I will be launching www.HealthyWallet.ca for Canadians in 2011 (in phases once again), then working to roll out www.HealthyWallet.com for my money-minded friends in the US.  Some basic content will be similar between the two sites. What will be different are the references (e.g. RRSPs instead of IRAs on the Canadian site, etc.) and information contributed by the pool of experts on the site. Canadian experts will participate on the .ca site, and American experts on the .com site. Once I have the first site launched, I will transfer any relevant material from this blog, then close it down for good.

To keep up to date on the progress of Healthy Wallet, follow me on Twitter @HealthyWallet: www.twitter.com/HealthyWallet

Canadians, and Torontonians in particular, can join my Meetup group to participate in webinars, teleseminars and live events: www.meetup.com/HealthyWallet

Cheers! Marla

Since the more you learn about a subject, the better you can master it, explore her eight steps in her Debt Diet Action Plan.

Go to the Oprah’s Debt Diet Action Plan homepage.

6. Build up an emergency fund first. If you come into extra money (tax returns, etc.), use it to build an emergency fund and pay off debt after that.

10. Don’t overpay your debts — leave enough so you have enough for regular expenses too.

12. For entertainment, visit friends and be creative on how to entertain yourselves and your family without spending a dime.

14. Look for expenses coming up in the future and plan for them, so you don’t have to go into debt when they come up.

15. Make a budget – Purpose every dollar (including some buffer).

20. Keep trying and don’t give up. Make a commitment, and if you aren’t getting out of debt slowly but surely, revisit that commitment. Change is difficult and it takes drastic change in mindset and behaviors to get out of debt. Anyone can do it – as long as you really want to do it.

23. Find the tools that work for you and stick to them. If the tools aren’t working, find new tools. There are plenty of tools and ideas out there – for free.

25. Be realistic. If you started accumulating debt three or four years ago, realize that it will probably take you more then three or four years to get out of debt and stay out of debt.

29. Be patient. Debt reduction is a long, slow process. Depending on the method you use, you may see no significant progress at first, but it will happen.

30. Stop borrowing money – no matter what! This means no more credit cards, no more car loans, no more cash advances, no more home equity lines, etc. If you can’t afford to buy something with CASH you have now, then YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO BUY IT.

31. Save up the money and buy it with cash. By the time you’ve saved up the money, it’s very likely you will have realized you don’t even need the item you were thinking about buying anyway. This happens all the time.

34. Pay yourself 10% first. Put this into an account that is hard to touch. A money market account can earn good interest. Make sure it is a chore to get the money out (you have to drive to the bank), so you will only tap it consciously and for major expenses.

35. Make a plan … ANY plan. You’re better off with a mediocre plan than no plan at all. When in doubt, the ‘snowball method’ is simple and works well.

36. Leave yourself some ‘wiggle’ room. Life throws some unexpected expenses your way, so include some slack in your plan for these little setbacks.

37. Have a long range vision. Keep your eyes focused on where you will be five (or ten, or fifteen) years from now, because getting out of debt takes time.

49. Think about your goals. The author of The Tightwad Gazette was willing to work harder to save on food, clothing, and entertainment so she could spend more on housing, have more kids, and let one parent stay home with the kids. Quit spending money on stuff you don’t care about.

50. Pay attention to whether you’re buying stuff just because of societal norms or parental expectations or keeping up with the Joneses. Hang around people who are the way you want to be so that peer pressure can be used for good instead of evil!

58. Pay off your smallest debt first to get the momentum going. Some people go by the rule to pay the highest interest ones off first, but others like the rush from paying a card off completely and closing it. It’s a great motivation to continue.

60. Put a note in your wallet with this text: ‘DO I REALLY REALLY NEED THIS?’

67. Make more money. Sometimes you can only stretch your current income so far. But how can you start an online business, without spending a lot of money? And without your own product? By selling other people’s products – as an affiliate.

68. Educate. Above all else, teach your children early so they don’t make the same mistakes as us!

To view the full list, go to 73 Great Debt Elimination Tips.

The New York Times recently published Even to Save Cash, Don’t Try This Stuff at Home  to demonstrate how people intent on saving a few dollars inadvertently cut corners and end up spending more — in some cases, thousands more — to remedy the problem.

So, when considering doing things yourself to save money, think it through carefully. Would you have been spending the money because you were too lazy to do it yourself, or is it something that is totally unfamiliar to you? If it’s the latter, getting it done right by a professional the first time will be the best way to spend your money.

Kudos to non-profit Junior Achievement for reaching out to high school students with their program, Dollars and Sense. For some kids, this is the first and only exposure they get to financial education. However, it’s only a drop in the bucket compared to what we need. And today, adults need the education as much as kids… not only to learn proper money management skills, but to be able to teach them to their kids.

Want to know more about The Healthy Wallet’s personal financial management corporate training services? It is based on the Money Mastery program and its 10 proven principles to successful money management. The Money Mastery program is the only program that covers all four areas of financial management: controlling spending, eliminating debt, maximizing savings and reducing taxes legally. This is the only comprehensive program of its kind. All other financial management programs cover only part of the financial puzzle, leaving people without the full picture on how to properly manage their finances.

The Healthy Wallet is currently offering corporate training in the Toronto, Ontario (Canada) area. We will expand our offering to more geographic locations in the near future. Contact me, Marla Anne, for more information at ma[at]money-mastery-for-life.com for more information or to offer this peace of mind to your employees.

The Globe and Mail covers this topic in A teachable crisis.

With that advent of the internet, free web tools and the ability to outsource to anywhere, it’s not difficult to get many businesses off the ground with nothing more than a pocket change, sweat equity and some patience. So, if the idea of having little or no capital to invest in a business idea has been holding you back, perhaps you’ll find inspiration in this great Inc. article called How to Start a Business for (Almost) Nothing. The companies cited in this article have grown to generate significant revenues over time, yet their founders started with almost no money. The art of bootstrapping is alive and well.

If you have ever worked in a financially stable corporate environment (or at least one that has the appearance of being financially stable and flush with cash), your brain can get corrupted with the idea that it takes spending plenty of money to make money. While this may be the standard course for many large businesses, this is an antiquated idea for start-ups. Doing things as inexpensively as possible force you to be more creative, not just with your investment, but with the process and even the delivery of your product.

A recent survey by pharmaceutical company sanofi-aventis, studying attitudes and preferences of Canadians as they relate to their employer-sponsored health benefit plan, discovered an interesting finding: personal financial concerns greatly impact employee stress levels.

The survey findings, released in May 2009, indicated that nearly one-third of those surveyed agreed that stress in their home or personal life made them physically ill in the past year. Personal finances or meeting personal financial responsibilities was a top source of stress for 31% of respondents, and was a particularly prevalent source of stress to residents of Alberta and Ontario. Nearly 30% of respondents said they did not get much work done when experiencing stress.

“Today’s economic climate is a great opportunity for employers to assist in mitigating stress among its employees. Given the impact of stress on productivity and health, employers need to specifically and comprehensively address this issue from all angles, including wellness programming, help with counselling, fair workloads, support and communication,” said Jacques L’Espérance, president of J. L’Espérance Actuariat Conseil Inc. and a member of the sanofi-aventis Healthcare Survey Advisory Board.

“People are at the heart of an organization’s success — a weak economy doesn’t change this,” according to Chris Bonnett, a member of the sanofi-aventis Healthcare Survey Advisory Board and president of Toronto-based healthcare consulting firm H3 Consulting.

The survey also found that companies which invest in providing health and wellness programs can generate tangible returns. Employees at companies offering such programs were more satisfied in their jobs, and were more likely to say they felt an obligation to help their employer control benefit costs.

Through corporate training, employers can directly impact the productivity and morale of their employees by helping them where they need it most: increasing their knowledge on how to manage their personal finances. The more control an employee has over their personal financial situation, the less stressed and more confident they are. This increases the employee’s productivity and benefits the company’s bottom line.

Want to know more about The Healthy Wallet’s personal financial management corporate training services? It is based on the Money Mastery program and its 10 proven principles to successful money management. The Money Mastery program is the only program that covers all four areas of financial management: controlling spending, eliminating debt, maximizing savings and reducing taxes legally. This is the only comprehensive program of its kind. All other financial management programs cover only part of the financial puzzle, leaving people without the full picture on how to properly manage their finances.

The Healthy Wallet is currently offering corporate training in the Toronto, Ontario (Canada) area. We will expand our offering to more geographic locations in the near future. Contact me, Marla Anne, for more information at ma[at]money-mastery-for-life.com for more information or to offer this peace of mind to your employees.

What does underwear have to do with measuring the progress of the recession? Plenty, say economists. If you have put off buying replacement tighty whities, and your significant other hasn’t done it for you, then recession probably isn’t over yet.

Currently, men’s underwear sales suggest that the economy may have bottomed (pardon the pun) but has not yet started to recover.

Underwear sales a frivolous measure you say? Perhaps. But no less than former US Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan is a fan of men’s underwear sales as an important economic indicator. Who among us would have guessed Mr. Greenspan has an underwear fetish?

For more, go to How your undies track the recession.

The majority of respondents (65%) felt that debt limits their ability to reach financial goals in at least one of the critical areas of retirement, education, leisure and travel, or financial security in unexpected circumstances. CGA Canada recommends a balanced approach to spending and saving, and that Canadians increase their financial knowledge.

Although the association recognizes the importance of consumer spending for business development and for economic growth, CGA Canada recommends a balanced approach to spending, saving and paying down debt over promoting consumer spending as a solution for the current economic downturn. Long-term financial goals should include accumulation of appreciable financial assets, and building a larger, more diversified financial cushion and retirement investment.

While debt is rightfully a personal decision, however, it is crucial that Canadians be aware of potential risks of increasing individual household debt. Just because your financial institution gives you credit doesn’t mean you should use it. After all, it’s not the bank that will be responsible for paying it back with interest. Use your judgment when taking on debt and be realistic about your ability to pay it back.

I am happy to see in the report that CGA Canada agrees (with me) there is a lack of financial literacy among Canadians. We frequently don’t understand the effect of carrying debt and the costs associated with servicing debt. Canadians’ knowledge and skill in understanding their own financial circumstances and the motivation to borrow, spend and save become crucial to their financial security and well-being. Canadians need to take very seriously the issue of developing their financial knowledge, skills and discipline when making financial decisions.

Want to improve your financial knowledge so you can make better spending decisions? Go to the Money Mastery For Life website and sign up for the no-obligation free 21-day trial to learn more.