by Julie Dugas | Nov 1, 2016 | Blog, Finance, Guest Post
By Sandi Martin of Spring Personal Finance. The point: it doesn’t matter what method you use to pay off debt, or if you use any method at all. What matters is that you stop creating new debt. It’s out there: the mathematically precise, strictly rational formula for...
by Julie Dugas | Oct 25, 2016 | Blog, Homeownership
You’re on “the grid” Every few weeks, we open our mailboxes (or our email inboxes) with bated breath. Inevitably, we find another heap of utility bills, waiting to separate us from our hard earned dollars. This is not unusual; this is simply part of...
by Julie Dugas | Oct 19, 2016 | Announcements, Blog, Mortgage
With all the recent government activity meant to bring stability to the Canadian housing market (read cool down Vancouver and Toronto), its no surprise that the bank of Canada has decided against making any drastic changes to the overnight rate in their announcement...
by Julie Dugas | Oct 11, 2016 | Blog, Productivity, Video
Chris Bailey from A Life of Productivity was recently asked to give a presentation at TEDxLiverpool, here it is in all it’s YouTube glory! Chris has been obsessed with the subject of productivity for more than a decade. In this talk, he argues that productivity...
by Julie Dugas | Oct 3, 2016 | Announcements, Blog, Economy, Homeownership
This morning, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced new housing measures, changes meant to alleviate risk in Canada’s current housing market. The measures include: Standardizing lending criteria for high- and low-ratio mortgages, including a mortgage stress...
by Julie Dugas | Sep 20, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Mortgage
Before reading this you should be warned that the following content is pretty dry… like eating 8 saltine crackers without drinking water dry. If you need to go and get something to drink before proceeding, no worries, we will wait here. Take your time. The...
by Julie Dugas | Sep 13, 2016 | Blog, Homeownership
In an article I recently published called “Is Now a Good Time to Buy?” we identified that interest rates are at all time Canadian lows and as it’s never been cheaper to borrow money, now is a good time to buy property. In no way was it being said...
by Julie Dugas | Sep 7, 2016 | Announcements, Blog, Mortgage
The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1/2 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 3/4 per cent and the deposit rate is 1/4 per cent. Global growth in the first half of 2016 was slower than the Bank had...
by Julie Dugas | Aug 30, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Homeownership
If you’re getting tired of all the media headlines claiming impending housing market and economic doom and gloom, you’re not alone. It seems every time you browse the news another US economist is predicting terrible things for Canada. Articles like this...
by Julie Dugas | Jul 26, 2016 | Announcements, Blog, Homeownership
Although no firm changes have been announced regarding mortgage regulations, it looks like this might be the beginning of something. The following is correspondence shared by Mortgage Professionals Canada by email to the mortgage industry, it has been shared here for...