Tag: finances

The 2017 100 Wrap-Up: 31 Successes.

The 2017 100 Wrap-Up — 31 Successes. (Featured Image)

Last updated on April 30th, 2021 at 04:56 pm

Several weeks, a few dozen photos and four thousand words later, we’ve finally made it—the Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad 2017 wrap-up, filled with stories aplenty of 365 days spent in my not-so-orthodox life.

The 2017 100—31 Successes.—Leather 2017 Planner
Kelly Jean

After wrapping the year up on a quiet note (because two sick children under five will do that to you), I still felt it necessary to do this. These year-to-year changeovers offer a lot of perspective for me—with so much happening all the time, I often forget what I had for breakfast, so I write everything down. And if the height of the pile on my desk is any sign, 2017 was quite the year. But it’s also the time where I’m the most transparent, looking back objectively at everything I’ve done and celebrating successes, owning up to failures, hoping all the while that I’m somehow growing from the process.

But yeah—let’s do this as we did in 2016: look at the year in excruciating detail, figuring out what’s worth taking with me into 2018 versus what doesn’t feel part of my world anymore.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me present—the 31 things I did well in 2017! Let’s get it!

CONTINUE READING my much-belated but still VERY awesome 2017 wrap-up! “The 2017 100 Wrap-Up: 31 Successes.”

Scotiabank | Financial Literacy Month Wrap-Up

Firming Up Your Financial Future — A Financial Literacy Month Wrap-Up by Casey Palmer and Scotiabank! (Featured Image)

Last updated on March 26th, 2021 at 02:46 pm

This Financial Literacy Month, we need to evolve our money mindset.

Firming Up Your Financial Future—A Financial Literacy Month Wrap-Up by Casey Palmer and Scotiabank!—Money Mindset—Shackled to Money

November’s Financial Literacy Month, and it gives us a real opportunity to take a look at our books and what we’re trying to do with our resources at hand. School. Kids. A new home or retirement—goals quickly become pipe dreams if we don’t know how to plan for our success.

Take a moment and ask yourself just how much you know about your finances. Are you choosing the right investments? Making the right moves today for a better tomorrow? The sad truth is far too few Canadians are well-versed in financial matters, and in an age where Canadians are continuously borrowing significantly more than they’re earning, that makes for one huge problem! It makes us desperate. It has us believe in self-proclaimed financial gurus who lead us astray. We have to do better if we ever want to get out of the hole we’re in.

CONTINUE READING about our relationship with money and the tools we can use to improve it! “Scotiabank | Financial Literacy Month Wrap-Up”

The 2017 100

The 2017 100 — It's Not WHAT You Do, It's How You DO It. (Featured Image)

Last updated on April 1st, 2021 at 01:08 am

Unless my life sees some major changes this year, 2017 may mark the last list of 100!

It’s January 13th—I’ve spent nearly two weeks of my new year agonising over 100 items that matter enough to hit a list of goals and aspirations for the year ahead. And that’s a key difference from the lists that came before it.

Before it was a task list—I’d look around at everything that needed doing and jot it down, because my life would obviously be better with them out of the way.

But task lists aren’t inspiring. They’re not motivational. As a creative, that’s like dropping a pile of 100 things I dread on my lap and nagging myself to get ’em done by the year’s end.

Once I realised what I was doing to myself, so much so that I just went through my least successful year yet for my list, I knew I needed to make a change for 2017.

The 2017 100—It's Not WHAT You Do, It's How You DO It.—New Year, New Perspective

I’m particularly proud of the list I’ve put together for The 2017 100. I didn’t take any shortcuts—I wrote out 100 things that’d help me live the life I’d like to lead and prove instrumental along the path there. Rather than hurriedly scrawl out a list I’d likely ignore ’til December, I wrote one that I’d happily check off, knowing that each accomplishment would take me a step closer to a far better 2018. I feel like I’m finally getting it right this time, and I hope that shines through as you give it a look for yourself!

But that’s enough of my chatter—I’ve already made you wait long enough. Here for your consideration is The 2017 100—because it’s not what you do… it’s how you do it!

CONTINUE READING to see The 2017 100 and all I hope to accomplish this year! “The 2017 100”

Duelling with Debt

A Canadian loonie on a table

Last updated on November 11th, 2020 at 01:02 am

Last Updated: November 11, 2020

Good evening, one and all—my name is Casey Palmer, and I have debt.

Granted, it could be a lot worse—as I used to work for a bank, I’ve seen tons of people who’re way in over their heads when it comes to the credit beast, but it should’ve never come to this.

I suppose you could say that I grew up as a very naïve young man.

Duelling with Debt | A Story

I was given my first credit card at the age of 18 when I was still finishing my last year of high school. What it meant to me then was that I had a no-strings-attached method of being able to buy all the food, clothes, video games and such that I wanted. I was having a great time as I went on trips to other provinces and out with friends after school. I had no problem paying off more than the minimum payments and generally staying out of financial woe.

But then university came about and changed things up.

Having spent so much time in high school focusing on everything but school work, I got accepted to York University with no offer of a scholarship, something I could have likely attained if I’d just focused. So here I was with my dismal savings habits and tuition to pay for the next whoever knew how long.

So in came limit increases, overdraft protection on my chequing account and the introduction to the magic of the student line of credit. Really, this would all have been fine…

…if I’d been more conscientious of my spending habits.

If I remember correctly, I bought my laptop on a Future Shop card.

I know I had a Best Buy card.

There was a Sears card somewhere in the mix.

I have a Macy’s card and I barely ever go over the border into the United States.

And so on and so forth…

The years of school would progress, and though I would always be in the midst of a good job—nay, a BANK job which gave me access to low-interest rates, for some reason, I always believed myself invincible and never having to worry about tomorrow. The next bill. Or anything that was coming.

Upon recently graduating, I was left with:

  • A student loan, locked because I was no longer a full-time student (and hadn’t been for some time—I was taking part-time courses)
  • A TD Gold Select Visa with a very shameful amount racked up on it for no decent reason
  • Overdraft on my chequing account
  • A Henry’s card for several pieces of camera equipment I’d bought over time

A month or so after this, I sat down and really started to look at my finances. With the job I had at the time as an intern for the Government of Ontario, the monthly minimum payment for the Visa alone was eating up somewhere around 15-20% of my take-home pay per month! And even my monthly expenses were getting ridiculous:

  • $100 for a monthly pass for the subway
  • $90 for passes for the train in from the suburbs
  • $220 to my parents for storage fees (since I’m rarely at home)
  • $270 tithe to my church (though I only started in November)

Plus food and entertainment.

Something had to give and give quick.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the fact that I’d reconsidered a trip to Africa in 2009 because I had all of this debt and it seriously needed paying off. After severely disappointing my girlfriend with this news, I decided that serious action needed to happen. I’d been working on a new plan for about a month before said discussion, but now it was time to commit to an approach to get rid of this issue. The three things I’ve committed to doing are as follows:

  • Taking a more aggressive stance to monthly payments—I plan to use a larger percentage of my paycheque to pay down my debt—especially the Visa so that there’s less interest to set me back.
  • Thinking up new ways to generate secondary income to go towards paying off the debts—whether I have to sell my stuff on eBay, draw commissions like a fiend or find another avenue.
  • Change my spending habits so that there’s less to worry about at month-end when the charges come, and it’s time to pay the piper.

I hope you choose to follow my journey, and I also hope that I present you all with a better situation as time passes.

Thanks, y’all.

–case p.

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