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Author Archives: Kristina Tahnyak

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.

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Is This a Compliment or a Cop Out?

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job advice, career options, career tips

job advice, career options, career tips

Good Morning DINKS. Today we are discussing the possibility of making moves in our career. I personally have mixed feelings about my career at this point in my life.  I like working in personal finance, but I have been doing it since the year 2001. Although nothing is ever guaranteed in life, I am grateful to have a stable job that provides a regular income stream income.  However, at the same time I would like to explore new potential career opportunities, whether they are in the field of banking and personal finance or in a totally new field.  I am also playing with the idea of going back to school to study journalism with a minor in marketing.  Is it normal to always want more, or is it okay to stay where we are?

This past week I received an email from our district vice president stating that my branch manager submitted my name to be part of an advisory panel for the commission of the arts.  My branch manager never asked permission to or advised me that she wanted to submit my name for this advisory panel, so needless to say I was absolutely shocked when I received the email from our district vice president inviting me to the first panel meeting.

I am not sure how I feel about this situation, on one hand I sort of take it as a compliment that both my branch manager and my district vice president chose me to represent our bank on this advisory panel; and I do sort of feel obligated to accept the position because our district vice president is expecting me to participate.  However on the other hand the bank may totally be using me as a representative. I am one of the only people in my position who has a professional designation, and therefore I can see how the bank would want me to represent the company on an advisory panel with other professionals such as Notaries and Accountants. I am not sure if I should take this opportunity as a huge compliment or if it was just an easy cop out for my branch manager.

The fact that our branch manager gave my name to our district vice president makes me feel as if my bank has bigger plans for me, however at the same time I am incredibly insulted that they assumed I could participate in work related activities after work hours. Maybe my participation in this after work activity (even though it was forced) will lead to bigger and better things for me in the future, but the question I keep asking myself is do I see myself working for the same employer until my retirement?

How would you feel if this happened to you? An even better question is what would you do if you were in this situation? Maybe you would take it as a compliment and accept the position, or maybe you would feel it was an easy cop out and you would respectfully decline the offer.

Photo by sean

Bankrate is Hot For Finance!

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hot for wordsGood Morning DINKS. We recently received an email from our friends at Bankrate.com about a new partnership initiative that they recently created with Marina Orlova; naturally we couldn’t resist the opportunity to share this information with you.

Bankrate is a one stop shopping website for all of your personal finance needs. They provide comprehensive and objective information on current financial products, services, and rates. They also offer various financial tools such a mortgage payment calculators, loan and amortization calculators, as well as car loan calculators.  What is the best part of Bankrate.com? All of their tools, information and resources are free.

Bankrate is collaborating with Marina Orlova from HotForWords.com on a new video series of personal finance terms to help people learn about basic financial terminology. They explain (in simple terms) why personal finance is important or at least why it should be important to everyone.

Marina Orlova is a 29 year old educated woman from Russia. She has two degrees in philology which is the study of linguistics as well as a PhD.  “Hot For Words” is a fun way to expose personal finance to people who otherwise wouldn’t tune into it or care about it.  This is also a great way for people to learn more about the origin of financial terms.  Marina Orlova was named the Worlds Sexiest Geek by Wired.com and The Sexiest Philologist in the World by New Yorker Magazine. She is smart and beautiful, so why not watch and listen to what she has to say. You can find her informative videos on YouTube as well as on the Bankrate.com website.

Do you know…

The meaning of the word Salary? Salaries were originally paid in salt to Roman soldiers many years ago. Salt was a very valuable commodity and therefore it was also a very common form of payment. In the Latin language the word “Sal” meant salt, over the years it has evolved into “Salarium” which means an allowance that binds salt.  Eventually the word “Salarium” became the word “Salary” as we know it which now means a regular fixed payment for work done.

The meaning of the word Inflation? The word Inflation comes from the Latin word “Inflare” which literally means into and to blow. Eventually the word “Inflare” developed into the word “Inflationem” which meant a puffing up. By 1838 the previously used Latin origin words developed into the word “Inflation” that we use today. Inflation is caused when Governments put more money into circulation because when there is more money in circulation money loses its value. Inflation causes banks to adjust their interest rates and encourages consumers to invest their money instead of hoard their cash. When consumers invest their money it boosts the economy which boosts a countries growth as well as the value of our money.

The meaning of the word Asset? In the 11th century the Latin words “Ad” and “Satis” were combined to mean “to” and “enough”. They eventually formed the French word “Assez” which literally means sufficiency, satisfaction, or compensation.  The word “Assez” was used as a legal term meaning enough legal property to cover any outstanding debts. By the 1530’s this French word involved into the English word  “Astez” and by the 1580s it evolved into the word “Assets” that we commonly use today to describe any type of property that can be converted to cash money.

Check out Bankrate.com for more videos on the origins of commonly used financial terms.

What is Your Idea of a Discount?

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discount, frugal living, saving money

Good Morning DINKS. Yesterday I got an email in my inbox which offered a 15% discount on one item of my choice at a very popular lingerie store.  I am a girl who loves a good bargain, but I immediately deleted the email as I thought to myself “it’s only a 15% discount”.  I actually don’t particularly need any lingerie items at this current time, but I can always use a nice pair of pyjamas.  After I shut down my laptop I thought to myself I just deleted a coupon for 15% off an item from one of my favourite stores because the discount wasn’t big enough.  I wondered to myself…am I becoming a discount snob?

Even though 15% off of one item is definitely better than paying full price for the item, but since I don’t really need anything from the store they will have to give a better discount in order to entice me to make a purchase.  The store could definitely offer 15% off of my entire purchase as oppose to just 15% off of one item.  I also remember getting a coupon not so long ago for 30% off of my entire purchase from the same store, so I know that they can definitely offer a better discount.  I can’t willingly accept only 15% off of one item when I know that I can get a better discount if I wait for the next promotion or sale.

What do you think?

I very rarely pay full price for anything, but this is a habit that I have only recently picked up over the past three to four years.  Now I am so addicted to discounts that I will always make an excuse to buy and item if it is on sale or not buy an item if it is not on sale.  There are some items that I think are always overpriced such as toilet paper, toothpaste, and deodorant.  Therefore I always buy these items on sale. When these items do come on sale I try to buy several of them at one time so that I will never be forced to pay full price for them.  Since we use toilet paper, toothpaste, and deodorant on a daily basis there is no chance that the items will ever be spoiled or go to waste, and therefore I stock up.

I look for store discounts in the weekly flyers as well as in store promotions and coupons.  My boyfriend Nick subscribes to a website called Web Saver.  Each month he chooses several individual products in which he wants to receive a coupon, and then a few days later we receive an envelope in the mail that is full of coupons for our favourite items.  Web Saver allows us to choose from a variety of products such as shampoo, laundry detergent, razors, make-up, mouthwash, hair dye colour, and cleaning products.  Sometimes the coupons are buy one get one free, sometimes they are get $1.00 off of one item, or sometimes the coupons can be get $5.00 off when you buy 2 or more items of one product.  Web Saver is free to sign up and it gives users free monthly coupons for their favourite items.

Would You Consider Yourself to be a Discount Snob?

Photo by The Consumerist

Friday Roundup: Vacations, Vegetarians, and Break Ups

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Good Morning DINKS and Happy Friday.  This was my first week back to work after my eye surgery and I am working only progressively because working on a computer is definitely straining my eyes.  I keep telling myself that the pain is only temporary and it is for the greater good, but honestly I am getting really sick of living with pain really fast.  I am definitely looking forward to getting back into a regular routine.

I hope that you all had a great week.  We have collected some great posts for you this week from around the web, so enjoy and have a great weekend.

– Adaptu helps us prepare for the worst in the post “Financial Struggles in a Relationship – Part 2: The Breakup”

– Wise Bread  shares great gift ideas in the post “25 Awesome, Useful Gifts”

– Bargaineering helps us have fun in the post “How to Make Costly Weekend Activities More Affordable:

– Enemy of Debt gives us tips on how to save money while cooking in the post “Saving Money on Vegetarian Meals” P.S. I have been a vegetarian for almost 3 years.

– Go Banking Rates ensures we don’t get ripped off in the post “Are Vacation Packages Just a Ploy to Make You Spend More?”

Photo by Epsos

Happy 2 Year Anniversary DINKS!

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Good Morning DINKS and Happy Anniversary. Can you believe how quickly time flies by when we are busy dealing with life? I honestly can’t believe that we first met over two years ago and we have been interacting daily ever since. I hope you have all enjoyed reading DINKS Finance over the past two years as much as I have enjoyed writing for you.  I just wanted to personally take a moment to thank you all for welcoming me (and my boyfriend Nick) into the DINKS community; we definitely love being a part of it all.

Over the past two years DINKS Finance has made some great friends online who I am looking forward to meeting in person at FinCon12 in Denver Colorado this September.  The Financial Blogger Conference is being held from September 6th to 9th in Denver Colorado. There are several financial bloggers, financial authors, media enthusiasts and financial professionals who will be attending this year’s conference.  You can buy your ticket to FinCon12 as well as book your hotel room for the conference directly from The Financial Blogger Conference website.  I hope to see you all there.

I enjoy interacting with all of our readers at DINKS Finance because DINKS is a platform for us to share our personal knowledge, experiences, and stories.  I love that I am able to share my personal experiences from my daily work in the financial services industry, and I love that you are all open to sharing your own personal experiences as consumers. You have been with us over the last two years as we discussed everything from family matters, retirement planning, savings strategies, and paying off our debt here on DINKS Finance.  We have also had some fun together as we played Financial Truth or Dare and uncovered some of our personal financial secrets.

Last year for our 1 year anniversary we shared some of our favourite posts, and this year I would love to do it again.  Here are two of my favourite DINKS Finance posts from this past year.

Last July we published a post titled “Sovereign Citizens Don’t Pay Taxes or Parking Tickets”.  Needless to say we received a lot of comments from readers who argued both the advantages and disadvantages behind the idea of becoming a Sovereign Citizen.  The one aspect about this post that I really love is the fact that two different people can be in the exact same situation and see the benefit (or lack thereof) totally different.  Some Americans are very patriotic and firmly believe in the power of the American Government.  On the other hand some American’s absolutely believe in their right to be completely independent from their Government.

In February we published a post titled “Why Do You Save Money?” I love this post because saving money is something that we all may have in common; it’s extremely interesting to know the reasons and motivation behind why we all do it.

So once again DINK reader’s thank you for making these past 2 years memorable and I definitely look forward to the next 2 years.  If you love reading DINKS Finance and you want to keep in touch more often follow us on Twitter @dinks_finance

Photo by bayasaa

Saving For a Financially Stable Retirement

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retirement tips, retirement advice, saving for retirement

Good Morning DINKS. We are all working towards are our individual and couples financial goals.  Our financial goals may include buying a home, helping out our parents during their retirement, or saving for our own retirement. It is very important for couples to start saving now for our retirement because we don’t want to be working forever.

Over the last few years as I have helped the baby boomer generation retire, I am noticing a trend amongst the older generation ( actually I am noticing the lack of a trend).  Many baby boomer clients who are preparing for retirement do not have a lot of personal retirement savings. Many baby boomer clients are planning for retirement at the age of 60 or 65 because they are at the “normal” retirement age.  Our parents may be emotionally prepared to retire, but they may not be financially prepared.

The retirement savings mentality during our parent’s working days was a little bit different than our mentality today.  Saving for our retirement in a 401k or a Roth IRA was not as much of a priority back then as it is now.  The main source of our parents aka the baby boomers retirement income is coming from their employer pension plan.  It was very common for our parents to find a job right after high school and remain employed with the same company until retirement.  After 30 or 35 years of working with the same employer the accumulated value of an employer pension plan can definitely add up.

Nowadays it is very uncommon for someone to start and end their career with the same employer. How many full time employers have you worked for up to this point in your career?  Since my university graduation I have personally worked for 4 employers, but I don’t count 2 of them because I was employed for less than a year.

The concept of relying on someone else (aka our employer) for the financial sustainability of our retirement is a concept that I don’t fully grasp.  Of course when we are planning for retirement we rely on a variety of income sources to make up our retirement income such as old age security, accumulated assets, our employer pension plan, as well as our own personal retirement savings.  When we save in a personal retirement savings account we are ensuring a financially stable retirement.

During retirement DINKS can once again become a dual income no kids couple, but this time the dual income is a retirement income.  Retirement is supposed to be the ultimate financial goal; after all we work our entire lives in order to retire. Sometimes our retirement income is enough to sustain our pre retirement lifestyle, sometimes our retirement income is almost enough to maintain our desired lifestyle, and sometimes our retirement savings are just not enough to maintain our lifestyle.

If our retirement income is not enough to maintain our desired lifestyle, we will be forced to make some financial decisions.  At this point we have to decide if we are going to supplement our income (by continuing to work) in order to maintain our desired lifestyle, or if we are going to sacrifice our quality of life and accept the fact that we are going to have to live on less of an income than originally planned.

Photo by stevendepolo

Becoming a Financially Responsible Adult

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financial tips, financial advice, financially responsible

To say that my financial life has changed over the past few years is definitely an understatement.  Everything in my financial life from my income and my value of money to my personal spending and savings habits have changed over the last three years.

I used to use my credit cards to pay for all of my purchases and I was only making the minimum monthly payments. Due to my over spending and my bad money habits I found myself thousands of dollars in debt in my early twenties.  If that wasn’t bad enough I kept spending money and accumulating debt because I knew that I could afford to make the minimum monthly payments on my credit cards.  I used to go to work at the bank and tell my clients all about the dangers of misusing their credit cards; then I would come home and use a cash advance on my credit card to pay for my rent.

My income was able to sustain the minimum monthly payments but it was not enough to help pay down my actual credit card balances. Actually that is not 100% true, my income would have been enough to pay down my credit card balances if I managed my money better and spent a little less. I finally decided that enough was enough and I started looking for ways to supplement my income.  I figured that if I had more income I could afford to pay off my credit card balances.  This is true, but what really needed to change were my spending habits.

The danger of being financially irresponsible at a young age is that we can get in to a lot of debt very quickly, but it can take a very long time to pay off.  The advantage (if you can call it that) of being financial irresponsible at a young age is that we have time to overcome and learn from our mistakes.

I am not proud of my financial past, but I am not ashamed of it either. I have lived to learn from my mistakes and I am thankful that I made those mistakes at a young age.  If I had to think about myself making those same financial mistakes now at 31 years old I definitely panic because now the damage could be so overwhelming that I may not be able to fully overcome and recover from its effects.

I would definitely not want to be thousands of dollars in debt and trying to pay it off while I was supporting a family with children.  Learning from my past financial mistakes has made me a financially responsible and mature young adult. It has also inspired me to try and help other young people with their own personal money management and financial struggles. I know what education I was lacking when I was younger and I know what information I wish that I had. I am going to try to help other young people not make the same money mistakes that I did when I was younger.

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Should Money Always Be a Condition For Love?

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money tips, relationship advice, money talk

moneyWe can love someone unconditionally, but that may imply that we don’t care about having money as a couple.  Or we can love someone upon the condition that they have money, but does that may make us a bad person?

I don’t think that wanting to be in a financially stable relationship necessarily makes us a bad person; I honestly think that it makes us a smart person.  I am definitely against the concept of marrying only for money, but I also would also never enter into a relationship (even if I really loved him) if I was expected to be the sole financial provider.

What if money is a condition for love?

Relationships are about planning our life with someone who shares our life goals; this includes sharing our views on love as well as sharing our views on money.  The key to a successful relationship and a healthy financial life is communication. Every time that we enter into a new phase in our relationship whether it is moving in together for the first time, deciding to get married, or choosing to buy a home, we have to be open with our spouse about our feelings as well as our money management.




I am by no means a gold digger and for me personally emotions are far more important than money.  However as a Financial Professional I would be lying if I said that money was not a consideration in my relationship.  Actually it is not money as a tangible asset that is important, it is more about the stability that brings money and makes it stay such as smart money management skills and a steady employment income. I think that it would be very difficult to be in a relationship with someone who didn’t share similar views on money, because almost everything that we do in our lives involves money.

What if money is NOT a condition for love?

I would personally not be able to be in a relationship where I was the only one who planned for the future, saved for an emergency, and spent less money every month than I made.  It took me a long time to learn how to live within my means, and as a 31 year old I think that it would be difficult to live with someone while teaching them how to be financially responsible.

I would not enter into a relationship with someone who is financially unstable, but this is not to say that I would not work through financial struggles with my boyfriend Nick.  Since we grew up together we made the same money mistakes when we were younger and we have learned from our mistakes as we grew older.  If something happened and Nick lost his job or he entered into a mid life crisis and started spending money recklessly I would definitely try to help him work through the financial struggles.  The main reason that I would try to work through the financial struggles is because we already had love before the struggles began.  I don’t think that I could choose love over money if we were just starting out, but now that we have almost 13 years invested together I don’t think that I would let money ruin our love.

Photo by MoneyBlogNewz

Weekly Roundup: The Avengers, Retirement, and Lots of Sex

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Good Morning DINKS and Happy Friday.  This time last Friday the first big summer blockbuster movie was released in theatres.  How many DINKS have seen the movie The Avengers? I am admittedly not a huge super hero or comic book fan, but I honestly really love action movies.  I absolutely loved the movie Iron Man, although I did not see Thor or Captain America.  Mark Ruffalo plays The Incredible Hulk in the movie The Avengers, and I absolutely love Mark Ruffalo as an actor.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and I hope that you enjoy these great posts that we found around the web for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

– Clever Dude helps us shop for a new car in the post “10 Car Shopping Mistakes And How To Avoid Them”

– Budgets Are Sexy discusses what is right and what is wrong when it comes to money in the post “I Got Money That Doesn’t Belong to Me, BUT…”

– Adaptu helps couples cope with Income Inequality in the post “Financial Struggles in a Relationship”.  Find out how other couples manage their money when one spouse earns more money.

– Dough Roller wants to know how confident you are about retirement in the post “2012 Retirement Confidence Survey”

– Financial Samurai  emphasizes the need for financial responsibility in the post “Making Money Too Fast Destroys You And Everything Around You” I love this post and I personally often refer to this behaviour as “The Britney Spears Effect”.

– So Over Debt shares her wisdom with us in the post “Things I Learned on My Road Trip”

– 20 and Engaged wants to help spice up or love life in the post “Could You Have Sex for 7 Days Straight?

– Money Crashers compares our mortgage options in the post “15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgage – Comparison, Pros & Cons”

Photo by Dave Murr

Helping You Get a Promotion!

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job tips, getting a promotion, career advice

job tips, getting a promotion, career advice

Good Morning DINKS.  As a dual income no kids couple our first love may be our spouse and our second love may be our career.  Every day we go to work in hopes of succeeding in our career and we hope that our hard work is noticed by our boss.  I don’t know about your career field but in the world of finance praise are hard to come by. Everyone wants to claim the new best business practice as their own idea.

Many people like having the stability of a regular job, but for many of us having stability is not enough. We want to succeed in our career, we want to always strive for something more, we want to take on more responsibility, and we want to get a promotion in order to earn more money.

Here are some helpful tips to help you get noticed at your workplace and get a promotion:

1. Be Social. The key to getting a promotion is to be seen both in and outside of the office. Our personal contacts can help us make valuable professional connections making professional connections outside of our office can open the door for other opportunities outside of our current employment.  Being sociable and making professional connections can also help us develop contacts to bring in new business to our current workplace.

2. Work hard. Hard work may not always be praised, but it is usually noticed. If we excel at our normal workplace duties as well as any additional responsibilities our extra efforts should be noticed. We should also always make an effort to arrive on time in the morning, be on time for meetings, and never be the first to leave at night.  Late comers are always noticed.

3. Get Educated. Experience is definitely an important aspect of our performance when we want to get a promotion, but so is our education.  If we can prove that we have the book smarts to support the fact that we should be considered for a promotion then our case just got stronger.  Displaying the fact that we are trying to better ourselves and acquire a new skill set shows that we are taking the initiative to get a promotion.

4. Speak Up. Although our personal opinions are never wanted in the workplace (or at least in my workplace) we are encouraged to share our ideas for business process improvements.  Just be careful who you tell about your ideas because we don’t want our coworkers presenting our ideas as their own.  We should always speak up when our opinions and comments are positive, negativity is never wanted.  People only want to hear about what they are doing well, not about what things are not working

5. Join a Committee. Extra activities earn extra credit in the workplace. Joining a social committee, a workplace committee, or an employee committee helps get our name outside of our immediate workplace, it helps us make valuable contacts, and it helps us get noticed. Joining a committee also shows that we are willing to make an extra commitment to our employer, outside of our normal duties.

6. Be Proactive. If we want to get a promotion we have to be proactive. No one will hand us a promotion on a silver platter, we definitely have to work for it.  In order to let our boss know that we are interested in a promotion we should proactively ask to job shadow with someone who is currently working in the position that we want. We can ask for a one on one meeting with our boss to discuss our future career plans and to let our boss know that we are working towards a promotion.

Photo by Buddawiggi

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