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Avatar photo About Kristina Tahnyak

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.

Save $30 by the time you are done reading this

save money, cut costs, budgeting

Good morning Dinks.  We always read about how to get rich quick with hard work and next big new idea. We also read a lot about how to make money with second incomes and how to save money by not spending.  All of these things are great, but what if you could make money and save money at the same time – it’s no secret that spending less money is the key to making more and saving more.

I always say that money not spent is money saved.  If we earn money and spend it then it’s gone. But if we can just spend a little less we can keep more of our earned money and save more money too.

I know, I know, you are thinking – but Kristina, isn’t that what a budget is for?  Yes you are correct, but at the same time a budget can be easily broken with the push of an ATM button or the swipe of a credit card.

Your friends here at Dinks finance are going to help you keep more of your hard earned income and make more deposits into your savings account.  We don’t need 30 days or a year to help you –all we need is 30 minutes.  By the time you are finished reading this post you will have four ways to save money in the next 30 minutes. Are you ready for this? Ok here we go.

When planning your daily budget use these 4 tips to help you save $30 today

1. Avoid Starbucks in the morning and in the afternoon. If you brew your own coffee at home and take it in a mug to go you can save a ton of cash each week.  Even if you shell out the $99 for a Keurig you are still saving money throughout the year. Total saved by skipping your Starbucks– at least $8

2. Put back the magazine on the rack. I am the queen of buying gossip magazines, fitness magazines and even the occasional fashion magazine.  However, this bad habit recently stopped when I decided that my $6 was not worth the benefit that I was getting from the magazine.  If I want to read in bed I can buy a newspaper for $1.50.  Total saved – $6.

3. Set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account. It doesn’t matter how much you think you can afford to save , everyone can afford to save an extra $20 per paycheck. And truth be told, you won’t even miss it.  It’s just another $20 that you were probably going to spend on coffee and magazines anyways.

4. Keep walking by the restaurant and cook something at home. I can personally vouch for how much money this costs and if you cook (or should I say eat) at home how much money you can save. I used to eat out a lot and now that I eat at home, even if it’s a bowl of cereal, I am saving a lot of money. Total saved – at least $10.

Total savings from reading this post $44. Now that is 10 minutes well spent.

Photo by phalinn

Invest in Yourself – Pay Yourself First

invest in yourself, be happy, pay yourself

Good morning Dinks. Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you had a different job, if you made more money or if you lived in a different city?  Well, let me ask you a question – Why are you daydreaming about it and not (yet) doing anything about it?

The best way to find personal happiness and achieve financial freedom is to take your life into your own hands.  So often people have dreams but they don’t achieve them because they wait for their dreams to come to them.  This is not helping anybody achieve anything.  The best way to find happiness, both personally and financially, is to take action and make your dreams happen on your own.

Decide what you want and make it happen

After working in a bank branch for over a decade I finally came to the reality that I was bored. I wanted to make changes in my life to be a happier person, but I couldn’t do that until I decided what I wanted and what makes me happy.  The first thing that I wanted to change was my career.  I didn’t know it at the time but this change would snowball into a handful of other changes my life including my health, my money and happiness in my relationship.

Making a career change at 32 years old was definitely scary but after being unhappy for so long I finally decided to stop thinking about the repercussions and start doing everything that I love.

Even if it’s a bad idea, don’t look back

That was almost three years ago and I have to tell you that I have never been happier.  Ok that isn’t exactly true – I loved being 17 in high school and I would give anything to go back to my last year of high school.  So let me rephrase – After making changes in my life and making a career change I have never been happier in my adult life.

At 30 years old I went back to school and at 32 (almost 33) I finally found my dream job.  I am happier now than I was three years ago, but that’s not to say that the transition wasn’t hard.  I had a lot of long days and even more sleepless nights, but it was all worth it in the end because now I like what I am doing every day.

Have you ever heard someone say “Pay yourself first”?

Investing in myself and paying for school was the best decision that I ever made.  But if making a career change is not on your personal to-do list then pay yourself first and make your other dreams come true.

Pay yourself first means that before you pay your bills and rent every month you put some savings aside for yourself first.  It also means that before you please other people you make sure that you are happy.  This is not to say that you need to turn into a totally self absorbed monster overnight, it’s just to say that you should consider your own happiness before you consider the feelings of other people.

Photo by miggslives

Weekly roundup: Popcorn, exercise and advice

Good morning Dinks and happy Friday. I had a great week and I hope that you did too. This week one of my biggest projects was approved and as you read this I am on my way to spend the weekend in Vermont.

You may remember that I went to Vermont for the first time back in November and I absolutely fell in love with the city. I am not really in a small town state of mind these days – as I plan my move to NYC – but I am from a small town and sometimes a girl just needs some peace and quiet.

I hope you have a great weekend Dinks.  Enjoy these posts from our friends:

H&R Block – The trust cost of being single (featuring yours truly)

Saveup – From Debt to Financial Freedom: Blogger Interview with Budget Blonde

Add Vodka – How Money is Like Popcorn

Money Crashers – 10 Fun Group Exercise Classes & Ideas

Wise Bread – What Was Your First Paying Job?

The Better Investor – What Investing Advice Would You Give Your 20-Year-Old Self?

 

Photo by howzit

It’s time to check in on your 2013 goals: Welcome to our financial rehab

Good morning Dinks.  More than half the year is over and it’s time to check in on your 2013 goals.  How is it going? Are you on track to achieve all your goals by December?  This year I set a few goals for myself which included the usual – losing weight and saving more money.

Was one of your goals for 2013 to pay off debt or save more money? If so then let us help you.

Welcome to our Dinks financial rehab:

1. You have to be willing to make a change.  Just like any big decision that you make in life, if you want to make a change in your finances you have to be willing and wanting to make the change.  Some people call his bottoming out.  It means that you have hit rock bottom and don’t want your financial situation to continue on as it is, so you consciously make the decision to start making changes.

2. Recognize that you have a problem.  You will never be willing to make a change in your personal finances if you don’t think that there is a problem with your money management.  If your credit card statement comes in the mail every month and you can only afford to make the minimum payments then maybe your finances need a little rehab.  If you have to choose between paying your rent and buying groceries every month then maybe your finances need a makeover.  I was in both of these situations only a few years ago – so if you are there right now, I know how you feel.

3. Find the new habits that you want to have.  Before you can start to make any changes you have to know how to want to change and what you want to change in to.  If you want to pay off your debt, how are you going to do it? What do you want the end result to be? Make those decisions and then make a plan to achieve your goals.  We can’t change if we don’t know how we are going to do it. Making a plan and visualizing how I want my life to be gave me the motivation that I needed to get a second job and start paying off my debt.

4. Right your wrongs.  This may sound like a 12 step rehab program and it’s close to it, but not quite.  After paying off my debt I decided that I was never going to let myself be in that type of situation again. So I decided to change my financial habits, change my outlook on money, become debt free and right all of my wrongs.  I would much rather save $600 rather than spend it on paying off debt. Don’t you agree?

Money is the bread and butter of our lives. Not in a shallow way, but in the way that it pays for our house and food.  Without money we can’t survive so doesn’t it just make sense that we use our money wisely?

Photo by rick

Can you really invest in cash?

cash ,investment, investment portfolio

Good morning Dinks.  Today we are discussing our investment portfolios and our investment strategies. After the market crash in 2008 it seems like everyone is talking about the market and even more people are afraid of the market.  Let me ask you a question – how is your investment portfolio doing?  Did you receive your recent quarterly statement? Do you like how your portfolio looks?

Maybe your investment portfolio is conservative, meaning it’s slow and steady. Maybe your investment portfolio is experiencing massive ups and downs because you are a high risk investor. Or maybe you are more of a saver than an investor – maybe you have all of your money in cash or near-cash investments.

What is cash investing?

Investing in cash means that you have your money in a safe place such as a high interest savings account, a t-bill or a money market mutual fund. Cash and near cash investments are highly liquid investments that give you access to your money on short notice in case of an emergency.

Near cash investments are easy to access and they are also considered to be very low risk investments – all of that sounds great right? But there is a catch, the downside to investing in cash and near cash investments is that they don’t pay a lot of interest.  Your money will definitely not grow in near cash investments, but at the same time you won’t lose money either because they have little to no daily fluctuations.

The pros of investing in cash

Maybe you invest in near cash investments such as t-bills, savings accounts and money market instruments because you like to always have access to your money, even on short notice. Putting your money into a money market fund or a high interest savings account is a great way to keep your money safe if you are keeping some cash on hand for an emergency or a short term goal.

Sometimes we just never know what life is going to hand us and that’s why it’s a good idea to keep some money in a cash or near cash account, just in case of an emergency.

The cons of investing in cash

Long term investors don’t like cash and near cash investments because they don’t help portfolios grow.  Long term investors should be kept 5% to 10% of their portfolio in cash or near cash investments just in case they need to buy or sell in case of an emergency.

Keeping more than 10% in cash and near cash investments is not beneficial to long term investors because they do not have the opportunity to grow over time.  Cash and near cash investments offer security and flexibility in exchange for a low interest rate.

However, some people would disagree with me.  Some people like to keep all of their money in cash or near cash investments – even for the long term – because they feel that security of their capital investment and a little bit of interest is better than losing your money and having no rate of return.

What do you think? Do you have cash and near cash investments in your investment portfolio?

Photo by taxcredits

How to love your job – Part 2

love your job, career advice, job tips

Good morning Dinks. Last week we wrote a post about how to love your job and from all the great comments I quickly learned that not everyone loves their job.

Sometimes we grow up to be what we wanted to be as a kid, but for many of us we just sort of fall into a career and stick with it because we have responsibilities.  It’s not necessarily our dream job – it’s just a pay check.

Where are you right now as you read this? Are you at work trying to prolong whatever tasks you have to get done today? That’s a major reason why I read online newspapers in the morning.  I’m not afraid to get caught because if anyone calls me out on my morning reading I can just tell them that I’m keeping up to date on the markets. It’s the perfect plan!

To help you make your days a little more interesting and even a little bit more fun I decided to share some more secrets with you about how I make it through all my tough days at the office.

4 more tips to help you learn to love your job

1. Don’t harp on the things you hate.  There is nothing worse in life then negativity, it’s contagious and it spreads like wildfire.  Being angry about the things that you hate at work aren’t going to make it better – what’s going to make it better is if you don’t think about your less desirable tasks.  Just get them done and move on to something you like.  Or even better, change the way you do them so that you learn to love the things you hate.

2. Remember that you don’t have to do it forever.  A job doesn’t necessarily have to be until retirement.  If you don’t like your job then figure out what you really want to be doing and then get the skills required to land your dream job. I went back to school to study journalism because I wanted to be a full time writer and now I work in corporate communications.

3. Treat your day like a reality show.  This may sound a bit crazy but I honestly do it.  Right now I am watching Big Brother 15 all summer and whenever a co-worker does something that I don’t like I just pretend that I am going to vote them out next.  I know that it sounds childish but honestly it really helps me get through the day.

Sometimes I also plan what I say or do as if I was a houseguest on Big Brother who doesn’t want to get voted out.  I end up biting my tongue and keeping my thoughts to myself.  I avoid confrontations, I keep to myself, I stay away from anything negative and then I go home at 5 pm.  So far it’s working out just lovely.

4. Think about the opposite…being unemployed. You know that vacation you are looking forward to? Well you couldn’t take it without the pay check from your job. Look forward to your next vacation – it will definitely help you get through the day.

Photo by eli brown

Weekly Roundup: Pain, real estate and weddings

Happy Friday DINKS. It’s the beginning of August and I for one am enjoying summer.  I recently signed up at a health club and gym.  Every week I try to swim laps in the pool, sit out on the lounge chairs in the sun and take advantage of the eucalyptus wet sauna.  I also take a zumba class on Mondays and a Yoga class on Wednesdays. That’s at least 4 times a week that I hit up the gym to relax and enjoy myself. Paying $47 a month has so far been my best purchase of the summer…after the 6 dresses that I bought for only $100 when Nick and I went on vacation to Niagara Falls.

How are you spending your summer?

Boomer & Echo – How to Invest in Real Estate

Enemy of Debt – Pain is NOT a Lifestyle

– According to Athena – “High Maintenance”? No, I Call It Knowing What I Want & Who I Am

Investor Junkie – How to Verify Your Broke is Legit and Keep Your Investments Secure

Well Heeled Blog – Wedding Guests and the Wedding Spend

Photo by Elvert Barnes

Shopping with your spouse…is it a crazy idea?

shopping, couples shopping, window shopping

Good morning Dinks.  As we all know there are many differences between men and women, from our spending habits to our views about what’s important it’s clear that we may just be from different planets.

On our recent vacation to Niagara Falls I learned about another very important difference between men and women – shopping.  Maybe money views between men and women are due to the fact that men have a tendency to be more aggressive while women tend to be more conservative.  Or maybe money management styles differ between men and women because women like to be in control and organized while men have a more “go with the flow” attitude…whatever that means.

Men and women and money – why are we so different?

My boyfriend Nick and I spent a day shopping at outlets during our recent vacation to Niagara Falls and to say that our experience was very different – even though we were in the same place, doing the same thing – would be an understatement.

My boyfriend considers shopping to be the activity when he goes into a store and buys something new.  As this may be the actual definition of making a purchase, the experience of shopping is so much more for me.  I could spend a whole day browsing through stores, trying to find the best deal and people watching.

Shopping for a whole day doesn’t mean that I spend more money than my boyfriend, it just means that it’s more of an experience rather than just a task to complete on my to do list for the day.  Shopping is a very enjoyable experience for me.  I could go “shopping” every Saturday even though I don’t buy anything.  My boyfriend only goes “shopping” when he needs something.

Do you shop with your spouse?

Nick and I have been together for many years and it’s not the first time that we have gone shopping together. Although everything in our daily lives is pretty much separated.  We have individual banking and we do our groceries separately, it bothered me at first but now I actually prefer it that way.

We have needed new dishes for some time now, actually for a very long while.  We found a home deco store at the outlets and we decided to go in and finally make the commitment to buy new dishes.  We both liked the second set of dishes that we saw and they were on sale so my boyfriend picked up the box to bring them to the cashier so we can pay and leave.

I wanted to continue browsing throughout the store to see if we could find a set of dishes that we like better or find a new set of dishes at a better price.  My boyfriend rolled his eyes at me and said “but why? We already agreed on theses ones.”

We agreed that we both liked them but we didn’t agree that they were the best.  In my boyfriends eyes if you like something then you should buy it, but I believe in shopping around for the product that we like the best or for a product that we like the second best but at the best price.

Help me out here.  Who do you shop like – me or my boyfriend?

Photo by andrewarchy

Retirement Planning as 1-2-3-4

retirement planning, retirement plans,saving for retirement

Good morning Dinks.  One of the major parts of being a financial planner is helping people plan for a financially successful retirement.  It is a common goal that most people have, but it’s true that not a lot of people actively plan for their retirement.  This may be because we have so many other  personal and finance goals that we want to achieve before retirement or it may be because people feel that the government and their employer will take care of providing an income during retirement.

As a person I feel that people should enjoy their money while they are alive, this includes spending within your income capabilities and saving for retirement so that you don’t have to work for the rest of your life.

There is no point in being retired if you are going to stress about money the whole time, this is why it’s important to save for the later years during your working years.  However, I also believe that we also have to enjoy our lives and our money while we can which means that we don’t have to be an avid saver; we just need to set realistic retirement goals.

Plan your retirement with a few easy steps

1. Set a reasonable date.  I would love to retirement tomorrow, but that’s not going to happen. One of the first questions that I get from clients when we start to plan for their retirement is “When should I retire?” This depends on a variety of factors such as your savings including your sources of revenue at retirement such as pension income and old age security benefits.  It also depends on what you want to do during retirement, the lifestyle that you want to have and if you are ready to leave your friends in the workforce.

2. Determine your income.  Many financial planners feel that 60% to 70% of your pre retirement income will be more than enough for you to live financially happy during retirement.  This is because we have fewer expenses during retirement such as the costs of transportation for work, the cost of clothes for work and after-hours social gatherings with co-workers.  If you are debt free, mortgage free and plan to live a very simple retirement then 70% of your pre retirement income is more than enough – but nowadays how many people are completely debt free and mortgage free at retirement?

3. Find where your income will come from.  Planning your income is a huge part of planning for retirement.  I personally don’t want to rely on the government or my employer to provide my retirement income because that is just a risk that I don’t want to take.  I don’t think that anyone should plan for someone else to provide for them – we should take these income sources as an added bonus.  This is why it’s important to start planning for retirement at a young age – because you have more time to save and adjust to goals.

4. Keep up to date.  No one likes surprises, especially when it comes to their money.  If you are saving for retirement check your quarterly statement to keep up to date on your account balances.  Are your investments growing at a rate that you want? If not then maybe it’s time to make a change and rebalance your retirement portfolio. 

Photo by Asbestos Bill

Blinded by money: Are housewives the modern day prostitute?

housewife, marry for the money, prostitutes

Good morning Dinks. As you may remember I am really addicted to reality TV.  I particularly love The Real Housewives of…anything.  I know that this series gives women a bad reputation, but every week I tune into Bravo all the same to watch the shenanigans that the women are up to. I think that this show sets women back 100 years to the time when their only responsibility was to cook and clean and take care of business in the bedroom.

Would the love be the same if your spouse was broke?

Some of the ladies do actually have jobs, but there are two women who really get on my nerves because they are gold diggers at their finest.  In the opening credits of The Real Housewives of Orange Country Laurie says “I was rich, then I was poor and now I’m rich again.  Being rich is a lot easier.” This is basically saying I’m a gold digger and I only married for money even though she claims that her (fourth) husband (I think) is the man of her dreams.  If she met the same man and he was broke I’m not so sure that her love would be as strong.

Melissa from The Real Housewives of New Jersey is a very typical housewife whose only job is to workout, look good on her husband’s arm and be available for romantic rendezvous at her husband’s request.  When Melissa talks about her life and the mansion she lives in she always calls it our money, our bills and our home – but the truth is that none of it is hers, she didn’t work towards any of it.

Rumour has it that Melissa was a stripper before she married rich and finding a man with money was her way to an easy life.  It drives me crazy when women have no drive.  It drives me crazy when a woman’s only goal in life is to marry rich and let a man take care of her, but that’s just me.

While we are on the topic of the exchange of sex for money, isn’t that the definition of a prostitute?

When should you talk about money in your relationship?

I personally think that couples should talk about money as soon as the relationship gets serious.  If you talk about money too soon in the relationship you could find yourself being taken advantage of by someone who has their eyes on marrying rich.

Some people like to wine and dine their dates in order to impress them, but as a girl I have to say that none of that matters.  If you are a gentleman you should offer to pay for the first couple of dates because that is proper etiquette. However if you set a standard of always paying for everything on a date and if you set the standards too high then your spouse will always expect you to go above and beyond, this can become very costly.

Guys a little word of advice, if your date doesn’t start offering to pay for things after the third date then she is probably not the type of girl you are looking for; unless you are looking for the type of girl who wants everything handed to her, including your money.

Photo by lifeinpictures

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