By 2 Cents on March 21st, 2010 | Category: Financial Literacy | I wasn’t planning on having enough material to do another Financial Literacy Update just one week after the first one, but I received an email last week that I really wanted to bring to your attention. Before I get to that, here are a couple of articles on financial literacy issues that you might want to check out:
Jim Yih presents a guest post entitled What Is Financial Literacy? Part 2 at the Canadian Finance Blog. Thicken My Wallet asks Is Personal Finance a To Do Item or an Appointment?
Online Financial Literacy Course
The email I received was from a high school business and economics teacher named Dave. He has been lobbying his school’s administration to institute a program whereby each student must complete an online financial literacy course prior to graduation. The program would be [...]
Read on and enjoy … Financial Literacy Update #2
By 2 Cents on March 19th, 2010 | Category: Family | If your own life is an example of what you don’t want your child to grow up and become, you are a bad parent.
~ Larry Winget
I often draw parallels between financial health, and health in many other areas of life. I’ve compared the noise from the media to empty calories. I’ve compared debt to an alcohol hangover. I’ve written about how good financial habits are like eating your veggies.
I think food is a lot like money. The problems we have with money, like the problems we have with food, are largely math problems. You cannot consistently consume more calories than you burn and expect to be healthy. You will become overweight and you will eventually experience some of the health problems that go along with that: fatigue, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc..
Likewise, you cannot consistently spend more money than [...]
Read on and enjoy … Friday Food for Thought: 10 Signs You Are a Bad Parent
By 2 Cents on March 18th, 2010 | Category: Investing | Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.
~ Frederick B. Wilcox
Update: This post is included in the Carnival of Personal Finance #249 posted at Amateur Asset Allocator. Thanks!
Regular readers know they’re not going to get a yes or no answer to the title question. If you’re new here, I will give you this one-word answer: maybe. The truth is, I don’t think anyone is qualified to answer that question but you. But I’m guessing you’re reading this to actually get a little information, so I’ll try to outline my take on the pros and cons here.
Much of what I write here and in comments on other sites often sounds a very cautious tone on equities (stocks). I’m afraid I may come off as someone who generally doesn’t like stocks or markets. [...]
Read on and enjoy … Should You Invest in Stocks?
By 2 Cents on March 16th, 2010 | Category: Money Psychology | I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
~ Jennifer Yane
Update: This article is featured in the Money Hackers Blog Carnival #109 posted at Maximizing Money. Thank you!
I’ve written a lot of “vs.” posts comparing various financial priorities like RRSPs vs. TFSAs and RRSPs vs. Paying Down Debt. I still understandably get a lot of questions about which of these to do first and how to put financial priorities in order. Should you take them on one at a time or try to tackle them all at once? As usual, a lot of that will depend on your unique situation.
We are constantly bombarded by advice that tells us that we need to be maxing out our RRSP contribution room, our TFSA contributions, and saving [...]
Read on and enjoy … Financial Priorities: Focus vs. Diffusion
By 2 Cents on March 15th, 2010 | Category: Economics | The gap in our economy is between what we have and what we think we ought to have – and that is a moral problem, not an economic one.
~ Paul Heyne
Update: This post was selected for the Best of Money Carnival 43rd Edition: Current Events and Oddballs posted at Money Crashers. Thank you!
When I wrote about 5 Financial Toxins and Antidotes, I sited our zeitgeist (spirit of the times) as one of the toxins. Our drive for “more stuff now” seems to have become a part of our culture. It’s considered normal by the majority of the population. I have a theory on how we got here and I’ll sketch it out here, leaving a lot out so that I’m not too long-winded. (I know. That would be a first. )
How Did We Get Here?
By 2 Cents on March 14th, 2010 | Category: Financial Literacy | Before I get to this post, I’d like to thank Larry MacDonald for featuring me in this weekend’s Globe & Mail. I’ve had a number of people asking about the 3% 90 Day GIC that I have from ING Direct. It’s only available as an RRSP GIC. I believe it was part of an RRSP seasonal promotion. It’s still available as of early this morning, but I don’t know how much longer it will be there. If you look at their site, you need to look under “RSP Short Term Guaranteed Investment”. It’s for real – honest. Mine matures in April.
If you are visiting Balance Junkie for the first time as a result of the Globe & Mail article, welcome. Take a look around. I hope you like what you read and I hope you’ll visit again soon. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and your March Break [...]
Read on and enjoy … Financial Literacy Update #1
By 2 Cents on March 12th, 2010 | Category: Book Reviews | People are the way they are because that is the way they choose to be. Money doesn’t change the kind of person you are. You are who you are because of the choices you make, not because of how much money you have.
~ Larry Winget
Update: This review is included in the Carnival of Personal Finance #148 – Tour of Ireland Edition at Being Frugal. Thanks!
This book doesn’t make a lot of “best in personal finance” lists and it’s certainly not going to win any literary prizes anytime soon. I read it anyway, and I would recommend that you read it too. It’s a fast, often funny read and it is (at times, brutally) honest. If you feel like you might need a kick in the hindquarters to get you moving on controlling your finances and eliminating your debt, Larry’s [...]
Read on and enjoy … Book Review: You’re Broke Because You Want to Be
By 2 Cents on March 11th, 2010 | Category: Investing | Know safety, no injury. No safety, know injury.
~ Author Unknown
This is another question that’s come up quite a bit lately and it’s pretty easy to answer. The safest place for your money is in a government guaranteed account. If you are Canadian, this means an insured account at a CDIC member institution.
OK, so it’s not quite that simple. There’s quite a bit that you should know about where and how the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation protects your deposits. I’ll try to cover most of it here.
What’s Covered?
Note that the following list refers only to Canadian dollar accounts. If you have a U.S. dollar denominated account, it is not covered by the CDIC.
Deposit Types
Savings and chequing accounts GICs or other term deposits, as long as the original term is 5 years or less Money orders, certified [...]
Read on and enjoy … What Is the Safest Investment?
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