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.
Happy Friday Dinks. I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day yesterday. My boyfriend Nick and I stayed in and had a low key night with good food, wine and a little bit of chocolate. I love the idea of Valentine’s Day but I hate going out in the cold in February, so we opt to stay in.
How did you spend your Valentine’s Day?
Enjoy these giveaways and great posts from around the web! Have a great weekend Dinks.
Giveaways:
Take Our Stuff– Grab This Valentine’s Date Package For One
Some of us are newly married dink couples, some of us are long time married dink veterans and some of us (like me) are happily unmarried but dinking it out together – or according to my grandmother living in sin. Regardless of your relationship status it’s almost Valentine’s Day and that means it’s time to show your affection for the one you love.
My boyfriend Nick and I have a Valentine’s Day tradition of staying in and ordering food from our favourite restaurant. However last year my boyfriend went and picked up dinner so it was already on the table when I got home from work, that was a nice little surprise.
If you are a new dink couple you may be feeling the pressure of having to plan the perfect evening and if you are a veteran dink couple you may be struggling to find creative ways to impress your sweetheart on this special day. So let me ask you, how will you be spending Valentine’s Day this year?
People can spend money on flowers any day of the year
I would love to know what the personal finance community thinks about “hallmark holidays”. These are holidays that do not celebrate a religious day on the calendar such as Christmas and Easter or a special personal milestone such as a wedding or a birthday. “Hallmark holidays” may just be an excuse for people to spend money because of pressure instead of celebration.
Is an “I Love You” card on Valentine’s Day enough of a romantic gesture for the one you love, or do you have to go all out with chocolates, flowers and dinner? I don’t feel that Valentine’s Day is deal-breaker in a relationship, but maybe I am saying that because I have been in the same relationship for 13 years. If you do go all out for your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day can’t you also spend that money on your loved one any time of the year?
Valentine’s Day is as special as you make it
There is no rule book that says you have to paint your nails red on Valentine’s Day and spend a ton of money on sexy lingerie in order for you to have a perfect day with your sweetheart. Valentine’s Day is what you make it – everyone has their own traditions and that is what makes it special.
It is cold up north in February and I personally do not want to get all dressed up in a skirt and heels just to go out for dinner. I much prefer to stay inside for Valentine’s Day and my boyfriend knows that; this is what makes Valentine’s Day (and my boyfriend) so special.
We know that Dinks would choose love over money when it comes to our careers, but do we choose money over love when it comes to spending money on gifts that are only good for a day?
Do you ever feel pressure to make Valentine’s Day perfect?
Do you want to know how the other half lives? Well, apparently they live exactly the same way we do. MSN recently published a list of 15 frugal billionaires and what I want to know is are they billionaires because they are frugal or are they frugal because they are afraid to lose their fortune?
Warren Buffet is worth $46 billion and he has lived in the same home for 50 years. Warren Buffet doesn’t live in sunny LA or fast paced NYC he still lives in Omaha, Nebraska. Many personal finance bloggers refer to Warren Buffet’s investing style, so he must be doing something right. But if you had $46 billion wouldn’t you want to spend some of the money, after all what are you saving for?
Mark Zuckerberg is worth $9.4 billion and he drives an Acura. Zuckerberg recently got married in his backyard and still eats at McDonalds. No Prada and Gucci for this billionaire, Zuckerberg prefers to dress in t-shirts and hoodies and he still goes to work every single day.
Ingvar Kamprad is worth $3 billion and his home is furnished with IKEA furniture which seems fitting because he is the founder of the Swiss furniture store. Kamprad drives an old Volvo and always flies economy class when he travels.
Christy Walton is worth $27.9 billion since inherited the Walmart fortune when her husband passed away. She chose not to sell her family home; instead she donated it to a community foundation.
Chuck Feeney is currently worth only $2 million (did I really just write that) because he donated over $4 billion of his fortune to disadvantaged children. Feeney founded the Duty Free Shop and he prides himself on his personal motto to “work hard, not get rich”.
Azim Premji is worth $12.2 billion but the technology giant counts toilet paper rolls. He demands that employees shut off all lights when they leave a room in their headquarters. There is no Lincoln Town Car or Cadillac Escalade for this billionaire; he rides a rickshaw when he wants to get around Bangalore.
David Cheriton is worth $1.3 billion but he didn’t earn it by working hard, Cheriton is a Stanford professor who made his fortune from investing in Google shares. He does not believe in living like a billionaire and his most recent splurge was on a 2012 Honda Odyssey.
Carlos Slim Helu is worth $69 billion thanks to his job as CEO of Telmex. Slim Helu has lived in the same home for 30 years and he still drives himself to work every day.
Amancio Ortega is worth $57.5 thanks to his sense of personal style. The founder of the Zara clothing chain eats lunch every day in the office cafeteria with his employees. He drives an Audi and lives in an apartment with his wife.
Tony Hsieh is worth almost $1 billion. He is the CEO of Zappos shoes and admittedly cares more about being around people who care about him than he does making money. Hsieh recently donated $350 million of his own money to help transform downtown Las Vegas into a tech hub.
If you were a billionaire would you still be frugal with your money?
Good morning Dinks. I am 32 years old, I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for 13 years, we both have full time jobs and we still rent our apartment. Now that the marriage questions and the questions about when we are going to have kids have worn off the one thing that all of our friends, family and coworkers want to know is why don’t we buy a house?
The answer to that question is very simple; we are irresponsible and total cowards. My boyfriend and I still rent an apartment, but it’s not from the lack of trying to buy a house. We have actually made two offers on two different condos and we also even reserved a condo unit once from developer for a new condo construction. However, all three times my boyfriend and I pulled out of our purchase agreements because we just couldn’t make the leap and buy a house.
Rental living is carefree living and I love it
Even though my boyfriend and I are both in our 30s we still live like we are students…just on a better budget. It’s no secret that I have had my share of financial struggles in the past, but I have overcome them and definitely learned from my mistakes. I no longer spend money carelessly, but I do spend money on personal items, home furnishings and life experiences that are worth the cost. That is my secret to achieving financial freedom and personal happiness – when I spend money I always make sure that the cost is worth it.
Renting an apartment is completely care free, if my towel bar breaks or my bathroom sink clogs all I have to do is call the rental office and they will send over the superintendent to fix any problem. This, in my opinion, is a convenience that is worth the cost of renting an apartment.
Maybe it’s time to grow up and buy a house
My parents seem to think that my boyfriend Nick and I haven’t bought a house because we are both suffering from the Peter Pan syndrome. Maybe that is true, and if it is, what’s wrong with not wanting the responsibility of paying a mortgage, paying utilities and having to deal with all of the extra responsibilities (and costs) that come with owning a home.
Buying a big home means that we will just have more shelves to dust and more floors to sweep. I don’t have a lot of free time as it is, so spending the little time that I have cleaning a big home is not appealing to me at all.
Learning from my past financial mistakes
I purchased my car before I was ready to deal with the monthly payments and all of the extra expenses that come with owning a car such as the insurance premiums, parking costs and the price of gas. Maybe I am afraid to buy a house because I fear that the same thing will happen again. I have always paid one monthly bill for my housing in the form of rent and I am not sure if I am ready to juggle mortgage payments, condo fees and heating costs into my monthly budget. If I can’t handle the financial responsibility of buying a home I can’t just sell it like I did with my car, the financial damage could create a whole new financial mess for me and I am just not ready for that.
Happy Friday Dinks. Since the holiday season I have been in a “baking mood”. I am not a super great cook or an accomplished baker, but I am trying and I am saving a lot of money along the way. Over the past few months I have made cupcakes from a kit that I bought at the grocery store and apple cinnamon bread from a recipe that I found online; a slice of sweet bread is the perfect midmorning snack at work and it is a lot cheaper than buying a bagel and coffee from Starbucks. I also shared a banana bread recipe with the American Cancer Society as a part of their “a healthier table” series.
The apple cinnamon bread and the banana bread were both delicious and easy enough to make that even a beginner (like me) can master it. The cupcakes however were completely another story. The kit made 24 cupcakes and let me tell you that 24 cupcakes are a lot of dessert for two people to eat. The icing (although delicious) was very messy.
I recently made blueberry muffins with a recipe from Bethenny Frankel, the creator of the Skinnygirl cocktail, and they were delicious. The recipe makes 6-8 cupcakes which is the perfect amount of snacks for a couple – they definitely won’t go to waste. If you are in a baking mood I definitely suggest that you check them out.
While you are waiting for your baked goods to be ready check out these great posts from our friends in the personal finance world. Enjoy and have a great weekend.
– Savvy Sugar – 26 Affordable Valentine’s Gifts For Him (I wanted to leave a comment on this post but you have to register. If people want readers to comment they have to make it easy for us)
Good morning Dinks. This week I started preparing my tax information to take to my accountant and I was pleasantly surprised with my habits in 2012. I prepare as much information as I can before I visit my accountant because (although he is a great guy) he charges by the hour.
I track all of my income and spending because I can deduct a lot of my expenses against my freelance income, I also track my spending throughout the year because I like to know where my money is going. If I didn’t track my spending for income tax purposes I honestly think that I would still do it.
Your income taxes can say a lot about your lifestyle
Tracking your income and expenses can say a lot about your lifestyle. Income taxes are a glimpse into someone’s personal and financial life; think about what your income taxes say about you. Do you eat out a lot? Did you have medical expenses? How do you save and invest your money? All of these questions can be answered by tracking your income and expenses and filing your income taxes. A few years ago (after the market crash) my income was substantially lower than it was in previous years and my accountant asked me “What happened this year, you decided not to work?”
My expenses increased and my income doubled
In 2012 my income from freelance writing work doubled from the year before and that is good news; but it also means that I worked twice as hard. I definitely enjoyed the fruits of my labour in 2012. I took several vacations during the year, mostly for blogging conferences and workshops, but nevertheless I travelled quite a bit. This is the great thing about having a secondary income, you can spend it on yourself and it doesn’t affect your regular living expenses.
Working twice as much means less time with my friends and with my boyfriend, it also means less sleep. I am definitely proud of my accomplishments last year but I am not sure they are going to be the same in 2013.
My habits will change in 2013
Last year I booked as many freelance jobs as I could, mostly because I wanted to build my portfolio and partly because I wanted to make money so that I could support my travel habit. Making more money means that we have more money to spend, but if we don’t need money to spend (or save) should we still be working as much?
This year I decided to cut down on my personal and business travelling, this year I am going to save as much of my secondary income as I can. I will of course still have to pay for the basic expenses that are related to my freelance work such as website maintenance, advertising and office supplies, but I am definitely not going to travel as much as I did last year. When you travel only the actual travel expenses (i.e. flight and hotel accommodations) are tax deductible, all other expenses are just money that has been spent. I love travelling so we will have to see how this turns out.
Sometimes doing “the right thing” can be really hard, especially when it comes to your finances. The human brain isn’t always set up in a way that rewards long-term planning. In fact, it’s often the opposite: our primal instincts tell us to go for instant gratification, consequences be damned.
One only needs to take a stroll around the mall to see just how sophisticated companies are at playing to our psychological weaknesses and just how effective those appeals are.
So how can we shift our mindset to favor the long-term goals and encourage ourselves to do “the right thing”? By putting constraints on our own behavior. What do I mean by that? I mean that you need to put pressure on yourself by limiting or constraining your choices in some way. This is not altogether different than how Steve Jobs used to put constraints on his teams at Apple in order to produce a desired outcome.
Here are some ways you can use constraints to shape your behavior:
Freeze your credit cards
You might think it’s crazy, but this actually works. If you have a problem with spending too much and the credit card is the main culprit, what you can do is fill up a paper or plastic cup with water, then drop your credit card in it and put it in the freezer. The reason this works is it places a constraint on your behavior – in this case, a physical constraint that makes it more arduous to spend money you don’t have.
If you were to get tempted to buy something, you would have to go to the freezer, take out the frozen block of ice covering your credit card, and wait for it to thaw or attempt to break it apart – which would be time consuming and/or messy. Instead, you would likely have time to ‘cool off’ and realize that the purchase you wanted to make was not necessary, therefore helping you reach your goal of spending less!
Deposit to savings automatically
Let’s say your goal is to start saving money for an emergency fund, a retirement fund, or a down payment for a house. Whatever your goal is, it can be hard to have the perseverance to make substantial deposits into savings every month. Why? Because most people wait until the end of the month to make their deposits and that leaves open the possibility of the money getting spent during the month.
Instead, you should set up a direct deposit from your paycheck to your savings/retirement account. That way, the money goes in automatically and constrains your behavior for the rest of the month (instead of vice versa). You won’t be able to spend the money because it will already be gone and safely tucked away where it is supposed to be.
Tell everyone you will get out of debt
Another way to constrain yourself is to make your commitments public. If you tell your friends and family that you are going to pay off your debt (or save up $15,000, or run a marathon) you will feel a much greater need to achieve the goal. That’s because, when your goal only exists in your own head, it is too easy to justify reasons why you’re not getting there and back down from your plan. “Oh, I would have paid that extra student loan payment, but I had to attend that concert this month,” you tell yourself. Once your loved ones are on board, you won’t be able to get away with easy excuses like that. And that’s a good thing!
Create very specific deadlines
Similarly, you should also set up deadlines to constrain yourself. In other words, “I will get out of debt” can be improved to “I will get out of debt in 2013.” By adding a deadline you are putting that time constraint on yourself that will motivate you to take the necessary steps to achieve your goal. Once you believe that you only have 11 months to get out of debt, there will be more urgency and you will focus on taking action.
In combination with the tricks above, this can make your willpower quite strong. If you have put your credit card in ice (constraining your spending), committed yourself to paying off all debt in 2013 (constraining your timeline), and told all of your friends and family about this goal (constraining your ability to easily back out) then there’s a very good chance you will have a laser focus on your goal – and probably achieve it!
These are some of the most powerful tips we share with our readers when we explain how to get out of debt. We hope that you will benefit from them! Let us know in the comments if you have tried any of these tricks before!
————– Benjamin Feldman is a personal finance expert at ReadyForZero, a startup company that is building tools to help people get out of debt by giving them a plan and motivating them with information – like how much interest they’re paying per day. Follow him at @BWFeldman and read more of his work at the ReadyForZero blog.
Ah if it were only that simple. If only we could have a list of financial mistakes not to make and a list of things to do to fix a financial crisis. I have made my share of financial mistakes from overspending to accumulating unnecessary debt to not living on a budget. Sometimes I wish that I didn’t make any financial mistakes when I was younger because it has caused me a lot of grief over the past few years. Sometimes I wish that I learned to be financially responsible when I was a teenager and then I wouldn’t have been in debt as an adult.
However I honestly believe that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger as long as we learn from our mistakes. I know that financial struggles seem to be the end of the world as we know it when they are happening, but trust me once you overcome them you will be a better person.
MSN recently published a financial meltdown survival guide for 2013 and I would love to know what you think. I don’t think that we can ever be fully prepared for the unexpected and I do think that it’s ok to give into temptation some times (like when you are on vacation). However as a financial planner and a girl who is a little OCD I also believe that we should try to be as organized as possible and as prepared as we can for any of life’s financial curve balls.
Survive 2013 and get your money right with these tips:
1. Face your money problems. This is absolutely true, we can’t face the problem if we don’t admit there is a problem (um hello, raging alcoholic step mother anyone?). We will never better ourselves if we ignore our less desirable qualities. I have done this with my personal finances and now I am doing it with my health.
2. End the money blame game in your relationship. I used to be notorious for blaming other people when it came to my own defeats, but that is all in the past. No one is perfect but it is easier to fix a problem when we own up to it. Your financial struggles are not your fault and they are not your spouse’s problem – they are both of your responsibilities. Your relationship will be a lot better if you stop blaming each other and work on improving your finances together.
3. Prioritize your problems. I am a big believer in lists. You can’t accomplish anything if you don’t know what has to get done. Make a detailed plan with dates and goals, and then check in on your progress regularly to keep motivated and stay on track.
4. Simplify your finances and your life. I find that people always try to complicate their lives when they don’t need to. Why should we make something more difficult when it can be very simple? Find a money management system that works for you but the system should also be time efficient.
5. Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses. So often we see young adult’s spending money on a lavish lifestyle that they can’t afford just so they can look good in the eyes of their friends. This is a huge financial no-no, you friends may be around when you are spending money but they for sure won’t be around when you have to pay off the debt.
Good morning Dinks and happy Friday. I am happy to say that the cold front is finally over in the north east and the minus 43 degrees (with the windshield factor) is way behind us. You know you live in the cold when you thank nature when it’s only minus 13 degrees.
It’s February 1st and thank goodness that in only 28 days the weather will start to get warmer, or at least I’m hoping it will. Valentine’s Day is only a few weeks away, what are your plans with your sweetheart?
My boyfriend Nick and I usually stay in for Valentine’s Day and order food from our favourite restaurant. I personally don’t see the point in getting all dressed up and going out in the cold to go out for an expensive dinner at an overcrowded restaurant when I can just stay warm in my own home. However if I lived in a warmer climate I would probably love going out for dinner.
Have a great weekend and enjoy these posts from our friends around the web:
– Money Crashers– 5 Types of Property Ownership – Which Is Best for You?
A lot of people don’t the story that I am about to share with you, actually I haven’t even announced it on my personal blog but lately I have been dealing with some personal issues. As you may know I was very unhappy at my previous job working as a financial planner in a bank branch. I didn’t hate the job, actually I love financial planning, I just hated all of the office politics and sales pressure that comes with working in a bank.
I didn’t want to work in a bank branch anymore because I wanted to be a writer. I went back to school and worked my butt off finding freelance work so that I could build my technical knowledge along with my writing portfolio.
Weighing the Pros and Cons
Like many people do, when I was searching for a new job I applied to several different positions hoping to get a call back from at least one. I ended up getting a call back from two different companies and I interviewed for two very different (but both communications) positions. The first position was with a well established international finance company and the second position was with the employer that I was already working for. The first position was in the city where I live (Montreal) and the second position was in a city near my hometown (Toronto).
I have been wanting to move back to Toronto for many years but I have just never made the move because my boyfriend of 13 years doesn’t want to go. Actually he doesn’t want to go anywhere (not even New York City) he wants to stay put because he likes it here.
Why I couldn’t tell my family
To make a long story short I was offered both positions and I chose to leave my former employer to start fresh in a new position, in a new department and at a new company. I couldn’t tell my family about my dilemma or my decision because they just wouldn’t understand. They didn’t agree with my decision to move away from home (I am the only family member to ever leave) over a decade ago, they don’t understand why I still live here and they definitely wouldn’t understand my choice not to come back. I guess this is why I am sharing my story here – because you will give me an unbiased opinion on the situation.
In order for me to leave my long time boyfriend and start my entire life over at 32 years old I told myself that the money would have to be worth it, but it wasn’t. I am making a little bit more money at the job that I accepted and I didn’t have to turn my entire life upside down. This time I chose love over money, but next time maybe I won’t. Is that a bad decision?
I know three different people who moved away from their marriage for a new job, I always wondered if they were really in love and happy to begin with. Maybe some people prioritize money over love so when a great career opportunity comes along they can’t turn it down. Or maybe people who leave their marriage for a new career were never really happy with their spouse and they use a new career opportunity as a way out.
What do you think – would you chose money over love if a profitable career opportunity presented itself?
About Kristina Tahnyak
