Most of us in the PF blogosphere are familiar with Gail, but if you’re not, here’s a short bio stolen from Wikipedia:
Gail Vaz-Oxlade is a Canadian financial writer and television personality who lives in Brighton, Ontario, Canada. Vaz-Oxlade hosts the Canadian television series Til Debt Do Us Part and Princess. Vaz-Oxlade is also a regular columnist for Yahoo!
She has written numerous personal finance books as well with the most recent one being “Money Rules”. Recently my mother and I went to see her speak at Mohawk College in Hamilton. Did I learn anything I didn’t already know? Nope. Was it worth the price of admission? Most definitely yes! I’ve seen every (and I do mean every!) episode of Til Debt do Us Part, so it was nice to finally see her in person.
Gail is funny – and crude. Seriously – she used a lot of swear words during her presentation. Since I’ve only seen her on T.V. where they don’t tend to allow you to swear 
, this came as a bit of a shock. But she had the crowd in stitches with her no holds barred attitude.
She covered a few of her money rules during the talk – like – don’t spend more than you earn, save for a rainy day – all those not so exciting, but necessary things. She also said she encouraged everyone to keep a spending journal for the year – keeping track of every cent you spend on every thing (always get a receipt!). She said she uses her credit card as much as possible to help keep track of what she spends. Apparently, she has quite a weakness for Tim Horton’s steeped tea. I try to do the same, but not so much for littler purchases. If I tracked how much I spent on everything I’m sure I’d be quite shocked!
At the end of her talk she took questions. She gave the best answers she could, but it’s hard to fix a complicated financial problem with minimal information and not a lot of time. There also seemed to be some disagreement amongst the crowd as the best way to qualify for OSAP (do they count your savings, your income, or both)?
All in all, and enjoyable evening.
If you could see one PF guru talk, who would it be?
I would love to see Gail. I love her no-nonsense approach to budgeting, spending, and saving. It’s tough love and very effective.
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I’d love to see Gail and Suze…on the same stage. Not really sure what would come out of that experience…haha!
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That’s lovely that you were able to listen to her speak live. She tells it like it is and that’s because some people need to hear it from someone who isn’t going to sugar coat it. We’ve watched all her shows as well. I wouldn’t mind watching her live, Suze would be pretty interesting to listen to even though she is American. I agree with The Happy Homeowner we should get the top gurus on stage and see what they all say.. would be great to watch that. Cheers
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Gail’s show is entertaining. I always say this and will say it again here, why don’t they teach kids about finances in school. It is a real life skill and some people just don’t understand it. Working in the credit industry, I’ve seen people spend on credit cards without even understanding how long it would take to pay them off. Imagine 29% interest rates! Ok I’m rambling, I would love to meet Gail and ask her how I can start my own show! haha
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Yes, I’d definitely recommend seeing Gail if you have the chance. And Suze would be interesting too – my main exposure to her is through the Oprah magazine (yes, I take it out of the library).
And Pat – yes, kids should definitely learn basic finances!
I don’t have cable, but I’m thankful her show is on one of the basic channels. I love “Til Debt Do us Part “! I always rush home from work to make sure I get home on time to watch it. I also read on a few other blogs that they have seen Gail live. How does one go about finding out these things? Is there a special mailing list or by invitation only??
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