Loonies And Sense

Good to see you're saving up towards the wedding. ...

2009-10-19T13:01:20.814-04:00

Good to see you're saving up towards the wedding. We used our line of credit and it took awhile to get it paid off. Thankfully the interest rate was pretty low!

I want to be your partner, i have relevant finance...

2009-09-08T05:48:32.522-04:00

I want to be your partner, i have relevant finance site for link exchange. pl let me know kylasmith7@gmail.com

Hi there In the US, American Express offers a ser...

2009-07-04T01:49:36.884-04:00

Hi there

In the US, American Express offers a service called CreditSecure which would monitor all 3 Bureaus and you can access your credit reports and scores from each bureau ad nauseaum for the monthly fee of $11.95 USD. All from one Amex site.

Is there something similar in Canada?

I see a lot of "FREE" sites but I am very paranoid on giving my info to any website out there that can just pretend it is affiliated with either bureau. At least Amex is reputed as a firm in the US so I trusted it. It worked very well for me while I was there for a decade but now that I am back in Canada, I need something similar.

Nice blog. Do you think that you have enough "Emergency Funds"? My Financial Advisor tells me that I need 4-6 months of salary as emergency (gulp)!! Anyway, I think that you are on the right track and love the progress bars and good visual representation.

Looks like I might go for the TransUnion package versus Equifax since the TransUnion one has the credit score and credit monitoring bundled for $14.95 CDN while Equifax wants you to get the score (only once) w/ credit report a la carte and have the credit monitoring separate (more $$$). So in essense, to get the same info as TransUnion, you would be paying twice with Equifax and not even get the benefit of any changes of credit score alerted to you.

So let me know,

Cheers
Jennie
chairman.ng@rogers.com

Love the new price. hopefully the have the bugs wo...

2009-06-26T22:51:54.238-04:00

Love the new price. hopefully the have the bugs worked out. I dont think I can handle another vista.

I totally hear ya, I just had to pay for some repa...

2009-06-16T17:40:22.091-04:00

I totally hear ya, I just had to pay for some repairs on my car and got to use my emergency fund for the first time.

For some reason, even though these repairs are LESS than the repairs I had before my emergency fund, these FEEL like more because they're having to come out of money that I see in the bank. It is a really strange feeling to see the emergency fund diminish. And much easier psychologically to just "put it on a card" - but I think you're right - that pain SHOULD be felt, not avoided - because it reminds you that you need to be extra mindful of your spending until the net effect of paying that $1,400 or $366 is compensated for.

Great post. =)

Good point. Still, even if you leave an extra $1,0...

2009-06-11T15:25:17.242-04:00

Good point. Still, even if you leave an extra $1,000 in the account, you're giving up far less interest than the monthly fee would indicate.

The key thing is, this is a question of "how do I best allocate this $4,500 I have kicking around", and not a case of opening the account and hoping or assuming that the minimum balance will be maintained.

With rates the way they are today, savings can often be used more effectively to avoid costs than to generate income.

Thanks for the link! Keep in mind that if the acc...

2009-06-11T14:19:16.666-04:00

Thanks for the link! Keep in mind that if the account minimum threshold is ever breached (even for 1 second), the monthly fee applies. So for those who use these accounts to pay all their bills, they would need substantially more than the account minimum to avoid the fees.

Either this company fell off the earth for a while...

2009-06-02T16:47:55.871-04:00

Either this company fell off the earth for a while or has just located my website.

I got the email today and have found nothing positive about the company. I'm off to Tim's site to see if I can find anything out.

The concept of "renting money" is much more than a...

2009-05-12T13:55:00.000-04:00

The concept of "renting money" is much more than a metaphor. Think about the four factors of production: Land, Labor, Capital and Entrepreneurship. Each factor has it's commensurate reward, i.e. land and rent, labor and wages, capital and interest, entrepreneurship and profit. That thing we call "money" takes on many forms, but they all boil down to the same thing.

It looks like you are doing a WONDERFUL job! Keep...

2009-05-09T19:07:00.000-04:00

It looks like you are doing a WONDERFUL job! Keep it up!
Rock on,
NCN

I think it's a good read. You make some very good ...

2009-04-20T11:14:00.000-04:00

I think it's a good read. You make some very good points. Thanks

Congrats on the milestone!

2009-03-30T21:02:00.000-04:00

Congrats on the milestone!

I completely agree that this was the wrong decisio...

2009-03-27T14:00:00.000-04:00

I completely agree that this was the wrong decision - or even the "wrong" decision.

He got a loan at 4%! That is going to be less than the rate of inflation over the next few years. It would be stupid not to take the loan - even before you consider that he'll ALSO continue to earn interest on the money he didn't use to pay for it outright.

BESIDES which he'll have the added peace of mind that comes from having more cash in the bank - which is the exact same reason I keep a balance on my 0% credit card but could easily pay it off 5 times over.

I think the only thing wrong with his decision was that he bought a brand new car - you can save 20% - 30% just for buying a dealer demo with 500 miles on it.

Most of the time I feel like I'm just spinning my ...

2009-03-24T15:23:00.000-04:00

Most of the time I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels in thick mud more than running on a treadmill. Can't wait for the day that I can start moving fast in the forward direction because of all the momentum I've built up. Maybe this doesn't happen in personal finance though...

I recently came accross your blog and have been re...

2009-03-10T06:18:00.000-04:00

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Alessandra

http://www.craigslisttool.info

you can seek proffesional help to eliminate your d...

2009-03-03T15:48:00.000-05:00

you can seek proffesional help to eliminate your debt . That is the best way to deal with this difficult situation

Thanks for clarifying, Rico. I was wondering abou...

2009-02-25T10:19:00.000-05:00

Thanks for clarifying, Rico. I was wondering about that!
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com

First time I see somebody to have so exact and pre...

2009-02-22T18:28:00.000-05:00

First time I see somebody to have so exact and precise personal finance plan! I always advice my clients to have a proper plan, but who is following it, when there are so many nice things to buy, so many opportunities how to get rid of some loonies ...
Lorne

FYI - CUDIC insurance coverage in British Columbia...

2009-02-17T14:23:00.000-05:00

FYI - CUDIC insurance coverage in British Columbia is no longer limited to $100,000 - that ceiling is now unlimited (see Bill 45).

I think you may be referring to Experian not provi...

2009-02-15T14:38:00.000-05:00

I think you may be referring to Experian not providing scores anymore but the reports will still be available.

I heard that one of the credit bureaus is going to...

2009-02-12T19:14:00.000-05:00

I heard that one of the credit bureaus is going to stop providing credit reports to people about themselves, did you read that? It's outrageous, people will have no insurance that their information is even correct, and yet it will lead to decisions being made about their finances. I can't recall which one, but it was one of the Big Three in the US.
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com

It was a fascinating day here in the States, that'...

2009-01-21T00:08:00.000-05:00

It was a fascinating day here in the States, that's for sure. I was a bit put off by some of the media coverage, which seemed cheesy and didn't lead to anything of worth. However, I also hope that this change can give some insurance for positive growth in a time of great need throughout N. America and the world.
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com

Following up on Curtis' post, you should check out...

2009-01-20T22:12:00.000-05:00

Following up on Curtis' post, you should check out the book by William-Sonoma called Food Made Fast: Slow Cooker. I've got a link to it and my slow cooking endorsement over at kickdebtsbutt.com if you're interested. Good luck!

That is hilarious! I love the advice on how to mak...

2009-01-20T17:29:00.000-05:00

That is hilarious! I love the advice on how to make a 6 figure salary blogging! Welcome to my blogroll

Traciatim's comment may be true, but for the peopl...

2009-01-16T16:59:00.000-05:00

Traciatim's comment may be true, but for the people on the show, it's ALWAYS new to them.

And I still love the show anyway. It helps to keep me determined even though my debt isn't anywhere near as bad as the people on the show. I almost wish I wasn't learning how to be better with money so that I could be on the show and get $5000!

I actually posted a link of some online episodes to a forum where someone was asking for help and just starting to realize what a big problem he has, but unfortunately they only work if you're watching them in Canada.