Category: Announcements

RESP book review

I was interviewed a while back by Kate McCaffery who wrote up a nice review of my RESP book over at Wallet Pop Canada.   Here is the review – The RESP Book (A Review).

Tulips

One of my favourite things about spring is the tulips and other spring bulbs that bloom. In our back yard we had a row of at least 50 tulips that were a day or so from blooming. It would have been spectacular except that some squirrel went and chopped the flowers off of all the plants. My wife and I were furious.

Any suggestions as to how to prevent this from happening next year? Keep in mind that the squirrels are far from sacred.

Best of Blogs

Congrats to Dan Bortolotti of Canadian Couch Potato and Jim Yih of Retire Happy who won their respective categories in the Globe and Mail Best of Blogs competition.

On with the links

Dianne Nice from the Globe & Mail put on her Sherlock Holmes hat and got a debt collector off her dad’s back. Great story.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade has 9 signs home ownership isn’t for you.

Krystal wrote a great response to some engineering a-hole, defending her communications degree.

Larry MacDonald asks Where is the housing bubble in Canada? A good analysis of regional real estate markets.

The Oblivious Investor had a great post on risk tolerance and your asset allocation.

Tim Cestnick of the Globe & Mail explains the rules for deducting interest on investments. This cleared up a few misconceptions for me.

Canadian Capitalist says that TD offers automatic wash trading. Not sure what wash trading is? Read the article.

Congrats to Boomer & Echo who just published their 200th post.

Jim Hall from Mawer Investments warns that Canadians have too much faith in commodities. Very true.

Michael James wrote about an interesting study on mutual funds, indexes, fees and performance.

The Financial Blogger tells us his net worth. I think Mike needs a visit from Gail Vaz-Oxlade. 🙂

I’m honoured to be nominated for the Globe & Mail’s annual Best of blogs competition.  Go on over and check it out.  Much thanks to Dianne Nice from the Globe & Mail for nominating me.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure how valid the blog competition results will be – most online polls use IP addresses (physical internet address) to track voters, which means that you can’t easily vote more than twice (home and work).  This poll tracks voters using cookies which are easy to delete, which allows for multiple votes.  And no I didn’t test this by voting for my blog.  🙂

In other news – Moneyville.ca published an article of mine last week called How to break your mortgage without any penalty.

I wrote a guest post over at Canadian Capitalist called RESP Primer – Just the rules you need to know.

On with the links

Million Dollar Journey shares some financial strategies for a stay at home parent.

The Blunt Bean counter had an entertaining wakeup call for parents about the high cost of tuition in Canada.

William Hanley from the Financial Post writes about MP Pensions and how they insult us all.  I didn’t know the pay was $157,000 for a back-bencher.  Sounds good to me!

James Stewart from Smart Money asks if home ownership is overrated?

Apparently Albertans lead all the provinces with the highest percentage of home owners behind in mortgage payments.

Sustainable Personal Finance has a good tip to get more exercise – Social exercise.

Canadian Capitalist reports that flight rewards are changing at Aeroplan. I understand they are running a business, but it bugs me that these rewards companies will have one set of rules when they are looking for more clients and then later on change the rules to make it harder to collect.

Boomer and Echo calculates his personal rate of inflation.

Michael James wonders if Garth Turner collects advisor commissions.

The Finance Buff came up with an interesting over-balancing strategy. I’ve been thinking of something similar which I might post on.

Retire Happy blog asks What is your retirement price tag?

The Oblivious Investor notes that a single target retirement fund is all you need for your portfolio.

Landlord rescue gives her take on the recent election. I’d write about my thoughts, but I don’t want to be sleeping on the couch for the next four years. 😉

Dianne Nice from the Globe & Mail writes that green house renos can save a lot of bucks.

I’m going to apologize in advance for the slew of RESP posts that I’m planning to unleash on the blog.  I’ve been working on the 2nd edition of The RESP Book and what started as fixing up a few typos ended up being a bit of a rewrite with a lot of new material.  Fear not if you bought the first book – all the new material will be published on the blog and there will be a “change page” so you can see all the changes I made.

My plan is to redo the book and then release in Kindle format as well.  I’m also going to create a smaller e-book which will just cover the withdrawal phase of the RESP.

On with the links

Andrew Hallam reflects on his post-cancer perspective.  Great read.

Ken Jennings writes some funny stuff about the man on the moon.

Barrie McKenna says that Newfoundland is a “have” province, but is still getting the perks of a “have-not” province.

Krystal from GMBMFB breaks down her new mortgage and budget for us. Krystal is about as good a cash manager as anyone I’ve ever seen. She has a decent paying job, she works various part time jobs and freelance gigs to make extra money. She manages to save a lot of money and most importantly, she spends money on things that matter to her. She doesn’t seem to have any waste in her budget.

Larry MacDonald had a really good piece asking if house prices are going to tumble.  Some of the indicators used by real estate bears might be flawed.

A Loonie Saved writes about the incredible benefits of house ownership.

The Holy Potato wrote some good instructions on how to get the TD e-series index funds.  They’re a great deal, but you have to work for it.

Explore for a year interviewed someone who is traveling the world with his 9-year old.

John Warrillow of the Globe and Mail says that if you want to hire entrepreneurs – screen out the MBAs.   I would think successful entrepreneurs wouldn’t be applying for many jobs.

Rob Carrick makes a great case for investing in international markets.

Sustainable Personal Finance lists his 8 favourite money blogs.   And no, I’m not just linking because I’m on the list.  😉

Dianne Nice from the Globe & Mail wrote about teaching your chicks how to build a nest egg.

Young & Thrifty wrote an excellent post about planning for advanced care if you have elderly relatives.  Worth a read.

Sherl Smolkin from Moneyville describes the “grandparents scam“.  Pretty interesting.

Boomer and Echo explains how to assess your estate plan.

Canadian Capitalist doesn’t like Garth Turner’s dodgy advice.

Michael James says that some investors have misconceptions about investing. Turns out that Michael had one of his own.

Million Dollar Journey wrote about stock chart patterns.

Some American links

What Should You Do If You Are Audited?

Save Money -Review Monthly Subscriptions

Do I Get a Tax Deduction on Home Sale Loss? — Selling your house for a profit can trigger a capital gain, but what about selling it at a loss?

Financial Peace University: Is It Worth The Price Of Admission?

How to Prepare Your Finances for a Disaster

I’m looking forward to the big Easter egg hunt that we will have at our house.  Last year, the kids really enjoyed it and it went on for hours.  My son really enjoyed hiding eggs and then leading me around telling me where to find them.  🙂

My pushup challenge is still going.  I finished week two and then did an exhaustion test where I completed 30 pushups.  This is a huge improvement over my initial test where I only did 10!  Now I’m working on week three, which I expect to take a few weeks to complete.  🙂

Special mention

I was interviewed a while back by Kate McCaffery who wrote two very good RESP articles over at Wallet Pop Canada.  She used some of my quotes in the articles.

Here are the two articles:

• Choosing an RESP – Advice for New Moms and Dads
• New babies and the RESP Salespeople

On with the links

Rachelle from Landlord Rescue does a good expose on a real estate investing “course”. Apparently they aren’t quite as good as advertised.  Imagine that.

Krystal vents her frustrations getting money from her TD e-series RRSP. I love the low cost of these products, but I also wonder why TD doesn’t just shut them down, if they aren’t going to support them.

John Spears at Moneyville wrote a very good article on Property tax – 10 things you need to know. Point #7 is a good one.

Canadian Mortgage Trends reports on a renegade RBC mortgage specialist who says that mortgage brokers are no good. I’ve found that mortgage brokers are far superior to any bank “lending specialist”.

Canadian Capitalist hosted a series by the Blunt Bean Counter on Transferring the family cottage. An excellent series.

Million Dollar Journey had a guest post by Sustainable Personal Finance on Cottages and capital gains tax. I don’t remember ever seeing a blog post on cottage succession in the last five years, and now – twice in one week. I better get started on mine. 🙂

Boomer and Echo covers How to draw cash from your investments.

Retire Happy recommends being debt free in retirement.  Hard to argue with that great advice.

Some American links

• Traditional and Roth IRA Income Limits
• YNAB (You Need A Budget) 3 Budget Software Review: Zero Based Budgeting Made Easy
• President Obama Signs Repeal Of 1099 Tax Reporting Provision Of Health Care Plan
• Betterment Review – Better Investing For Beginners
• How Social Security Benefits Are Calculated
• How Much House Can I Afford? – With the mortgage rates at their all time lows and the housing market still favoring buyers, this may be a good time to buy. But how could you tell how much house you can really afford and that you’ll be ready for homeownership?
• ING Direct Electric Orange Saves the Day – Sending Paper Checks

Spring is finally here and it’s so much easier to do activities outside with the kids.  Mitts, hats, scarves, heavy coats, winter boots can all go into storage.  Of course my daughter still insists on a hat and gloves, but I think it’s more of a fashion thing. 🙂

On with the links

Rob Carrick did a fantastic piece on inflation, where he explains why the official inflation rate differs from our personal inflation.

Lily from Explore For a Year, did something I’ve always wanted to not do: 10 day silence meditation. Sounds like an interesting experience.

Holy Potato did a good analysis on buying REITs vs Rental Condo. Read the comments to get my opinion.

Retire Happy shows how net income should be used for retirement planning.

Blunt Bean Counter did a good two part series on an estate executor’s duties.    Here is part 1 and part 2.   A third post is in the works.

According to the Bank Nerd – the Canadian economy is not as dependent on the US economy as much as previously thought.

Michael James has figured out a way to avoid Westjet baggage fees. And he suspects he isn’t the only one.

Boomer and Echo says that credit card interest rates are irrelevant.

Canadian Capitalist reported on the Horizons BetaPro US Dollar Currency ETF.

Million Dollar Journey wrote about Financial advice and financial quackery.

Some American links

• How Much Money Do You Need to Retire? – This article takes you through three easy steps to help you calculate how much you need to save for retirement.
• How is Social Security Taxed?
• Life Insurance Beneficiary. The Right Choice May Be Obvious
• How You Can Stay Sane While Moonlighting
• What Should I Do If I Miss The Tax Deadline?
• How Not to Spend Your Tax Refund
• Lending Club Note Trading Platform – FOLIOfn
• How To Choose A Mortgage Lender
• Find the Right Bank or Credit Union for You
• Can I Refinance My Mortgage?

 

I want to point out that one of my blogger colleagues has just released a new book called “Free at 45“.

Written by Tim Stobbs at Canadian Dream , the book shows how you can retire at 45, or at least a lot sooner than you might think.

I haven’t read it myself, but I’m sure it’s worth a read.

Pushups

I’m continuing the pushup challenge and things are finally improving – I felt a lot better during the last two workouts. I’ve finished week two and now I have to do an exhaustion test before continuing with week three.

On with the links

Moneyville had an excellent, excellent article about the Risk involved with real estate. Their point about leverage is spot-on.

Phil from PT Money had an interesting article on Shipping Container Homes.

Oblivious Investor says the best place to get financial advice is not your brokerage firm.

On a similar note, Rob Carrick warns that banks can help you with financial planning, but they are mostly interested in sales.

Dianne Nice of the Globe & Mail explains How to deal with the CRA about a tax issue.

Yound & Thrifty says you can Save big money by quitting smoking. Unfortunately, as a non-smoker – I can’t do this. 😉

Boomer and Echo explains how to Name an RRSP beneficiary.

Financial Uproars ponders a Fat tax for unhealthy eaters.

Michael James says that Entering useless information on your tax return, might be worthwhile.

Clark from Million Dollar Journey wrote about Four money-induced attributes to be wary about.

The Canadian Capitalist says that the proposed learning passport, isn’t such a great deal.

Larry MacDonald insists that it’s time to buy US dollars.

Some American links

• When to Claim Social Security Benefits (One Working Spouse)
• Easy Ways to Stay Fit and Healthy
• Are You Really Prepared for Retirement?
• Who Can Claim the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction? There are several requirements to be able to claim the home mortgage interest deduction, including whose name is on the title, who pays the mortgage, and more.
• Best Military Credit Cards. These credit cards are some of the best available for military members and offer a variety of great features including cash rewards, no foreign transaction fees, and 0% interest offers.
• Credit Karma: Get Your Credit Score For Free
• 5 Tips for Finding Accountant Help for Small Business Owners – Have your business finally grown beyond the DIY stage? If so, congratulation. Accounting is one area where most business owners outsource first. Here are a few tips to help you find accountant help.
• Credit Karma – Get Your Free Credit Score and More – A Review
• Is a House Cleaning Service Worth It?
• Preparing Your Baby’s College Fund -When to Start?
• Earn High Returns with Peer Lending

I was fortunate to be a guest on the CBC radio program “Ontario Today” this week.  I was a stressed-out, nervous wreck for a couple of days beforehand, but I managed to get through it without sounding like a complete moron.  🙂

Here is the link to the show if you wish to listen.  The show was quite interesting – lots of great callers.

A related link – James Altucher says he’s never owning a home again.

100 pushups

I’ve been working very hard on the 100 pushup challenge. Unfortunately, as I predicted, the program is too aggressive. I’ve already had to repeat 2 workouts because I couldn’t do all the required pushups.  Stupid gravity!

I think finishing the program in six weeks is too optimistic and I’d like to do a longer time line. The hundred pushup challenge only has one “stream”, so I made my own. From now on I’m going to do each workout twice before moving on. This effectively turns it into an 11 week program (I’m in the 2nd week) which is a lot more realistic (for me, at least).

The downside of the more aggressive 6-week program is that you feel like you have failed whenever you have to repeat a day. By planning to repeat each workout, I’m hoping the experience will be a bit more positive.

On with the links

Jeremy from GenX wrote a fantastic investing article called This is why you can’t make money in the stock market. Read it.

Ken Jennings from Jeopardy fame needs some help after getting ripped off by Europcar.

Financial Uproar had a sad story about a poor retirement plan.

Sustainable Personal Finance has 34 house staging tips.

The Blunt Bean Counter gives us Reading Financial Statements for Dummies.  A great primer for someone who is interested in analyzing stocks.

Million Dollar Journey is on a real estate kick. Canadians buying property in Florida has a lot of interesting comments too.

Canadian Capitalist hopes that the abusive charity crackdown will continue after the election.

Rob Carrick says that smart investing decisions are hard to make.

MacLeans wonders if the CMCH responsible for a Canadian housing bubble?

David Milstead from the Globe & Mail, thinks that the rumoured Groupon IPO is no bargain.

Michael James almost had to hire a private investigator to determine some minimum RRIF withdrawal amounts.

Retire Happy blog says know your spending.

Boomer and Echo categorizes different purchasing styles.

Preet has a really good investing lesson:  Stick to your investing plan.

A few American links

• Filing Federal and State Taxes for Free?I remember a few years ago being so frustrated trying to find a place to file state taxes for free – it wasn’t that difficult to find a place to file Federal taxes for free, but getting state for free was like finding a needle in a haystack…
• How Much Interest Are You Paying? This article includes a cool spreadsheet that walks you through calculating how much you’re paying in interest on debt per month and even per day!
• Finding Health Insurance When You Are Self-Employed
• How Much Control Should The Government Have?
• What Happens If Your Broker Goes Out of Business? — Ever wonder what happens if your stock broker fails? Well, here’s the answer.
• Life Insurance for Children –Here’s why you should not buy life insurance for your children and why the insurance companies try to convince you otherwise.
• 20 Tips to Getting Affordable Auto Insurance
• When Should I Take Social Security Benefits?
• Extension to File Taxes vs. Amended Tax Return
• Amazon Mom Review – Free Amazon Prime As Well As Discounts
• How to Save Money with Your Mortgage
• How to Lower Your Mortgage Payments. There are three good ways to lower your mortgage – refinance, challenge your taxes, or reduce your insurance expenses.
• Should You Rollover Your TSP Account Into an IRA? Should you roll your Thrift Savings Plan account into an IRA when you leave the military or government service?
• How Much Money Do You Have to Make to File a Tax Return? Do you really have to file taxes if your income is low?

I started the 100 pushups challenge this week. It’s a neat exercise program that only takes about 30 minutes per week and promises to have you doing 100 pushups in six weeks. Having done the first two sessions, I think six weeks is too optimistic. Eight to ten weeks is more like it.

They have a log site where you can enter all the workouts.  If for some strange reason, you want to check out my log – click here and search for “mikeholman”.

If anyone wants to try it, let me know so I can check out your log results.

On with the links

The Finance Buff figured out that the oft-quoted Dalbar numbers which show that investors underperform their investments – are wrong. I never believed the Dalbar numbers and found this article very interesting.

Dianne Nice of the Globe & Mail warns that credit card fraud is growing more inventive. Make sure you check your statements.

Financial Uproar is thinking about buying Tokyo Electric stock.

Andrew Hallam thinks a mandatory RRSP savings program for Canadians is a good idea. Read the comments to find out my opinion.

Retire Happy blog says Canadians don’t know much about taxes. Some good comments.

Canadian Capitalist notes that Canadians pay a lot for their mutual funds.

Boomer and Echo share his experience with tax filing with TurboTax online.

Ellen Roseman says watch out for missing tax slips. I missed an RRSP contribution receipt last year, which cost me.

Kevin from Today’s Economy says that working for free has it’s benefits.

Oblivious Investor says that it’s easy to upgrade to a higher model when replacing electronics.

Kerry from Squawkfox advises not to work for free.

Michael James did a survey and found out that half of his friends think their mutual funds are free. The other half are just overpaying. 😉

Million Dollar Journey reveals that his old rental house was bought in foreclosure.