Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
Good morning Dinks and happy Friday. The holidays are in full swing around our home. I already started Christmas shopping and this weekend we’re getting our Christmas tree. I absolutely love the smell of a fresh Christmas tree and within 24 hours our entire apartment is going to smell just like evergreens.
When do you get your home holiday-ready?
Enjoy these posts from our friends:
Clever Dude – Christmas 2014 Challenge: Can I Do All My Shopping Online?
H&R Block – 3 tools every small business owner needs to be successful
Good morning Dinks. A couple of months ago I announced my company is being sold to a competitor. The sale started in September and it’s expected to close any day now, this is the definition of bad timing. Who wants to go into the holidays worrying if they’re going to have a job in January? To say the last few months have been stressful with uncertainty would be an understatement.
My employer is trying to maintain calm in an unsettling situation. “It’s business as usual until said otherwise” they keep telling us in every announcement, as if that makes employees feel more at ease. I live in a world of organization and planning, so any changes – big or small – completely throw me out of my comfort zone. When your company announces they are being sold and the transition period starts the workplace is anything but business as usual.
Everyone’s out for blood aka their job
When a company is sold and two fully staffed workforces must merge into one, chaos starts. Your colleagues are no longer your co-workers, now they’re your competition. I though financial planners fighting for investment sales was cut throat, it’s nothing compared to the ruthlessness that comes when employees are fighting to keep their jobs.
I work in digital marketing and all of a sudden everyone has a new creative idea; everyone wants to start a new project and show off their talents…no matter who they have to step on along the way. Even team leaders and managers and fighting for a moment of the VP’s attention.
Here’s the question to ask, if we are being sold and in two to three months and are company will no longer exist why are we starting new projects and spending new money? It makes absolutely no sense. I can’t go to a conference and increase my skills for $1000, but my manager can spend $25,000 on a brand new project. How does that make sense? It doesn’t. However the people controlling the budget have the power and therefore they can spend it as they want, even if it doesn’t make sense. But she’ll look good when our new employer comes in so now because she’s abusing her power she has the upper hand.
Stepping on toes is just the beginning
When you are under a microscope everyone wants to look good. We have no information on how many jobs will be cut or saved and we have no idea of the organizational structure of our new employer. Therefore everyone wants to showcase their skills and gain new skills.
Employees are trying to get on projects they’ve never worked on because the more exposure the better, right? In a perfect world yes, the more skills you have and the more experience on your resume the better. But brown-nosing creates a very hostile work environment during the interim.
Speculation creates inequality
When there is uncertainty in the workplace everyone wants to be in the know because employees want to know if they’re going to have a job come the New year. As the transition continues our workplace seems to be on a need-to-know basis and this creates inequality. When some people are in meetings and others aren’t it creates speculation, gossip and resentment towards your co-workers. Trust me when I say this is a very unhealthy work environment.
Good morning Dinks. Well it’s been two weeks since I joined the gym, remember that? With our new apartment, increased rent and unpredictable hydro bill I won’t be setting travel as a personal goal in the New Year. In 2015 I am going to focus on myself and that means less stress, looking good and feeling great. What activity helps release tension and burn calories? I know what you’re thinking and no not that, well yes also that, but it’s not what I’m referring to. I’m talking about THE GYM!
I’ve been thinking about joining a gym for some time, actually for over a month. However I never did it because Nick thinks it’s a waste of money. “We have lots of room in this apartment, work out here” he’s told me every single time my gym membership comes up. You know what? He’s right! We do have a lot of space in our new apartment and I do have at least a dozen weight training and yoga DVDs, but that’s not going to help me lose weight. I need to do cardio and that’s why I joined a gym.
You can’t put a price on happiness
Every month for a full year I’m paying $41 for my gym membership. Nick thinks that money could be better spent on groceries or hydro, and once again he’s right. But sitting at home all warm and cozy while eating snacks isn’t going to help me lose weight.
I want to lose weight and having a gym membership is the way I’m going to do it. The first week I worked out three times and this week I’m going to the gym four times. I know it’s only been a couple of weeks but believe me when I say I feel a lot better. I feel happier, less stressed and I am sleeping better – I guess it’s because I’m burning off all that extra energy.
Paying for it makes me stick to it
I hate wasting money so if I’m paying for a gym membership I will go – no matter how cold it is outside I am going to the gym. My workout plan is a combination of weight training with a personal trainer, cardio on my own time and yoga classes.
If I took Nick’s advice and decided to work out at home I would never do it – I haven’t been doing it. I can find a million other things I’d rather be doing at home aka excuses not to work out, but if I’m paying for it I HAVE to use it. I plan to get the most out of my $41 and so far it’s been money well spent.
Being healthy is priceless
Why the sudden need to lose weight? Because my doctor told me to. Yep that’s right, back in August my doctor told me I should lose 30 pounds – so that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve never been skinny but having your doctor tell you to lose weight puts getting in shape on a whole other level. According to my last check up I have low risk of heart disease and low cholesterol, but my body fat is way too high and that’s where my gym membership comes in. When you think about it $41 per month is only $492 over the next year. Isn’t that a small price to pay to be healthy for the rest of your life?
Good morning Dinks. With the holidays are coming up wouldn’t it be great if you could have an extra $500 cash in your pocket? I know I’d love it. Well we’re giving away $500 cold hard cash to one lucky winner. It’s easy…just keep reading and enter our cash giveaway below.
If I won $500 there are so many things I would like to do it with. Oh I’m getting all excited just thinking about it. Part of me thinks I would be responsible and save it, part of me thinks I should consider it an early Christmas gift and enjoy it on myself, but the majority of me thinks I should share it with Nick.
Here’s a $500 cash giveaway, what would you do?
Keep it in a safe place. No I’m not talking about underneath my mattress (if that can even still be considered safe) I’m talking about saving or investing the windfall. I have a few options if I want to add the new found $500 to my net worth. I could save it for a rainy day in an emergency fund aka a high interest savings account. I could make a contribution into my retirement account or I could just keep it in a regular savings account and use it to go on vacation next year. HHHMMM yes those are all possibilities, but highly unlikely.
Spend it and enjoy it. The more possible and reasonable option would be to spend it. Can you imagine how much better Christmas would be with $500. I could make that money buy even more Christmas gifts by taking advantage of today’s Cyber Monday Sales and Online Promo Codes.
There would be more food on the table, more sweets to snack on and more gifts under the tree. I could definitely take this chunk of cash and have a very merry Christmas, but does that seem like a waste? To wake up with money in your pocket and have it all gone by the time I go to sleep? It would be great for the day, but after that it’s all gone.
Maybe I’ll split it in half. Since this is a couple’s finance blog and I am one half of a couple I have to consider the option of sharing my money with Nick. We could go at it dutch and each take $250 to spend however we want to. I would hope he spends his half on buying gifts for me…but that would be selfish. I know he wants the new Samsung phone/tablet so he will probably put his half towards purchasing that during the Boxing Day sales. That leaves me with $250 to spend (or save) however I want.
The other thing we could do is take the $500 together and spend it on things for our new apartment. We are settled in and we’ve already purchases all of our furniture, however now we have to move on to the decorating. We need things like art and paintings for the walls, pillows for our new sofa, vases to keep plants, bamboo and flowers as well as shelves for our laundry room. This is probably the best way to spend a $500 wind fall because we both get to enjoy it and we can spend the money together.
Enter the Giveaway
This giveaway will run from today (Dec. 1st) through 12/15 at 12:00 A.M. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. You can find more terms and conditions in the rafflecopter widget.
Good morning Dinks and Happy Black Friday. If you’re out among the crowds today searching for the best deals I wish you all the best of luck. I am at home and on my way to work. I am more of an online shopper when it comes to mass crowds.
I love a great deal but not so much that I want to wake up in the middle of the night and wait in line to save hundreds of dollars. Partly because I don’t like to wake up earlier than I have to and partly because I just don’t need any big ticket items right now. However if I needed a new laptop or TV I may be telling a different story right now.
Good morning Dinks. Today we are busting credit myths with the one and only money maven Ellen Roseman. You remember Ellen, right? We gave away a copy of her bookFight Back: 81 Ways To Help You Save Money and Protect Yourself From Corporate Trickery last year. She’s an advocate for consumer rights and she loves telling people how to avoid scams and save money.
Last week I attended a credit chat with Roseman, hosted by LowestRates.ca, and she gave us a ton of useful tips on how to avoid overspending when it comes to credit. Yes that’s right Roseman told us the deepest darkest secrets of a world ruled by credit. She exposed the biggest scams when it comes to credit cards and laid out our rights when it comes to credit bureaus and our credit scores.
During the credit chat Roseman explained how people can acquire credit, manage it responsibly and how to overcome credit problems if you get into financial trouble.
4 tips to keep your credit score high and your balances low:
Always know your credit score. I don’t know about you but I check my credit score at least once a year. Partially because my score used to be very low because of my troubled debt past and partially because I am paranoid about identity theft. I like to watch my credit score increase over the year and I also like to make sure all my information is being reported correctly. Roseman says people should be proactive when it comes to their credit score and inquire regularly with the credit bureaus. There are several places you can get your free credit score right from the comfort of your own home such as Quizzle.com.
How to choose the best credit card. If you’ve ever searched for a credit card online you know there are a ton of “Find the right credit card” tools out there. Credit card companies want to make sure you find the best card to suite your needs because they want to be a happy, spending, interest paying customer for many years to come. Roseman says low interest credit cards are a good place to start. ” They can save consumers money by reducing interest charges, despite the fact that they often carry an annual fee.”
Why are people declined for credit? @Vanessasmoney asked “Why do some people get credit cards easily at 18, while others struggle?” Here’s Roseman’s answer “Have stability — an address for a few years, a job for a year or two” are ways to show creditors you are responsible and stable. Two major factors that banks and other lenders look for when assessing credit applications..
Are credit balance protection services worth it? The answer from Roseman plain and simple is no. She says credit balance protection services are definitely not worth the money. Ellen instead recommends non-profit credit counselling for people who need help managing their debts.
If you want to get more information about credit reports and credit scores as well as tips on how to better manage your household budgets and pay down your mortgages you can watch the full credit chat here.
Good morning Dinks and Happy Thanksgiving. Another year has passed and it’s time to look back on the past year and think about all the things we’re thankful for this year. These are all the things I’m thankful for this year:
My family, most of the time anyways. My family has definitely had our ups and downs and I’ve shared a lot of that here on Dinks Finance. I complain about my family, but at the end of the day I have to be thankful that I still have a family…what’s left of it. At the end of the day I’m thankful to have my family around because some people aren’t so lucky. Choosing not to talk to your family is one thing, but not even having the option to call is a whole other story.
My friends all five of them. There is a quote that says “Friends are God’s way of apologizing to us for our families”, this really hits me personally. I don’t have the best family situation and at the end of the day my friends have always been there for me. After my family fall out my friends have always been around to celebrate every birthday, Easter, Christmas and any other holiday so I don’t have to be alone. Friends have a special bond because you choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.
My job, however long I have it. I love my job in digital marketing, I really do. I’m thankful that I was able to make a career change from financial planning to marketing at 33 years old. I had experience in writing for the web and social media from blogging and I went back to school to get a diploma in journalism; but the truth is no one had to give me a chance because all my work history was in banking. I’m thankful I found a job I love and when our company is sold in the next few weeks I’m hoping I still have job.
Our new apartment. Nick and I moved October 1 and as I’ve said here many times it’s a money pit. However I’m thankful for our new apartment because I absolutely love the space. We are finally settling in to our new space and things are coming together, just in time for the holidays. I love living with Nick and I’m thankful we’ve been together all these years, but this year I’m really thankful for our new apartment.
Money situation has improved over the years. I am definitely thankful my money situation is not the same as it was five years ago. Back then I was over my head in debt and now I’m not. Now I live on less, but I don’t live without and I’m happy with that. I know improving my finances by increasing my income and lowering my debt was my doing, but I truly believe the powers at be gave me the will to strength to do it – for that I’m thankful.
Good morning Dinks. It’s that time of the year again, time to start thinking about all the goals we achieved over the past year and time to start setting goals for the New Year. So how did you do? Did achieve your savings goal? Did you max out your retirement accounts? Did you pay off your credit cards? I had two primary goals this year and I’m happy to say I achieved them both.
I only had two goals in 2014
In 2014 I focused on two goals: travel as much as possible and move to a better apartment. I traveled several times to New York City, once to Boston and of course from my bucket list I went to New Orleans. Travel goal achieved!
To make the year (and my life) even better Nick and I moved to a new apartment October 1. We moved to a completely new neighborhood and our apartment is double the square footage it used to be. To make a long story short our whole lives changed: new grocery store, new subway station, new everything – and I love it.
The downside of achieving your goals
They say you can’t have it all and achieving your goals is no different. What’s the downside of setting and focusing on two major goals? You lose sight of everything else. Thanks to my travel priority and gorgeous new apartment unfortunately I didn’t save as much as I planned to this year – actually truth be told I didn’t save much at all.
My goals in 2015
Each and every year I actually set four or five goals and then narrow it down to focus on two. I put all my energy into the two things I want the most. I’m glad I got to travel this year because I love New York and Boston and I’ve always wanted to go to New Orleans. I’m also glad we finally (after six years) moved out of our teeny tiny little apartment. Overall I would say I had a great year but in 2015 my priority is definitely going to be building my bank account.
3 tips to help achieve your savings goals next year:
Save, continuously. According to T. Rowe Price saving regularly is the best thing you can do for your savings. Yes you can make up lost time if you need to take a break but it’s a lot harder to recoup losses when you’re older. If you have additional expenses keep saving and lower the amount instead of stopping the habit all together.
Keep an emergency fund. Having an emergency fund of three to six months expenses helps bridge your income if you have an unexpected or unplanned for expense. If you don’t have to use your regular income you can continue saving. Sometimes people stop saving when they have unexpected expenses and it’s a habit that’s hard to get back in to if you take a break.
Prioritize your goals and your savings. If you have more than one goal in 2015 setting priorities will help determine how you can budget your savings. According to T. Rowe Price saving 15% of your current income will help maintain your standard of living in retirement. This can be all retirement accounts combined including individual savings as well as employer retirement plans and pension plans.
Happy Friday Dinks. This week we had our first snow up here in Montreal and I wasn’t ready for it. I guess it’s time to get out the ear muffs (yes I wear ear muffs) and winter coats. I personally don’t adapt to the cold weather very well. I’m one of those people who wear two sweaters, socks with slippers and sometimes a scarf indoors. I was born and raised in the North East but I really don’t like the cold.
Is it snowing where you live?
Have a great weekend. Enjoy these good reads from our friends:
Modest Money – When Can I Afford to Take a Vacation?
Money Talks News – 10 Stores That Will Be Closed on Thanksgiving, and 8 That Will Be Open
Money Crashers – 5 Creative Storage Ideas for Small Spaces
Blonde and Balanced – 6 Ways to Find Deals and Save Money After Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Here’s my personal confession for the week, my new apartment is cold. It’s very very cold. I mean we’re talking don’t want to get out of bed type of cold. As you know Nick and I just moved into our apartment Oct 1 and we’re already freezing as fall gets closer to winter, I’m afraid to see how cold the temperature in our apartment is going to get in February.
Trying to stay warm in a cold apartment
Our apartment building was built in 1870 and up until last year it was always used as office space. A year ago a real estate developer bought the building and turned it into apartments. The renovation is gorgeous with brand new appliances and granite countertops; however all that glitters isn’t gold. Yes the inside of the apartment is beautiful but the functionality isn’t great because the contractor decided to keep some of the original features. I’m not sure if the cold is coming from the exposed brick wall or the old windows but either way our apartment is chilly.
Of course I can always warm up our new apartment by turning on the heat, but I can’t afford to do that. So I’m trying to find other ways to stay warm such as drinking lots of hot beverages, layering up on sweaters and working out. However there’s only so much I can do to keep my feet from freezing off this winter.
As the weather turns colder I am trying to find budget friendly ways to stay warm, because there is nothing like the earth shattering cold when you have to change clothes, get out of the shower or get out from under the covers in the morning. It’s mid November and I think Nick and I have lived in the cold long enough.
5 budget friend ways to heat up your house:
Invest in area rugs. We have hardwood floors and that translates into “looks good but they’re cold”. Even in October when we moved in we were wearing slippers, now a month later we are wearing socks and slippers. Area rugs are a great way to add some color to your home and keep your feet warm at the same time.
Insulate. If you’re renovating your home keep the materials behind your walls in mind. Having good insulation will keep your home warm and help save on your heating bill. If you’re installing new widows please learn from our mistakes and make sure they’re well installed and energy efficient. Silicone is a great way to fill any gaps and ensure the cold air stays out.
Blackout blinds. We just discovered black out blinds and even though we’ve only had them for two weeks I can tell you they work, I promise. If you need to buy new blinds or drapes ask the sales person about the blackout feature. It adds a layer of vinyl to the back of your blinds or drapes and acts as a sealer for the cold air. Make sure to give yourself some extra length and width to ensure the blinds really block out the cold air.
Wood burning fireplace. I love the smell of real fire places. Gas fireplaces are a lot less maintenance, but they don’t give the crackle and smell of real wood burning. My dad has a real wood burning fireplace and my mother has a gas fireplace and I have to say the heat from a real wood burning fireplace is a lot warmer.
About Kristina Tahnyak
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