Skip to main content

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.

Older posts
Newer posts

Friday Roundup: Book Winners, Increasing our Income & Working Towards Success

Posted on by 3

sunglassesGood Morning DINKS. Before we get started with our favorite links from around the web I just want to give a quick reminder to James Schipper, IB, & Bryan at Pinch That Penny that you are ALL WINNERS of our book giveaways.  James and IB please contact us by email so we can mail out your books. James Schipper is the winner of a copy of Dream Save Do by Warren Talbot.  IB and Bryan are both winners of a copy of Questions and Answers on Life Insurance by Tony Steuer.  Please contact us to claim your books.

We are currently looking for the next person to feature in our “A Day in the Life” series.  If you would like to be interviewed by DINKS Finance to have your job or lifestyle featured in our series please leave a comment below or contact us by email.

Here are our favorite posts from around the web this week.  Enjoy and Have a Great Weekend DINKS.

– Clever Dude talks about home ownership and paying off his mortgage in the post “$100,000 paid off on house…but decision time”

– The Digerati Life  makes personal finance simple in the post “Money 101: A Basic Financial Plan For Those Starting Out”

– Passive Income Now helps us increase our income in the post “New Income Sources to Consider Moving Forward”

– Enemy of Debt helps us overcome our financial failures in the post “Learning from Failure is a Stepping Stone to Success”

– So Over Debt helps us become debt free in the post “Getting Out of Debt is Like Using a Public Restroom”

– Adaptu wants us to join their discussion in the post “Have You Been in a Relationship Where One of You Lost a Job?”

———–
Photo by Vectorportal

Are You Currently Compromising?

Posted on by 2
ethics, compromise, relationship advice

Good Morning DINKS.  I am wondering if you married your perfect match.  Does a perfect match in a relationship really exist, or to a certain extent are we always compromising to be with our loved one?

Personal goals and money views are only two small aspects in every relationship, and they may be two aspects where people always compromise in a relationship.  If we don’t agree on these two aspects with our spouse we can still make our relationship work because there are many other important aspects to a good relationship.  If we throw in some trust, and commitment, with some communication, some love and even a little bit of compromise we could find ourselves in the perfect relationship.

Love and Money do go hand in hand but they are also total opposites. Love is something that we cannot control; money on the other hand is a tangible asset of which we can control both the inflow and outflow.  It is very rare that a couple shares the exact same personal and financial goals  when it comes to both love and money, this is why we have to be willing to make some compromises in order to be with our loved one. We may currently compromise because we are currently choosing love over money, but this may not always be the case.

It may be very hard to plan our life with someone who doesn’t share the same passions and life goals.  But if the love that we have for our spouse is stronger than the passion we have for our life goals then we can make small compromises to be with the one we love.  A disagreement on our personal goals can only impact our relationship as much as we let it, and our relationship can only impact our plan to achieve our personal goals as much as we let it. Compromise in a relationship only works if both people are compromising to some point in the relationship. A compromise is not necessarily a sacrifice, it is just an adjustment.

Love and money are usually a package deal because planning our life goals with someone also requires money management in our relationship as a couple.  Money can be a big source of stress in a relationship and sometimes if the money goes out of a relationship so does the love.  In a relationship we may have love without the money, or vice versa; but with a little planning and a little bit of compromise hopefully we will be lucky enough to have them both.

Life planning for couples becomes a compromise if we don’t always agree on how to manage our money, where to take our vacations, or when to start having a family.  One spouse may have to be willing to give up some things they love in order to be with the one they love.  If we are willing to make small compromises on our personal goals and life planning then we can keep the one we love and make a new plan for our lives together.

What are you currently compromising to be with your loved one?

Photo by Josh Wept

Spring Cleaning: What to Sell, What to Donate, and What to Throw Away

Posted on by 3
spring cleaning, cleaning the house, spring time

cleaning gloves

Welcome into March DINKS.  It’s time for the snow to stop and the sun to start shining.  It’s also time for spring cleaning.  Every year around this time people start to clean out their closets, their cupboards, their drawers, and their shelves.  Very often we see posts from financial bloggers about making extra money by selling our stuff and getting rid of our unwanted items.  Unfortunately not everything can be sold; but we don’t have to throw out all of our unsellable items, we can donate them to local charities and organizations.

If we are cleaning out our closets and getting rid of unwanted items we can donate some of our unsellable items in order to help those less fortunate people who are in need.  Think about the last time you cleaned out your home during your spring cleaning frenzy.  What items did you keep, which items did you sell, which items did you donate, and what did you throw away?

Sell Your Unwanted Items

Many people’s first instinct is to sell their unwanted items.  It’s definitely a great financial strategy to sell our unwanted items because we can get rid of our stuff and make some money at the same time.  Adam Baker  at Man vs. Debt has created an entire lifestyle from the belief that people should “Sell your crap, pay off your debt, and do what you love.” It’s true that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. So gather up your unused and unwanted items and sell them.  As a rule of thumb if we haven’t used an item in 6 months and we haven’t worn an article of clothing in the last 3 months (or during the last season) then we should get rid of them.

We can sell old Furniture, Toys, previously read Books, unwanted Home Decor, big ticket Electronics like Stereos, DVD Players, Telephones, TVs, and Appliances.  We can post our ads online to sell our unwanted and unused items or we can visit thrift shops and second hand stores to sell our items.

Which Items You Can Donate

There are several different organizations and charities who accept donations.  Last spring when I cleaned out my entire apartment (thanks to a few sleepless nights and a little bit of OCD) I had over 10 boxes of clothes, books, and computer equipment that I wanted to donate.  The problem that I kept running into was not that charities would not accept my items; the problem was that they would not come to pick up the boxes.  Charities such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Diabetes Society, as well as The Boys and Girls Club accept donations.

If you don’t have any unused items that you can donate to a charity or organization we can also donate food, and money, as well as our personal time.  If we have books that we want to donate we can visit our local library or our local daycare, school, or bookstore to donate unwanted books.

Throw This Stuff Away

Basically if you don’t want it and you can’t sell it or you can’t donate it then you have no choice but to throw it away.  I know that it can be hard to part with some of our beloved items, but we have to do so because we don’t want to become hoarders of unwanted items.

Whenever we throw away large amounts of items we have to make sure that they are clearly marked and packaged correctly. Some items (such as broken electronics) require special disposal.

Photo by Recycle This

Should I give my boyfriend a marriage ultimatum?

Posted on by 23
relationship advice, marriage ultimatum, marriage advice

boyfriendI am (sadly) not married to my long time boyfriend, but after 12 years together it really doesn’t make a difference for our joint finances.  Or maybe that is just something that I tell myself to make myself feel better about planning my life and sharing my money with a man who cannot (or does not) want to committ to me. I would really like to have a ring on my finger not necessarily with a wedding to follow, but just as a sign of commitment.

Whenever I talk to my boyfriend about planning our future life together his answer is always the same:

“You know that I love you and we already share money, an apartment, and (formerly) a car so what more do you need?”

I am not sure if I absolutely want to be married, but I do know that I want our relationship to progress and move forward. After 12 years I am tired (and bored) or living the same life.  Our relationship is such a routine; we have the same monthly bills and expenses and we live on a fixed monthly budget.  There is definitely no spice in our financial lives. We aren’t saving for a wedding and we aren’t saving for a honeymoon or a trip of any kind for that matter because my boyfriend doesn’t share my passion for travelling.

I need to have something new to look forward to; I need to have some kind of change in our financial relationship. Maybe this is how a long term relationship is supposed to be, but I have to be honest, I don’t really like it. I am not a huge fan of too much change and I do like the comfort of a routine, but I also get bored very easily.

I am currently at a crossroads in my relationship.  I am 31 years old and I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for 12 years.  He doesn’t want to get married and he doesn’t want to travel or to change cities.  I, on the other hand want to live in New York City, and I love to travel.  UP to now I have been travelling with family or friends, but I would love to travel with him. I am not sure if I should stay with him or if I should move on to pursue my own personal dreams alone.  I don’t really want to be by myself but at this point I kind of feel that my relationship is holding me back both personally and financially.

I think that I would like to get married someday and if I stay with my boyfriend that is not an option.  I am wondering if I should give him an ultimatum.  I have never been the type of girlfriend to make him chose between me and something else, and I don’t want to pressure him into doing something that he does not want to do. But I feel that if he really loved me he would make the change…for me.

For the past few months I have been making a pro and con list of the reasons why I should stay in my current relationship as well as a list of reasons why I should leave.  After many hours of contemplation this is what I have come up with:

Reasons to Stay

  • I Love Him
  • We Have Been Together a Long Time
  • I Love Him

Reasons to Leave

  • I want to live in a different city
  • I love to travel and I want to do it with my boyfriend
  • I will never be married

Have you been in a relationship like this before?

Photo by photologue usedfree

Friday Roundup: Mortgage Refinances, Couples Debt, & No Fee ATMs

Posted on by 3

Happy Friday DINKS.  It’s the last Friday in February and hopefully the warm weather will be upon us soon.  Even though I live in the (usually) snowy North East I admittedly hate the winter.  It is not the cold air that really bothers me so much as it is the wind, the grey skies, and the wet snow. But hopefully that will all be behind us soon.

We found some great posts around the web this week and we are happy to share them with you.  Enjoy and Have a Great Weekend!

– Yes I Am Cheap helps us save money in the post “Home-Based Cost Cutting Techniques”

– Money Crush helps us clean up our money mess in the post “Bringing Order to Financial Chaos”

– Passive Income Now reminds us to invest in our own money making projects with “My Challenge to Invest $100 Into Your Passive Income”

– Adaptu asks “When one of you in a relationship has more debt than the other, how do you manage it?” Join the discussion and help other couples cope with managing their debt.

– Go Banking Rates helps us find the perfect gift in the post “Gift Ideas for Procrastinators on a Budget”

– Money Reasons creates conflict amongst couples in the post “Blaming Your Credit Card Debt On Your Spouse”

– Free From Broke helps us save money while shopping in the post “Is a Used Car Really a Better Value?”

– The Simple Dollar  helps make our banking lives a little bit easier in the post “Get a Bank Card with a Very Large Fee-Free ATM Network”

– Dough Roller helps us refinance in the post “7 Obstacles to Refinancing  Your Mortgage (And How to Overcome Them)

Enjoy The Weekend!

Photo by Wonderlane

Finding a Balance in Your Investments

Posted on by 3
investment tips, stock market options, stock market advice

investment tips, stock market options, stock market advice
With the markets being unpredictable, it may be a good idea to have a balanced investment strategy to create stability and try to lower our daily changes in the value of our investments.

A Balanced Investment Strategy has both fixed income as well as equity in our Investment Portfolio.  This is especially an important strategy for long term investments such as our retirement portfolio.  I know that some of us are young and some of us have 30 or more years left until retirement and therefore (in theory) we should seek long term growth in our investment portfolio.  However, just because we are young and we have a long term time horizon does not mean that we have to take a lot of risk.

The Definition of a Balanced Investment Portfolio

Personally I am a Balanced Investor.  This means that I like to hold both fixed income as well as equity investments in my portfolio.  I hold both foreign and domestic fixed income in the form of Bonds and Mortgage Backed Securities.  I also hold domestic Equity such as Dividend Mutual Funds and Blue Chip Stocks.  This gives me a balanced mixture of investments to help protect me against large losses in any one particular sector.

The concept of a Balanced Portfolio gives us the perfect mixture of both low risk fixed income and high risk equity assets.  Therefore when one sector in our portfolio looses the other could gain, and our overall investment rate of return will be a lot lower than if we had only high risk equity investments in our portfolio.

The average rate of return in a Balanced Portfolio is approximately 6-8% per calendar year.  Over the long term when we factor in compound interest, steady lower rates of return are a lot better than large gains and losses.  Investors can choose to hand pick individual investments to create their Balanced Portfolio; or they can purchase a simplified Mutual Fund of Funds or a Balanced Mutual Fund which already buys preselected investments.

With a Balanced Fund There is No Need to Try and Time The Market

A Balanced Investment Portfolio allows us to directly take advantage of gains in the market; it also protects us against potential losses.  It is very difficult to try and purchase the perfect investments at the exact time when we try and time the market.  Very often the strategy of trying to time the market is more of a losing strategy than a winning one.  Buying a little bit of everything in a Balanced Investment Portfolio allows us to take full advantage of market gains for all types of investments, without the stress and time consumption of trying to time the market.

The asset allocation of a Balanced Portfolio can be a 50/50 split evenly between Fixed Income and Equity or it can weigh a little bit more or less each way.  I am actually what they call a Balanced Growth Investor, I like to have both Fixed Income and Equity investments in my portfolio with a little more emphasis on the Equity. I am investing for the long term so I definitely want long term growth in my portfolio from Equity Investments, but at the same time I also want the security and stability of investing in Fixed Income.  Fixed Income Investments provide a lower more constant rate of return, whereas Equity Investments are more volatile and experience larger fluctuations. I have a 65/35 split of Equity Investments and Fixed Income investments in my Retirement Portfolio which allows me to take advantage of market gains without the risk of losing everything.  It is the perfect balanced investment!

Photo by Puuikbeach

Why I Hate Money!

Posted on by 6
money advice, personal finance, financial advice

money advice, personal finance, financial advice
Good Morning DINKS.  There was a post not so long ago on the very popular and very fun financial blog Budgets Are Sexy that asked “Does America Hate Money?” This post got me thinking about my own opinion of money both as a person who lives on a budget as well as a financial service professional.  I am not sure if I love money because of what it is, or because of what it represents and what I can do with it.

So often we hear many financial bloggers talk about why they love money.  We blog about our love of making money, our love of spending money, and how much we love to save money.  As you may know I work in personal finance but the more and more I think about it, I am really starting to hate money.  This is weird because without the existence of money and without people who have money I wouldn’t have a job. But you know what they say…more money equals more problems.

There are a few problems that I have with money including causing inequality and possibly being the root of all evil.  But, the major problem that I have with money is the fact that it causes most of the conflict among everyone from couples to countries. We always want to have, save, or earn more money; and this is a problem.  Having money can lead to a taste of the good life and only bad things can happen when people get greedy.  The problem with having money is that it also leads to jealously and resentment.

Money is a tangible asset that is shared by everyone, it’s a common luxury.  I say that money is a luxury because unfortunately not everyone has the benefit of having money. Physical money can create an inequality amongst friends and family, but it can also create an inequality in our own personal finances. I always tell my clients that money is like a diet.  It’s easy to gain weight, but it’s difficult to lose. The same is true about building our net worth in the world of personal finance; it’s easy to get into debt, but it’s very difficult to get out of it.  We must work very hard to earn our money but we can spend it very easily.

The price to spend money is not the same as the cost to earn it. People have to work hard in order to earn our (hard earned) money, but we can spend it or lose it very easily. Unfortunately not everyone has the opportunity to earn a lot of money. When people in a society have different incomes we also have different classes (even though I hate that term) which creates an inequality amongst our population.  Very often people with less money are looked at as if they are not equal to people who have money, and this is just not true; it just means that those people did not have the same opportunities.

Throughout the days, months, and years money passes through the dirty hands of several different people.  This makes money a very dirty asset.  As a paranoid hypochondriac I don’t really like handling money, and as a person who lives on a budget I try not to use it as a form of payment very often.  I don’t like the fact that cash money (as a form of payment or as an asset exchange) is untraceable.  If I have $100 I can spend it without a trace, it’s like it never existed and that to me is terrifying.

Do You Love or Hate Money?

Photo by Walt Stoneburner

Would You Pay Money to Meet Your Spouse?

Posted on by 3
online dating, speed dating, online romance

keyboardGood Morning DINKS.  Online dating is the new nightclub.  Instead of getting all dressed up, going out all night, and spending a lot of money on drinks to meet our potential future spouse people are now staying in, and spending money on signing up for online dating services in the comfort of our own pyjamas.

Several of my friends have tried online dating; a couple of them are steadily dating their matches, and one of my friends just moved in with the man of her dreams.  So, my question to you DINKS is Would You Pay to Find Love?

Online Dating to Help Find our Soul Mate

If we are single and looking for the Price or Princess of our dreams in one way or another we are always spending money to find love.  Maybe we spend money on drinks when we go out dancing, maybe we spend money on a new outfit to go out to dinner, or maybe we spend money to sign up for an online dating service. But either way we are always spending money to attract the opposite sex in hopes of finding love.

I admit that there is something comforting about knowing that our perfect match is out there somewhere in cyberspace just waiting to find us, fall in love, and live happily ever after.  I personally couldn’t sign up for online dating because I honestly don’t have the patience to fill out a long questionnaire about myself.  Although answering a bunch of dumb questions from a drunk guy at a bar is also kind of annoying. So I am not sure which one is better, I guess it’s the lesser of two evils (for me).  If I was single I would much rather prefer to find my soul mate from the comfort of my own home instead of being out at a nightclub and extremely uncomfortable in high heels.

My Online Dating Profile

I like the fact that online dating doesn’t limit us to finding our soul mate in our own geographical area; this definitely gives us a wider opportunity to meet more potential mates.  If I was dating this would be very important for me because then I could fall in love with an American and get my immigration papers to move to New York City.  I am almost certain that my ultimate soul mate lives in New York City because I just know that I am destined to live in New York. Hey, a girl can dream…right?

If you were single and on the dating scene what would your online dating profile say about you? Mine would say 30 something girl with brown hair and green eyes looking for a man in his 30’s who likes watching movies, loves to travel, and is employed full time. Men over 40 or men with kids need not respond!

What would your online dating profile say about you?

Photo by espen

Friday Roundup: Interest Rates, Homes, Fiverr, and Your Net Worth

Posted on by 3

Happy Friday DINKS.  I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day.  Let’s start today off on the right foot. Let us say Congratulations to James Schipper, IB, & Bryan at Pinch That Penny…You are ALL WINNERS of our book giveaways.  Please contact us by email so we can put you in contact with the authors or get your mailing address.

There were tons of great posts around the web this week and we are very happy to share some of our favourite posts with you.

If you have a favourite post (whether it’s yours or someone else’s) be sure to drop us a line by email or on Twitter and we will be happy to feature it in our next Friday Roundup.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone!

– Adaptu helps couples manage their joint assets, their investments, and their checking accounts in the post “Easy Ways for Couples To Save Money Together”

– Frugal Dad wonders how safe we are online in the post “The Wild, Wild Web: Wrestling Online Privacy”

– Budgets Are Sexy discusses the advantages and disadvantages of current interest rates in the post “Are You Happy with The Low Interest Rates Right Now?”

– Go Banking Rates shares romantic stories in the post “Valentine’s Day Proposal Ideas: Budget-Friendly to Extravagant Experiences” Please tell us about your Proposal DINKS.  We definitely want to hear how you popped the question!

– Blonde & Balanced helps homeowners to be buy their first home “How To Make A Lowball Offer On A House”

– Financial Samurai talks about his life at the office and the downfall of being an overachiever in the post “The Upside Of Being Average In The Workplace”

– Pinch That Penny shares his opinion on a helpful service that you may not know about in the post “Some Further Thoughts on Fiverr”

– Financial Uproar helps readers get out of the red and into the black in the post “How To Increase Your Net Worth – Without Spending A Dime”

Photo by Andy Roberts

Why I Chose TD Bank

Posted on by 8
choosing a bank, banking advice, choosing the right bank

TD Bank Canada Trust wrist band

Good Morning DINKS.  Just before the holidays I travelled to New York City on a business trip, one of my orders of business was to open a US Checking Account.  Even though I live in Canada I have a “regular” income stream from the US, and it is just easier to have a US Checking Account for both accounting as well as money management purposes.  The exchange rate between Canadian and US currency is a little bit turbulent.  It’s a little bit inconvenient and unprofitable to receive US currency, exchange it into Canadian currency, and then exchange it once again into US currency when I travel.  So for simplicity reasons I decided to open a US Bank Account with TD Bank.

TD Bank is America’s Most Convenient Bank

After a few days of researching different banks in the US,  I narrowed down my bank choice to Bank of America, Chase Bank, and TD Bank.  I finally decided to open a US checking account with TD Bank. My TD Bank branch is located on Wall Street in New York City.  The Customer Service Representative (named Vanessa) who opened my checking account was friendly and very helpful.  She explained all of the advantages and benefits of TD Bank Checking Accounts, Mobile Banking Services, as well as TD Bank Debit Visa Cards.

TD Bank is definitely America’s Most Convenient Bank with daily branch opening hours starting at 7:30 am and finishing on some days as late as 8:00 pm.  I loved the fact that TD Bank is the American partner of the Canadian bank TD Canada Trust, this allows me to transfer money from my Canadian Bank Account to my TD Bank Checking Account without any fees.  This was a major reason why I opened my US Checking Account with TD Bank because no other bank offers this service.

The monthly TD Bank Checking Account fees were comparable with the fees of both Bank of America and Chase Bank, but the minimum monthly balances to have the monthly fees waived are a lot lower at TD Bank.  I opened a TD Convenience Checking Account which allows us to receive free unlimited monthly transactions as well as mobile banking and bill payments with a minimum average  daily balance of only $100.  TD Bank also offers The Penny Arcade which allows clients to have their lose change counted and deposited into their bank account.

Banking in Canada vs. Banking in the US

The first major difference between banking in Canada and banking in the US is the Debit Visa Card, we don’t have this banking feature in Canada.  We have debit cards which use the Interac system where our withdrawals are linked directly to our bank account balances, and we have Visa Credit Cards which we use and then must repay; however we don’t have the convenience of a Visa with the payments being linked directly to our bank accounts.  I absolutely love this feature of American banking.  My only question is, does having a US Debit Visa card establish an American Credit Bureau for me?

TD Bank online banking is very straight forward and user friendly, once you are logged in.  The process to apply for online banking was a little bit complicated.  In Canada we just have to register our debit card and create a password, and we receive instant access to online banking.  With TD Bank US I had to apply for online banking and after filling out an application I was approved within 48 hours.

Overall I enjoyed my experience with TD Bank and I will definitely recommend their services to anyone who is looking for a new bank.  If you are in New York City I recommend that you visit the Wall Street branch, ask for Vanessa!

(Photo by stephenccwu)

Older posts
Newer posts

Boost Your Brand – Advertise with Us!

Advertise With Us

You cannot copy content of this page