The Mogo Blog

How to become debt free

There’s no sugar coating it, things have been rough. Many of us continue to find ourselves in a difficult financial situation. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when so many things may seem out of our control, so it’s important to start focusing on what you have control of – such as your spending and be more aware of your money. If you’re in debt and looking for a way out, you’re not alone – getting out of debt has been the #1 goal for Canadians 9 years in a row. To help you get there, we’ve put together the key steps to getting debt free below. Remember it’s about progress not perfection, so even if you can’t do them all, starting on just one is already a step forward: OPEN MOGOSPEND 💸 Stop using your credit card As credit cards make it too easy for you to overspend and accumulate debt, put your card on ice and consider it an emergency backup. If you already have credit card debt, make only the minimum payment on it and switch to using a prepaid card or your debit card. Doing this will help you budget because you

Beat the mind (and money) game

If there’s one good thing to come out of this pandemic, and there hasn't been a lot, it’s the 60% decrease in credit card spending in Canada. More than half of all Canadians are carrying credit card debt, so keeping this lower spending habit going will help them pay it off sooner. Although convenient, credit cards make it really easy to overspend. An MIT study found that people were willing to spend up to 100% more using a credit card instead of cash. How’s that possible? It’s just how credit cards can trick your mind. When you pay with a credit card, you may feel fine in the moment because you haven’t actually paid with your own money. Experts explain that this delay in payment leads to a detachment that makes a purchase feel less painful psychologically. The real heartbreak hits you when your credit card bill arrives. What’s worse, once you get that bill it’s too late to realize you’ve spent money you don’t have and many people end up carrying a credit card balance... The #1 financial goal of Canadians 9 years in a row has been to get

The Digital Champs

With weeks of strict physical distancing measures, not only have Canadians been staying in and spending less, many online and digital technologies have been thriving. Use of digital entertainment services like Netflix and Spotify have gone up rapidly. You’ve probably also heard about online video communication services, such as Zoom, becoming wildly popular. But did you know that the most prominent digital currency in the world, bitcoin, is also experiencing some big changes? Its value has risen sharply over the last few weeks as it’s approaching its 550 millionth transaction. What’s even more interesting is that it’s “halving” some time this month. What’s “halving”? It means that the amount of bitcoin (BTC) being generated and entering circulation every 10 minutes will drop by half. It’ll be going from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC some time in May. Bitcoin halving is programmed to happen every time the network processes approximately 210,000 megabytes of transaction data, which takes about 4 years. This has already happened twice, back in 2012 and 2016. Behaving similarly to gold mining, bitcoin is finite and it also becomes harder to produce over time. Once all 21 million coins

Spending less is now trending

Fashion is out, spending less is in! Recent sales for clothing and accessory brands have dropped by a whopping 50% and credit card spending is down 60% compared to the same period last year. Despite some toilet paper hoarding and panic buying, Canadians have actually been spending way less in the past few weeks. Everything has changed as COVID-19 continues to impact our daily lives including our jobs and income. These rapid changes have not only made us appreciate the importance of our financial health over materialism, they also reveal how much less we spend when we don’t buy things we don’t need. We know changes aren’t easy, especially at the beginning. You might still remember some of your financial new year’s resolutions that didn’t work out, but no need to feel bad – studies have shown that humans naturally resist change, even when we know the changes will lead to beneficial results. The current circumstances, although difficult, can help push you to learn about your spending and improve your financial habits quickly. The key habit of financial health is to control your spending. Simply put, the less your spend, the more you have to put

Having a positive outlook!

Let’s start off with some good news! Recent stats have shown that Canada is flattening the coronavirus curve. While we’re not out of the storm yet, it’s nice to see positive results coming from all of our sacrifices. For the past month and a half, this pandemic has taught us important lessons on our finances. Many of us have learned how deeply our financial health impacts our happiness during these uncertain times. A past U.S. study has shown that 9 out of 10 people agree that nothing makes them happier than feeling like their finances are in order. So when it comes to finding a true pathway to happiness, remember that splurging on short-term pleasures like owning the most trendy sneakers is nothing compared to mastering your money in the long run. Since many of us are focused on taking care of our finances right now, we recently shared the job loss action plan and the financial buffer plan to help you on your way to a better financial position. Using this knowledge, you’ll need to take consistent action in order to create habits that will help you achieve your goals. Getting the results you