The Copperjar System™
Your Blueprint for Financial Fitness
(Canadian Edition)
Paul LaBarge
Alan MacDonald
Copperjar Group Corp.
Ottawa, Ontario
Copyright © 2015 by Copperjar Group Corp.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical review and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permissions, please contact the publisher.
The Copperjar System™ is a registered trademark by Copperjar Group Corp.
Copperjar Group Corp.
2203 Deschenes Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K2B 6N2
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2472-9
Ordering information
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and other groups. For details, please contact the publisher.
Individual sales. Publications by Copperjar Group Corp. are available through most bookstores and on-line book retailers.
Cover and interior design by VertexMedia.
Front cover image by VertexMedia. Copyright Copperjar Group Corp.
Back cover image by 123stocks, licenced by Shutterstock.com
This book is designed to provide information and guidance on the subject of personal finances. It is sold with the understanding that neither of the Authors nor the Publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services by publishing this book. The Authors and Publisher specifically disclaim any liability, loss, or risk which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this work.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
LaBarge, Paul, 1950-
The Copperjar System : Your blueprint for financial fitness / Paul LaBarge, Alan MacDonald. -- Canadian ed.
ISBN 978-0-9866056-5-9
1.Finance, Personal. I. MacDonald, Alan, 1959- II. Title.
| HG179.L3152 2010 | 332.024 | C2010-903871-1 |
“Unlike many approaches that simply preach “spend less, save more”, the Copperjar System™ will transform your relationship with money. It eases readers into rethinking their financial lives and empowers them to make the most of their personal finances with a practical, easy-to- understand approach. “
Don Roy, President, University of Fredericton
“The analogy between the health management and wealth management professions is quite compelling, and this book does a nice job of flushing out what wealth can learn from health. As the saying goes: may you be blessed with good fortune and the health to enjoy it. The tools and techniques are similar.”
Moshe A. Milevsky, Ph.D. Professor, York University
“A practical, easy to learn and use process that will help you reach your personal financial goals despite the attraction of living and spending in the now.”
Ken J. Killin, BBM CA, CEO of public & private technology companies
INTRODUCTION
“You’ve just won $50 million dollars.”
There are few of us who have not, at some point or another, dreamed of winning the lottery. Just imagine all that wealth. The ability to put an end, once and for all, to the constant quest to fill your bank account before the next series of bills goes through. Like the happy millionaires in the commercials we see on television, we could quit the rat race, present our loved ones with dream homes and luxury cars, and be free from the anxieties of managing our finances. Ongoing wealth and security would be ours forever.
This picture of financial Nirvana is created by lottery corporations in a bid to get you to buy another ticket to the next big draw. Somebody has to win, right? And even though you might have a better chance of being run over by a dump truck while swimming, you should go out and buy that ticket!
The actual experience of real-life lottery winners, however, stands in bleak contrast to the marketing pitch we’re all so familiar with. Most lottery winners, for example, end up broke not long after the big win. Paul and Al have known four lottery winners over the course of their careers. Of the four winners, three are now totally broke.
You may think that getting rid of all that money so quickly would be just about impossible. Surely most winners are able to sock away enough at least to avoid going bust!
But lottery winners are not the only ones who burn through countless millions in short order. Consider all the professional athletes who show up in the paper a few years after their multi-million dollar contracts end, not because they’re on the comeback trail, but because they’ve just filed for bankruptcy.
Then there are all those dot-com millionaires who burned through their brief bonanzas. Most of us have heard the warning “from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations”—stories of family fortunes built in one generation, used in the next and lost in the third. It almost doesn’t matter how much money you start with, if you don’t have the financial discipline to manage your wealth, it will soon find another home.
As we battle our day-to-day anxieties about money, most of us give little thought to just how prosperous we are. All of us who live in the Western world at the start of the 21st century are the biggest lottery winners in history. The middle class of today is wealthy beyond the imaginations of 99 per cent of the people who have ever lived on this planet. Yet, in a recent poll, the number one concern of North American families is a lack of money.
This is because, despite our collective prosperity, we still share the same bad financial habits of the busted lottery winners and broke former professional athletes. On our own smaller scale, we spend more than we make, we acquire things that cost us money every month we own them, and we make financial decisions based on our emotions rather than using a disciplined approach that reflects our real goals and aspirations.
Sound familiar?
Think about it this way. Financial fitness has a lot in common with physical fitness. To achieve success in either takes a combination of good habits, discipline, the right information and a little skill.
This is a book about financial fitness. Its purpose is to give you the knowledge and tools