Canadians Still Climbing Out Of Debt

At Synergy Merchant Services, we work diligently with each and every one of our clients to ensure that the merchant cash advances they receive are put to good use. Growing one’s business by means of expansion, renovations and advertising are some of the top ways to utilize extra working capital.

Money management is an important skill. Every so often both business owners and consumers alike worry about money simply because they find difficultly in balancing their expenses with their earnings. As a result, many Canadians find themselves in a situation where debt is inevitable.

And while we are very thankful that our merchant cash advance program has been continually successful in helping Canadian businesses to grow, not all Canadians have enjoyed the same success as our clients. This is evidenced today by one of our favourite business writers, Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew, in the Moneyville section of The Toronto Star‘s website.

She writes that, according to an Investors Group survey, more than half of Canadians “feel uncomfortable about their level of household debt and another third are downright embarrassed by it.” Apparently, Canadians are still working their way out of the red in the post-recession era.

Said Jack Courtney, the assistant vice president of advanced financial planning at Investors Group: “Almost everyone has debt. But accumulating debt with purpose and putting thought into how debt will be repaid is very different than spending beyond one’s means and without foresight.”

Acharya-Tom Yew notes that the majority of the borrowing done by Canadians is for everyday expenses. Borrowing money to buy property, she writes, is the main culprit for the debt had by people across the country. Spending money on holiday shopping, entertainment and recreation are other contributing factors.

Sadly, the survey found that a third of the respondents actually lose sleep over their debt situations while a quarter admit that it leads to arguments with their significant others. Some positives did come from the survey, however, as more than half of Canadians do feel that their debt has decreased in the past year. Here’s hoping that this is a trend that continues.