April 2011 - Page 2 of 2

Friday Roundup: The Financial Blogger Conference

Posted on April 15, 2011 - 7:28 am by Kristina Tahnyak 1

Happy Friday DINKS! As the weather gets nicer we may start to think about planning our vacations for the year. If you are available the first weekend in October I invite you to join the Financial Blogging Community at the Financial Blogger Conference in Chicago.

The Financial Blogger Conference will be held October 1^st and 2^nd in Chicago, although the exact location has yet to be determined. Financial Bloggers, Social Media Experts, Financial Professionals, Authors, and Financial Companies will all be attending the event. Whether you are an employee in the financial industry, if you are a financial enthusiast, or you are a financial beginner, everyone is welcome.

The two day Financial Blogger Conference includes discussion panels, keynote speakers, social events, and an unlimited number of networking opportunities. I invite everyone to come out and meet your favourite financial bloggers. Confirmed guests who will be attending the Financial Blogger Conference October 1^st and 2^nd include Andrew and Gyutae from Money Crashers, J.D. Roth from Get Rich Slowly, and Adam Baker from Man vs. Debt.

The guest speakers at The Financial Blogger Conference are going to be full of good ideas and will be sharing their financial tips. If you love finance, if you are trying to prioritize your finances, or if you have a financial goal then you need to be at The Financial Blogger Conference in Chicago October 1^st and 2^nd. Come join us in the Windy City to eat some deep dish pizza, listen to some blues music, and enjoy The Financial Blogger Conference. I have always wanted to go to Chicago and I am going to try and be there. I hope I can make it, but if not then I hope to hear all about it.

Here are some posts about financial goals and priorities from around the web:

Get Rich Slowly offers an organizational worksheet in his post Establish Your Financial Priorities.
In honour of Financial Literacy Month Enemy of Debt posted a video and asked us to choose what is most important to us financially in his post What You Can Learn in One Minute a Day.
Money Crush tells us to seize the day and start planning and living for our financial goals in her post Stop Waiting for Perfection.

Photo by Jeffrey Tastes

Home Safe or Safety Deposit Box?

Posted on April 14, 2011 - 8:33 am by Kristina Tahnyak 5

home safe, safety deposit box, financial tips

When we start to accumulate wealth we need to start protecting it along with other important documents. Some of us may be wondering what to keep in our Safety Deposit Box, and some of us may be wondering what we should keep in our Home Safe.

Some of us may have a Safety Deposit Box at our bank, and some of us may have a Home Safe. Some of us may have both, although I think that may be safety overkill. There are several things that we should keep in our Safety Deposit Box at our bank and other things that we should keep in our Home Safe if we choose to do so.

What is in Your Safety Deposit Box?

As a bank employee I have no right to know the contents of a client’s safety deposit box. This is why after retrieving our personal items we are escorted to a private room with our Safety Deposit Box. People may choose to keep only important papers such as insurance policies along with their Last Will and Testament in a Safety Deposit Box. However, some other people keep jewellery, family heirlooms, their birth certificates as well as their Social Security Card in their Safety Deposit Box.

In movies and on television we often see people keeping cash in their Home Safe or their Safety Deposit Box. I disagree with this because if the money is in a Safe and not in a bank account, it is not earning any interest. The contents of a Safety Deposit Box cannot be seized, even upon death or bankruptcy. However, the contents of a Safety Deposit Box are also not insured by the bank.

Clients only rent the space from their bank for their Safety Deposit Box to keep their assets safe, the contents are not property of the bank and therefore they are not insured by the bank. If we have a Safety Deposit Box we should have separate insurance for our assets and valuable items on our Homeowners Insurance Policy.

Do you have a Safety Deposit Box or a Home Safe?

The advantage of having a safe at our home is that we have access to our valuables and assets at all times with the twist of a dial or the punch of a keypad. A fireproof and waterproof safe is definitely a good idea for the safekeeping of important documents and it is convenient to have at home. However, it can be troublesome if we forget the code to open our safe. We have so many pin numbers and passwords to remember, it may be easier to have a key to open our Safety Deposit Box at the bank.

There are pros and cons to having a Safety Deposit Box at our bank, and there are pros and cons of having a Home Safe. A Safety Deposit Box at our bank ensures that our assets are protected and safeguarded at all times. However, it may be inconvenient to go to our bank every single time we need to retrieve our assets. A Home Safe ensures easy access to our valuables, but remembering the code could be a problem.

Photo by K Tyler Conk

April Love Drop… We Want Art!

Posted on April 13, 2011 - 6:08 am by Kristina Tahnyak

Hello DINKS! It’s April and that means that J. Money and Nate St. Pierre are working on their next Love Drop.

That’s right the Love Drop team is at it again! Last month they gave over $5,000 worth of cash and goods to their recipient, Katie, who had been battling a couple of brain tumours over the years. The Love Drop culminated with a surprise gift of more than 15 of her closest friends showing up at her house to celebrate and share the experience with her. It was awesome! You can watch how it all went down by clicking here.

This month Love Drop is coming together in support for the Kahlen’s – a family who has been hit hard by the economy, and by their daughter’s serious medical condition, tuberous sclerosis. In addition to financial assistance, they’re planning to unite the artistic community to help support Kent’s glassmaking work.

Love Drop is searching for pieces of art to sell off for the Kahlen Family. All art is accepted, if you have prints, paintings, or photographs please donate them to the Love Drop Shop. Proceeds from the shop goes towards helping the Kahlen’s get their finances back on track. Donating a piece of artwork is also a great way to promote your work :)

We’ll let you know how it goes! Thanks everyone.

My Parents’ Financial Personalities

Posted on April 12, 2011 - 7:44 am by Kristina Tahnyak 1

financial personalities, financial tips, financial talk

The older I get and the more I analyze the different personality traits of my two parents, I start to understand more and more why they got divorced. Just as in many other ways, my parent’s financial personalities are very different.

As we know, my family has several different personalities such as my Uncle, the unhappy money lover and my sister, the super saver minimalist. My parents have two completely different financial personalities, but joined together they could create one perfect financial couple.

My Dad is a saver without a budget. His only savings were made through his employer via automatic payroll deductions. He has a little bit of non registered savings, but the vast majority of his money is in retirement savings. My Dad is currently 57 years old, he retired at the age of 55 in July 2009.

My Dads savings were taken off of his pay check every week, he spent every other dollar down to the last penny. I guess you could say that my Dad lived pay check to pay check, except that his now has a steady pension income as well as a massive wealth of personal retirement savings.

My Dad’s savings were forced. He made the choice to save, but he didn’t make the contributions himself. My Dad would never set up a Pre Authorized Contribution plan to contribute “his own” money to his employer pension fund, or his personal retirement savings plan. He feels that he isn’t really saving “his own” money if he doesn’t make the contributions himself.

My Dad is a spender; he spends all of his money every week. He pays his bills on the due date by mailing a cheque, which makes the payments late with the mailing delay. Paying bills are not my Dad’s priority, his priority is enjoying life. He buys the food he wants to eat, he takes vacations to the places that he wants to visit, and he goes to restaurants with his favourite chefs.

My Mother is the total opposite of my Father. She pays her bills online as soon as she receives the e-bill in her email inbox. My Mother only spends money when she needs to, and it is usually on sale items. My parents have this in common, they could each find a deal from a mile away. The difference is that my Dad finds great deals on everyday items such as groceries and household necessities, while my Mother finds deals on art, furniture, and name brand clothing.

My Mother handles the finances in her household, including the bookkeeping for my Step Fathers business. My Dad hands a lump sum of $900 over to my Step Mother every month for their joint monthly household bills. My Dad’s lack of financial irresponsibility is partially due to his lack of interest in money management; but it is mostly due to my psycho Step Mother’s controlling personality (but that is a totally different post).

My Mother always seems to have money; she must pick it off of the money tree in the backyard that I heard so much about as a child. The truth is that she is careful when and where she spends her money. She makes sure the cost is worth the price, and she rarely pays the original price for any item that she buys. My Dad on the other hand, lives to spend his money. Whether it is at the grocery store or the discount store, he is always spending money.

My Dad also keeps a reserve of everything. He has a storage room and an extra freezer full of food; however he continues to go grocery shopping every week. My Mother only has food in her kitchen cupboards and nowhere else.

My Mother is 54 and she loves working, she likes to keep busy. My Mother is on the Board of Directors for the Airport, as well as the Small Business Bureau, and the Travel and Tourism Chamber. My Dad spends his days playing poker and golf with his other retired friends. Their opposite spending and saving habits are the basis of my parent’s different financial personalities.

Photo by MagBag

Make $100,000 This Year!

Posted on April 11, 2011 - 7:43 am by Kristina Tahnyak 2

job opportunities, highest paying jobs, career opportunities

It’s always good to have options in our lives and our careers. Some of us may be working in our field of study and using our Bachelor’s Degrees, Masters Degrees or Doctorates. However, some of us may have switched our employment field from our field of study for the opportunity to earn a better income. I was originally accepted to my University in the Department of Urban Planning. But, after working in finance to pay for my degree, I switched my major to Economics.

According to Ask Men here are the top 10 Highest Paying Jobs in the US and the amount of time it takes to get there, according to the US Department of Labour:

The highest paying salary for a Natural Sciences Manager is just over $97,000 and takes 6 years to attain. This job requires a Bachelors Degree along with a Masters Degree. A Natural Sciences Manager usually works in the field of research and development for pharmaceutical, environmental and municipal organizations. They can also be called to court hearings as an expert witness.

A Marketing Manager can earn over $100,000 per year within 4 to 6 years. The range of duties of a Marketing Manager depends on the size of the firm and the scope of marketing efforts. Bachelor’s Degrees are common among Marketing Managers, but an MBA will help push to earn a higher salary for executive positions.

Computer and Information Systems Managers earn their $100,000 plus in 4 to 8 years. I remember reading somewhere that IT was one of the fields that did not suffer during the recession. Computer and Information Systems Managers can start out as programmers or data analysts. The interesting aspect of IT employees is that they can work for any company in any industry. It is not like a financial planner who must work in finance, or a doctor who has to work in medicine. The opportunities (including international) are unlimited for Computer and Information Systems Managers. Nearly ever business big and small relies on some kind of system, or has some form of company data that they maintain via computers. For this reason cyber security is also extremely important. Learn more here about getting a masters degree in cyber security online.

The $100,000 plus annual salary of an Air Traffic Controller can be earned in 9 years. Air Traffic Controllers are very specialized and the must pass aptitude tests and register for courses uniquely with the Federal Aviation Administration.

A Lawyers salary is definitely over $110,000 with many years of school which includes the Bar Exam as well as an Internship (in many cases). The starting salary for Junior Associates is comparable to the mid career salary of some other fields. I have two friends who are lawyers and they have said that the range of a lawyer’s salary varies greatly. Of course the opportunities to become judges and partners in a law firm are also available.

A Dentist can earn over $130,000. There are 56 dental schools in the US that are accredited by the ADA. After a Bachelors degree dental school takes 3 to 4 years to complete, or up to 5 years if a Dentist chooses to be specialized. My Dentist is a family business, both of my Dentists sons also graduated from Dental school.

An Airline Pilot can earn over $130,000. A four year degree is not required to be an Airline Pilot. I have clients who are Airline Pilots and after several years of employment they are earning approximately $200,000. I also have a client who is a scheduler for a major airline. He handles the schedules for both Pilots and Flight Attendants, and he earns over $100,000.

An Engineer Manager earns over $140,000 per year. They are usually the reporting manager of Natural Science Managers and Information Systems Managers. Most Engineering Managers have Bachelor’s Degrees as well as a post graduate degree.

Chief Executive Officers can earn an unlimited salary depending on the size of the company that they work for. However, Ask Men says the salary is over $140,000. We all have read about the CEOs of large companies making an annual salary well into the multi millions of dollars. A CEO does not always require a Bachelors Degree or a Masters Degree. The title of CEO can be attained by many years of work with the same company.

Surgeons are specialized in their fields and this is why they earn the big bucks with an annual salary of close to $200,000. I personally couldn’t be a surgeon because I can’t even watch the operation channel.

After reading this article I can see that positions in management are the highest paying jobs in the US. I was surprised to see that positions in sales were not listed by Ask Men. I know of many sales positions, that may or may not require a degree, where employees can earn an unlimited income based on their sales. Medial Sales Representatives along with Financial Sales Employees can both potentially earn over $100,000.

Photo by Boetter

Friday Round Up: A Savings Psycho & The New Chrysler

Posted on April 8, 2011 - 7:12 am by Kristina Tahnyak 4

Happy Friday DINKS! I hope that you all had a nice week, and now it’s time to get ready for our weekends. This post is about saving for our goals and saving for no reason at all. I have previously mentioned that I don’t believe in saving for no reason; however my actions seem to speak louder than my words.

I guess we are always indirectly saving for something, since many of us will use our savings when we go on vacation or buy new furniture. I always saved for a specific goal. I always saved 10% of my savings into my Rainy Day Savings Account until I reached the equivalent of 3 months gross income and then I stopped saving.

My income recently increased significantly from my previous year’s income and I have been depositing the difference into a high interest savings account. The account has no fees as long as I do all of my transactions online. I didn’t want to spend my extra income because my previous income was enough to live on with my monthly budget. So, for the last few months I have been saving the difference in my new increased income while continuing to live on my old budget.

Now I need a new television and I can’t bring myself to dip into my savings. It’s totally weird because it is extra money that I have saved with no intended purpose. However, now that it is saved I can’t bring myself to spend it. I guess you can say that I have become a savings psycho.

Some people’s savings goal may be to buy a new car. When I purchased my Honda Civic in 2007 I based my impulsive decision on the recommendations of family and friends. If I were to buy a car today it would definitely consider buying the new Chrysler. This decision is purely based on the current marketing campaign.

I think that it is worth mentioning that the new Chrysler commercials are excellent, they focus on the elegance of the Chrysler cars as well as their design and the fact that they are Proud to be American. The commercials feature the Detroit born rapper Eminem along with his hit song from the movie 8 Mile. The commercials really focus on the fact that Chrysler is an American company and the cars are Made in America.

Here are some posts from around the web that discuss the savings strategies and goals of our financial friends:

Blonde & Balanced is saving for her wedding and the purchase of her first home. While she is still 2 months away from the wedding and 8 months from starting to shop for her first home, she is currently on budget.
Clever Dude discusses the various ways to save money in his post Saving Money versus Avoiding Spending. Just because we don’t spend doesn’t mean that we are saving!
Financial Samurai talks about his younger days of expensive nights out on the town. Now he tells us how to have a good time on a budget in his post The Clubber’s Guide To Saving Money and Having a Good Time.

What to Watch for in the Market

Posted on April 7, 2011 - 7:44 am by Kristina Tahnyak

stock market, stock market tips, investment tips

As of April 1, 2011 I have happy to say that my small retirement savings account continues to grow. I am a balanced investor which means that I don’t like to take too much risk, but I also want my money to grow over the long term. I am currently 30 years old, and I have at least another 25 years until I retire. Therefore, I am not too worried about short term fluctuations in the value of my retirement savings accounts.

I started to invest in this particular retirement savings account in July 2009, and I am happy to report that my retirement savings account has been steadily growing over the last year and a half. However, I have a feeling that this is about to change.

In this retirement savings account I invest only in Mutual Funds. I do hold some individual stocks in Disney and other large corporations in another account, but in this account I hold only Mutual Funds. The original book value of my retirement savings account was $13,560.09. The book value is the total value originally invested, as well as any reinvested distributions. I have made some changes to my Mutual Funds to include a more aggressive asset allocation.

Here is the current Breakdown of my Retirement Savings Account:

Fund Name Average Unit Cost Current Unit Price

Canadian Index Fund $24.90 $26.32

Canadian Bond Index Fund $11.51 $11.39

Emerging Markets Bond Fund $9.34 $8.31

Canadian Equity Income Fund $22.58 $23.57

The total current market value is $15,393.30. This is an increase of $1833.21 or 13.52%. A normal balanced investor or mutual fund should earn an annual rate of return of 6-8%. What does this mean? It means that my overall retirement savings account performance is average and right on target.

What to Watch for in the Market Over the Next Few Months

As the market slowly recovers over the next few months until the end of the year we should see interest rates start to rise. This means that the value of fixed income instruments such as bonds will decline. The current value of my Canadian Bond Index Fund is less than I paid for it; therefore I will not sell it.

I am prepared for it to drop in value over the course of the year. The good thing about investing bonds indirectly via a Mutual Fund as opposed to buying a bond directly on the market is that the Mutual Fund Manager buys several different bonds with different maturity dates and interest rates. I am not locked into only one fixed bond.

With the current crises around the world in Haiti, Chile, Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Japan it is no surprise that the Emerging Markets Bond Fund is currently also trading at a loss. However, it is predicted that Emerging Markets will really start to emerge in the world economy throughout 2011. This is for reasons such as exporting of untapped resources, as well as manufacturing and production companies moving to countries where labour is cheaper to cut costs.

India is an emerging country to watch because of all the customer service business they are attracting from North American companies. India has the largest English speaking workforce outside of North America. Over the next few years Brazil will host both the Olympics and the World Cup of Soccer. This is guaranteed to help Brazil’s economy emerge.

Photo by Light Speed

Are We Being Watched by Our Bank?

Posted on April 6, 2011 - 7:46 am by Kristina Tahnyak

bank advice, financial transactions, financial institution

There are several different types of transactions that are considered to be high risk by most Financial Institutions. These transactions include regular day to day transactions that many of us may perform several times throughout the year. Although our transactions may be approved, we have to always wonder what is going on behind the scenes and who is really watching our bank accounts.

Deposit Transactions over $10,000 are reported to the Federal Government. This is a requirement by law, and it is non negotiable. Since this is public information, most criminals keep their deposits under $10,000, if they are smart. Therefore, most large deposit transactions are legit. As clients we may be required to sign an affidavit stating where the money came from and how we got it. This removes our Financial Institution from any liability in case the money was obtained from illegal sources.

I had a client who declared he was an “immigration officer” each time he made a large deposit. He signed an affidavit that the money was from his legal costs for helping people immigrate to the country. However, he was known throughout the neighbourhood as the go to guy who could help people enter the country illegally with forged immigration papers…but that’s just a rumour.

Wire Transfers to Overseas Destinations. All wire transfers are monitored by our financial institutions as well as other financial agencies. It is very rare that our local Financial Institution can send money directly to a bank branch overseas. Most wire transfers are sent via a regulatory bank in New York or Switzerland.

When we send money to our families or friends overseas, we can rest assure that our money is being watched by our bank. If our wire transfer is over $10,000 we will have to explain the source of the money, not the financial institution where it is coming from because they have that information, but how we obtained the money for the wire transfer.

People don’t like it when bank employees ask too many questions about the destination of their money. Whether the money is legally earned or illegally obtained customers don’t like the bank to know their business. People often feel that they shouldn’t have to explain where their money came from because the bank should be happy to have their business.

Cash Advances on our Credit Cards. Next time you go to the ATM to take a cash advance from your credit card, think about who is watching your transaction; and I am not referring to the security camera at the ATM. Cash Advances are monitored in several different ways by our Financial Institution. The way that we use our credit card is kept on file by our financial institution, as well as reported to the credit bureau. If we often use our credit card for cash advances instead of retail purchases, it can work against us the next time we apply for credit.

Our Mortgage Down Payment. For those of us who have bought a house, did the mortgage representative ask you the source of funds for your mortgage payment? The mortgage representative has to declare the source of your mortgage down payment to the credit center. Whether we saved our down payment or it was gifted to us, is taken into consideration when the bank chooses whether or not to approve our mortgage.

Who will be watching your next financial transaction?

Photo by Mike Kline

Who Should Pay The Bill?

Posted on April 5, 2011 - 7:15 am by Kristina Tahnyak 3

paying the bill, date night tips, date night advice

All DINKS have two things in common, we all earn an income and we are all in a relationship. What we don’t all share is how we spend our earned income. Should our boyfriend or husband pay for the bill just because he is the man in the relationship? If the practice of splitting the bill and going Dutch is old school, and chivalry is dead, who should pay the bill?

I have a friend who has never paid for anything in her relationship, not even coffee. She feels that as the female in the relationship she doesn’t have to pay for anything. After 3 years, her boyfriend recently sat her down and told her that he wasn’t an unlimited ATM. She would have to start paying for things if she wanted to continue being his girlfriend. She has recently started paying for their dates, but only the cheap ones.

She claims to have expensive taste, but only when it is someone else’s money that is paying the bill. She has never really learned the value of a dollar because she has always been taken care of. She currently lives in a condo that is paid for by her parents. Although she does work, she would never spend her own money on the finer things in life. “That’s why I have a boyfriend” She says. This is a prime example of how installing good money values in our children is so important; because a spoiled child grows up to be a high maintenance gold digger.

I have a male co-worker who feels that he should pay for everything in his new (1 year) relationship because he is the man. He definitely doesn’t want to pay for everything such as weekly groceries, nightly couples outings, and their vacations. They split their monthly rent and they split their monthly bills, but all other expenses are at his cost…because he is the man. My co-worker feels that his new girlfriend will break up with him if he doesn’t pay for their extra couples expenses. My co-worker doesn’t shower his girlfriend with gifts the same way that my friend demands them from her boyfriend, but he does always offer to pay the bill.

I told my co-worker that the first few dates set the standard for the rest of the relationship. If you spoil your girlfriend on the first few dates, she will always expect to have everything handed to her when she becomes your wife. My friend told me that she would never go on a second date with a guy who made her pay the bill on the first date. I am not saying that we, as women, should pay for the first date; I am simply saying that we shouldn’t expect to be showered with expensive gifts.

I explained to both my friend and my co-worker that my boyfriend Nick and I have a different financial mentality. Since we have been together a long time and according to Nick chivalry is dead, we split our monthly expenses right down the middle. However, our extra spending and personal entertainment is split differently. If we go out for dinner for my friend’s birthday then I will pay the bill for Nick and I to eat. If we are going out to see a movie that he wants to see (such as the upcoming Captain America, Green Lantern, or Thor) he will buy my movie ticket.

(Photo by David Thibault)

People With Kids Are Broke!?!

Posted on April 4, 2011 - 7:04 am by Kristina Tahnyak 8

This past week my boss told me that he is about to have another child. After this child is born he will have 3 children, all under the age of 6.

I couldn’t help but think that his life is my biggest nightmare. I am only 2 years younger than him and I can’t imagine having to feed, clothe, take care of and provide shelter for 3 other people. Maybe I am selfish, maybe I am a coward, or maybe I just don’t want to have children because of the financial cost.

I went on a coffee break with another woman in my office who is also my age; she has a 3 year old daughter named Mandy. I offered to pay for her coffee, which I feel was a nice gesture on my part. However, my reasoning was less than polite. While offering to pay for my co-workers coffee I said “I can pay for your coffee because I don’t have a mortgage on a house in the suburbs and a child to feed.” I definitely did not mean to offend her, and I don’t think that I did. But for some reason, I can’t stop thinking about my comment and her reaction. She replied “Just because I have a kid doesn’t mean that I am poor.”

I started thinking about her reply and why I always assume that people with kids are broke. I guess it is because people who have children have all kinds of additional expenses that we as DINKS do not have. DINKS don’t pay for ballet classes, we don’t have to buy sports equipment, and we don’t have to save for college tuition.

When I reflect on my childhood I still don’t quite understand how my parents could afford to have two young children when they were still so young themselves. My sister Tara Marie and I were not deprived children by any means. I grew up in a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house with a pool and a big back yard. We had 2 cars, 2 kids, and a dog named Sasha. Tara Marie and I are both University educated.

Every year we took at least one family vacation, and we always had every new toy on the market. We actually had a toy room that was full of Easy Bake Ovens, Books, Play-Dough, and a Barbie Dream House. Both Tara Marie and I were in Girl Guides, and every year we went to Summer Camp. Both of my parents worked, but I can’t imagine how they could afford all of that while each of them was earning $40,000 to $50,000 per year.

DINKS don’t have kids, and we aren’t budgeting for, or planning to have children. As a DINK I budget to spend some of my money on myself, and I plan to save the rest. I don’t even want to think about the cost of having and raising a child. If you got pregnant, and were expecting an unplanned child what would you do?

Since I turned 30 last October, I have been thinking about having a child. As mentioned several times before, I don’t see myself as a mother but I don’t want to regret not having a child later in life. If by some miracle I did get pregnant I am not sure what I would do. On one hand, I would have to think that a force stronger than Nick and I wanted us to have a child. But on the other hand, I wouldn’t want to raise an unwanted child.

(Photo by Snaptotes)

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Monthly Archives: April 2011