Blog round up for August 31, 2012

31. August 2012 · 16 comments · Categories: Blog Roundup

What did I blog about this week?

I’ve finally come up with a name to post with cause My Canuck Buck is too long and awkward. I’ll start posting as Cat (it’s a nickname that’s short for my middle name). During university, I had a roommate nicknamed Goose (anyone a Top Gun fan)? It was an interesting house.

Some of my favourite posts around the blogosphere this week:

 

 

 

My stats for the month of August 2012

29. August 2012 · 14 comments · Categories: Blog Statistics

This is my fourth month of tracking my stats. I think it’s be a great way for me to keep track of my progress. And send a shout out to all the nice folks who stop by to visit me!

Alexa Ranking: 277, 144. That’s down from 306, 634 at the end of last month. My climb is definitely slowing down, but I guess that’s to be expected. I’m part of the Yakezie challenge, and hoping to crack the top 200, 000 before the first six months are up. I started posting near the end of March, so I’m going to give myself a little more time before I consider it six months. I know I owe a lot of credit to the nice folks who stop by, comment, and tweet my posts, so THANK YOU!!

Twitter followers – I have 73 followers now. That’s up from 53 last month. Hooray!

Facebook fans. Well – I actually have a facebook page now. But I haven’t done anything with it. I’ll try to spend some time on the long weekend checking out other folks pages, and sprucing up mine.

RSS subscribers – 13. Hmm. I’m up 4 from last month. As my father says – we progress.

Unique Visitors – 1642. OH MY GOSH!! That’s a couple hundred more than I had last month. Not bad.

Do you post stats on your blog? Do you have monthly goals?

 

Travel Budgeting – How To Improve Your Car’s Gas Mileage

28. August 2012 · 11 comments · Categories: Car · Tags: ,

The following is a guest post from James. If you’re interested in having a guest post on my blog, please just drop me a line!

It’s true that when you embark on a long journey, one of the things you need to look at is how to improve your car’s gas mileage. If you’re not careful, you may find yourself spending a fortune on such a trip. One thing that you need to be committed to is making sure that you lighten your load as much as you can – it’s good to try to avoid carrying junk luggage with you on your journey.

Before you embark on the long journey, your car should be in optimal condition. Make sure that the tires are fully inflated. If you have no idea about the best levels, take a close look at the tires or on the side of the car, especially the inside of the driver’s door. Get an oil change if your vehicle is due for one and clean the air filter. Don’t be worried if you find that this is not easy since most people struggle with car maintenance and other related issues.

Reduce your speed while travelling as this will consume less of your gas thereby saving on mileage. Do not push the vehicle past its speed limit, and don’t overwork your engine since this will consume more petrol. Many vehicles are designed with cruise control – use yours to improve your car’s gas mileage. This is best when you are driving on highways and may be difficult when in cities. Drive at a steady speed for hundreds of miles and you will see how much you can improve you MPG in the process. While it is important to use recommended oil or gas for your car, get a cheaper option.

At times it is best to find a car that is bigger than yours and settle in behind them. This will save you money and cut down on any gas that could have been spent on the journey. If they are also travelling long distance just like you, it will be easier for you to take note of the significant improvement in your car’s gas mileage.

If you are travelling on a long journey, it is advisable to fill up in cheaper locations if you can. While travelling, it is good to obtain information on the price of gasoline along the route you will use. You can get an iPhone app to find out where cheaper gasoline is sold and ensure that you fill at the petrol stations in those places. This will help you save money and ensure you stay within budget.

That’s the end of my introduction to saving my introduction to improving your car’s gas milage. Happy travels!
James is a freelance marketer, dedicated traveller, and occasional business blogger. You’ll often find him hanging around Manhattan, pretending to be cool.

What is an ETF and why would I want to buy one?

27. August 2012 · 7 comments · Categories: Investing · Tags: ,

I was reading the Globe and Mail “Report on Business” section last week and it talked about ETFs.  I have heard the term numerous times, but honestly don’t know a lot about them. So I decided to find out.

What does ETF stand for?

ETF is short for Exchange Traded Fund.
Okay, great. So, what exactly is an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)?

The easiest way to understand ETFs is to think of them as mutual funds that trade like stocks. An ETF holds assets, such as stocks, commodities, or bonds.  It usually tracks an index – such as a bond index or a stock index.  They are actually traded like a stock on an exchange, and their value can go up and down during the course of a trading day.

Why would I want to buy one?

There are various reasons people may want to consider buying an ETF:
·    You get the diversification of an index fund, but the added bonus of being able to sell short, buy on margin and purchase as little as one share.
·    The expense ratios for most ETFs are lower than those of the average mutual fund.

So, which one should I buy?

Sorry – that’s beyond the scope of my knowledge! If I had a head for investing at all, I wouldn’t need a day job! There are lots of ETFs out there, dealing in anything from gold and silver, to crude oil. It all depends on what you’re looking for, and what is most important to you.  A good place to start learning more would be the Global and Mail ETF page.

Have you ever invested in ETFs? If so, have you been happy with them? Or are you like me, and just learning what they are?

Modest Money’s Best Credit Card Offers page – check it out!

26. August 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Credit Cards · Tags: , ,

As most of you know, I’m a pretty big fan of Modest Money. :) He was one of the first personal finance bloggers to notice me, and he’s been really great giving me advice, and gently reminding me to do things like tweet more!

I’m a big fan of his series on how to improve your blog, and recently went through another one of his pages: Best Credit Card Offers.  He covers these topics:

  • Best Balance Transfer Credit Card
  • Best Airline Credit Card Offer
  • Best Prepaid Card

Being the good guy that he is, he does mention that credit cards can be a pitfall if you aren’t good at controlling your spending. But if you’re in the market for a new credit card, or know someone who is, I recommend you check out his page!

 

 

Blog Round up for August 24, 2012

24. August 2012 · 6 comments · Categories: Blog Roundup

What did I post about this week?

And some of my favourite posts around the blogosphere this week are:

What would you do if you won the lottery?

22. August 2012 · 18 comments · Categories: Dreaming

You know those folks who always say “I wouldn’t change anything if I won the lottery – I’d keep working”?

I am definitely not one of those people! :)

If I won the lottery, I think I’d do the following:

  • Quit my job. But do it in an awesome fashion. I really like the commercial where the guy has the band come in and the drum says “I quit” on it.
  • Track down some of my bosses from previous jobs and tell them what I REALLY thought of them
  • Ditto for some previous co-workers.
  • Sell the house.
  • Find a temporary home for Kelsey the cat.
  • TRAVEL!!

Yes, I know there are plenty of pitfalls to winning the lottery, and everyone will ask you for money. But since this is basically fantasyland, I’ve chosen to ignore all those pesky details and just come up with the pleasant, fun stuff that I’d do if I won the lottery.

My biggest challenge would be not just sitting around all day, being lazy, and getting fat. Cause I can easily see myself falling into that pattern..

What would you do if you won the lottery? Would you keep blogging?

 

Are you really poor if you can afford air conditioning and video games?

21. August 2012 · 18 comments · Categories: Poverty

I recently read an article on MSN.com that asked Can poor people have HDTVs?  It pointed out various statistics, such as: Some 62% of households, that were earning less than $20,000 annually owned between 2 and 4 televisions (according to the 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey).  I thought 2 TVs? Who needs 2 TVs?  And then realized that I have 2 TVs – and there’s only 2 of us! :)

There were some other statistics as well from the Heritage Foundation:
·    80% of poor families have air conditioning.
·    92% have a microwave.
·    Almost two-thirds have cable or satellite TV.
·    More than half of poor households with children have a video game system.
·    Half of poor households have a computer and 43% have Internet access.
·    A third have a plasma or LCD TV, and a quarter have a digital video recorder.

Now, the Heritage Foundation is described as “conservative”, and I don’t know enough about the foundation or their study to know how accurate these numbers really are. I’m going to assume there’s at least some truth to them though.

So why is this? Why do people who are poor own things like this? There are various reasons:
·    Prices have dropped. You can get things such as TVs and microwaves for much, much cheaper now than you used to.
·    Things are no longer considered luxuries. Growing up, we didn’t have air conditioning, more than 1 TV, or a video game system. Usually one family one the street (the one with the executive Dad or 2 working parents had a video game system). I now have A/C, 2 TVs, and 3 video game systems! I know, I know – I sound like a spoiled brat. J.  And I don’t even have children.
·    Things were bought when times were good.  You may have been able to afford the video game system and plasma TV when you were doing well, and now that you’re not doing so well – it’s not really worth selling them, you’d get so little for them.
·    You get used to it. If you’ve had cable or internet access, it’s darned hard to give them up, no matter whether you’ve had them or not. I lived just fine without a PVR before, but now I’m addicted to mine.
I have to admit – I get rather annoyed when people gripe about how broke they are, and I see all the stuff they own.

But, the thing is – it’s not the one off costs (such as buying a TV) that get people. It’s the day to day costs – rising cost of food, day care, gas, etc. that get people and really squeeze them.

What do you think? Can you be considered poor if you have nice TVs, Internet access, and a PS3?

Things seem to be back to normal..

19. August 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized

I think I’ve cleared up my virus problems. I’m going to give it one more day and then I’ll start posting again.

Born outside of Canada? The government may try to deny you OAS

15. August 2012 · 10 comments · Categories: Retirement · Tags: , , ,

There was an article recently on the Toronto Star Web site that outlined the plight of some Canadian immigrants trying to collect Old Age Security.  These folks are struggling to get by because the OAS they were counting on they can’t collect.

The government is demanding everything from landing papers (this is moderately reasonable, but not if you have to wait over 6 months to get it!) to old plane tickets from years past (not so reasonable).

The general take in the article seems to be that the government is trying to save cash – they’ve raised the eligibility rate from 65 to 67, and are now trying to deny people who do qualify for OAS their hard earned cash.

So, what can be learned from this situation?

  • Always have a cushion.  The retired nurse written about here seems to have worked hard all her life, but have very little to show for it- she’s living entirely off CPP and government assistance.  I’m not worried the entire social system will collapse, but I don’t want to be dependent on it either.
  • Start looking into the process early – at least 2 to 3 years before you expect to be able to collect OAS, CPP, etc.  Determine exactly what paperwork you’ll need to be able to qualify.  Start collecting it – some things can take months to obtain from the government or track down.
  • Research your resources – there may be community groups or other resources that can help point you to people in your situation, and help you determine how to cut through the red tape.

Unfortunately, you often have to fight for what is rightfully yours – whether it’s CPP or OAS, or reimbursement from your insurance company (add link).   By arming yourself with all the papers you need, and starting early, you give yourself a fighting chance.

Do you think you may end up in this situation or know anyone who has? Have you ever had to argue with the government for something you should be entitled to?

« Older articles
© 2013 My Canuck Buck. All rights reserved.