Canadians Debt Load Reaches New Highs

Posted on October 19, 2007 at 11:58 am
Filed Under Financial Planning, Investment Planning

An article was published in the Toronto Star this morning talking about the growing debt of Canadian families.

This article stated that “Household debt has been rising by nearly 5% a year for the past 30 years, outpacing gains in personal disposable income, in assets and in the economy, to hit a record $1-trillion last year” as reported by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada. What’s even scarier was the claim that only “25% of households do no saving whatsoever, not even for their retirement.” In fact, “The personal savings rate has plunged to just 1.2% of income from 20% in the early 1980s.”

Your Take-Away: This is a perfect time to take a look at your own personal spending habits along with your current debt ratio to determine if you fit into one of the two categories above. If so, don’t fret. You don’t have to complicate your situation further to actually fix it properly. You could consider creating an automatic debt repayment and savings plan, or even consolidating your current debt by refinancing your existing mortgage.

Rest assured that in most cases there is always a solution. The only question you have to answer now is whether you are willing to take the necessary steps to make sure you correct your current situation.

Enjoy your weekend!

Chris

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