4 Ways to Take Control of Your Finances in 2021

Being a home owner is excellent, having a huge mortgage isn’t. So, if you have a mortgage that you’re looking to get rid of as quickly as possible, here are four things you should consider doing. Accelerate your payments Making the change from monthly payments to accelerated bi-weekly payments is one of the easiest ways you can make a difference to the bottom line of your mortgage. Most people don’t even notice the difference or increased payment. A traditional mortgage with monthly payments splits the amount owing annually into 12 equal payments. Accelerated biweekly is simply taking a regular monthly payment and dividing it in two, but instead of making 24 payments, you make 26. The extra two payments accelerate the paying down of your mortgage. Increase your regular mortgage payments Chances are, depending on the terms of your existing mortgage, you can increase your regular mortgage payment by 10-25%. Alternatively, some lenders even offer the ability to double-up your mortgage payments. These are great options as any additional payments will be applied directly to the principal amount owing on your mortgage instead of a prepayment of interest. Make a lump-sum payment Depending on your lender and your mortgage product, you should be able to put down anywhere from 10-25% of the original mortgage balance in a bulk payment. Some lenders are particular about when you can make these payments; however, you should be eligible if you haven’t taken advantage of a lump sum payment yet this year. Making a lump-sum payment is a great option if you’ve come into some money and you’d like to apply it to your mortgage. As this will lower your principal amount owing on the mortgage, it will reduce the amount of interest charged over the life of the mortgage. Review your options regularly As your mortgage payments debit from your bank account directly, it’s easy to put your mortgage on auto-pilot and not think twice about it until your term is up for renewal. Unfortunately, this removes you from the driver's seat and doesn’t allow you to make informed decisions about your mortgage or keep up to date with market conditions. So let’s talk about an annual mortgage review. Working through an annual mortgage review with an independent mortgage professional is beneficial as there may be opportunities to refinance your mortgage and lower your overall cost of borrowing. By reviewing your mortgage at least once a year, you can be sure that you’ve always got the best mortgage for you! There is no cost involved here, just a quick assessment and peace of mind. If you’ve got questions about your existing mortgage or want to compare your mortgage to options available today, please connect anytime. It would be a pleasure to work with you.

Bank of Canada holds policy rate at 2¾%. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario June 4, 2025 The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 2.75%, with the Bank Rate at 3% and the deposit rate at 2.70%. Since the April Monetary Policy Report, the US administration has continued to increase and decrease various tariffs. China and the United States have stepped back from extremely high tariffs and bilateral trade negotiations have begun with a number of countries. However, the outcomes of these negotiations are highly uncertain, tariff rates are well above their levels at the beginning of 2025, and new trade actions are still being threatened. Uncertainty remains high. While the global economy has shown resilience in recent months, this partly reflects a temporary surge in activity to get ahead of tariffs. In the United States, domestic demand remained relatively strong but higher imports pulled down first-quarter GDP. US inflation has ticked down but remains above 2%, with the price effects of tariffs still to come. In Europe, economic growth has been supported by exports, while defence spending is set to increase. China’s economy has slowed as the effects of past fiscal support fade. More recently, high tariffs have begun to curtail Chinese exports to the US. Since the financial market turmoil in April, risk assets have largely recovered and volatility has diminished, although markets remain sensitive to US policy announcements. Oil prices have fluctuated but remain close to their levels at the time of the April MPR. In Canada, economic growth in the first quarter came in at 2.2%, slightly stronger than the Bank had forecast, while the composition of GDP growth was largely as expected. The pull-forward of exports to the United States and inventory accumulation boosted activity, with final domestic demand roughly flat. Strong spending on machinery and equipment held up growth in business investment by more than expected. Consumption slowed from its very strong fourth-quarter pace, but continued to grow despite a large drop in consumer confidence. Housing activity was down, driven by a sharp contraction in resales. Government spending also declined. The labour market has weakened, particularly in trade-intensive sectors, and unemployment has risen to 6.9%. The economy is expected to be considerably weaker in the second quarter, with the strength in exports and inventories reversing and final domestic demand remaining subdued. CPI inflation eased to 1.7% in April, as the elimination of the federal consumer carbon tax reduced inflation by 0.6 percentage points. Excluding taxes, inflation rose 2.3% in April, slightly stronger than the Bank had expected. The Bank’s preferred measures of core inflation, as well as other measures of underlying inflation, moved up. Recent surveys indicate that households continue to expect that tariffs will raise prices and many businesses say they intend to pass on the costs of higher tariffs. The Bank will be watching all these indicators closely to gauge how inflationary pressures are evolving. With uncertainty about US tariffs still high, the Canadian economy softer but not sharply weaker, and some unexpected firmness in recent inflation data, Governing Council decided to hold the policy rate as we gain more information on US trade policy and its impacts. We will continue to assess the timing and strength of both the downward pressures on inflation from a weaker economy and the upward pressures on inflation from higher costs. Governing Council is proceeding carefully, with particular attention to the risks and uncertainties facing the Canadian economy. These include: the extent to which higher US tariffs reduce demand for Canadian exports; how much this spills over into business investment, employment and household spending; how much and how quickly cost increases are passed on to consumer prices; and how inflation expectations evolve. We are focused on ensuring that Canadians continue to have confidence in price stability through this period of global upheaval. We will support economic growth while ensuring inflation remains well controlled. Information note The next scheduled date for announcing the overnight rate target is July 30, 2025. The Bank will publish its next MPR at the same time.