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Managing day-to-day spending/budgeting came in third, selected by eight per cent of respondents and down from 14 per cent last year.

45-64 named retirement planning as their top financial priority, which fell to just 12 per cent among that age group in this year’s survey.

“Even small contributions today can make it easier in future years to reach your retirement savings goals,”

Some basic tips: “Don’t add any more to your debt,” Mr. Schwartz said, “Put your credit cards away. Stop using your line of credit. Live on cash or debit.”

Canadian borrowing levels have hit record levels, with household debt-to-income ratio recently reaching a high of 164.6 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.

But consulting a trustee, which comes with no charge, doesn’t always mean filing for bankruptcy, he explained. Trustees can help set budgets, steer consumers toward consolidation loans, mortgage refinancing or consumer proposals as a way to climb out of debt, he said.

Overall, the poll done for the bank by Harris/Decima showed 17 per cent of respondents selected debt reduction as their main priority in 2013

Managing day-to-day spending/budgeting came in third, selected by eight per cent of respondents and down from 14 per cent last year

At the same time, debt management increased as a priority for that age group to 18 per cent from 14 per cent

Household debt soared in the years leading up to the Great Recession

Twenty years ago, the average American household’s debt was 83 percent of its income; by a decade ago, that had crept up to 92 percent; but by late 2007, debts were 130 percent of income

All this borrowing took place both because banks had abandoned any notion of sound lending and because everyone assumed that house prices would never fall. And then the bubble burst

Blue Inequality

Red Inequality

It’s between those with a college degree and those without.

Less than 24 hours after Lagarde put down her dessert fork, debt rating agency Moody’s put six of Canada’s biggest banks under review for a possible ratings downgrade, citing high consumer debt levels and a frothy housing market.

Household debt-to-income ratios now stand at 163 per cent, higher than in the United States before its housing crash and up from 147 per cent two years ago.

RBC last week revealed plans to spend $1.4 billion to buy auto lender Ally Financial while TD said it was buying retailer Target’s credit card business. The Bank of Nova Scotia also recently purchased the online bank ING Direct for $3.1 billion.

boosting speculation that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians of Gaza may disrupt crude supply from the Middle East.

Prices advanced earlier after American Petroleum Institute data yesterday showed crude inventories fell for the second week in three. An Energy Department report today is forecast to show supplies increased.

“Crude trade will remain choppy until we have some clarity on the Israeli-Gaza conflict,

A country's economy devastated, unemployment endemic and suicides rising -- this is the reality in Greece

Greece -- the birthplace of democracy -- is now reliant on eurozone bailouts and subject to political decision-making in Brussels and Berlin.

Merkel met with Greek Prime Minister

Americans over 60 still owe 4.2% of student loan debt, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Ten per cent of those loans are delinquent, while another 11.2% are in default.

Three factors account for the loans: Attending college after high school, going back as an adult, or co-signing for a child’s loans

Information technology has eliminated some middle-skill jobs, such as filing and administration, while globalization has seen high-paid manufacturing jobs outsourced to lower-paid countries, Alexander said.

globalization has weakened the lowest earners’ bargaining power as their jobs are outsourced to cheaper countries,

The gap has likely widened since the recession in 2008 as more companies moved high-paid manufacturing jobs offshore to countries with lower wage rates, the economists also noted.

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vast majority of employers are sympathetic to such circumstances.

More than 40% of unemployed job seekers have been out of work for six months or longer

Word that Ontario is nearing its long-promised goal of eliminating coal-fired power plants has gotten a lot of play outside the province in scientific, environmental and power industry publications.

by the end of this year the last two large-scale coal-fired generating plants will close, leaving only a small backup facility in Thunder Bay operating until the end of 2014.

"Shutting down the last coal plants in Southern Ontario will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save the province $95 million,"

Global markets are climbing again this morning, though Canadian investors should take note: Toronto has been "wildly" underperforming as other exchanges push fresh highs.

Toronto is down about 20 per cent from its peak.

he Globe and Mail’s Sean Silcoff and Dianne Nice hosted an online chat today with Vijai Mohan, the founder of a small U.S. hedge fund who’s perhaps better known as the man who’s selling Canada short.