Here in Brantford, whenever I meet with someone in debt, I always ask a simple question: what comes in, and what goes out each month? I will ask you that household budgeting question to determine if your debts are manageable on your current income, perhaps though a consumer proposal.

Some people can tell me exactly where their money goes, but most people can’t give me specifics.  They know the big numbers (like rent), but they don’t know the rest of their expenses.  Why? Because most people don’t have a household budget. Budgets are hard to prepare, and take time to keep up with every week.

So here’s what I tell people here in Brantford: don’t budget!  Problem solved.

Now just because I don’t believe in budgeting doesn’t mean I don’t believe in managing your money.  I do.  Money management is very important.  You need to manage your money to pay off debt, pay your monthly bills, and to save for the future.

So how can you manage your money without budgeting? Here’s my solution:

Pay your bills as often as you get paid.

That’s it.  If you get paid weekly, pay your bills weekly.  Instead of paying your phone bill for $100 once per month, send them $25 every week, on payday, with internet banking.

For full details you can read my report on The Secret to Making a Budget, or you can watch these two short videos that explain everything:

The Secret to Budgeting, Part 1:

The Secret to Budgeting, Part 2:

If you have so much debt that budgeting won’t help, give my office a call in Brantford at 519-770-4440, or e-mail me, and we’ll discuss all of your debt management options.

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Over the last two weeks I have met with five people (yes, I counted) in my Brantford office who have told me a very similar story.  It goes something like this:

I’ve been struggling with debt for a while, ever since I lost my job, or had my hours cut back. I was using credit cards and my line of credit to survive. Then, one day, I got this phone call from a telemarketer who said they could solve my debt problems. It sounded too good to be true, but they seemed nice, and I was desperate, so I signed up with them.

Unfortunately they weren’t able to make a deal with two of my credit cards, and now I am so far behind I’m afraid my wages at my new job are going to be garnisheed.

This is a sad story I’m hearing the debt consultant horror stories all too often.

Doug Hoyes, Brantford Bankruptcy Trustee, Consumer Proposal Administrator

We’ve all heard ads on the radio by debt consultants promising to reduce your debt.  But over the last six months some of them have started telemarketing.  It’s a brilliant strategy.  They have a bunch of people sitting at a call center in California, or wherever, and they have a computer auto-dial hundreds of telephone numbers every hour.  If you answer, you hear a recorded message offering to solve your debt problems; just press “1″ to be connected to an operator.

It’s brilliant, because having a computer doing most of the work is very inexpensive.

If you get one of these phone calls and you are tempted to talk to them, here are some questions I would ask:

1. What company are you calling from?  (You want to know exactly who you are dealing with).
2. What city are you calling from? (If they are calling from Brantford, or even somewhere in Ontario, fine.  If they are calling from California, or overseas, that’s a big warning signal).
3. When can we meet to discuss this? (If they are calling from California, they don’t have an office here in Brantford to meet with you.  Do you really want to trust someone you will never meet?)
4. Who licenses you? (It’s quite possible they have no licenses at all).
5. How do I know if I pay you this money that my debts will go away?

Here’s the truth: At my firm, Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Inc., we never use telemarketers.  The only time we will ever phone you is if we are returning your call.

My office is here in Brantford (and has been for over ten years).  Here it is (we share space with the Investment Planning Counsel):

View Larger Map

If you want to meet with me in Brantford, no problem.  I’m licensed by the federal government of Canada.

How do I know I can help you deal with your debts?  I won’t know if I can help you until we meet to review your situation, so give me a call in Brantford at 519-770-4440, or use the yellow box on the right to send me a message, and let’s get started.

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Further to my post yesterday about Brantford Movie Night at Harmony Squre, I’m happy to report that Jennifer Middleton, the Community Events Coordinator for the  City of Brantford Parks and Recreation Department reports that over 400 people were in attendance last night, making the night the “Best One Ever!”

Okay, that’s probably a bit of an exaggeration, since most of the nights are great, but last night we had perfect weather, and a great movie (all kids and adults love Cars), so thanks to everyone who attended.

Here’s a picture from the event:

See you next year!

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Every Thursday night during July and August Harmony Square in downtown Brantford hosts a free Movie Night.  The movies are geared towards kids of all ages.  Tonight’s movie is Cars, and I’m happy to announce that my firm, Hoyes, Michalos & Associates, is the sponsor for the movie today. Here’s my welcome message:

This is our second year sponsoring a movie night, because I think a free movie night is a great way to spend time with your family, and save money!

Enjoy the movie!  (I haven’t seen it yet, but apparently Cars 2 is also good; perhaps in a year or three when it’s out on DVD I can sponsor that movie).

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Doug Hoyes, Brantford Bankruptcy Trustee

The 2011-2012 edition of the Brantford yellow pages was delivered to my home today.  Since I opened our Brantford office in 1999, I’ve had a big ad in the yellow pages.  Last year I had the biggest ad in the book: two full pages.  You don’t need to be an accountant to figure out that paying for a two page, full colour advertisement costs a lot of money. In the early days the big ad was great for business, since in those days everyone went to the yellow pages when they wanted to buy a product or service.

Today, not so much.  You yourself are proof that the yellow pages is “old technology”.  Today if you want to find out something, you do what you are doing right now: you go to the internet.

Other people are starting to agree; this year’s Brantford yellow pages is thinner than last year’s, which is thinner than the year’s before.  It no longer makes sense for local businesses to pay thousands of dollars per month for big printed ads, when instead we can communicate with you directly over the internet.

That’s why instead of spending thousands of dollars per month on a big two page ad in the yellow pages, I’m now only spending a few hundred on a small, quarter page ad.  You can see it on page 29 of this year’s book, but you won’t, because why would you go read a book when you can get more information on the internet?

More than half of the people who file bankruptcy in Brantford, Ontario with me, or who file a consumer proposal in Brantford with me find me on the internet.  So, it makes sense for me to devote my time and energy to giving you as much information on the internet as possible.  (The best resource is still our main bankruptcy and consumer proposal website).

I also noticed on the front of the yellow pages, for the first time, in the upper left hand corner it says ‘To stop receiving this directory call…” and they give a phone number.  I guess a lot of people don’t want a paper book that they will never use, and will just end up in the blue box!  I’ll do my part for the environment by answering your questions here on the internet; no more trees need to die!

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I often meet with people in my Brantford office who have heard our commercials or have found us on the internet, and they are surprised to learn that I personally meet with people here in Brantford. Yes, I do, and I have worked with Brantford residents for more than 10 years.

I believe it’s important to be active in the community as well. This weekend my son and I will be running in the Brantford Classic 5 km run to raise money for Rotary Club charities. (We will be jogging, not running, but you get the idea).

I am also proud to be a sponsor of the Community Curl in support of Community Living Brant. We share office space with IPC, and for many years I’ve been happy to help Don and Mike and their team with their community based activities.

If you have financial problems and don’t want to deal with a big firm from Toronto, give us a call in Brantford at (519) 770-4440 or e-mail us. I look forward to meeting you here in Brantford to work out a solution to your debt problems.

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