By 2 Cents on January 13th, 2012 | Category: Spending | The following is a guest post. I’ll have my 2012 outlook up on Monday. Have a great weekend! ~ 2 Cents
Looking for a credit card can be difficult because there are so many different types of cards that offer their holders different advantages. Some credit cards have rewards for making purchases from certain stores, but others will offer people cash back when they spend a set amount of money with their cards. Finding the one that is perfect for them has gotten easier because of the credit card comparison sites that have begun to make their way to the Internet.
Credit Cards for People with Excellent Credit
The comparison sites cater to different types of people and cards. For example, some people are looking for a card that will give them a 0 percent interest rate, and these comparison sites will have several examples of credit [...]
Read on and enjoy … Use Price Comparison Sites to Get the Best Deal
By 2 Cents on January 6th, 2012 | Category: Saving | The following is a guest post with some good advice to kick off 2012. Enjoy!
The New Year is upon us, and for many, this time of the year signifies a time of new beginnings. People strive to better themselves by creating New Year’s resolutions, many of which are focused on health. While trying to be a better person in the new year is nothing to scoff at, there are a few New Year’s resolutions that are good for you both physically and mentally, as well as financially.
Losing Weight
Obesity is one of the greatest epidemics plaguing America today, making losing weight one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions this year. However, losing weight isn’t just ideal for your health, it is also highly beneficial to your wallet. In addition to saving money with reduced eating out and grocery bills, losing weight will also [...]
Read on and enjoy … 5 New Year’s Resolutions that are Good for Your Wallet
By 2 Cents on December 16th, 2011 | Category: Spending | The following is a guest post. While it speaks to American consumerism, there may be some food for thought for debt-laden Canadians here too.
The economy is in shambles, and while many would like to blame the deterioration of our economy on big government and big business, a large percentage of the blame also lies in the spending habits of the American people. As a whole, we spend too much, borrow too much, and save too little.
“Look at consumption levels and control for purchasing power over the last several decades, and America is simply in a league of its own.” states Sheldon Garon, Princeton Professor and recent author of Beyond Our Means: Why America Spends While the World Saves. “The only people who come close are people in Britain, but they are about 85 percent of the level of American consumption. Germans, French and others [...]
Read on and enjoy … America is the Most Indulgent of Any Other Country
By 2 Cents on November 15th, 2011 | Category: Saving |  Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
~Leonardo DaVinci
When the Tax Free Savings Account was introduced in Canada in 2009, it was hailed for its practicality and simplicity. Any Canadian 18 years or older can now contribute up to $5000 per year to a TFSA and have those savings grow completely tax free. While TFSA contributions are not tax deductible, you will not have to pay any tax on the money you withdraw from your TFSA.
You can put just about any type of investment in your TFSA, or choose a number of different TFSA accounts for different purposes. You could simply have a TFSA savings account, or you could open a TFSA brokerage account whereby you could include stocks, bonds, ETFs or just about any other type of investment vehicle. Whether you earn interest, dividends or capital gains on your savings, your money can be withdrawn tax free. [...]
Read on and enjoy … TFSA Contribution Limit for 2012
By 2 Cents on September 19th, 2011 | Category: Saving |  Starting today, there’s a new financial resource for Canadians out there. It’s called Finizi. Basically, Finizi is a free online service that allows financial institutions to compete for your business. At this time they are only offering GICs, but there are plans in the works to offer competitive bidding on rates for car loans and mortgages as well.
How It Works
Basically, you just need to go to finizi.com and:
1. Request a GIC rate
Select the type of GIC you want and specify the amount you’d like to invest.
2. Financial Institutions Bid for Your Money
Review your bids in a live auction environment. Financial institutions bidding for your business may include credit unions, trust companies or chartered banks. So far, they have about 5 institutions on board, but many have said that they would [...]
Read on and enjoy … Introducing Finizi: A New Financial Tool for Canadians
By 2 Cents on February 28th, 2011 | Category: Financial Literacy |  What exactly is the function of the financial sector in our society? Simply this: Its sole function is supplying capital efficiently to aid the real economy. The financial sector is a tool to help those that make real tools, not an end in itself. But five fatal flaws in the financial sector’s current structure have created a monster that drains the real economy, promotes fraud and corruption, threatens democracy, and causes recurrent, intensifying crises.
~ Bill Black
Today I’d like to review an article on the financial sector that I came across via The Big Picture. It’s by Bill Black, author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is also “a white-collar criminologist who has spent years working on regulatory policy and fraud prevention.”
The [...]
Read on and enjoy … The Financial Sector: Capitalist Bastion or Corrupt Oligarchy?
By 2 Cents on February 21st, 2011 | Category: Saving |  The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
~F. Scott Fitzgerald
Update: Thanks to Arjun at Investing Thesis for including this article in the Canadian Personal Finance and Investing Carnival #16.
Very few topics elicit the kind of virulent debate that the TFSA vs. RRSP argument has generated in Canada this RRSP season. To be honest, those of us who cover finance are probably a little tired of writing about the TFSA vs. RRSP war. I’m sure a lot of readers don’t care to read about it anymore. And yet we (including me, apparently) just can’t seem to let it go. (The RRSP deadline for the 2010 tax year is March 1, 2011, so it should be over soon. )
For years, [...]
Read on and enjoy … RRSP vs. TFSA: One Last Dip into the Debate
By 2 Cents on January 26th, 2011 | Category: Spending |  It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.
~Albert Einstein
Last week our electricity meter was taken out and replaced with a smart meter. I live in Ontario, the first Canadian province to install smart meters for all homes and small businesses. The program has cost about $1 billion and has been the source of much debate and political posturing.
I guess I should have done the research before the meter was installed, but human nature and my nature being what they are, I didn’t fully comprehend what the program was all about or how I felt about it until it actually happened. It looks like this type of program is going to be rolled out in British Columbia as well, so I thought I would write about the experience to give others an idea of what may be coming to their [...]
Read on and enjoy … Are Smart Meters a Dumb Idea?
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