Do you need to take a healthy look at your finances?

As a mortgage broker, I am seeing a scary trend among my clients. To make sure I am not being paranoid, I spoke to a few colleagues in my industry to see if they are seeing the same trend. To make matters worse, I am also seeing the same patterns on the news. Consumer debt is completely out of control, with no end in sight.

When I asked my parents about their finances 30 years ago, they told me something interesting. They each had one credit card, no home equity line of credit, and they both had steady jobs. They had a small mortgage with an interest rate of over 18%!! There seemed to be more of a mentality back then to spend what you earned. Today, people are financing their lives on FOUR credit cards, lines of credit, furniture cards, car loans and any other kind of loan they can get their hands on. Household debt is surpassing people's household family income!

You have to ask yourself a simple question. Is it the credit card company's fault for giving out credit cards like candy and charging 20% interest? Or is it the consumer's responsibility to spend responsibly. I am sympathetic to the fact that in today's economy people aren't earning as much and are losing their jobs. The problem is that people today are living their lives on lines of credit/credit cards. You could finance a year of your life with $25,000 by using them. The scarier trend is that, as interest rates stay low and home values stay high, people are pulling the max 85% equity out of their homes.

Eventually, something has to give. The Baby-Boomer generation has no savings for their retirement and their children will not be able to support their own family and their parents. The average person that retires at 65 and lives to 85 will need $500,000 to retire comfortably.

Do you fall into this category?

Self-employed – To your advantage or not?

In my large network and circle of friends, I know people who are
salaried as well as some who are self-employed. There are positives
and negatives to both so I will discuss how each affects your family
life and also your ability to get financing.

Let's face it....finding a job in today's economy is extremely tough

and competitive. Many graduates are leaving university with great
grades and promise, only to be disappointed by little opportunity
and/or little pay. Should you be employed, there is a risk that you
get replaced by someone who will work for less, or worse, a computer
program.

In terms of financing though, banks prefer salaried people over
self-employed people. They see you as less likely to default on
your mortgage, since you receive a consistent pay cheque every two
weeks. In terms of family life, it gives you the peace of mind that
you can budget your expenses. On the other hand, it gives you little
flexibility when it comes to family time. You have your weekends free,
but if you want to take a Friday off because your son is sick, you
don't have that same flexibility.

As tough as it is to find a job in today's economy, starting your own
business isn't much easier. It usually takes a strong financial
investment to start up. If you go into a field like real estate, you
usually need money to survive at the beginning. It takes time to grow
your client base and, while you pound the pavement to get your
commissions, you need savings to be able to feed your family. Life can
be stressful on a family waiting months for a commission cheque, so
unless your partner is salaried and bringing in good money, it can be
tough.

On a positive note, you can deduct expenses like your gas,
phone, Internet etc., which in turn can lower your net income, thus
lowering the taxes you have to pay the government. These expenses must
be legitimate, but this is a huge advantage. Another advantage is that you
are paying yourself first. If you make a real estate commission in
January 2012, you only have to pay taxes to the government in mid-
2013. If you are salaried and you get a $3,000 paycheque, you will
have about 50% deducted from that paycheque at source right away. You
have to budget for income taxes, true, but think about the advantage of
holding on to your money for an extra year and a half. Unfortunately,
banks have tightened their rules for mortgage financing for
self-employed individuals. These applicants pay higher insurance
premiums for their mortgages and their self-declared income is highly
scrutinized. In most cases, you also have to be self-employed for two
years.

My specialty is mortgages for self-employed individuals, so if you
have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.