Co-signing a Loan? You Might Want to Reconsider
I am a Licensed Insolvency Trustee with Lazer Grant Inc. and have been assisting people in financial crisis for over 20 years. One of the most distressing situations that I encounter is when I meet...
Words of Encouragement
I’ve got a folder in my office of compliments that I’ve received over the years here at work. Is it okay to admit this? I don’t know. But I figure, if someone has taken the...
Good out of Bad
In the movie, Little Miss Sunshine, Frank is speaking to his nephew who is in the throes of teenage angst. Dwayne: I wish I could just sleep until I was eighteen and skip all this...
Modern-Day Plague
Picture with me, if you will, a church. At the altar, amidst a group of well-dressed young people stands the groom, impatient with anticipation. But not with the thoughts you might expect. In a bubble...
Staying on Track
My husband retired a short while ago. With less household income and more time on his hands, we wanted to make sure we didn’t keep living the same lifestyle we were accustomed to when he...
Advice Taken
Counseling is a mandatory part of the insolvency process for the majority of personal insolvency debtors. The sessions are designed to provide financial tracking/management skills, to identify the cause/root of the problems, and to discover...
Avoiding Bankruptcy
Do you have a friend, partner, associate or acquaintance who is feeling the financial woes or struggling financially? Trying to make ends meet, unable to pay their debts as they become due? If they can’t...
Advertisements: Buyer Beware
Relaxing in front of the television, perusing social media, or walking around town, we’re bombarded with ads telling us what we need and why. Ads can seem quite convincing until we take a moment to...
Home ownership – not necessarily for everyone
As a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (“LIT”) in Winnipeg, I have recently seen an increase in the number of people I meet earning insufficient income to afford all the costs associated with home ownership. People say...
The Pendulum Swings
Many, many years ago, when someone went bankrupt, there was no standard requiring the individual to contribute to their bankruptcy from their income. Then when the law was amended in 1992, the federal government established...
Walking the Talk
Personal Bankruptcy Administrator Do you budget, or are you one of those people who think budgeting is only for those who are strapped for cash? Think you know where every cent of your money is...
Mythconceptions
Trustee in Bankruptcy Chances are, if someone’s telling you about their pregnancy or medical experience, it’s about something exceptional that happened. You rarely hear someone say, “My root canal was no big deal.” I guess that’s because...