Grey Bruce Kids Fall 2021

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THE PLAN Goal setting. Have an honest conversation with yourself and your partner about short-term (one to five years) and long-term goals (5+), and always write them down. Build a balance sheet. Create a spreadsheet to outline everything you own and everything you owe. Organize. Automating your income and expenses will save you hours down the road. Sound terrifying? It doesn’t have to be. Let’s take a closer look and see if we can slay that finance monster. Goal setting: Studies have shown that what gets written down, gets done. Grab a glass of wine and do some blue-sky thinking about the future. Start a binder (or electronic folder, but I think paper is better) listing your short- and long-term goals. For example: • Pay off and cancel credit cards within the next three years. • Start regular, monthly retirement savings of $500 per month on Sept. 1. • By the end of next week, call to make an appointment with your lawyer to start drafting the will and powers of attorney you have been avoiding. • Open a separate account to save for vacations once every two years. • Have $50,000 in savings for each of the kids by the time they are 18. Goals need to be clear and concise, with defined timelines attached. You will likely also have to prioritize these goals. Is a vacation every two years possible while building your retirement nest egg? What are you willing to give up for that vacation? It can be tough to commit to long-term goals like retirement at the expense of short-term goals like a holiday. It is important to find a balance so you can enjoy life now, but also enjoy life later! Balance sheet. Also known as a net-worth statement, the balance sheet helps to clarify where you are in your financial life right now. Some items will be ballpark figures (the value of your house). Others, like your bank balance, mortgage, and credit card debt, can be more precise. If you are in a private pension plan through work, determine your total deposits plus interest online or on your most recent statement and add it to the balance sheet. Once every year or so, this can be updated to see actual progress in your finances! Sometimes it is tough to see the forest for the trees, but if the bottom line is increasing from year to year, then you are going in the right direction. If not, speak to a professional to see where you are going wrong and what your options are to fix it. Income and expenses. The good news is there’s an app for that! Taking a monthly or annual look at your income and expenses is critical to controlling your finances. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. There are budgeting apps such as ‘Mint’ or ‘You Need a Budget’ that allow you to link to your bank accounts, credit cards, etc., and help to categorize and notify you if you are going off the rails. If you don’t want to be that committed, almost all online banking systems allow you to download your bank account and credit card transactions into a workable format. Once your information is there, you can sort 20 GREY-BRUCE KIDS • FALL <strong>2021</strong>
through and see where your money is being saved or spent. Remember your goals from above? Why do we always leave them to the bottom of our expense lists? Should we pay everything and then maybe save something if we’re lucky? I recommend Millennials consider first the money that hits their bank account (after taxes), then set aside the savings that are required to meet the goals as listed. Only then can you see how much money is left to pay the fixed (needs) and variable/ discretionary (wants) expenses. If you have too much money left at the end of the month, start from the top and re-crunch the figures until they work. Putting this all on paper or into an app is fine, but how can you really bring this income/expense structure to life? I find that creating one bank account for fixed savings and expenses, and a second bank account for discretionary spending, can really help. First, have all of your income deposited into one bank account (let’s call it the saving/fixed payment account), then deduct your savings, mortgage, car payments, utilities, phone, child care, insurance, and all other fixed expenses. You will be left with how much you actually have to spend on variable/discretionary expenses like groceries, gas for the car, dining out, clothes, etc. I think this is where people get into trouble. With so many easy ways to spend our money (debit, credit, line of credit, don’t pay for 18 months, etc.) it feels like we have more discretionary income than we really do. We then end up robbing Peter to pay Paul to make sure there is money in the account to make the car payment. That’s where the stress comes in, resulting in creative household accounting. What if you took your “leftover” or discretionary spending money figure and divvied it up into an automatic weekly transfer to your “discretionary” spending account? Sort of like paying yourself a weekly allowance. Back in the bad old days, people used to set up different envelopes for different expenses. With so little cash in use these days, separate bank accounts is the best strategy. If you can do this, you should always have enough money left in your fixed savings and expense account to pay the bills that never change. So much less stress! Only using the second discretionary spending account for the variable expenses puts a limit on your spending and allows you to meet your savings goals. It will take some time and commitment, but know that it will be worth it when you start to achieve your goals, not to mention being able to sleep at night. GBK MICHELE MANNEROW, CFP, RFP, CIM, FCSI, FMA, is a financial advisor, Manulife Securities Incorporated and Life Insurance Advisor, Manulife Securities Insurance Inc., based in Owen Sound. Visit her online at mannerow.ca Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds are offered through Manulife Securities Incorporated. Insurance products and services are sold through Manulife Securities Insurance Inc. Please confirm with your Advisor which company you are dealing with for each of your products and services. The opinions expressed are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those of Manulife Securities Incorporated or Manulife Securities Insurance Inc. We’re scientists, engineers, safety experts. And PROUD CANADIANS. At the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, we’re responsible for Canada’s plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel. Canada’s plan involves safely containing and isolating used nuclear fuel in an area with suitable geology and informed, willing hosts. Every day, we are conscious of our duty to be accountable to Canadians—to work and learn together, and to protect our safety, our environment and this beautiful land. Dig deeper, learn more by visiting nwmo.ca @NWMOCanada greybrucekids.com • 21
Page 1 and 2: A FREE MAGAZINE FOR PARENTS AND CAR
Page 3 and 4: FROM THE PUBLISHER Weathering the s
Page 5 and 6: The parent-child relationship is a
Page 7 and 8: QUALITY TIME When a child has a lov
Page 9 and 10: • Sit and calmly help them do hom
Page 11 and 12: Weina Chong was around 10 years old
Page 13 and 14: When it comes to nurturing a child
Page 15 and 16: As fall approaches, and with it the
Page 17 and 18: As parents, we can choose what, whe
Page 19: Happy 40th! Where did the time go?
Page 23 and 24: Over this past year-and-a-half, our
Page 25 and 26: your family, and explain why this m
Page 27 and 28: Wiarton Kids Den Day Care/Kids Club
Page 29 and 30: Hanover Public Library 519-364-1420
Page 31 and 32: SCHOOL STARTS SEPTEMBER 7 TH ÉCOLE

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