Hallowe'en Decorations
  
You tell me, did I go a little too far with Hallowe'en decorations at the house, considering we are on a private road with only six other homes and two children?
Normally I would not put decorations on the driveway, but Caroline was away on a cruise till after Hallowe'en so I didn't have to move her car and I was still able to park in the driveway.
And just in case you were inclined to drive by for a look, this photo was generated with the skills I am learning in my AI course. Don't be fooled, it is just another one of my pranks, full disclosure!!!
Power of The Pay Cheque
If you’ve ever wished your mortgage could work smarter, not just harder, then the "Power Of The Pay Cheque" program might be worth a closer look. Designed to simplify your banking and potentially help you become debt-free sooner, this unique all-in-one mortgage product combines your mortgage, chequing, savings, and even other debts into a single, flexible account.
At its core, Manulife One is a secured line of credit attached to your home that functions like a combined mortgage and bank account. Instead of keeping your mortgage, savings, and everyday banking separate, it wraps everything into one account. This means your income deposits and savings immediately reduce your outstanding mortgage balance, and interest is only charged on the net amount you owe.
The "Power of The Pay Cheque" program is structured in two parts: a line of credit portion and a fixed-rate mortgage portion. The line of credit portion is where your day-to-day banking happens - your income goes in, your expenses come out, and any money sitting in the account automatically reduces your interest costs. The fixed portion, on the other hand, acts like a traditional mortgage with regular payments and a locked-in interest rate. You can choose to allocate part of your mortgage into this fixed portion if you want rate stability or a more predictable repayment schedule, while the remaining balance stays in the flexible line of credit.
Manulife One functions just like your everyday chequing account. You can deposit your income, pay bills, and make purchases using debit or e-transfers. But here’s the difference: every time you deposit money, that amount instantly goes toward lowering your mortgage balance. Spend money, and the balance goes back up. Interest is calculated daily and charged monthly, so the more money you leave in the account, even temporarily, the less interest you pay.
Let’s say you owe $300,000 on your mortgage, with $100,000 in a fixed portion and $200,000 in the line of credit. When you deposit a $5,000 pay cheque, it reduces the $200,000 line of credit balance to $195,000. You’ll pay less interest on the lower balance, and that $5,000 is still available to spend if needed. If you spend $4,000 that month, the balance climbs back up to $199,000, but you still saved interest on the days that $5,000 was sitting in the account.
Here is the key "automation" - most lenders offer lines of credit, however, very few offer a line of credit where all the functions are automated. Combine this with using a credit card to pay for all of your expenses and then pay the credit card off with the line of credit, you have a winning combination.
I have developed a system to evaluate how much this might save you. All you need to do is a little home work and I can tell you what kind of interest savings you can achieve. Feel free to reach out to me to discuss whether this advanced mortgage strategy would work for you. It does require that you have a minimum of 20% equity in your home and that you are not living pay cheque to pay cheque.
Give Tai Chi a Try
If you're getting older, martial arts may not be on your radar as an activity you should take up. In fact, when most people think about how they want to spend their days in retirement, activities like golf or gardening are more likely to come to mind.
Maybe that's a mistake, though.
In fact, research from Harvard suggests that opting for a Tai Chi class over more traditional exercises, such as walking or swimming, could be the best way to stay fit after 60.
Tai Chi is equivalent to a brisk walk in terms of its aerobic potential, and may be more vigorous than training with weights. It's also been proven to offer these benefits:
Help promote bone strength and joint stability.
Improve cardiovascular health
Boost your immune system
Develop your emotional well-being
Boost your overall fitness levels
Improve cognitive function and focus
It can also reduce falls by as much as 45%, which is an enormous benefit, as more than one in four older Americans fall each year, according to the CDC. Parkinson's patients, in particular, may benefit from improvements in balance that can result from practicing Tai Chi.
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