Well folks, it is officially spring, in Ottawa at least. It is raining, and my back yard stinks of dog poop and if that doesn’t signify the start of spring, it may signal the Apocalypse, let’s hope it is Spring! Spring is a new beginning folks, and a great time to take on new ideas and maybe start new programs (like putting a plan together to get out of debt), but it is also a time to clean up the messes left from the fall and winter. Some ideas for financial spring cleaning:
- Go to your safety deposit box and look and see what is in it. I have a will that is 1 child out of date (i.e. it doesn’t mention my 1 year old son), so it might be time to do something about that, don’t you think?
- Go over your spending from January to March and see where did you succeed in your spending goals, and where did you have problems. Hey, let’s think of this one as a quarterly review.
- Clean up your finances, if you have old bank accounts that you don’t use, or old credit cards lieing around CLOSE THOSE ACCOUNTS. Never a good thing to leave that kind of stuff dangling around.
More ideas for the spring this week, I see a theme forming in my tiny little mind.
If you are about to borrow money in the next 6 month close your credit card after that. Closing CC will hurt your credit score, hence your interest will be higher.
My Father in Law used Will Making software (don’t remember) which supposedly is legal. I made my original will with a Lawyer, but I think you can shop around to get a good price. If it is your FIRST will, maybe it’s a good bet to see a lawyer, just to learn what you need, and then maybe use software after that?
–C8j
Could you tell me how do I go about making a will in Canada? Do I have to hire a lawyer? What should it cost? How do I find a good lawyer?
Thanks
get your will made up so that it refers to ones children in the collective via clauses such as “the issue of N and M” where N and M are the names of the adults in a household – that saves revisiting, at least on that basis
Check with the Law Society for your province to find a lawyer.
–C8j