Another year has come and gone and you’re wondering how to improve your finances. You’ve relinquished your latte habit and given your shoe fetish the boot, yet you don’t seem to be able to save as much as you’d like. It’s too hard to trim expenses, you say. It takes too much time to budget. And, blech, comparison shopping for the best prices zaps your strength.

1. Mortgage

If you do nothing else to save money in the new year, take five minutes to see how increasing or accelerating your mortgage payments can save you thousands of dollars in interest. Grab your latest mortgage statement, plug your numbers into Industry Canada’s online mortgage calculator, then play around with the figures.

See how much you could save if you switched to biweekly payments or increased the amount by 5 per cent or more.

The site can also show you what would happen to your payments if interest rates changed or you refinanced your mortgage. That should provide all the incentive you need to plan your mortgage-burning party.

2. Insurance

If you have a house and a car, you’re likely spending thousands of dollars a year on insurance. Kanetix.ca is an excellent one-stop resource for comparing home, auto, health, travel and life insurance policies. Fill out a simple form about your driving history, for example, and you’ll get free quotes from more than 40 auto insurance providers. Use those quotes to find a cheaper policy or negotiate a lower rate with your current provider.

And while you’re reviewing your rates, take a few minutes to think about whether your home insurance is adequate. If you’ve recently inherited grandma’s jewellery, notify your insurance provider to make sure it’s covered.

3. Banking

Considering how much profit the big banks make from consumer fees, you owe it to yourself to spend five minutes trying to reduce your piece of the pie. Pull out a recent bank statement and use it to fill out a personal profile at the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s online comparison tool. Answer a few questions about your average balance and how often you do certain transactions, and you’ll get a list of the financial institutions with the lowest-fee banking packages that best meet your needs.

4. Mobile

Do you really need that unlimited wireless plan? You won’t know unless you do your research. A Billshrink.com survey found eight out of 10 people are paying an average of $300 more than they need to each year on their wireless bills because their plans do not suit their needs. Spend five minutes at a cellphone comparison site such asCellPlanExpert.ca, answer a few questions about your talking and texting habits, and you’ll get a list of cellphone plans, complete with prices and features.

5. Credit cards

According to RateSupermarket.ca, nearly half of Canadians have not changed their credit card company in the past five years. If you’re part of that complacent group, it’s time to do some comparison shopping. You can find online comparison tools at many sites, including the FCAC. Answer a few questions about your spending habits and what type of card you’d like and voilà: a table of credit cards appears with all the fees and features compared. Spending five minutes to find a better credit card deal: priceless.

Canadian housing prices dropped in October for the second straight month, but experts say it’s not the start of a precipitous decline like the plunges seen in the United States.

The Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index found that prices dropped by 0.4 per cent nationally, pushed by declines in Calgary (1.0 per cent) and Toronto (0.9 per cent).

A decline in September was the first drop after 16 straight months of increases. Since October 2009, national house prices are still up an average of 6 per cent.

National Bank senior economist Marc Pinsonneault, who conducted the study, said he believes prices could drop by another 5 per cent over the next two years, but said that number should be kept in perspective.

“That would mean prices would still be at their pre-recession peak, so this isn’t the start of something terrible,” said Pinsonneault. “We’re expecting to see house sale prices come more in line with rental prices and incomes, and that’s something that’s beneficial.”

In the U.S., housing prices have dropped more than 24 per cent, according to a report Wednesday. In some cities, the fall has been even more precipitous: In Las Vegas, house prices have dropped 51 per cent in the last three years, according to the S&P Case-Schiller Home Price Index.

Pinsonneault noted that another key measure of the housing market still very healthy in Canada compared to the U.S.

In the U.S., between 5 and 6 per cent of mortgages are 90 days in arrears. Here, that figure is more like 0.5 per cent, according to Pinsonneault.

“When everything is going really well, it might be 0.4 per cent. So 0.5 per cent really isn’t that bad at all,” he said.

Pinsonneault also wasn’t too concerned about the drops in Calgary and Toronto, saying they are not big signs of a local economic slide.

“The markets were maybe a bit more overheated in Calgary and Toronto. In Calgary with the oil sands, there was some speculation in the market. When we came out of the recession, it was more noticeable in Toronto than in other housing markets. But I wouldn’t say it was a bubble,” said Pinsonneault.

In central Toronto, Kevin Somers of Royal Lepage said he has noticed a bit of a softening in the market, but nothing particularly drastic.

“We’ve gone from a situation where there might have been 10 bidders to now there are 4 or 5,” said Somers, a broker who is also Royal Lepage’s area manager for central Toronto.

“The picture has been pretty stable. Shy of any significant changes in the economy or interest rates, I don’t really see things changing all that much.”

In the U.S., many homeowners in the worst-hit cities are “below water,” meaning they owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth. Somers says that is not the case here.

“There are a few one-off instances of people being under water in Toronto, but it’s not any trend at all,” said Somers, adding that choosing the right house in the first place is always good insurance against a slide in the market.

“If it’s a desirable property in a good location, it’s still always going to sell,” said Somers

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says it’s up to commercial banks — not government — to rein in lending as household debt soars, countering comments by Toronto-Dominion Bank Chief Executive Officer Edmund Clark.

“The primary responsibility for prudence in lending practices rests with the financial institutions,” Flaherty said in a Dec. 21 interview in Ottawa. “People also need to take responsibility for what they do and exercise common sense in terms of taking on debt.”

Clark said in a Globe and Mail interview published Dec. 16 that cutting Canada’s excessive household debt is a matter for the government rather than lenders, and would be best tackled through tighter rules on mortgages. No bank wants to lead the way in imposing stricter borrowing conditions for fear of losing customers to rivals, Clark, 63, told the newspaper.

Mohammed Nakhooda, a Toronto-Dominion spokesman, declined to comment yesterday.

“Banks are responsible for their own business practices and what I find odd from time to time is when a bank executive asks me to tighten lending rules,” Flaherty said. “It seems to me that’s the primary responsibility of the financial institutions and not the government.”

Household debt has risen in Canada after interest rates fell close to record lows, prompting consumers to take on bigger mortgages, car loans and credit-card balances. Canada’s debt levels topped the U.S. for the first time in 12 years in the third quarter.

Mortgage Rates

Flaherty, 60, said he expects interest rates to “go up over time,” which will bring higher mortgage costs.

“People have to make sure they can afford, in particular, their mortgage payments when interest rates rise,” Flaherty said.

The government would tighten mortgage-market rules again if it had to, Flaherty said. Measures to restrain lending taken earlier this year included changes for government-backed mortgages that forced buyers to meet standards for five-year, fixed-rate mortgages even if they opt for variable rates. Limits on refinancing were made stricter and down payment rules were tightened.

Don’t over do it this Christmas, if you want to sell your house, that is.

Royal LePage Real Estate Services says it’s time to start thinking about a smaller tree this year if you plan to list your home for sale over the holiday season. Those large, decorated trees can take over a room and make it appear smaller to potential customers.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is a slow period for real estate transactions, meaning sellers need any advantage they can muster.

“When people are selling their houses at Christmas time, they are selling under some other stress. They are usually highly motived to sell,” says Dianne Usher, a vice-president with Royal LePage. “You’ve got the euphoria of the holiday season and, oops we have to sell. It’s a great time to buy.”

The real estate company is not being a total Scrooge about the season, it’s just calling for less of everything.

Among its other suggestions are avoiding too many lights and opting for white lights instead of multi-colored flashing bulbs to give your home a neutral glow.

Forget the stacks of presents under the tree too, they just give your home a cluttered look. And those holidays meals may smell great to you, but they are a strange odour to a potential buyer.

“You want to try to tone it down a bit. Take the personal aspect of your home out of it,” says Ms. Usher, adding Christmas marks your home more than usual. “It just adds too much of a distraction to the room.”

But should you have no Christmas decorations? Would that be a turn off to buyers?

“Not in major urban centres because we are so multicultural today,” says Ms. Usher, adding in some rural and suburban centres, a touch of Christmas can be important to selling.

Mary Helen Rosenberg, a partner in Stage To Sell, says the whole idea behind staging is to keep your home as neutral as possible, so it appeals to the widest audience of buyers.

“No, I wouldn’t get rid of the tree all together, but I wouldn’t overdo it with decorations, too,” Ms. Rosenberg says. “You can’t rob the family of traditions. I wouldn’t put the tree up Dec. 1 and take it down Jan. 20. I might close that window and keep it fairly short and allow the family to enjoy its regular traditions. If it’s serious and we need to sell your house, you bring the tree down a little earlier.”

Even the guys who grow the trees say it’s probably not a good idea to have a giant one in the middle of your living room during an open house.

“When it comes to selling a house, it is important to not fill the room with a large and wide tree loaded with decorations. The eyes of the buyer will look at how big a tree is and how small the room is, even if it’s in the basement,” said Lewis Downey, executive director of Canadian Christmas Tree Growers Association.

“I think you do need a tree though. It’s Christmas time and it’s natural to have a tree. If you don’t have a tree, it can have reverse effect and people may say, ‘What’s the matter, there’s no tree. They’re not happy to live there.’”

A BMO survey showed that 69% of Canadians are open to the idea of a shorter amortization. 

“While the purchase of a home represents an important investment for many Canadians, those looking to get into the housing market now or in the near future should be considering financially responsible options, such as a 25-year amortization, to ensure they can pay down debt faster and begin saving more for their long-term goals,” said Martin Nel, Vice President, Lending and Investment Products, BMO Bank of Montreal. 

“Canadians should be realistic in measuring what they are able to afford when it comes to the purchase of a home. Taking on a larger mortgage with a longer amortization in order to afford a ‘faux chateau’ will mean carrying the debt load longer and ultimately paying more in interest over the full term.”

Click here to read the BMO press release.

This latest bout of concern is being fuelled, among other things, by:

1) Record consumer debt

2) Mark Carney’s debt warning

3) Concern by TD & BMO’s CEOs over 35-year amortizations 

It’s clear that debt-to-income ratios cannot be left unchecked forever. Eventually consumers will have to reign in credit or the government will do it for them. The repercussions are undeniable. Unabated debt can put Canada’s economy in peril. If macro shocks occur, high debt ratios mean people have less ability to weather income reductions or home price declines.

The nightmare scenario is runaway defaults. Defaults sparked by economic crises can create a “negative feedback loop” says Mark Carney. That occurs when desperate home sellers drive down prices and beget more desperate home sellers.

The good news is that Canada’s regulators are keenly aware of these risks. The Bank of Canada, default insurers and major lenders regularly collaborate on ways to control systemic risk. One important tool is “stress testing,” which involves creating “what-if” scenarios using dire economic assumptions.

Click here to read the CanadianMortgageTrends.com article.

“D” stands for debt, and Canada Monday reached a high-water mark: For the first time, household debt hit 148% of disposable income and, for the first time since the late 1990s, topped the US equivalent. 

Carney, the Bank of Canada Governor, warned of the rising debt burden among Canadian families, and the risks they face when interest rates inevitably rise. 

“Experience suggests that prolonged periods of unusually low rates can cloud assessments of financial risks,” he said in a speech in Toronto. “Low rates today do not necessarily mean low rates tomorrow. Risk reversals when they happen can be fierce: The greater the complacency, the more brutal the reckoning.”

Click here for the full Globe and Mail article.

Canadian economic growth will pick up the pace next year after a recent lull, to push the annual growth rate higher in 2011, according to the latest economic outlook from RBC Economics.

Economic growth slowed in the third quarter of this year, largely due to softness in the housing market and U.S. economy, the report found.

However, the report says, improving financial market conditions and lingering low interest rates will boost GDP to 3.2 per cent in 2011, slightly more robust than 2010’s projected growth of 3.1 per cent.

“The mid-year economic slowdown reflected a pullback in housing investment, which fell after five consecutive quarterly increases, and a mild downturn in exports,” said Craig Wright, senior vice-president and chief economist at RBC.

“However, financial conditions remain supportive of domestic growth which will be the main engine of the expansion going forward.”

Consumer spending, which has largely powered the economic recovery, is expected to slow. Instead, business capital spending will play a pivotal role in the economy’s growth as consumer spending slows and pressure persists on businesses to boost productivity.

RBC’s projected growth this year and next will be the fastest pace over the past four years.

“While the recovery is proving to be weaker than those previously experienced, economic growth in 2010 and 2011 is a substantial improvement from the contraction of 2.5 per cent experienced in 2009,” Wright said.

But growth will still be moderate, meaning it will be difficult to lower the unemployment rate, which is expected to close out the year under eight per cent and decline slightly to 7.4 per cent by the end of 2011.

The bank forecasts that the unemployment rate will continue to moderate slowly, reaching seven per cent by the end of 2012, while GDP is expected to rise by 3.1 per cent that year.

Saskatchewan is expected to take over from Newfoundland & Labrador as the fastest growing province. Alberta will also move ahead of that province.

Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are projected to remain at the lower end of the scale through to 2011.

Meanwhile, the bank expects U.S. GDP to improve in 2011 moving from an estimated 2.7 per cent this year to 3.3 per cent in 2011.

“The downdraft in U.S. growth in the middle of the year appears to have come to an end with the number of upside surprises in the economic data solidly outpacing the downside recently,” the report said.