Gails Blog

There’s been a lot of traffic on the Have Your Say section of the website. Some of you have left questions for me (use the Your Question section so they will come directly to me.) And I’ve had feedback from people all over the world who are watching the show, including some old participants who are still on the path.

For all the people who want to see a show about people who are doing it right, you’ll have to wait until season five to see a little of that… not a whole show, but a small segment (I don’t know how small yet, since the show is in edit and what we shoot is often much more than what you see.) But we did use people who knew how to live within their means to guide a couple who did not.

Some people are asking for advisor recommendations. I don’t do this for three reasons: first, I don’t know your circumstances well enough to send you to the right person; second, I want you to take responsibility for your money, including finding your own advisor - one that suits you to a T; third, if I send you to someone and it doesn’t work out, it becomes my fault… I should have known better. Sorry. No can do. Ditto investment information. Too much goes into making an investment recommendation and you need to find someone that can do a detailed needs analysis for  you. I will, over time, add more to the site on investing, but it will take time.

If you’re looking for an advisor, go read Choosing a Financial Guide. 

For Christine who “wants to open some kind of bank account for my children …for gifts of $ they receive from family.  What type of account do you recommend? An ” In Trust Account” is what exactly?” I’ll write you an article over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

For Grace who wonders if I have developed (published) a “budget binder” for people to buy and use as they do on your show, the answer is no. But you can do your own. Go and read The Budget Binder in the Your Questions section. There are lots of great answers in this section and if you’re looking for something specific you can now search the site and the Your Questions section. Look for the little magnifying glass up in the top right hand corner beside the little house, which takes you back to the home page.

People like Mike are always asking about how I come up with what goes into the budget and the percentages I use for the show. Go and read Gail’s Guide to Building a Budget (which is under blogroll on my blog)

For J. Lavigne and Tiff and all the other people who want to see follow-up shows, you’ll have to email Slice about that. As for how many of the couples actually stick to what I show them, the answer is all the smart ones. Some of them like Bev, Elizabeth, Richard and Cat visit this site, others visit the Til Debt Do Us Part Facebook page. Most stick with the plans, adapting them as their lives change. Some never get it. You can usually guess who those are.

Jane, and a few others, has indicated a desire to do what I do for a living. I wish you a great deal of luck and suggest that you find yourself a financial institution that has a real, honest interest in helping people. I’d check out your local credit union or other smaller, community-based financial institution for an opportunity to work with people and provide the kind of advice I do.

Kathy wanted to know where my accent is from. Girl, mi come from backayad! If yu no know whe dat is, den yu need to hask aroun’.

Terra wanted to know if I would do a show outside of Toronto. Since I visit each family four times in a month, I am hard-pressed to move too far a-field and still have a home life. That’s why we stick to the GTA, although we’ve gone as far as Niagara Falls and Brantford in the West, and are looking for a couple more families in the Barrie area to round out some applications we may be pursuing for season six. So if you know anyone in Barrie who needs help, tell them to apply.

I am totally blown away by all the people all over the world that write to me on the site. Malaysia. Australia. Wow! I know the show airs in Britain too, but haven’t heard from anyone there yet. So if you’re a Brit, identify yourself!

I asked y’all to vote on which book you’d like me to republish first. A Woman of Independent Means won the vote and I’m about half-way through the edit. Look for more on this in April.

Finally, I will be speaking in Nanaimo, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Toronto in January and February. If you want to come out and see me, go to the Credential website to register. Look for my face and click there. The evening is free but you have to register and space is going fast! See you there. 

 

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 8:28 pm and is filed under What's New. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.