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Recent Articles

Get Out of Odious Overdraft

March 9, 201042 Comments

One of the questions I am asked most often is, “If I’m constantly in overdraft, how do I come up with the money to start the jars?” This is actually two separate questions: “How do I start the jars?” and “How do I get out of overdraft?” I’ve dealt with the first question before, so [...]

Save 10%

March 8, 201043 Comments

Now that everyone is done with debt and the focus is turning to saving I’m getting a lot of letters from people who want to know how much they should be saving.
DeeDee wrote: Hi Gail, My husband and I love your show! We use it as a dose of reality and a check to make [...]

Would You Rather?

March 5, 201037 Comments

Have you seen the kids playing the game, Would You Rather? It kind of goes like this:
“Would you rather eat dog pooh or be stepped on by an elephant?”
Some of the stuff they come up with is really funny. Some of it is just weird. But whenever I listen to them playing this game, the [...]

How We Deceive Ourselves

March 4, 201039 Comments

One of the questions that often comes up whether I’m working with a couple or with a Princess is this: Are people really this good at deceiving themselves? After all, how can a chick who barely makes enough money to make ends meet really think she can afford a Paris Hilton lifestyle? And what the [...]

Leveraging Your Investments

March 3, 201023 Comments

I get a lot of questions about using credit to invest. Sometimes people want to know about The Smith Maneuver. Some people want to know if it makes sense to use their home equity to invest. And others want to know all about margin investing.
Whenever you use someone else’s money to invest, you are “leveraging” [...]

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.