Canadian Finance Carnival #77 – Canadian Finance Blog

Budgeting

Sandy at Yes, I Am Cheap presents Get Out of Debt in 2012: Cutting the Fat, saying “Think back to the past two weeks. Where have you spent money from your entertainment or miscellaneous jar? Do you see the latest movies every week? Are you buying new clothes from the clearance sales? Lots and lots of mocha-choca-latta-ya-ya ( I had to slip that Lady Marmalade reference in there)? How often are you eating out?”

Business

Jester at The Ultimate Juggle presents Why I Prefer Online Purchases, saying “Shopping online offers many benefits. Find out how online shopping can save you time and money.”

Linsey at 1099 Mom presents Three Right Ways to Grow Your Business with Twitter, saying “There are a handful of very effective strategies you can employ to spread the word about your small business on Twitter — and they reflect the values and techniques you should already be doing in real life! Here are three of my favorites, taken directly from experiences I’ve had with small businesses (experiences that caused me to actually become a customer!)”

Career

Dana at Not Made of Money presents Save Money by Sharing a Nanny, saying “If you need full-time childcare, you may be shocked by the cost. When I worked full-time and my husband went to school full-time, we discovered quality care in our area outside a large city would cost approximately $900 a month. If you look into hiring a nanny, the cost is usually higher.”

Suba at Wealth Informatics presents You don’t quit because you are a quitter, saying “According to a recent survey only 21% if the overall workforce are passionate about their jobs. Which means the rest of the 79% of us are toiling in a job that we no longer love for one reason or the other. Why is that? Why are we unable to break the shackles and go after what makes us happy? After some serious soul searching and research I’ve identified 7 reasons why we behave in this irrational manner.”

SB at One Cent at a Time presents Does blogging affect your work?, saying “It was evident in my year-end appraisal this year that blogging it affecting my work performance. Read more to find out what you can do to manage the same situation I found myself in”

Young at Young and Thrifty presents I Graduated From College or University…Now What?, saying “If you were lucky (or smart enough) to choose a career path that was in demand while you were going through post-secondary education, then congratulations, you’re transition into the working world will be made a whole lot easier. For those of us who chose to become “well-rounded” students and take courses of study that had a less-defined labour market the journey can be a little more interesting.”

Darwin at Darwin’s Money presents 6 Reasons Learning a Foreign Language Is Completely Useless, saying “Never one to shy from contraversy, after reading “Learning a Foreign Language is Completely Useless” you may well agree!”

Debt and Credit

Tushar at Small Business Resource presents Anonymous Banker on SBA Loans, saying “Joe Nocera has a blog in the New York Times called Executive Suite, and can also be heard on NPR. He has had what he calls an Anonymous Banker writing to him. Todays Topic:Why Are S.B.A. Loans Disappearing?By Joe NoceraAnonymous Banker, who is fast becoming Executive Suite’s new best friend, is back, this time with a first-hand explanation about why banks aren’t making small-business loans.”

MR at Money Reasons presents Wealth Myth – Stay Married to Become Wealthy, saying “Staying married to become wealthy is a myth! It really depend on the couple and if one a unstoppable spender or not.”

Kyle at The Penny Hoarder presents The 10 Weirdest Investments on Lending Club, saying “Last week I wrote about how you can earn 17by loaning money to couple on Prosper.com that is trying to adopt a baby. Well, not to be out done, LendingClub.com just sent over a list of some of the weirdest loans that their members funded last year. Its a pretty great list…”

Corey at 20s Finances presents Jobs in College – Part 1, saying “Are you looking for a job in college? Many of the best jobs in college are hard to get, leaving you fighting for a few extra bucks while in college. We all know that it is hard to graduate from college without debt and finding a job in college is one of the best ways to avoid it. Have you ever wondered what the best jobs in college are? Or maybe how to get them?”

Money Cone at Money Cone presents So Someone Tried to Use My Credit Card to Buy a Laptop. . ., saying “11.1 million people fall victim to identity theft each year and fraudulent credit card use account for nearly half a billion dollars worth of loss each year! Here are tips to help you avoid being another statistic.”

Mike at Rewards Cards USA presents Use A Rewards Credit Card To Help Plan Your Wedding, saying “One way to save money on your honeymoon is to pay for your wedding with a rewards credit card – but you don’t want to run up a huge credit card bill.”

Glen Craig at Free From Broke presents Four Places Not to Use Your Credit Card , saying “Credit cards can be a great tool but there are some places you should just not use them. See four situations where you shouldn’t use your credit card.”

Extra Income

Justin at Money Is the Root presents Blog Goals and Updates 2012 – #7, saying “Up until now I had all but given up on earning “passive” income. Here is how all of my “active” extra income endeavors are going:”

Grand Per Month at Grand Per Month presents Make a Grand Per Month as a Stay at Home Parent, saying “I find it much more rewarding to stay home, care for my children, and do work that I love on the weekends when my husband cares for our kids or during the week while they nap or sleep at night. You can do it too! Read through the ideas on Grand Per Month, find one you think you would enjoy, and lay the groundwork for your business. While it may take as long as six to twelve months to earn $1,000 a month, it is possible.”

Jon the Saver at Free Money Wisdom presents Five Ways to Increase Your Income Today, saying “Here are five ways to increase your income today. But in order for this to work, you have to change your way of thinking. That means changing your entire mentality as it pertains to money. Don’t believe that it isn’t possible. Believe it and acknowledge it!”

Beating Broke at Beating Broke presents The Millionaire Fastlane, saying “If you’ve ever given though to starting your own business, or are just unhappy with your job, I think The Millionaire Fastlane is an excellent book to read.”

Frugality

Carrie at Heartland Living on a Budget presents Recording Product Prices in a Log Book Lowers Grocery Bill , saying “Price books prove to be invaluable in saving money at the grocery store.”

Sustainable PF at Sustainable Personal Finance presents New Car Import DIY: Save Thousands, saying “Importing a car into Canada may seem to be a daunting task but it really isn’t too difficult. This past summer I imported one of the 2011 Subaru Outbacks and the process was incredibly smooth. In addition we saved over $9300! In this post I will detail how to DIY import a car to Canada from the United States.”

SavingMentor at HowToSaveMoney.ca presents Save Money Using Long Distance Providers, saying “There are essentially three types of long distance providers that you might consider using and that is what this guide is all about.”

D.J. at The Family Wallet presents Save on Food Costs with a Community Garden, saying “If you are not familiar with the concept, a community garden is a plot of land that has several gardening plots that individuals can use to plant their own gardens. If you don’t have enough land to garden on your own property or if you live in an apartment complex, a community garden can offer you a chance to grow your own produce. There are some benefits to utilizing a community garden:”

Matt at Living in Financial Excellence presents Can You Survive on a Teacher’s Salary?, saying “Danny has been teaching for only 12 years and only makes $43k per year. While that’s not a bad income, it’s certainly not a lot of money. Yet Danny and his wife are debt free except the mortgage! Danny is a wonderful voice of sanity in a world where we constantly clamor for higher income because we “just don’t make enough.””

Jeffrey at Saving Advice presents 50 Ways to Reuse Dryer Sheets, saying “I have to admit that I enjoy figuring out new ways to use things. I’ve never thought much of the lowly dryer sheet (sometimes referred to as a fabric softener sheet), but have come to learn that it can do a lot of wonderful things — even after it’s been used. You may be surprised at the wide variety of ways that used dryer sheets can be reused to still be useful even after doing a dryer run.”

Everything Finance at Everything Finance presents How to Host an Oscar Party on a Budget, saying “Consider these red carpet-worthy ways to throw an unforgettable Oscar party on a budget:”

Mike at Rewards Cards Canada presents What Is Swagbucks All About?, saying “I like the concept of SwagBucks. It’s a simple way to earn rewards on the web by doing things you would normally do every day, like searching the web.”

Miss T. at Prairie Eco Thrifter presents Ways to Listen to Music for Less, saying “I’m going to focus on some ways that all of us can use to cut down on our music costs and avoid the wrong side of the law at the same time.”

Sabrina at Frugal Living presents How to Get in Free, saying “It may take a little creativity and planning, but you can get in to more events than you might think for exactly zero dollars. Read on for three tips to find entertainment near you for free.”

Steve Zussino at Canadian Personal Finance presents Why retirement contributions are at record low levels, saying “Contributions to registered retirement savings plans in Canada are on track to shrink to a share of personal disposable income not seen since the 1970s, according to a report released by the Royal Bank of Canada. Well, my thoughts are that RRSP contributions come from Canadian’s disposable income.”

Steve Zussino at Grocery Alerts Canada presents Has anyone seen the Grocery shrink ray ?, saying “The ‘grocery shrink ray’ is a term coined by Meghann Marco for the trend for groceries to be reduced in size while being sold at the same price point. Manufacturers perform these reductions to reduce their own costs, but do not pass any savings on to the customer.”

Investing

Eddie at Finance Fox presents Dear Insurance Agent, I Wish my Car Insurance Was Cheaper!, saying “We’ve been together for well over 7 years, and with no major infractions. Honestly, I’ve been a really solid client. Just ask my driving record. I know you’re not a magician, and I don’t expect you to make magic happen, however I’d like a cheaper auto insurance quote.”

FG at Financial God presents How the Federal Minimum Wage Crushed the Economy of American Samoa, saying “Most people probably have not heard of American Samoa, or what has been happening there. It is a small island located tens of thousands of miles away from the continental United States, and has a small economy with a high rate of unemployment and a low level of income per capita.”

Dividend Ninja at The Dividend Ninja presents Website Income Versus Dividend Stocks, saying “Ive written a guest post for Young and Thrifty on passive income, titled Website Income vs Dividend Stocks: Which One Comes Out On Top? Once I started seriously investing in divided paying stocks, I was amazed in such a short period of time how quickly dividend income can build a portfolio. For me dividend stocks are a great investment.”

Steve at Money Infant presents Is Blogging the Path to Wealth?, saying “Making money blogging is a subject I am familiar with and over the years I have often considered writing about it. So, I thought it was time to get this out of my system.”

Daniel at Sweating the Big Stuff presents What Makes More Sense – High Insurance Premiums or a High Deductible?, saying “The decision about whether to take a risk with a high premium insurance plan or a high deductible insurance plan is a tough one. Here are some tips.”

Justin at Budget Snob presents Key Difference Between Money Market and Mutual Funds, saying “There are some key differences between money market funds and mutual funds. Knowing these differences can help you choose which fund is right for you to put your money in.”

Dr Dean at The Millionaire Nurse Blog presents Eight Reasons Why Single Women Buying a Home is Nuts, saying “Twenty percent of single women own homes, compared to just 10% of single men. Most experts think single women are drawn to the comfort/security that comes from living in your own place. Is buying a home a good investment?”

Teacher Man at My University Money presents The Challenges Of Writing An eBook, saying “I reported about a month ago that I was pushing off from shore and beginning my quest to pen an eBook worthy of your collective attention. I believe I have made some great progress along the way, and learned many lessons, but I must admit that it has not come easily. Many financial bloggers have recently released eBooks and most have claimed it was pretty difficult – now I understand why.”

The Passive Income Earner at The Passive Income Earner presents Goodbye ScotiaITrade, Hello RBC Direct Investing!, saying “RBC Direct Investing was meeting the most requirements I had as a Dividend investor and it led to my switch away from Scotia ITrade.”

Leanne at Money Challenge presents Be Alert, saying “Check to make sure you’re not buying investments off the back of a truck.”

Lifestyle

Jason at Live Real, Now presents Time Management Part II, saying “At work, I have 4-5 major projects I’m working on. Some of these are behind schedule. I get interrupted sometimes twenty times per day. Each one of those interruptions kills my concentration; it wrecks my groove. By the time I’m back on track, 20 minutes have passed and I’m getting interrupted again. No wonder I don’t seem to get anything done.”

Marie at Money Spending Mommy presents 3 Tips for Good Financial Health, saying “Just like with our physical health, there are some key rules that everyone should follow in order to stay financially healthy. By veering away from these basics, you run the risk of not attaining future financial goals, or worse yet, having unmanageable debt.”

Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff presents Have You Checked Out Manteresting?, saying “Jesse Michelsen and Ninja from Punch Debt in the Face literally just launched a new site called Manteresting.com, a site that finally offers “pinning” (aka “nailing” now) for the not-so-into-recipes crowd that Pinterest usually attracts. “

Sunil@TheExtraMoneyBlog at The Extra Money Blog presents Proof, Learn How Annonymous Blogging Can Succeed Given Value and Persona, saying “If you tune into successful bloggers like Pat Flynn from the Smart Passive Income and Yaro Starak from the Entrepreneur’s Journey (two of my inspirations), they say those that achieve success quicker and in larger heaps are those who are fully transparent about who they are. Their identities are reflected on their blog. There is no difference between their personal and cyber lives, a difference that many personal finance bloggers have to maintain.”

Lisa at Thriftability presents Tips for Buying Life Insurance without the Stress, saying “As important as life insurance is, many people continually put this on the backburner. There is no denying that buying life insurance comes along with a certain level of stress. During this time, you will begin to think about your death and what it means to your loved ones. If this does not stress you out, nothing will. Despite the fact that buying life insurance can be stressful, there are things you can do to settle the situation and ensure that you move forward in the best way possible.”

Barbara Friedberg at http://barbarafriedbergpersonalfinance.com/ presents HOW TO LIVE WELL WHEN YOUR PASSION DOESN’T PAY WELL, saying “There’s lots of talk about finding your passion and making lots of money. what if you found your passion, and it doesn’t pay well. What next? “

Busy Executive at The “Busy Executive” Money Blog presents If time is money, doesn’t money management really mean time management?, saying “How do you manage your time? Do you plan out every aspect of your life or do you simply live as one priority interrupt after another? Life is complicated for sure. Managing our relationships, kids, careers, health and spirituality are just the obvious big items. Within each of these, we can come up with 10 or more subcategories all needing a specific plan to get the desired result. They also tend to be interrelated. Negligence in one area will inevitably have impact on another. How does this translate to money management? Well, think about it this way. Diversifying your assets is a form of parallelism. It means employing several different vehicles to reach financial independence vs. having all your eggs in one basket and then discovering (if those are eggs are not enough)…that you’re out of time!”

Real Estate

KT at Personal Finance Journey presents How Do You Know When a House is Right for You?, saying “Looking for a house is often as frustrating as it is exciting. You want to find the perfect house for you and your family, but how do you know when youve found it? How do you know what you can afford? The second question is often easier to answer than the first.”

Marie at FamilyMoneyValues at Family Money Values presents Real Estate Investing Resources – Still More Real World Experience, saying “Are you wondering if now is the time to buy your first home, move up or downsize to a different one? Perhaps you wonder how to save money while renting – as you save up that down payment; or wonder what the buying and selling experiences might be like. In this post, we will take a look at what others have experienced in saving money while renting as well as their buying and selling stories”

Hank at Money Q&A presents Strategies To Stretch The Travel Budget, saying “One of the best strategies to stretch your travel money and to save money on a vacation is to visit locations during their off seasons.”

PITR at Passive Income To Retire presents Motivation for Early Retirement, saying “Find out what my motivation for early retirement is and how this might influence your retirement plans.”

Emmie at Frugalist presents Saving for Retirement: 7 Super Strategies, saying “Starting to save sooner rather than later and tracking your goals along the way is the main key to a successful retirement plan. Consider the following strategies to build up your own retirement fund:”

Saving

Wayne at Young Family Finance presents Emergency Savings Fund, saying “Building an emergency savings fund can be difficult when you are strapped for cash. Find practical ways to create an emergency savings fund.”

Taxes

LaTisha at Financial Success for Young Adults presents How to Do Your Taxes on the Cheap, saying “What you need to know about filing your taxes on your own. Do your taxes with TurboTax or other online tax programs and save money filing taxes.”

Jason at Work Save Live presents Understanding Taxes: Tax Deductions, saying “A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the first step in understanding taxes: knowing which tax bracket you fall in. The next part of understanding taxes is to learn about TAX DEDUCTIONS! What is a Tax Deduction? A tax deduction is different from a tax credit.”

YFS at Your Finances Simplified presents Tax Deductions and Tax Credits Debunked, saying “Tax deductions and tax credits are similar, but they are not the same thing. As we approach tax season, it is good to know the difference when you go into the accountant’s office.”

Echo at Boomer & Echo presents RRSP Over Contribution Limit And Carry Forward Rules, saying “There’s some confusion around the RRSP over contribution limit and RRSP carry forward rules. This post explains both of these rules.”

Other

Ryan at Early Retirement Investments presents Learn How to Monetize Anything by Understanding the Value Proposition, saying “Learn How to Monetize Anything by Understanding the Value Proposition.”

Luke at Learn Bonds presents Is The US Economy Recovering? The Market Says YES!, saying “Stocks were up big today. All three major stock indexes were rose between 0.96and The DOW had a triple digit gain rising 123 points. Normally, I would talk about the”

Jen at Master the Art of Saving presents To Tip or Not to Tip-The Crappy Waitress, saying “I should probably start off by saying that I have been a waitress before for a few years, so I know how it is. Also, the state this waitress worked in isnt one of the states where the waitress gets a buck or two an hour and depends on their tips to pay the bills.”

Andy at My Retirement Blog presents Retiring to Panama, saying “Youre looking for somewhere warm to retire but you dont have much money. Instead of Florida or Mexico, consider another spot, instead Panama. We spent two weeks driving around this lovely country last year, staying at hotels, B&Bs, and even a beachside resort. What we discovered surprised us: both good and bad. “

John at Married with Debt presents Thought Leader: What Makes One?, saying “A thought leader is someone who seeks to help people by changing the way they think.This empowers you to solve future problems on your own.”

101 Centavos at 101 Centavos presents Buying Uranium When It’s in the Gutter, saying “The March 2011 Japanese nuclear disaster gutted the uranium mining industry, but is it now a time buy?”

Corey at Steadfast Finances presents Should the Fed be Fighting Deflation or Inflation?, saying “The economy isn’t as predictable as many would make it seem. Find out whether inflation or deflation is worse.”

Shaun at Smart Family Finance presents Financial Reasons to Get Rid of Your Junk, saying “You need to realize that the more stuff you have, the larger the costs above will grow. As stuff accumulates so does the cost of keeping all that stuff.”

Mich at Beating The Index presents Xtreme Coil Drilling: Undervalued Drilling Company on the Cusp of Strong Growth, saying “XDC is currently trading at about 0.6x of Book Value which makes it one of the most undervalued stocks in the energy services sector. But wait, there’s more, analysts are forecasting a 70 percent increase in rig operating days in 2012 fueled by a 50 percent increase in its average fleet size.”

A Blinkin at Funancials presents How Do You Judge Value?, saying “If you have been following Funancials for an extended period of time, you have noticed the direction of my articles have changed. I used to focus primarily on numbers. Numbers don’t lie. Numbers make sense; and numbers are black and white. There is a problem in viewing financial decisions with this binary code approach.”

Jeremy Waller at Personal Finance Whiz presents The True Risk of Investing: Understanding the Types of Investment Risk, saying “In my last post I talked about the fact that there is no such thing as a risk free investment. Specifically I talked about how some of the investments that are traditionally considered safe are some of the riskiest. Many people dont really understand risk which skews their perception of risk.”

Jeffrey at Money Spruce presents I’ve Lived on Food Stamps – and Couldn’t Wait To Get Off, saying “Getting free money for food isn’t nearly as awesome as it sounds. In fact, you may just be even more driven to get off the food stamps program and earn more instead.”

Kevin at Thousandaire presents What Are The Most Annoying Co-Worker Habits?, saying “I need help writing my next song. What are the most annoying coworker habits?”

Erika at Newlyweds on a Budget presents How will moving affect our budget?, saying “Moving into a bigger place is going to put a big dent into our budget. As a somewhat personal finance blogger, I feel like I need to justify this expense and our decision to move. And while I know that people may have several different opinions, we know this is whats best for us and maybe you too!”

Aloysa at My Broken Coin presents 50 Things No One Told Me About America, saying “Twelve years ago I arrived to the Salt Lake City International Airport with broken luggage it was duct taped all over to hold my precious possessions in hand, and two hundred dollars in my wallet. I came to America with great expectations and hope for a better future. I had a very vague idea about what it was really like!”

Suba at Broke Professionals presents The Fork In My Husband’s Career Path, saying “My husband’s found himself having to choose between two career opportunities: one that will result in better pay, and another that could lead to better jobs.”

krantcents at KrantCents presents The 3 D’s of Success, saying “The 3 D’s of Success is the fourth in a series of articles to help you reach your goal. What are your goals? I know you thought about it! You know, it is your dream, wish or resolution you made! Before you can get to where you want to be, you need to know where”

Don at MoneySmartGuides presents How Long To Keep Financial Documents, saying “This time of year, as many people go through their clutter of receipts and statements from the previous year, I always get asked: – how long should I keep my statements – or – do I need to keep this for any reason -?”

Amanda L Grossman at Frugal Confessions presents True Acceptance of Your Circumstances and Your Finances, saying “The funniest thing happened to me the other day. While standing in line at a Subway I looked out of the window into the parking lot long enough to see someone drive away with my car! Needless to say I was shocked!”

Pam Whitlock at The MoneyTrail Blog presents Teaching Money to Preschoolers through Play, saying “We can use playtime with preschoolers to set the foundation of financial literacy. Here are some fun activities to get you started.”

SFB at Simple Finance Blog presents The Dark Side of Automatic Payments, saying “While I still use online billpay to pay my accounts, all it took was one major accident for me to swear off automatic payments.”