Listen, there are a bunch of basic techniques that you’ve heard your entire life about saving and investing. There are the things that your parents have told you since you received that first paycheck: “I wish I would have done x at your age, I would have been so far ahead”. Whether this advice was “Pay yourself first” or “Make sure you diversify”, you know them by now and have either made them work for you or not. Here are 4 things that you need to understand about money – as a Millennial – in 2018.

1. Other people have no problem spending your money – Summer is upon us, and everyone in your life is looking to celebrate their once-in-a-lifetime special day. Whether it’s their bachelor/bachelorette party, wedding, baby shower or 50^th birthday, these special events are going to add up. It is hard to tell your best friend/cousin/old roommate that you appreciate the invitation, but you’re going to have to pass on their monumental event because you have 6 other monumental events in the next couple of months. Make sure to keep an eye on that money drain.
2. Investing and Savings apps work, but don’t solely rely on them – There are a lot of apps out there that will automatically hook into your bank account and take out either a small amount each month and put it into a savings account, or round your purchases to the nearest dollar and invest that spare change for you. These are a great way to start investing, but spare change is not going to make as meaningful an impact unless you are going to be proactive about it.
3. Small purchases add up – Yes, this one is DANGEROUSLY close to the parental type advice alluded to earlier, but not in the context of ‘that chocolate bar you bought today along with that coffee you went out for yesterday could eventually bankrupt you’ type thing. What adds up is the routine of doing it. Go for that chocolate bar, if you’re looking to treat yourself. Get a coffee with a co-worker as a little pick me up. That’s fine occasionally, but doing this every day will keep your bank account from growing.
4. Saving is hugely important, but negotiating is key – So we’ve established that savings is important, but an even more satisfying way to get yourself more money for that house is not to get it from your own bank account, but to get it from your employers.  You need to be prepared when that annual review comes around at work. Sure, you know you may be getting that 3% per annum bump, but that’s to cover inflation and won’t help in the long term. When you go in, be prepared to explain why you deserve this raise, show how you’ve improved, what major projects you’ve been working on, and what new duties you may have undertaken. What are people in a similar position in a similar company making in your area? Some financial analysts say you could be leaving as much as a million dollars on the table over your lifetime by failing to negotiate.

No one wants to be living from paycheck-to-paycheck their entire life and it’s the dream of many to be able to afford a place to call their own. These things may seem more difficult than ever now, but keeping these things in mind can do nothing but assist you in the long term, and maybe you can annoy your kids with this advice one day.

Canadians have amassed a $2-trillion mountain of household debt that’s casting a big shadow over the timing of the Bank of Canada’s next interest rate hike, governor Stephen Poloz said in a speech Tuesday in Yellowknife.

To Poloz, the “sheer size” of debt burden also means its associated risks to endure for a while, although he’s optimistic the economy can navigate them.

The debt pile, he said, has been growing for three decades in both absolute terms and when compared to the size of the economy _ and about $1.5 trillion of it currently consists of mortgage debt.

The central bank has concerns about the ability of households to keep paying down their high levels of debt when interest rates continue their rise, as is widely expected over the coming months.

“This debt has increasing implications for monetary policy,” he said in his address to the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce.

Poloz has introduced three rate hikes since last July following an impressive economic run for Canada that began in late 2016.

But the central bank stuck with its benchmark rate of 1.25 per cent last month as it continued its careful process of determining the best juncture for its next hike. The bank’s next announcement is May 30, but many experts only expect Poloz’s next increase to come at July’s meeting.

Poloz said Tuesday that the volume of what Canadians owe is one of the key reasons why the bank has been taking a cautious approach to raising its trend-setting rate. He called it an important vulnerability for individuals and leaves the entire economy exposed to shocks.

“This debt still poses risks to the economy and financial stability, and its sheer size means that its risks will be with us for some time,” Poloz said.

“But there is good reason to think that we can continue to manage these risks successfully. The economic progress we have seen makes us more confident that higher interest rates will be warranted over time, although some monetary policy accommodation will still be needed.”

Poloz said debt is a natural consequence of several factors, including the combination of a strong demand for housing and the prolonged period of low interest rates maintained in recent years to stimulate the economy.

The governor also provided detail on issues the bank is examining as it considers the timing of its next rate increase.

If it raises rates too quickly, the bank risks choking off economic growth, falling short of its ideal inflation target of two per cent and could lead to the type of financial stability risk it’s trying to avoid, he said.

But if the governing council lifts the rate too slowly, Poloz said it could intensify inflationary pressures to the point it overshoots the bank’s bull’s-eye. Poloz added that moving too gradually could also entice Canadians to add even more debt and further boost vulnerabilities.

In his speech, he also noted several other areas of concern the bank is monitoring closely as it considers future hikes. They include the economic impacts of stricter mortgage rules, the ongoing uncertainty about U.S. trade policy, the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a number of competitiveness challenges faced by Canadian exporters.

“These forces will not last forever,” Poloz said.

“As they fade, the need for continued monetary stimulus will also diminish and interest rates will naturally move higher.”

Toronto home sales are off to the worst start in nine years, as tougher rules for mortgage qualifications and rising interest rates continue to push buyers out of the market.

Sales fell for four straight months on a seasonally adjusted basis, with the fewest transactions to start a year since the 2009 recession, according to data Thursday from the Toronto Real Estate Board. April itself was one of the weakest months in the past 15 years for sales in Canada’s biggest city.

Prices, however, continued to stabilize. The benchmark, which is weighted to account for differences in home type, climbed 0.7 percent from last month to C$766,300 ($595,700). The condo apartment segment helped boost prices, jumping 10 percent to C$495,600 from a year earlier. In contrast, detached home prices tumbled 10 percent from April 2017 to C$927,800.

Similarly, Vancouver benchmark prices rose 14 percent in April from a year ago, while sales fell 27 percent to a 17-year low for the month, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Canada’s once-hot housing market has been correcting in recent months, adjusting to a series of tighter regulations aimed at taming prices and debt levels. Sales have cooled particularly for ’s pricier detached homes, as new mortgage guidelines that came into effect on Jan. 1 make it harder for buyers to qualify for loans. The slowdown has put the market on edge as it enters its traditionally busy spring selling season.

Toronto sales were down almost a third in April from a year earlier to 7,792 units, the fewest for the month since 2003.

“Market conditions should support moderate increases in home prices as we move through the second half of the year, particularly for condominium apartments and higher density low-rise home types,” Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis said in a statement.

The high-end of Toronto’s housing market continued to weaken after last year’s boom. Sales of detached homes worth C$2 million or more accounted for 5.5 percent of the segment’s total, down from 10 percent a year earlier.

New listings fell 25 percent from April 2017 to 16,273. Average home prices in the Toronto region fell 12 percent over that period to C$804,584.

The Ministry of Finance has remedied a significant regulatory oversight that precluded low-risk borrowers from insurable mortgage rates simply because they refinanced after a certain date.

“A communication was sent to all the lenders from CMHC and Genworth that, effective Monday [April 30, 2018], any refinance after November 2016 can be switched or transferred to a new lender and qualify for insurable mortgage rates,” said mortgage broker and Principal of Champion Mortgage Doug Adlam.

Borrowers who refinanced their mortgages after November 2016 could not qualify for insurable mortgage rates upon renewal, inauspiciously leaving them the options of remaining with their institution or moving onto a better one with no discernible rate advantage. However, Adlam and a small group of brokers, lenders and insurers lobbied the government to fix the flub.

“It’s a huge win for Canadians and it truly shows the benefit of mortgage brokers, lenders and insurers in the Canadian industry, who totally, completely and always look out for the best interests of Canadians,” said Adlam. “I really think Canadians forget what interest rates looked like before the brokering industry grew. Interest rates on average would be about 1.5% higher than they are today. It goes to show that, from day one, mortgage brokers have been trying to bring down the façade of posted interest rates.”

It isn’t often that government walks back its own fiat, and while no admission of blundering accompanied the communication that outlined the new rules, responsible borrowers will no longer be penalized.

“On the one hand, I am surprised because, typically, when they make a change they stand by it,” said Adlam. “On the other hand, the Ministry of Finance wants to ensure that Canadians are well-protected and ensure that people with those lower-risk loans who renew their mortgages have the benefit and the opportunity to seek insurable and, therefore, lower interest rate mortgages now and into the future. It’s just disappointing that there have been borrowers that had to renew into high interest rates while this initial oversight had to be reclarified.”

In a statement provided to Mortgagebrokernews.ca, CMHC—which, along with Genworth Financial and Canada Guaranty, pressed the Ministry of Finance for clarification on the rule—says purchase transactions are presently the only permitted loan purpose, although caveats do apply.

“A refinance loan, defined as an increase to the outstanding balance or extension of the original amortization, is not a permitted loan purpose,” reads the statement. “At the borrower’s request, a mortgage may be switched from one lender to another, and be eligible for mortgage loan insurance, provided that the new lender does not refinance the mortgage at time of the switch/transfer and meets other insurability criteria per the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations… In the case of a dissolution of relationship/buyout of a co-borrowers interest in the property, funds required to acquire the departing co-borrower’s interest in the property would be eligible for mortgage loan insurance.”

Canada’s mortgage growth has fallen to the lowest in nearly two decades as interest rates rise and after new mortgage rules took effect at the start of the year.

Total residential mortgage credit grew just 0.3 percent on average over the last three months, the slowest since 2001, Bank of Canada data show. That’s down from 0.47 percent at the end of 2017, and about half the average 0.57 percent pace over the past twenty years. Outstanding residential mortgage loans in Canada now total C$1.53 trillion ($1.19 trillion), the data show.

Borrowing costs are rising for the first time in almost a decade, and recent rule changes are making it tougher to get a mortgage. Just how sensitive consumers — and the economy — will be to higher rates has become a key question for policy makers, with Canadians now holding a record C$1.70 in debt for every dollar of disposable income.

Dominique Lapointe, an economist at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy sees slowing credit growth as a potential headwind for Canada’s economy, at least in the short run. “In the near term, it’s bad for growth. In the longer-run, when it leads to deleveraging, it’s good for financial stability. What matters is the speed of deceleration, or contraction, in credit,” Lapointe said in an email.

Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz will be speaking later this afternoon on the subject of household indebtedness.