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PAGE 25

SPEND CAREFULLY
| Planner says
credit

“We see doctors, lawyers, pco-
ple on income assistance and even
some accountants. It seems we

IF YOU’RE an average con-
sumer, you probably blew
too much money last month.

By MICHAEL BECKER

News Reporter s ‘Expenses
While most of us were pul cannot exceed
through the paces, consuming
, things in a big way during the ;
q festive season, budget planner income. You

Peggy Waterton spent time staking
out a department store cash regis-
ter to watch how people spent their
money.
“Four out of five were using
é eredit,’’ Waterton said.
; And with approximately 85 per
eent of British Columbians
overspending their incomes by 15
per cent, debt financing isn't just a
Christmas phenomenon.

Enter Waterton and Dollars &
Sense Budget Planners partner,
Debbie McDonald.

After working in the financial
field for a number of years, the
two have carved out a niche for
themselves in the fiscal jungle

have to know
both sides and
you have to be
aware of where
the money is
going.’”’

— budget planner
Peggy Waterton

NEWS photo Neil Lucente

passing on basic budgeting life
skills to consumers looking to rein
in runaway spending habits.

The approach and spirit of the
service offered is time tested and
direct. ‘Expenses cannot exceed
income. You have to know both
sides and you have to be aware of
where the money is going,"’
Waterton said. While most people
pay attention to regular utility bills
and monthly housing costs, the
rest of the money passing through
hands can easily fall into the cate-
gory of unconscious spending.

‘A three-month itemized accoun-
ting of money spent is a key com-
ponent of the counselling service
offered by Waterton. While the
process may initially prove an un-
comfortably close brush with in-
come limitations, it serves to turn
spending into a conscious act.

“Most people don't do it for
three months, but it does stop you

from spending until you even
out,’’ she said.
Waterton finds among the

common problems of her clients,
the misuse of credit and an inor-
dinate amount of money being
squandered on eating out during
the workday week.

She counsels consumers to set
realistic budget objectives and to
then make clear spending inten-
tions to both friends and family.
“You have to be able to say, ‘I
can’t afford this.’’? The peer
pressure to spend a couple of
bucks on a burger and beverage as
a teen translates into adulthood
pressure to drop big bucks for
swank dinners as a free-spending
baby boomer with bills to burn.

Most of the clients who come in-
to Dollars & Sense Budget Plan-
ners fall into the 25 to 45 age
group with incomes ranging
anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000.
The company sees an equal
number of men and women repre-
senting people from all walks of
life.

teach people how to make moncy,
but never how to spend it,”
Waterton said.

Waterton will be sharing her
budgeting acumen on the North
Shore, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday,
Jan. 30, at Carson Graham Sec-
onaary School. Cost of the six-
hour session is $25.

For more information on the
local Dollars & Sense session, call
North Shore Continuing Education
Services at 985-8741.

Budget planner Peggy Waterton
helps a client regain fiscal contrat.
Waterton maintains we're all
taught how to make money, but
most of us don't know how to
spend money with a personal
budget in mind.

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