Hello and welcome to Talking Cents. As you might have guessed from the name, this site is dedicated to discussing money – particularly how to handle it when engaged in common situations.
Why does Talking Cents exist?
I believe that most of us do not receive a good education when it comes to money and how to manage it. Most school don’t discuss financial concerns or, if they do, it’s with regards to simple things (like tracking expenses for a home budget) or wildly unhelpful studies in monitoring individual stocks. This, along with a taboo about discussing money in our society has led to a lot of gaps in the understanding a lot of people have about their money and how to handle it.
Our schools teach us how to calculate sales tax, but not how to file income tax returns. Economics classes teach competing economic theories, but not the difference between RRSPs and TSFAs. Home economics might cover how to track the cost of groceries, but not how to figure out how much money you need to set aside for taxes when you’re self employed.
I’ve been lucky in that I was exposed to a lot of this stuff at an early age, or found myself in situations where I could pick up this information easily. Over the years I’ve grown into the habit of helping family, friends, and curious peers manage their money. I offer to guide people through their tax returns, discuss retirement plans, help friends work out budgets in spreadsheets, talk about how best to build credit or pay off a collection of loans.
In short, I’ve got a lot of practise helping people untangle their finances and it seems as though I’m often answering the same sort of questions on a regular basis. I decided to lump this information together in one spot for easy reference. Thus Talking Cents was born!
What are we doing here?
It’s my intention to answer common questions here, either questions people have emailed to me or ones which I find myself answering on a regular basis. It’s my hope this collection of information will help provide a practical, hands-on approach to managing money.
Where are you based, where is this advice relevant?
The discussions here are primarily geared toward Canadians and the rules and products available in Canada. Some of it may be applicable to other regions, particularly the United States of America.