings by telephone and video conference.
Now in honour of all those, including myself, who did not take
a southern vacation, as we might normally do over the holiday season,
unlike many of our politicians,
I wanted to create this background to make it feel sort of like we are.
This Brandon's Blog is answering a question we are asked many
times by people who have a lot of debt, but we believe can work their problems out
without having to file for bankruptcy or an insolvency proceeding.
And it's all about paying down debt.
Brandon has described his seven simple yet effective hacks for paying down debt.
So I hope you can watch until the end
of this video because I know you will get value from it.
Today's Brandon's Blog
is paying down debt
by seven, essentially easy hacks to be debt-free.
Brandon talks about a recent CIBC survey that shows the number one financial goal
of Canadians for 2021 is paying down debt now.
CIBC does this survey annually.
For the last 11 years, that has been Canadians' number one goal.
So why is it that it's always the number one goal?
It's probably because most people have
that as a goal but can't properly put it into practice.
So we hope that this blog showing you
seven simple hacks to get started will be of help.
Brandon talks about how debt affects your credit scores, why credit card debt is so
dangerous, how personal loans can impact your credit score both positively
and negatively and then gives his seven hacks.
So I just want to go over those seven hacks quickly.
The first one is in being able to be totally debt-free.
Sit down and write down your debt-free goals.
Now look at them.
Picture in your mind's eye,
how your day would change when you're debt-free.
What would it feel like?
How will your life be changed?
How will it be better?
How will you feel right now?
Put the story on a vision board.
Hang it on the wall so you can see it every day.
That will give you the emotional push to get started.
Hack number two
don't have a goal of how much you intend to pay off in total,
but have short goals.
How much do you intend to pay off in three months, six months, nine months, one year?
Don't go any further than a year.
To be able to quantify those amounts, you have to set up a budget.
What are all your sources of income?
Where do you spend all your money?
Look at your expenses.
Figure out which ones you can cut back on.
Look at your sources of income.
Do you have the ability and the time
to pick up a side hustle, to bring in more money? Create your budget and follow it.
This will produce money for you available to start paying down debt.
We like small bursts of cash, not waiting to save up a huge amount.
Since the lockdown, the self quarantining,
I'm sure you've spent less on clothing, eating out at restaurants or ordering
in from restaurants and other entertainment,
since you've already been living for 9 or 10 months, spending less.
Use that money to go toward savings, keep spending less on certain areas
that you've already proven you can live without.
Now, many times we're asked how to get out of debt while you have a low income.
Hack number 4, declutter.
Go from room to room,
set a rule for yourself. If you haven't worn the clothing, used the item or
looked at the item in the last five years,
put it up for sale if it's saleable.
If it isn't saleable, donate it. Whatever is saleable,
sell it online, raise the money.
Use that money to pay down debt.
Hack number 5.
This is going to be another tough one.
Look in your driveway, do you have a relatively brand new car or truck?
Mostly financed,
and therefore you're paying every month on a large vehicle loan?
And since the lockdown, the self quarantining,
it has probably been sitting idle in your driveway or garage more often than not.
Is there a way you can get out of that large loan
by returning the vehicle and getting something more affordable,
such as a car that just came off a three year lease, which is perfectly fine
Mechanically and perfectly fine to meet your needs?
Hack No.6.
Eliminate lifestyle creep. What we mean by that is whenever you get
a tax refund or a raise, most people end up spending that money.
Well, next time on an after-tax basis, don't spend it.
Use that excess to pay down debt
and hack No.7, put a freeze on your credit cards. Don't cut them up.
Don't send them back in.
Just put them in a drawer.
Make all your essential payments with cash or debit card, which is the same as cash.
That way, when you use cash or your debit
card, you really feel the purchase at the time. Using a credit card
you don't. You may feel it when your statement comes
in, but you won't feel it at the time of making the purchase.
So those are the seven simple hacks.
Now, Brandon also talks about down below
the two methods that are well known for paying down debt;
the debt avalanche method and the debt snowball method.
And you can read about them below.
And finally,
can I book a meeting with someone who can help? Of course, you can give us a call.
We would love to answer your questions about this blog or anything else.
Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver Inc. is
fully operational. Call either myself or Brandon Smith.
We would love to hear from you.
So, again, the Ira Smith Team hopes that you and your
family are safe, healthy and secure, had a restful holiday season
and we wish you a healthy and happy 2021.