Posted under Bankruptcy Kitchener & Budgeting
It is my belief that our education system fails us in properly training us on cash control and personal finances. We are taught a lot of good subjects by many great teachers through our schooling, but I feel there are some significant shortfalls when it comes to teaching personal budgeting, credit management, understanding contracts and interest, etc. I feel we should be forced to take a real life course on this subject in high school.
I spent the morning today at St. Jerome’s University (part of the University of Waterloo) as a guest speaker in Dr. Tracy Penny Light’s course on “Sexuality, Marriage and Family“. I was asked to speak on the topic of “Family Work and Family Money”. 
In this 80-minute class of approximately 150 students, we discussed the impact of personal finances on family and individuals. In my everyday role as a personal trustee in bankruptcy, I meet with real people, having real money problems, needing a real plan. During my talk, I tried to keep the lesson open and allow students to add input to the conversation. While these students are very smart, some of them appear to be naive and untrained when it comes to formulating their thoughts on personal finances. Their text book was called “Choices and Constraints in Family Life” by Maureen Baker. Well, when it comes to finances and budgets, there are no two better words – choices and constraints.
We are all constrained by how much income we have available each month and when you compare it to actual demands for income we are left with choices. In today’s society, we are spenders and the economy is based on these spending habits. The difficult part is that the cash outs can exceed the cash ins on a regular basis. This is when we tend to fall back to credit cards to cover the shortage. For example, Canadian household debt as a percentage of personal disposable income per household is a staggering 131%.
This morning’s class allowed for the students to consider a situation – they were a married couple with 2 kids and due to an event (such as illness, lay-offs, reduced hours, change in employment, etc) their family income had dropped by $10,000 per year. They worked in teams to brainstorm how they would deal with this change. The students provided some good and practical solutions. The hard part is, these are real situations couples face every day and it is the use of credit that is sometimes what gets them by. When the debt levels are too large to manage, often couples consider personal bankruptcy or consumer proposals as an option. These are good people who did not plan for this to happen; it was the combination of many life events leading to that point in time.
In closing, I think individuals and couples would be better prepared to deal with changes though their lives if they were better equipped with personal financing courses included in their education. If you would like to discuss your situation, e-mail me or call me at 310-PLAN (no area code required).
When do we feel that we need a second option? Personally, I feel I need a second opinion when:
firm is our people. We focus only on 
personal solutions for individuals facing financial hardship. In our Kitchener-Waterloo office, individuals only meet with experienced members of our Team. Two of my most experienced members are Jane Merling and Lynn Strouth, each with over 25 years experience in helping people with personal financial solutions. One of the ways we stay current is by supporting aspiring team members in their efforts to obtain a Trustee license (a rigorous 5 year program). Through this we attempt to provide clear information and help individuals and families make a PLAN for the future.
Child support payment issues are something several readers understand all too well. This blog is in response to several individuals I have met with from Kitchener-Waterloo who have raised FRO as an issue. It will consider the position of the person who is required to make the payments. Generally we understand child support and we appreciate the theory behind it. The issue I hear the most about is the ability to pay it and deal with all other expenses and debt payments. If someone is behind in their debt payments, this compounds the problem for the payer.
