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Recent Articles

Happily Ever After

February 5, 201053 Comments

One of the things I am learning from working with my Princesses is that all that crap we see on TV has a HUGE effect on young people. The starlettes of television have created standards in appearance and behaviour that people now accept as normal.
Young women blow astronomical amounts of money imitating the looks of [...]

Done with Debt?

February 4, 201041 Comments

Take this test:
If you buy a $2,300 couch using your credit card and you pay only the minimum on the card at 18.99% interest, how long will it take you to pay it off?
3 years           6 years
7 years           10 years
What will the couch cost you by the time it’s paid off?
$2,800                        $3,200
$3,600                        $4,300
Short [...]

What Won’t You Spend On?

February 3, 201086 Comments

Very often when the talk turns to ways to save money, or how-to-NOT-buy-everything-you-want, there’s a sort of backlash from the folks who say, “You mean I shouldn’t have ANY fun?” It’s a legitimate question. After all, what’s the point of working hard if you don’t every spend anything on having a great life?
Unfortunately, most of [...]

Keeping Focus

February 2, 201032 Comments

It’s so easy to lose focus, isn’t it? Sure you’re determined to eat better, shop smarter, exercise more frequently. But then the pile in your in-box seems to overtake your motivation, your kids’ start falling apart and you rush in with the emotional glue-stick, or your partner decides to duck out and you’re left holding [...]

Gail's Tools

Now, easier to find than ever, here are the tools you’ll need to take control of your money and you life… like the Interactive Budget Worksheet. Make sure you read Gail’s Guide to Building a Budget or my latest book, Debt Free Forever, before using the Interactive Budget Worksheet so you know how to put it to good use.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade

Hello! I'm Gail Vaz-Oxlade. I'm a mother, step-mother, grand-mama, friend, confessor, writer, TV host, money maven, teacher, artist, and ex-wife. I'm loud, large and laugh a lot. I'm passionate about learning, committed to sharing and hell-bent on getting people to take control of their money and their lives.

I've written eleven books on personal finance, hundreds of articles for the financial media, published a financial magazine for women, hosted three prime-time television shows and worked with Canada’s leading financial services companies to help educate employees and clients. (I've been busy, eh?)

My corporate projects have ranged from the design of a product knowledge and sales curriculum to cover every product sold through the branch network, to the writing of several consumer-oriented brochures, the development of web content, the on-camera hosting of consumer-oriented videos, and myriad public presentations. I can make the most complex financial topic accessible to everyone, even kids.

For those of you who have detected an accent, go ahead and guess! I immigrated to Canada in 1977, lived in The Big City for a long time and then moved to the country. I have dozens of houseplants, read or listen to about 150 books a year and I'm a fabulous cook. I’m learning to knit and dying to get a new puppy… but the time’s not quite right yet so I’m practicing what I preach and being patient.

I’m all about change, and I believe that we can have anything we want in life…anything. It’s all a matter of what’s important to us and how hard we’re prepared to bust our butts. I also believe that a well-balanced life is one of the keys to happiness, and so I strive to achieve a sense of balance.

I’m happy with my life. I am determined to do interesting work and to be useful. I love to learn new things. And I’m practicing living in The Now. I am a work in progress.