When used correctly, a credit card is a helpful tool to build your credit history, and it's a safer than carrying cash. However, when mismanaged, a credit card can quickly become one of the most expensive borrowing options, leading to serious debt trouble. For many of our clients, credit card debt is the second biggest debt they carry.

To help you avoid the common pitfalls that come with owning a credit card, on this special rebroadcast episode I talk with Diane Cunha, one of our certified credit counsellors. She shares tips for using credit wisely to avoid debt problems. 

We discuss billing cycles, due dates and grace periods, and we have 8 tips for avoiding credit card debt.

It’s August, and we are rebroadcasting our most downloaded episodes of the last year, with a new introduction, and this one has opera!

How do you stay on top of your finances when your income differs from one month to the next? Chris Enns is an opera-singer and a fee-only financial planner specializing in helping people who work in creative careers organize their sporadic salaries. He understands first-hand the struggles of applying traditional financial advice to a non-traditional cash-flow. Today Chris outlines his approach for managing cash-flow when you have variable or intermittent income.

Chris explains that many people in the creative world avoid thinking about money because they believe they are just bad at it; they just don't get it so they think managing their finances is something they can't do. As 'money misfits' they don't feel they are part of the financial conversation. The terminology around money is foreign so they don't connect with the language.

On today’s show Chris explains how creative people, or anyone with variable income, can manage their money.

A home equity line of credit (HELOC) is a loan secured by the equity in your house. A HELOC is often presented as a great borrowing tool because unlike with credit cards or unsecured loans, you have access to a large amount of revolving cash at a lower interest rate.

But what you probably don't know is that your bank can change the borrowing terms on your HELOC whenever they want. On today's special rebroadcast, we talk with Scott Terrio and he shares why you need to think twice before signing up for a home equity line of credit. 

What is a debt buyer?  What should you do if you find out that a debt buyer has bought your debt?

On today’s show a former collection agency lawyer explains the law, and discusses options for negotiating with a debt buyer.

Could you survive without debt?  Sounds like an easy question to answer, but many of our clients are so dependent on credit cards that they don’t realize they are borrowing to live.

On today’s show Ted Michalos discusses how you can tell if you are dependent on debt, and how to get off the debt treadmill.

Today we discuss a wonderful, magical place called Costco.  Is it a store?  A finance company?  Something else?  And why does it matter?  All that and more on today’s podcast (and I’ve got slides, so if you want to see the numbers, the video is posted on the Debt Free in 30 channel on YouTube).

Many people have no choice: if they want to work, they have to be a “sub-contractor”, or “self-employed”.  This is very common in the construction industry (Dry wallers, framers, plumbers, electricians, roofers) and in high tech (programmers, web developers).

On today’s podcast Ted Michalos helps us explore how you can finance your self-employment, and we give a warning about personal guarantees and other traps to be wary of, including the tax man.

My guest today is Dr. Thomas Richardson.  He has a doctorate in Clinical Psychology, with a special interest in financial difficulties and mental problems.  He’s done a lot of research on the subject, including co-authoring a research paper that examined the relationship between personal unsecured debt and mental and physical health.

Does debt cause mental health problems, or do mental health problems lead to debt?

We explore the answer, and some solutions, on today’s podcast.

My guest today is Hilliard Macbeth, an investment portfolio manager and author of When the Bubble Bursts: Surviving the Canadian Real Estate Crash. When Mr. Macbeth first appeared on this podcast just over 3 years ago we discussed his prediction that the real estate bubble would burst.

My first question to him today: did it? Was your prediction wrong?

We also discuss how money is actually created (it’s not how you think) and how banks and faulty economic thinking have contributed to our massive levels of debt.

He’s got advice if you are thinking of buying a home, so this is a “must listen” episode.

Even though the economy appears to still be in good shape, our stress levels are very high.  Why?

On today’s show I explain that everyone isn’t benefitting from the good economy; the cost of living is high; we have longer commutes to work; we are carrying more debt and we use debt to survive.

I provide my advice on how to deal with high stress in today's stressful world.