By 2 Cents on March 9th, 2010 | Category: Planning |  Retirement: It’s nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese.
~ Gene Perret
Update: This article was featured in the Money Hackers Carnival #108 – Dare or Truth! at Eliminate the Muda. Thanks. I love that theme! It was also included in the Carnival of Financial Planning Edition #133 by The Skilled Investor. Thank you!
I’ve had a lot of inquiries about this lately, so I thought I would address it today. I’ve written about RRSP Basics and RRSPs vs. Paying Down Debt, but these articles dealt mainly with general issues and new contribution money. I haven’t directly addressed the question of whether or not you should actually withdraw money from existing Resgistered Retirement Savings Plans in order to pay down credit card or mortgage [...]
Read on and enjoy … Should You Take Money Out of RRSPs to Pay Off Debt?
By 2 Cents on March 8th, 2010 | Category: Taxes | Today, it takes more brains and effort to fill out the income tax form than it does to make the income.
~ Alfred E. Neuman
Update: This post is included in the Carnival of Money Stories XLV – The Sex, Lies and Videotape Edition at Len Penzo dot Com. Thanks Len! It was also included in Tax Carnival #67: A Pot of Tax Gold at Don’t Mess With Taxes. Thanks Kay!
It’s tax time again so I thought we might look at whether it’s better to hire a professional to prepare your taxes or try to do it yourself. If you go the professional route, you can choose a chartered accountant, a retail tax preparation chain like H & R Block or Liberty Tax Service, or any of the numerous independent tax preparers out there. In general, accountants tend to [...]
Read on and enjoy … Taxes: DIY or Hire a Pro?
By 2 Cents on March 7th, 2010 | Category: Economics | This Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 marks the first anniversary of the stock market bottom. Most markets are up a whopping 70% or so from there, although still down from their earlier peaks. Many would have us believe that we have dodged a bullet, or more accurately, a nuclear missile.
I agree. We have pulled back from the brink and some aspects of the economy are improving. But have we fixed the problems that caused this mess? I guess it depends on who you ask. If you’re like me, you’re tired of hearing a lot of different answers from people with different agendas. If you’re like me, you just want to listen to someone who might actually know the truth and be willing to share it with the rest of us.
I found someone. It’s Elizabeth Warren. I’ve written about her before in the context of my review of her [...]
Read on and enjoy … Elizabeth Warren: Must See Video
By 2 Cents on March 5th, 2010 | Category: Financial Literacy | The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think than what to think – rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.
~ Bill Beattie
Update #1: This post was included in the Carnival of Money Stories 2: Disaster Issue posted at True Adventures in Money Hacking. Thank you!
Update #2: Thanks to the Mighty Bargain Hunter for choosing this post for inclusion in the Money Hacks Carnival: Middle Name Pride Day Edition.
It’s easy to think that we can’t control a great deal in terms of our financial position. After all, there’s only so much money coming in – and no amount of planning, coupon cutting or budgeting is going to get blood from [...]
Read on and enjoy … Financial Literacy Is Like Green Eggs and Ham
By 2 Cents on March 4th, 2010 | Category: Financial Literacy | Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
~ John Kenneth Galbraith
Update: This post is featured in the Carnival of Personal Finance – Women in History Edition posted at Simply Forties. Thanks!
I mentioned at the end of my last post that I often struggle with the knowledge-action gap. I know what needs to be done, but I don’t always do it. Why don’t I make the changes necessary to improve? Change is one of the founding principles of Balance Junkie and I wrote early on about 3 keys to change: education, effort and perseverence.
I’ve always been pretty good at gathering knowledge, but actually putting it into practice and sticking with it have been real stumbling blocks for me. [...]
Read on and enjoy … 5 Financial Toxins and Antidotes
By 2 Cents on March 2nd, 2010 | Category: Financial Literacy | If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
~ Attributed to both Andy McIntyre and Derek Bok
Update: This article was included in the Festival of Frugality #220 – The Minimalist Edition at Fire Finance. Thanks!
In April of 2009 Statistics Canada conducted it’s first-ever survey on financial capability. You can imagine that it’s pretty hard to measure something as multidimensional (and to some degree subjective) as financial capability. Who’s to say what capable means?
Well, StatsCan chose 6 scales by which to judge our financial competence based on a similar study done in the U.K.:
1. Making Ends Meet: This measured the extent to which people were able to balance their home budgets – how often they’re overdrawn, saving and borrowing levels, etc.
2. Keeping Track: This measured the extent to which people check their bank and [...]
Read on and enjoy … 6 Scales of Financial Capability: How Do We Measure Up?
By 2 Cents on March 1st, 2010 | Category: 20 Cents | This is a list I compile each month of 10 articles that caught my eye (2 cents each). As always, this is only a sampling of some of the great information out there and there are a lot more I could have included. I encourage you to take a look at these and browse other articles on these sites as I know you’ll find lots of good stuff. Enjoy!
1. Nut at The Writer’s Coin asks Is It Immoral or Just Stupid to Live Beyond Your Means? I think this is a really important debate for the times we’re living in right now.
2. Adam at Magical Penny wrote about Lifestyle Inflation – The Silent Killer of Dreams. Magical Penny has become a favourite read for me, and I think it’s great to see someone so young interested in and promoting personal financial responsibility. Keep [...]
Read on and enjoy … 20 Cents from February 2010
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