Retire Your Debts

Retiring debt-free used to be the goal for all Canadians. Pay off the mortgage, get the line of credit in check and use credit cards wisely: retirement meant you were living on a fixed income and there was no room in your budget for interest payments.

That mantra seems to have largely disappeared now as a recent CIBC poll suggests that almost 60 per cent of retired Canadians are carrying some form of debt.

Experts warn that unless retired people address these outstanding loans, their ability to finance the loans and meet their everyday living expenses could become precarious, especially when interest rates begin to rise.

Besides the poll, CIBC offered some tips on how seniors could deal with debt:
· consolidate your debts using products that offer the lowest interest rates

· develop a plan to pay debts off within a specific time frame

· set your debt repayment higher to shorten repayment time and cut interest costs

· develop a good budget that includes debt repayment, and stick to it.

-Peter Muggeridge