Gail Vaz-Oxlade: "Don't Make These 9 Financial Mistakes in 2012"

Walletpop Canada sat down and interviewed Gail Vaz-Oxlade and discussed her new book 'It's Your Money: Becoming a Woman of Independent Means' at the offices of Harper Collins Canada.

Vaz-Oxlade hopes her book will get people to stop being scared and start taking action. While the book is geared toward educating and empowering women about issues such as divorce, becoming a parent, or becoming widowed, there's also lot of great information for men as well. It's never too late to improve your financial health and the sooner you do, the better.

"I think it's really important that we come to realize that life is about balance, that it's not all or nothing. It's not spending every waking moment thinking about money or spending no time thinking about money," says Vaz-Oxlade. "Managing money isn't really that hard. It requires some discipline and there is some detail involved, but in reality it doesn't take that much time and the payback is huge."

Click on the picture below to view our gallery 'The Top 9 Financial Mistakes People Will Make in 2012'. Vaz-Oxlade interview continues below.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade Interview

Walletpop Canada: Good afternoon Gail, it's a pleasure!

Gail Vaz-Oxlade: Thanks!

Walletpop Canada: This book is written with women in mind, but the information is good for anybody.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade: Yes. Women have specific needs, which are addressed in this book. But there's information in this book for men as well as women.

Walletpop Canada: What are some of the things that you're hoping your readers will get out of this book? How did you approach this book?

Gail Vaz-Oxlade: So many financial planning books are confusing. They're filled with jargon and they're very negative. People are very negative. Male writers like to scare you. So if you go out and look at some of the titles out there, they're made to scare you. I don't want to scare anybody.

I always want people to have a sense that this is very much in their control. That they can actually do something about it. It's one of the reasons why I write in English as opposed to finance-ese. Because I don't want to scare people away. The idea isn't that money should be intimidating, or it should feel like a wall you have to climb over. The idea should simply be that money has some rules attached to it. And if you follow the rules, you're going to have more stability in your life than if you don't follow the rules. Doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. The rules are the same.

You need to have a plan for how you use your money, you need to have a healthy credit identity, you need to have emergency money and some insurance. All those rules are the same. So what will anybody get out of this book including men? They will get a guide that's written in English, that's straightforward, that doesn't try to scare you into action but does present some facts to you so that you understand the implication of things.

Walletpop Canada: Can you give an example of 'English' for the financially illiterate?

Gail Vaz-Oxlade: Okay, I use this example when I do workshops. I say think of 4 people that you know. Write their names on a piece of paper and drop it in a hat. Write your own name on a piece of paper, and drop it in a hat. Put your hand in the hat, and pick out one name.

Are you sure that's not your name? Because statistically, one of those people will become disabled in their life. And are you willing to take the chance that it's you, and you don't have the right kind of disability insurance. Okay, those are the kinds of things I want to say to people because people say bad things don't happen to good people, or that'll never happen to me. It happens. It happens to people all the time.

So what I want to do is wake you up, explain what you need to do, and have you feel strong enough, and capable enough, and in control enough to go out and actually do it.

Walletpop Canada: The thing is people are scared...

Gail Vaz-Oxlade: I'm not scared!

And why am I not scared? You see, that's the question. Why is Gail Vaz-Oxlade not scared? There are tons of people out there, big name people, who are scared. I'm not scared. I've got money in the bank. I do the detail.

I think it's important to live in the moment and have joy in the moment and experience the moment for everything it's worth. It's not all about the future, it's also about right now. But I make sure that my details are done. My line is, I think like a pessimist, I plan like a pessimist, so I can live like an optimist. I want to have joy. I don't want to walk around afraid all the time. And the people who are afraid are those who don't know what's going to happen next, and they have no plan to cope. I don't have to think about what my plan will be because I put those plans in place a long time ago.

You know, I've had a will forever and I've changed it twice. I got my disability insurance and my life insurance when I was quite young. So I don't have to worry at this stage of my life, what will happen if I get sick? I have disability insurance. I have a plan in place. And that's what I'm trying to teach people, if you have a plan, it's so much easier to get through your life.

Walletpop Canada: Well, that's well put! I know when I do my job I'm often trying to pitch personal finance stuff against Lady Gaga lighting her breasts on fire or stories asking if Justin Bieber is really the father. I find there's a lot of stuff going on in the world and people often don't want to think about it. Or they'll say, look, I'm struggling in my job, I have problems in my marriage. I have to get to this later. And of course...

Gail Vaz-Oxlade: Of course, later never comes. That's right. And you have to wonder why if you're struggling in your job you don't feel empowered enough to find another job, or to take the time you need to retrain. Is it possible that you didn't take care of your money properly, you pissed away most of it, that you could have put in the bank and used for retraining, or used your emergency plan as a bridge from one job to another job? Is it possible that one reason why you're struggling in your marriage is because your finances are a mess, and the two of you are constantly at each others' throats? Or you're trying to outspend each other in terms of how you're using your money?

Walletpop Canada: Yes, it's all connected.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade: You know, this is a fundamental part of our life. The line "money makes the world go around" isn't actually true, but it might as well be because it's such a fundamental part of our lives. Just about everything we do requires that we transact in some way. If we want to get on a bus to go to work, if we're going into a store to buy an apple, just about everything requires a transaction of some kind. If you don't know what you're doing with your money, what kind of fool are you?

Okay, because you're busting your ass every day, dragging your sorry butt out to work, in the snow, in the rain, working your ass to the bone, coming home only to get up and do it again, but you're not going to spend one hour a month managing your money? Seriously? You spend all that time working for it and you're going to piss it away. But you're not going to spend one hour a month managing it.

People say "I don't have time". Really? You would rather watch some stupid television show than spend one hour a month managing your money?

Walletpop Canada: Most people I think would rather watch television than spend the time on their own finances. Let's face it, some people find NHL Hockey, American Idol and Hoarders are a lot more interesting than their own lives.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade: Yeah great (laughter). Wonderful.

'It's Your Money' can be purchased for $21.99.

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