finance
member profile
A sound foundation
The premise of the show is simple: Money is the
number-one cause of failed marriages. Most families
are in debt, and along with debt come arguments,
tears, tantrums and marriages on the verge of divorce.
To save families from the doldrums of debt, each epi-
sode follows Vaz-Oxlade as she helps families go
from red to black by getting to the root of their
destructive spending habits.
It was perhaps inevitable that Vaz-Oxlade would
become a money expert. After all, as a child in Jamaica,
her parents prepared her by giving her a modest
allowance (two dollars a week) and lunch budget (one
dollar a day) so she could learn how to manage her
money wisely. An even greater inducement was the
savings matching program her father put her on,
offering to match whatever she could save.
Name: Gail Vaz-Oxlade
Business: Personal
finance guru
Web site: www.gailvaz
oxlade.com
“I saved every penny I had,” Vaz-Oxlade recalls.
“This was too good an offer to pass up.”
Speaking from her home in Brighton, Ontario,
she goes on, “My parents wanted me to be independent and able to take care of myself, so they encouraged me to save and plan from an early age.”
The participants are given weekly challenges,
tasks they must complete to bring their finances
under control and others meant to help their relationship. At the end of four weeks, Vaz-Oxlade gives
the couple a cheque for up to $5,000, depending on
how well they handled the challenges.
Their influence worked: Vaz-Oxlade started contributing to a retirement savings plan at 22, and bought
insurance while still young. Since then, she has made
it her life’s mission to make money management
something everyone can do.
A financial education
After immigrating to Canada in 1977, Vaz-Oxlade worked for a management consulting company, creating product knowledge training
programs. “That’s how I learned about financial
management,” she says, “writing training and sales
booklets to teach sales staff about the financial
products they were selling and how to sell them.”
The show has been a huge success, thanks in
part to Vaz-Oxlade’s no-nonsense approach. Rather
than sugar-coating the truth, she tells it like it is.
When a young couple buys a flat-screen TV with
zero down, she shows them how much it’s really
going to cost with the interest payments—and forces
them to question whether they can afford it. When
another couple insists they’re carrying only a little
debt, she shows them the stark total. She doesn’t
mince words, letting families know where they’ve
gone wrong.
“The Gail you see on the show is who I am. I’m
known for my lack of tact,” Vaz-Oxlade, 50, says with
a laugh. “The reality is, if you’re in debt, you’re stupid
to have got there, and you need to face the truth and
do what it takes to fix it.”
Gail Club: As part of her
continuing quest to help
people improve their
money management,
Vaz-Oxlade has set up
“Gail Clubs,” online
forums where people get
together to share their
financial knowledge,
experiences and journeys.
Topics range from how
to get the best deals on
groceries to how to get
your spouse to agree to a
debt-repayment plan. For
information on joining or
starting a Gail Club, visit
her Web site.
Item sold at Costco:
Debt-free Forever: Take
Control of Your Money
and Your Life
This early experience in writing financial education materials led to gigs as a financial columnist
for The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine magazine, IE:
Money and Forum. Next Vaz-Oxlade was asked to
write a book on RRSPs, which became The RRSP
Answer Book, published in 1991. She went on to
publish 10 more books, including A Woman of
Independent Means, Dead Cat Bounce: The Skinny
on E-vesting, The Retirement Answer Book and The
Money Tree Myth: A Parents’ Guide to Helping Kids
Unravel the Mysteries of Money.
The tough-love approach works. Though the
audience may squirm along with the couple as they
face their mistakes, viewers respond to the honesty
and appreciate the clear steps Vaz-Oxlade lays out to
help the participants out of their predicament. Not
only does the process enable people to get rid of debt,
it also saves marriages by relieving the stress of
money woes and helping couples redefine what they
really want together.
To the small screen
In 2004, a television production company called
Slice TV (formerly Life) had commissioned a reality
show about couples, money and relationships, and
they wanted Vaz-Oxlade to be the host. Once the
pilot of Til Debt Do Us Part proved to be a hit, the
network ordered 12 more episodes, and the show is
now broadcasting its eighth and final season.
In 2009, Vaz-Oxlade piloted a new series called
Princess, which focuses on young people who think
they can have it all—on somebody else’s dollar—and
shows them reality. Similar in structure to Til Debt
Do Us Part, the new show follows young participants
as they work through five challenges over a six-week
period. It will launch in fall 2010 on Slice TV.
She’s heard it all
On one hand, Vaz-Oxlade has heard it all and is
no longer surprised by what people throw at her. On
the other hand, she is constantly amazed by people’s
Comments about Costco:
Among the items Gail
Vaz-Oxlade purchases at
Costco are Parmigiano
Reggiano cheese,
Stacy’s pita
chips, all
her clean-
ing supplies
and her son’s
socks. “I have
to make sure
I take a list
with me so I
don’t blow my
budget on all
the great stuff I
see!”—Gail
Vaz-Oxlade
