Last month I announced that we’ll be adding book excerpts and the Canadian Finance Carnival. Both of these will start this coming weekend. So on Saturday you can read great posts straight from some of the top books in personal finance and on Sunday you’ll be able to find links to posts that other bloggers have submitted to share with you.

Do you have a blog with relevant personal finance posts that are applicable to Canadians? Submit a post each week to gain some link love and traffic. Please check out the Canadian Finance Carnival page for details!

I also mentioned wanting to pass the 1,000 RSS readers mark. Well, we’ve spent most of August above 1,000, so thank you to all that have added Canadian Finance Blog to your RSS readers!

Finally, the newsletter is still on the way. There will be two versions, one that brings you each full post daily (replacing the current feedburner email) and another that will summarize each week into one email. Both will include special offers and giveaways. So keep your eyes out for that around mid-September!

Top 5 Articles

1. Money, Happiness and Experiences – We should all know by now that money can’t buy you happiness. Well, maybe that was because they were just spending the money wrong.
2. The Power of Asking – How simply asking for a discount can easily save you some serious money.
3. Marginal Tax Rate Explained – Your marginal tax rate is the tax you pay on your last dollar of income. Since Canada operates on tax brackets, you will pay more tax when you earn more.
4. The Power of Progress – When you are struggling against a giant debt load, it seems like everything becomes an obstacle to your success. Essentially it boils down to tracking your progress.
5. 5 Frugal Tips for Reducing Your Weekly Food Expense – Tips for reducing food expense by budgeting, starting a garden and freezing meals.

Top 5 Referring Blogs

1. Million Dollar Journey
2. Wise Bread
3. Wealth Web Gurus
4. Young and Thrifty
5. Bank Nerd

Related Posts:

• Marginal Tax Rate Explained
• Canadian Finance Carnival
• How Small Savings Can Make A Big Difference

• Readers want more info about investing, taxes and retirement. While Jim is providing some great retirement information, I will be be increasing the posts about investments and taxation. To provide the best information on these topics, I will be taking some courses through The Knowledge Bureau, starting with Tax Efficient Investment Income Planning.
• There was a lot of interest in a monthly newsletter with special content and exclusive giveaways. I’m hoping to get this up and running by the end of summer.
• Friday Links will stay on Friday and include 10 links a week, giving you only the best of the best from the past week.
• Saturday will include book excerpts that I will choose based on being effective as standalone posts. I already have some great publishers and self-published authors on board!
• Sunday will feature the Canadian Finance Carnival, where bloggers can submit their posts to gain some exposure and build links. Participating blogs do not have to be Canadian, but they do need to submit posts that are relevant to Canadians.

Over the last couple weeks the RSS reader count has been hovering in the high 900′s. I’m hoping that August is the month where we’ll reach the 1000 milestone! Do you use an RSS reader? If so, consider adding the Canadian Finance Blog RRS feed to your reader!

Top 5 Articles

1. Mint.com Has Added Canadian Banks – Canadian banks are now on Mint.com and Mint plans to add more banks and features before they officially launch in Canada.
2. Don’t Die With Too Much In Your RRSPs – Since RRSPs are for enjoying your retirement, be sure you don’t have too much left in your RRSPs when you die.
3. Do You Know Where Your Bills Are? – Taking a look at monthly bills to ensure that we are not being overcharged, and what to do if we are.
4. Less is More: Cheap Home Upgrades that Offer a Big Payoff – There are plenty of reasons for cheap home upgrades. You may want to design a space that better suits your needs, or simply add to the value of your home.
5. Calculating Fuel Economy – Here’s how to determine fuel economy by calculating your mileage as litres per 100 kilometres.

Top 5 Referring Blogs

1. Million Dollar Journey
2. Bank Nerd
3. Money Smarts
4. Early Retirement Extreme
5. Wise Bread

Related Posts:

• Withholding Tax on RRSP Withdrawals
• Mint.com Coming To Canada?
• Mint.com Has Added Canadian Banks

I now have five SweetCents posts up at SweetSpot. So check those out and keep the link handy as we have articles more to come!

Top 5 Articles

1. The Four Most Common Questions about Canada Pension Plan (CPP) – Jim looks at the four most common questions about Canada Pension Plan, or CPP.
2. Buying a Used Car – Learn From Others Mistakes – Alan finally bought a used car, and they made plenty of mistakes along the way. Be sure to learn from their mistakes!
3. Retirement Income Planning: Where Will Your Retirement Income Come From? – Retirement income planning and the different forms of retirement income you can expect to have in Canada.
4. GICs – Guaranteed Investment Certificates Explained – Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GIC) are a low risk investment were the interest rate is based on the length of time you lend the money and the current rates.
5. The Pros and Cons of a Local Credit Union – What is better, a local credit union or a big bank? Here’s some pros and cons of using a local credit union.

Top 5 Referring Blogs

1. Million Dollar Journey
2. Wise Bread
3. Len Penzo
4. Young and Thrifty
5. Balance Junkie

Related Posts:

• GICs – Guaranteed Investment Certificates Explained
• What Is The Old Age Security (OAS) Pension?
• Retirement Income Planning: Where Will Your Retirement Income Come From?

As I mentioned on Friday, over the summer I’m on board as a writer in the SweetCents section at SweetSpot. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my first post, Pull The Plug On Your Power Bill.

I also have a few more ideas for the site, but I’m thinking I’ll set up a short survey that I’m hoping you’ll all fill out to help shape the future of Canadian Finance Blog!

Top 5 Articles

1. Dirty Car Dealership Tactics – Ever wondered how car salesman try to scam you? Here are a couple of ways Alan and his wife caught one dealership trying to rip them off.
2. Are Taxes In Canada Really That High? – Taxes in Canada have been reported as increasing faster than other expenditures, but tax rates may actually be decreasing.
3. 10 Ways To Save Money By Using The Internet – If you’re looking to use the internet to save money on anything from online purchases to groceries, these tips will help you get you the best price.
4. Buying a Used Car in a Private Sale – Protect Yourself – Exploring the options a consumer has when making a buying a used car in a private sale.
5. Maternity and Parental Leave 101 – Just the Facts, Baby – Sarah Deveau gives us a complete look and maternity leave and parental leave in Canada.

Top 5 Referring Blogs

1. The Oblivious Investor
2. Million Dollar Journey
3. Free Money Finance
4. Wise Bread
5. Where Does All My Money Go?

Related Posts:

• Maternity Leave And Parental Benefits
• Maternity and Parental Leave 101 – Just the Facts, Baby
• Dirty Car Dealership Tactics

In last month’s Top 5, I mentioned there were a couple things in the works that would be announced soon. Thankfully everything came together and both announcements were made in April.

The first was the formation of the Money Mavens Network. A group of nine blogs, each occupying a different niche within the personal finance blogosphere. I’m looking forward to what we can do as a group and expect big things from all the bloggers involved!

The second was bringing Jim Yih in as a regular contributor to Canadian Finance Blog. Jim has written for almost every major Canadian publication and it’s an honour having him share his expertise here every second week.

At the end of April I moved the site to a new host. I chose Media Temple and I hope you’ll find the site more responsive as I was having problems with my previous hosting provider. Now that the site move went smoothly, I’ll be looking to improve the speed and adding some small tweaks to the layout. No major changes, but I’m looking for any ways to improve your experience when you come visit!

Top 5 Articles

1. A Line of Credit, A Car Loan, and More Lies – Alan talks to the bank about a line of credit, a car loan, and basic math.
2. Should You Use A Real Estate Agent To Sell Your House? – There are pros and cons to either using a real estate agent or selling your house on your own.
3. Reward Points, Loyalty Cards, and Lies – A look at whether reward points are worthwhile and who benefits most from these programs.
4. Low Interest Rates: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – While most people assume that low interest rates are a good thing, this post looks at all the angles.
5. 14 FREE Ways to Spend a Friday Night (FUN Included!) – Some easy ways to have an entertaining evening without spending a lot of money.

Top 5 Referring Blogs

1. Million Dollar Journey
2. The Oblivious Investor
3. Wise Bread
4. Four Pillars
5. Balance Junkie

Related Posts:

• Tax Deadline is April 30th
• Reward Points, Loyalty Cards, and Lies
• Tax Tips For 2010

I noticed this site is now in the top 50 of Wise Bread’s Top 100+ Personal Finance Blogs, which currently tracks 501 financial blogs. This makes Canadian Finance Blog the top rated Canadian site in that list!

RSS readers may have noticed that the bottom of the feed now includes a copyright notice with a link to the site and a digital fingerprint. This was added due to too many sites pulling the feed and posting it as their own content. I hope you don’t find the notice too distracting, I’ve written it to display in a small font but some reader software may not adhere to that.

Speaking of RSS, the amount of readers has gained by another 100 for the 3rd month in a row. We’ve passed the 700 mark now but I’m really hoping to make the 1000 milestone as soon as possible!

One more milestone was achieved. There are now over 3000 people following @Canadian Finance on Twitter. Thanks to all those that are following and I hope you are enjoying the tweets!

Stay tuned as there are a couple things I’m working on that should be announced soon!

Top 5 Articles

1. How I Got $8 Glasses – Alan’s story of how he was able to get eye glasses online for only $8.00!
2. What is Financial Literacy? – The Financial Literacy series that Jim wrote looks in depth at the topics highlighted by the Task Force on Financial Literacy.
3. Tax Software Review – StudioTax 2009 – StudioTax continues to gain a following as the best free tax preparation software available to Canadians.
4. Passive Income – How to Supplement Your Retirement – With retirement income depleted over the last couple years, here are some ideas on what you can do to earn a little extra money.
5. A Quick QuickTax Online Review – A look at the online version of the top selling tax software, QuickTax.

Top 5 Referring Blogs

1. Million Dollar Journey
2. Free Money Finance
3. Wise Bread
4. Get Rich Slowly
5. The Financial Blogger

Related Posts:

• Money Quantum Private Beta Begins Today: An Interview With Flexo, From Consumerism Commentary
• Task Force on Financial Literacy
• Studio Tax 2008

The biggest news this month was the addition of Alan Schram to Canadian Finance Blog. He adds a great personal perspective to all his personal finance articles and I’m glad to have him join me as a writer! With the gaining popularity of Canadian Finance Blog, I also appreciate all the guest posts we’ve been receiving. Guest posts are a great way for bloggers to gain some exposure and links, or for anyone to share their knowledge with our readers. If you would like to submit a guest post, please contact me from the site or on Twitter.

This past month I participated in a couple interviews. Canadian Money Advisor recorded a podcast interview and Clarifinancial included me in their Fresh Perspective series. Thanks to both Monty and Aaron for taking the time to interview me. I had a great time and hope to do more of these in the future!

@CanadianFinance was included by Money Sense as one of the twitter accounts to follow! It’s an honour since I’ve been a big fan of Money Sense and they helped to inspire this blog. My second post on this site was about their magazine and the Couch Potato strategy.

Canadian Finance Blog has recently joined The Yakezie Alexa Challenge. Started by Financial Samurai, this challenge encourages all the members to help each other improve their blog’s Alexa rating. Alexa measures website traffic, similar to Nielsen ratings for television. Readers can help out by installing the Alexa Toolbar. Not only will your visits to websites help their ratings, but the toolbar also gives you interesting insight to related links and what’s popular at that moment.

As I mentioned last week, Canadian Finance Blog has been nominated for two Plutus Awards, Best Canadian Personal Finance Blog and Best Designed Personal Finance Blog. Hopefully on the March Top 5 I’ll be able to post that we won at least one of those categories. You can help out by voting here!

Top 5 Articles

1. Multipurpose Money – A look at whether it’s better to use a separate savings account for each purpose or to combine all your priorities into one multipurpose account.
2. 10 Tips For Going Green And Saving Money – Provides some ideas to save some money while saving the environment.
3. Gas Money – Getting a ride from a friend… when should you offer gas money?
4. 10 Ways To Save Money On Valentine’s Day – Keep these tips in mind so that your ready for next year!
5. Would You Invest In The O’Leary Funds? – Kevin O’Leary is all over television. But are the O’Leary funds worth your investment dollar?

Top 5 Referring Blogs

1. Million Dollar Journey
2. Get Rich Slowly
3. Free Money Finance
4. Canadian Capitalist
5. Financial Highway

Related Posts:

• Money Quantum Private Beta Begins Today: An Interview With Flexo, From Consumerism Commentary
• Pay Yourself First
• Book Review – The Four Pillars of Investing