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Informationen zum Autor David Trahair is a Chartered Accountant, speaker and author. He currently operates his own public accounting firm and gives seminars on his books to CAs in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. He frequently appears in the media, contributes regularly to financial publications, and is the author of several books, including the bestsellers Enough Bull and Smoke and Mirrors . He was also a director of Credit Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people deal with credit problems, for six years. www.trahair.com Klappentext DEBT is everyone's problem. If you're an average Canadian, you've got about $24,000 worth of consumer debt, making only minimum payments is the norm and you consistently spend more than you make. You probably don't even know how poorly you're really doing. And yet you're still being offered more easy credit. Even if you think you're doing alright, there's more to debt than just the personal cost. Debt is stressful. It can be embarrassing. And the consequences can be devastating. Canadians are intrinsically linked to their financial institutions. Banks make a lot of money based on people's debt, and the longer personal debt lasts, the more money banks make. But if too many people get in too deep and default on their debts, the banks will default on their obligations as well. And if the banks default, it becomes the deeply-indebted government's problem to bail out the institutions. And that means it's a problem for everyone. What currently exists is a storm cloud of debt that will be hanging over future Canadians for generations, and we, as individuals and as a nation, need to take control immediately and start living within our means. In Crushing Debt , author and educator David Trahair guides readers through the problems with debt, how different kinds of debt relate to each other, the traps many people fall into, and how to identify and solve any personal debt problems. With the world's economy in such a mess, getting debt-free is the best defensive strategy you can use. Taking care of your finances now by getting rid of your debt will allow you to protect what you have and build for the future. Is debt scary? Undeniably. But it's time for Canadians to face their fears and crush their debts. Zusammenfassung As the majority of Canadians are now spending much more than they make! their debt levels are reaching crisis proportions. Excluding mortgage debt! the average Canadian owes over $25!000 in consumer debt! which poses massive risks not only for the individuals carrying that financial load! but for our entire financial system. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 Where I am Coming From 2 A Word about Books 3 The World is on the Edge of a Cliff 4 It Ain't Gonna be Easy, But There is Hope 5 Why I Wrote This Book 6 What You Will Learn 7 Chapter 1-Debt: The Snake in the Closet 10 My Own Story 10 Marie's Story 12 Chapter 2-Why is the Consumer Debt Crisis So Bad? 16 Human Nature 16 The Environment 20 A Financially Illiterate Consumer is a Bank's Best Customer 24 Consumer Financial Education: Why is It Missing? 24 Look at What Happened in the United States 25 Chapter 3-The U.S. Subprime Mortgage Disaster 26 The Perfect Debt Storm 27 My Trip to Slavic Village, Cleveland, Ohio 28 Why the Crisis Spread 30 Houses "Under Water" 31 The Current U.S. Consumer Debt Situation 32 Could the U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis Come to Canada? 34 Chapter 4-Canada's Government Debt 37 Canada's Debt 38 Accumulated Versus Annual Defi cits 40 You Say "Deficit," I Say "Loss" 40 How Big is Canada's Debt? 41 Canada's Annual Defi cit History 41
