I haven’t decided how to pick the future staff writer as it will probably depend on how much interest there is. If there’s a handful of people interested, then we’ll likely have them each submit a guest post and I’d run a private poll to see what readers thought of each one, though I would make the final choice. If only one decent writer wants on board, then congrats, the job is yours.

So if you’d like to be considered, please contact me by April 15th and we’ll see where it goes from there!

Changes at Canadian Finance Blog

The reason we need a new writer at Canadian Finance Blog is because we’re shuffling the roster a bit to work on a new project, which leads me to an exciting announcement…

Jim Yih and I have entered into a partnership to help 2 Cents continue the momentum over at Balance Junkie. I will be helping the site gain new readers and increase it’s online presence. Jim will no longer be a regular writer at CFB, freeing him up to share his financial expertise and interest in life balance every second week at Balance Junkie. Jim will be missed here, but Balance Junkie is a great site and I think we’ll see great things from 2 Cents and Jim in the future!

Related Posts:

• Canadian Finance Blog Book Giveaway
• Welcome To The Canadian Finance Blog!
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Want to Write for Canadian Finance Blog? originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on April 9, 2012.

Looking back, there are a number of posts that really jump out at me.

The Economy of Doubt

In this post, I wrote about how doubt can cost you money. As I learned from the comments, there are multiple ways of looking at doubt. In some situations, doubt can cost you time and money by keeping you from making quick, quality decisions. In other situations, it is that skepticism and doubt that keeps your money in your pocket. It’s all dependent on the scenario that you find yourself in. Check the comments on this post for some great insight from the wonderful Canadian Finance Blog readers.

Live to Work; Work to Live

I think this post was popular because of the high difficulty  of achieving a balance between your work and your life. Most people do not have the benefit of having a job that fulfills and sustains them, so they need to find a way of dealing with making money and having a life worth living at the same time. This post explores a few possibilities around your work and your life. What are you willing to give up in order to live a life worth living?

Dirty Car Dealership Tactics

This, by far my most popular post, has elicited a ton of response. Nobody likes getting taken advantage of. This post, written directly from our experience with a car dealership, shows what types of tactics a dealership can use in order to pry your hard earned money from you. A car purchase is expensive enough as is, there’s no point in getting taken for a few thousand more than you should. I still get upset when I think about what they were trying to do to us. We were young, we probably seemed impressionable, but because I had some knowledge of the industry, I was able to firmly deny that I would be paying for unnecessary fees, and as a result, was kicked out of their scummy dealership.

It’s always nice to see what type of progress you’ve made over the last few years. Have you been keeping track of your major financial milestones? While you’re in the trenches of trying to pay down debt and save some money, it’s hard to see if you’ll ever catch up or get ahead. Track your milestones, and review them on a annual basis. Over the last 2 years, my wife and I have purchased a car (for cash), paid off a debt, moved across the province, and banked up a good emergency fund. What are your financial victories?

Related Posts:

• Recommended Personal Finance Books
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100 Posts of Personal Finance originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 11, 2012.

Ok, so I’m not usually that cheesy or dramatic.  I chose the pen name “Teacherman” because I really am a high school teacher and one of my favourite books is the biographical “Teacherman” by Frank McCourt.  So why the whole secret identity thing?  After all, it’s not like I’m “The Dark Knight” who is worried about evil doers coming after my civilian persona right?  Well kind of… See, as a teacher my job is highly politicized, anything that I write online could, and probably would be held against me at some point.  I don’t want to give you guys a heavily moderated, sugar-coated version of my true beliefs, so instead I hide behind a moniker.  Hopefully one day I will enjoy an early retirement and not have to worry about stifling my big mouth (does that metaphor still work for a blogger that uses a keyboard as opposed to a voice box?).  I’ve been informed that revealing your “true identity” has become a rite of passage on this blog, so hopefully you’ll forgive my caution.

A few years ago, as I approached the end of my university degree I started realizing that pretty soon I had to enter this adult world of finance where there was more to worry about than saving my money by buying drinks that were on special.  I took a couple of economics classes just for kicks, and got extremely curious about the economy and personal finance.  Things like the magic of compound interest or the most effective way to use leverage fascinated me.  Over the next couple of years I started reading several blogs on financial topics including this one, in addition to a couple dozen financial books every year.  Yes ladies and gentleman, My name is TM and I am an addict and a geek.

About one year ago I got together with a buddy who was realizing many of the same things I had.  We decided that it was ridiculous that we had been given no formal education in how to handle a mortgage or what our insurance options were.  We decided to start a personal finance site aimed at helping young people specifically, My University Money was consequently born.  Since we’ve established the site, I’ve had a great time meeting new bloggers from all walks of life and learning something on a daily basis.  I live rurally, so a public forum where I can exchange thoughts and knowledge with others in invaluable to me and I’m happy (and a little nervous) to making the leap to writing for such a well-established blog as CFB.

Tom has set me up to fill in a slot every second Tuesday.  I think I might be an affirmative action hire – the government was going to re-name the site “Alberta Finance Blog” unless they diversified a little bit (I’m from Manitoba).  I hope to focus on some broader financial topics such as financial literacy, the craziness of certain “personal finance commandments,” kids these days and why they need to read sites like this, as well as some investment-oriented talk and the usual money-saving adventures we all know and love.  I thrive on a good debate and appreciate learning something new (even if it involves looking dumb in front of readers) so you should definitely “beak me” and “let me know what it is” as the kids say these days (ever want to feel old, stand in front of high school kids all day).  I’m very excited to be writing for CFB and please don’t tell Tom if you think I suck… he’s already nervous about hiring someone so close to Eastern Canada and I kind of ruined his Oprah reputation for having bloggers “come out of the closet” on his site, so I’m on thin ice!

No related posts.

Introducing – Teacherman originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 3, 2012.

Your most beautiful post

Picking a beautiful post is a tough one for a site focused on personal finance info. So instead I’ll pick the one time in our two and a half year span that I missed getting a post out on a weekday. No Posts, Baby On The Way! was a rushed update that I wrote just before we went to the hospital for the birth of our first child. Hopefully when the next one comes, I’ll be a little more prepared!

Your most popular post

The most popular post on Canadian Finance Blog is Dirty Car Dealership Tactics. Apparently people don’t like being scammed by some of the shady car dealers out there, which lead to this post being on the front page of Digg and picked up by a couple major news sites.

Your most controversial post

While most of the posts in the Insurance You Can Do Without series could have made the cut, I’ll choose How Much Does Raising A Child Cost? It’s not easy putting a number to this, and the comments turned into a debate on whether a mother should stay home or head back into the workforce.

Your most helpful post

The most helpful post is probably Ways To Save Money. Not so much for the post itself, but the amount of ways to save money that it links to. Check it out and I’m sure you’ll find at least one new thing you could be doing to save money.

A post who’s success surprised you

Almost two years ago, I was was wondering if Mint.com was coming to Canada? Turns out I wasn’t the only one. For about a year this post was my top traffic source through Google and probably lead to a lot of the growth of Canadian Finance Blog. Unfortunately I rarely see any traffic to this post now that Mint has launched in Canada.

A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved

Published in August 2009, I thought What Should You Do In A Recession? Buy Your Own Island! would gather a lot of attention or at least raise some eyebrows. After all, I’m pretty sure no one else was advocating island purchases in the middle of the “Great Recession”.

The post that you are the most proud of

I’ve never really gone out of my way to write that big “pillar post”, so this one’s not all that easy. I don’t know if it’s the post or the achievement, but I was quite proud when I wrote Consumer Debt Paid Off… Now What? It was a great feeling to have all our student, wedding and first child related debts paid and able to look forward to what we can do next without this burden.

My 7 Links Nominations

While it wasn’t easy to only pick 5 blogs to nominate, the ones I did choose are all people I’ve got to know pretty well and I’d really like to see their picks from their sites.

1. Million Dollar Journey
2. Retire Happy Blog
3. The Financial Blogger
4. Bible Money Matters
5. Free From Broke

Thanks again Robb! It was fun to look back at some of the old CFB posts. I’m looking forward to seeing what the sites I nominated come up with!

No related posts.

My 7 Links originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on August 22, 2011.

There was all sorts of great stuff going on in the world. Tokyo Disneyland finally opened, letting Japanese people blow too much money on rides and bad food. The first Nintendo gaming console went on sale in Japan, giving losers something to do until being a nerd became cool. Tomas Sankara became the president of Upper Volta, leading everyone in the world to simultaneously ask “where in the heck is Upper Volta?” (It’s in Central Africa, now known as Burkina Faso) And most importantly, around the middle of the year, Nelson Smith was born to extremely lucky parents.

1983 was a slow news year.

My childhood was boring, so let’s not talk about it. Fast forward to when I was 14, when I got my very first part time job at the local Dairy Queen. Besides letting me eat my weight in blizzards, my first job taught me my very first important money lesson. I remember working hard for 6 months, then one day taking out some cash and checking my balance at the ATM. I had only a couple hundred bucks in my account. I had blown thousands on new video games, food, and other fun stuff. And while I had a great time doing it, I realized that I would never have anything if I kept doing it. So I started saving money.

I was never one of those kids who knew what he wanted to do throughout high school. Fueled by my Dad’s encouragement, I began my fascination with the world of business. I came home during my lunch break and watched BNN. I took out investing books from the library. And soon, I was starting to invest my savings. I tried to impress my friends with my new found investing acumen. Neither they or the ladies were impressed.

Once I got high school out of the way, I got a full time job, overnights at a supermarket. I got this job partly because the pay was decent and partly because I knew working nights would effectively squash what little social life I had. Without distractions like friends, I focused on becoming a money saving machine. I didn’t get a car, because I didn’t want to pay exorbitant insurance rates. I lived in my parents’ basement, paying them rent much cheaper than I would have gotten anywhere else.  For a few years, my singular focus was saving money.

Shortly thereafter, I started investing in the stock market. I took the Canadian Securities Course to educate myself further, and then jumped right in. Emboldened by early success, I continued to pour money into the market, enjoying some successes, as well as some failures. As I weathered the financial crisis of 2008-09, I made some particularly bad bets on certain U.S. financial stocks. While I haven’t given up on active investing completely, I’ve split my portfolio into passive and active portions. My RRSP and TFSA are invested passively in just a few ETFs, while my non-registered portfolio holds individual stocks, most of which are contrarian in nature.

Oh, and I also have a blog. But you probably figured that out by the links I put in earlier.

Yes, I am the (formerly) anonymous blogger behind the sexiest finance site on the whole interweb, Financial Uproar. I’ve blogged anonymously for over a year now, and this is my coming out party. I’m coming out of the closet, so to speak. The liberation feels so good. I’m no longer living a double life! And for some reason, Tom has invited me to write here at CFB, every single week. Yeah, I have no idea why either. Maybe he’s drunk.

So come back every single Thursday, where you’ll find the crap not good enough to go on my blog a post on good stuff, combined with jokes that only I think are funny. I intend to focus on investing, talking about ETFs, certain sectors, as well as some dividend investing thrown in there. I’ll also weigh in with my thoughts on other finance related stuff too. I try to look at a contrary version of finance, and I’ll continue to do the same here.

In all seriousness, I’m pretty excited to write for CFB. I look forward to my new opportunity, and I especially look forward to interacting with the readers. Please comment if you like what you read. Please challenge me if you think I have no idea what I’m talking about. And if you’re a single lady who likes my sexy mug, definitely feel free to send me pictures of you in your underthings. Or, you can just read my posts. Either way, I’m happy.

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Introducing Nelson Smith originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on June 23, 2011.

RetireHappyBlog is one of 14 sites nominated and it’s an honour to be among some well known bloggers like Kerry Taylor (Squawkfox), Ram Balakrishnan (Canadian Capitalist), Ellen Roseman, and Gail Vaz-Oxlade.  Congratulations to some other great bloggers like Robb Engen (BoomerandEcho), Mike Holman (MoneySmartsBlog), Kim Petch (Balance Junkie), Krystal Yee (Give Me Back My Five Bucks) and Big Cajun Man (Canadian Personal Finance Blog).  Tom’s other site Money Index was also nominated for the Best Canadian Investment Blog.

Although I have been writing for 12 years, when it comes to blogging I might be considered a bit of a newbie.  This contest has really got me thinking about what makes the “BEST” Personal Finance Blog?

Does popularity matter?

This contest proves that part of blogging lies in popularity and support.  Like it or not, this contest was about voting.  But even if there was no contest, a big part of the success of a blog lies in traffic.  There are millions of blogs out there and so many go completely unnoticed.  One might argue that to be great, you have to be noticed and you have to give readers a reason to come back.

Quality content is important

I think you have to have great content to be considered a great blog.  For me, blogging is about delivering information that is educational and informative.  The problem is ‘quality’ is very subjective but sometimes it can be really obvious.  To me, content means you have to have some substance to the article. One of my friends says good content is like having some ‘meat’ on the bones.  He says there’s nothing worse than getting a skinny chicken wing with nothing on it.

Which is better?  Niche or General content?

Some personal finance blogs like Canadian Mortgage Trend or Canadian Couch Potato blog about a very specific topic like mortgages and debt or investing.  Other blogs like Give Me Back My Five Bucks cater to a specific demographic like the 20 somethings.  Some sites like Canadian Finance Blog cater to a broad audience with broad topics so there is some content for anyone and everyone.  For me, Retire Happy Blog probably fit in the more general category although my content is primarily geared to the almost retired or already retired group.  I’m not sure there is a better or worse here but what do you think?

How often should blogs update?

Some blogs post daily.  Others post less frequently like once a week.  I’ve often struggled with this issue of quantity.  Do people really want content on a daily basis?  Is a blog better if it posts more frequently?  Squawkfox is a great example of a really successful blog that puts up content only weekly.  On the other side of the coin, another great blog Canadian Finance Blog publishes a new post every single day.  Does frequency matter?

What about Engagement and interaction?

One of the big changes I have seen over the past 12 years as a personal finance writer is the importance of engaging and interacting with readers.  Someone once told me the difference between a great blog and an average blog is a great blog not only educates but it also interacts with readers.  For a long time, I did not have the ability for readers to post comments which made it difficult to interact with my readers.  That was not good!  But how important is this issue?

Who’s the Blogger behind the blog?

If engagement and interaction is important then the person or people behind the blogs must be important too.  Most blogs are run by one person.  Boomer and Echo is a great blog because it provides content from both a Mother and her Son.  Other blogs like Canadian Finance Blog have developed a strategy of providing posts from many different personalities (like me).

Is the blog entertaining?

Some bloggers are entertaining which to me is a real plus.  One of the nominees that stands out on this issues is probably Big Cajun Man.  It’s interesting to read his stuff because you never know where he’s going to go next.  He’s funny, sarcastic and informative.

Does the blog utilize Social Media?

For me, I am rather new to the social media scene but the reason I got into it is because I think it’s an integral and essential part of blogging.  I think social media makes both a blog and a blogger better because it creates more engagement, traffic and community.

I know this is not a complete list so what do you think makes a blog the ‘best’?  I’d love to hear you thoughts!

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What Makes a Personal Finance Blog “The Best”? originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on May 9, 2011.

“Jim was absolutely terrific.  I wish I had taken this course years ago in my 20’s or 30’s and I probably would have retired 10 years earlier.  This course should be mandatory for all employees in their 30’s.  I wish my children could have dome to this course.”

I’m biased but I could not agree more.  Here’s the problem.  We offer courses to the 20 and 30 year olds but they just do not seem as interested in retirement and personal finance like the 40, 50 and 60 years olds.   Maybe there’s a greater sense of urgency the older you get.  Maybe young people just have different priorities.  Maybe young people are just learning in different ways.

Some young people do care!

I recently read an article on Why 30 year olds are screwed.  The original article makes some really good points but at the same time, it’s a bit of an over generalization since there are some 20 and 30 year olds that do keenly enjoy and practice good money habits.

In spending a lot more time blogging, tweeting, posting, etc. I have discovered a lot of young bloggers who do care about personal finance and they are very vocal about it.  The social media revolution has created new ways to share and I think it has also created a new interest in personal finance from a younger demographic.

Take Crystal from BudgetingInTheFunStuff.com as an example.  In her 20’s, she says “I was always a natural budgeter.  My parents were a big financial influence.  Money is a big part of everybody’s life including mine, so it is just a matter of me typing out what’s happening right now.”

And then there’s Briana from 20andEngaged.com who despite her youth is a blogging veteran with a passion for food, family and finance. She blogs about life as a young fiance.  She got into personal finance and money through her previous job, working as a Social Media Coordinator for a personal finance website,  “I was surrounded by it daily, and had to represent it, so I figured I needed to learn it. Who knew it would influence me the way it did?”

I discovered both Briana and Crystal through their work at StupidCents.com which is another site run by Tom Drake who is also a young blogger, though no longer in his 20′s.  I’ve had the privilege of knowing Tom for a little over a year now and we’ve developed a great friendship.  I have a lot of respect for Tom’s passion for personal finance.

Other Young Canadian Bloggers

When I think of young Canadian bloggers, I think of two personal finance bloggers that have stood out for me as pretty influential sources:

The first is Krystal Yee who started blogging in 2007 because she needed to change her life, “I was over $20,000 in debt, and I had a hard time figuring out how to get out of it. Debt does nothing but weigh you down and prevent you from having the life that you really want for yourself, and I wanted to start living my life as soon as possible.”

A self proclaimed ‘former shopaholic’, says her blog forced her to be accountable for her spending, “Having to write down my goals for anyone to see, forced me to take it seriously.”

Krystal writes a blog for Moneyville called 20-something and change as well as her own blog Give me back my five bucks.

And then there’s Young and Thrifty from Vancouver BC.  who says, “I started blogging because I wanted an outlet where I could talk freely about money.  I felt the need to spread the word about how awesome personal finance really is, and spread it to my fellow generation Y’ers.”

A few pearls of wisdom

I asked these four young women to share their BEST advice to other young people trying to get ahead financially and here’s what they said:

Crystal from Budgeting In The Fun Stuff – Start saving early.  Compound interest is a wonderful thing and people in their 20’s need to know that amazing returns can be made by the time they hit their mid-life crisis if they simply start saving ASAP.  My advice is to prioritize spending and start saving as soon as humanly possible.

Krystal from Give me back my five bucks and 20-something and change – My best advice for young people is to start understanding and getting a grasp on personal finance as early as possible. The earlier you can get yourself out of debt, save money, and establish a path to financial independence, the better off you’ll be.

Young and Thrifty – My BEST advice would be to automate your finances.  Don’t wait until you have money left over from all your expenses to put into savings.  Pay yourself first.  You’ll be surprised how quickly your money starts to save up.  Once you have some money to invest with, you can then learn about investing that money.  But if you don’t have money to use in the first place, you’re not off to a good start.

Brianna from 20 and Engaged – My best advice for young people is to be yourself. Financially, start saving early, even if it’s a few cents at a time.

More young bloggers.

Because I am not young and I focus more on retirement planning for boomers and the already retired, I also asked them to share some other young bloggers that might help young people with personal finance.  Here’s a few blogs to check out!

Studenomics
Budgeting In The Fun Stuff
Thousandaire
20 and Engaged
Money Mamba
Sweating the Big Stuff
Give me back my five bucks
20-something and change
Fabulously Broke in the City
Young and Thrifty
Punch Debt in the Face
Money Rabbit

I think it’s kind of tough for young people because there are less formal venues to get financial education.  It can be tough for younger people to find advice through traditional means.  Because the financial industry is scaleable, their lack of substantial wealth means financial adviors are reluctant to spend time on them.  As a result, young bloggers can fill a void in personal finance resources for young people.

What are some other blogs that are aimed at helping young people?

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The new breed of financial bloggers: Young, frugal and vocal originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on April 26, 2011.

While I made my share of mistakes along the way, I had a borderline obsessive drive to constantly improve my financial situation.  Things were going really well for me right out of school.  My career was thriving, I got married, and we had a really good handle on our financial situation for a young couple.

Things changed for us about three years ago when my wife was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  Over the next few months we completely changed our philosophy on how we were going to live our lives.  Having a serious health issue definitely causes you to rethink your long term views on life.  Scrimping and saving for an early retirement wouldn’t mean much if we couldn’t enjoy it together.  We decided to start a family right away, and two years ago our beautiful daughter was born.  We also made the decision that my wife wouldn’t go back to work and we would become a single income family.

That year was the most important year of my life.  In addition to these major events in our life I had also just turned 30 and changed careers after 10 years in the hospitality industry to be closer to home and travel less frequently.  It was time to get serious about improving our finances so that we could survive this new reality.

I read everything I could get my hands on that was related to personal finance and investing.  Along the way I began to form my own views on how to save, invest and spend my money.  I’m a big proponent of educating yourself when it comes to your finances.  There’s a lot of general information out there in the media and financial institutions, but only you know what’s best for your own situation.

Talking about money is one of those taboo subjects that seems to make everyone around us uncomfortable.  Perhaps it’s the personal nature of the topic, but people for the most part don’t like to discuss their own finances for fear of being judged by others.  When you throw a health issue into the mix it doesn’t make it any easier for people to understand what you’re going through.  It was tough not to be able to talk to my friends about our situation.  Luckily I still had someone in my life that I could turn to.

My mom was a financial planner with one of the big banks for years and we have always been able to discuss money matters with each other.  We regularly debate different investment approaches, weigh in on the real estate market and share savings strategies.  Unfortunately these discussions also make our friends and family squirm in discomfort or completely bore them to tears.

That’s one of the reasons why we started our own blog called Boomer & Echo.  It provides us with a platform to carry on our personal finance conversations and share our experiences with like-minded people without feeling like we need to leave the room.  I am thrilled that Tom has offered me the chance to be a regular contributor on Canadian Finance Blog and to share my personal finance experiences with his readers too.

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Robb Engen on Canadian Finance Blog originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on April 5, 2011.

So last October I started Money Index, which brings the latest information from all the best personal finance blogs together into one source. This site was borne out of my own need to easily keep up with all the blogs while not really finding an RSS reader that I liked, but it was also my first foray outside of the Canadian niche.

Then over the last few months I have worked with Jim Yih to launch three great sites; Retire Happy Blog, Group Benefits Online and Advisor Think Box. These sites all cover unique topics; retirement, group benefits and helping financial advisors build their business.

Now I have another project that is ready to announce and relaunching today. StupidCents was one of a few blogs that, like Canadian Finance Blog, started up in the first couple months of 2009. I was a big fan of Matt’s site and writing, but eventually the posts slowed down and eventually stopped. As Matt explains today, other aspects of his life rightfully needed to take priority and he no longer had the time to take care of all aspects of the blog.

So a few weeks ago I contacted Matt and told him I wanted to revive the site and bring back the momentum it was gaining in the summer of 2009. I offered to take over the site but wanted Matt to continue writing his unique posts. In addition, I wanted to add a couple great writers to join Matt and I, so I’d also like to welcome Briana from 20 and Engaged and Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff to the StupidCents team!

Wondering what’s next? Obviously continuing to grow all these sites will keep me pretty busy, and I have some ideas to give back more to the readers of Canadian Finance Blog and StupidCents that hopefully I can get going on soon. There’s also a new writer coming soon to Canadian Finance Blog that I’m really looking forward to having write on the Tuesdays opposite Jim Yih. Jim and I have some projects in the very early planning stages that are very unique and exciting. Instead of the “testing” I’ve done so far, I’d also like to put some serious time into affiliate sites to create even a small source of additional income from.

In the meantime, check out the awesome posts these writers will be pumping out each week at StupidCents. You can also follow us on Twitter (@StupidCents) and through our RSS feed!

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StupidCents Is Back! originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on March 21, 2011.

I still hope to continue evolving the site as we enter the third year and look for other projects to get involved in. To celebrate the anniversary, we have some great giveaways, so enter now!

Lots of Giveaways!

One copy of TurboTax Standard 2010 – TurboTax Standard is the best tax software for you if your return will include donations, medical expenses, RRSPs or even tuition – and if you want to optimize deductions between spouses & family members. Plus, file online with NETFILE to get your refund faster.

One coupon code for TurboTax Online – Completely free to try! Get started on your taxes today. Carry forward data from your 2009 return filed with QuickTax, H&R Block or UFile. Find deductions with the EasyStep™ Interview & manage the effect of life changes (like getting married) on your return. Get the biggest refund you possibly can – with our Maximum Refund Guarantee

One copy of Retire Happy: Making Retirement the Best Years of Your Life – Jim Yih of Retire Happy Blog has recorded his popular keynote on the secret to making retirement the best years of your life. This 55-minute audio CD is guaranteed to make a difference in retirement as it makes you think about what is really important to a happy and successful retirement. This CD is one of three recordings of his most popular keynote presentations.

One copy of The Skinny on Success – Each of us has enormous upside potential. Our observation is that most people aim too low – not too high. Far too many people underestimate their potential and the heights to which they can climb. We hope this book will find its way into the hands of such people, and that it will inspire them to reach a bit higher.

One copy of The Skinny on Networking – You can never have too many people who will take your call, read your email, meet with you, and help you. The more people you’re connected to (both in sheer number and diversity), the more valuable your network becomes. This book will teach you how to create, maintain and leverage your network in order to achieve your maximum potential.

How To Enter:

To enter to win any of theses giveaways, fill out the entry form below before the end of day on February 6th.

In addition to your first entry when filling out the contest form, you can get up to 5 bonus entries by doing any of the following:

• Subscribe to the Canadian Finance Blog email, where you’ll get each article, 7 days a week with no spam emails. Please make sure you use the same email when you enter the draw.
• Follow Canadian Finance Blog on Twitter and add your Twitter ID in the entry form.
• Tweet one of our posts during the giveaway period (you can find a Tweet button at the bottom of any post).
• Like the Canadian Finance Blog Facebook page and add your Facebook name in the entry form.
• Like one of our posts during the giveaway period (you can find a Like button at the bottom of any post)

This contest is open to anyone in Canada. The deadline for entries is Sunday, February 6th at 11:59PM MST and the winners will be contacted by email on Monday. There will be five winners, chosen with a random number generator from Random.org. Once I email the winners, first response gets first choice of prize, second response get’s their fist choice if it’s still available, otherwise their second choice and so on. If a winner does not reply within one week, a new name will be drawn. Good luck!

Oops! We could not locate your form.

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Canadian Finance Blog’s 2nd Anniversary! originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on February 2, 2011.