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TORONTO CREDIT COUNSELING: OUR GUIDE TO GOING INTO RETIREMENT DEBT FREE

toronto credit counselingToronto Credit Counseling: Introduction

It appears that a high percentage of families in the GTA are in need of Toronto credit counseling. This week’s blog highlights why people are now carrying debt into retirement. By having this information, we hope that you will be able to easily prepare your own comprehensive guide to going into retirement debt free.

Toronto Credit Counseling: Household debt at an all-time high

With household debt at an all-time high and continuing to break records, it’s hard to find families not dealing with debt. But, have you considered how your debt load may impact your children’s futures? As parents I’m sure you want to give your children every advantage in life. This includes a college or university education.

Unfortunately it’s impossible to give your kids a post secondary education if you have a debt load to contend with. The reality is that student debt is directly tied to parents dealing with debt. So, ultimately your children may pay the price for your debt load. Believe it or not, they may even have debt carry into retirement.

Toronto Credit Counseling: Carrying debt into retirement

New research from Strategic Insights brought this very important issue to light:

  • Total student debt rose 6.2% annually over the past 10 years to $42.9-billion
  • this compares with an average inflation rate over the same period of 1.6%
  • Average debt for a graduating student as of July, 2015 was $26,819
  • Students graduating with significant debt could buy houses and start families later in life
  • Add on as many as 35 years to pay off mortgages, lines of credit and other borrowings
  • This stretches debt into retirement
  • Student debt has soared despite a substantial increase in the amount of money parents are contributing to RESPs

Toronto Credit Counseling: Going into retirement with debt

It’s hard to imagine that student debt can still haunt retirees, but it’s happening. And more and more students are graduating with heavy debt loads. Statistics Canada reports that 50% of students graduating with a BA relied on debts to pay for their education which in turn may well affect the future debt load of retirees. Parents, you may not realize it but your children may pay the price for your debt load.

Toronto Credit Counseling: Going into retirement debt free?

If you’re struggling with debt, now is the time to deal with it, before it becomes a multi generational issue. Perhaps all you need is credit counseling to get you pointed in the right direction to become debt free.

Contact the Ira Smith Team. We can help you put debt behind you Starting Over, Starting Now. End the cycle of debt, avoid bankruptcy and help your children have a bright future, free of student debt.3bestaward

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Brandon Blog Post

#VIDEO – DEBT INTO RETIREMENT: DO YOU NEED RETIREMENT SOLUTIONS?#

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The trend of debt into retirement

The biggest trend in debt into retirement among baby boomers is having a home mortgage in retirement. Financial advisers warn that this new trend could have serious lifestyle consequences for seniors. We have written on the topic of seniors in debt before:

Have seniors previously taken debt into retirement?

The baby boomers are the first generation carrying a mortgage into retirement; that’s never happened before. Think about it. Our parents typically bought one house they lived in their whole lives. They paid it off and it was a priority to pay off the house.

Today, because of low rates and the wish to use the home as much for financial gain as for shelter, people typically move up two or more times. The previous generation viewed their home as mainly shelter, and looked at paying off the mortgage as forced savings. With the mortgage gone, our parents then continued saving for a “rainy day”. Memories of the great depression were vivid and alive in their parents’ minds, who passed on the behaviour and mentality that saving was important.

Has the world changed causing seniors taking debt into retirement?

Today, the stock market crash of the late 1980’s is but a distant memory, let alone the feeling of depression. The post-World War II growth years, followed by boom and recession times of the 1970’s through the 1990’s, doesn’t really exist anymore. Rather, in our global economy, growth is slower, so a slowdown in the economy is also muted. The need to save as a philosophy has also taken a back seat, and given the price of homes and the size of the related mortgages, savings today in a growing family is also a near impossibility.

Risks from taking debt into retirement

Two of the risks of having debt into retirement are:

  1. Delayed retirement plans as the baby boomers must keep working to have enough income to service and repay that debt.
  2. If you become injured or sick and cannot work, there won’t be the income to service and repay the debt.

Solutions for taking debt into retirement

So, baby boomers much find ways to mitigate the cost of debt into retirement and being able to repay that debt in a reasonable time period. Some of the more common ways are:

  1. Prior to retirement and after spending the large costs of children and family, while you are still experiencing higher earning years, is to shorten the amortization period of mortgages so that more money goes towards principal.
  2. You can increase the frequency of your mortgage and other debt payments from once a month to once every two weeks, thereby reducing principal faster.
  3. Refinance debt with higher interest rates, such as credit card debt, with mortgage or line of credit financing and then use strategies such as the two listed above to repay that debt.
  4. Adjust your budget so that you are not spending more than you earn, and allow the necessary part of your after-tax income pay off your debt.

What to do if you fear taking too much debt into retirement

To have a free checkup on your debt in retirement, and to look at ways of solving it while avoiding bankruptcy, contact Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver Inc. today. Our team of professional trustees can help you manage your financial crisis and get you back on your feet Starting Over, Starting Now.

Call a Trustee Now!