Canadian Financial Blogs

Financial Blogs In Canada

First Published: June 7, 2009 ADawnJournal.com

It is time to present a list of Canadian Financial Blogs for my readers. There are many (probably too many) blogs out there these days—not all of them worth mentioning. In search of blogs that can be mentioned here, I have set some standard criteria to follow. Each blog needs to go through these filters, thus providing you with only quality writing and a pleasant reading experience.

Here are the filters for the ADJ litmus test:

·   The blog must have its own domain name. Free hosted blogs are simply not professional and lose credibility. You can’t simply expect to be taken seriously if you are on a free hosted site.

·   The blog must be three months old.

·   The blog must not have too much time lags between posts.

·   The blog must present original, vibrant, timely and timeless content.

·   I am featuring only English language and family-friendly blogs.

·   Blogs with low Google PageRank may not be approved but will be given special consideration to be listed.

This post is going to be updated from time to time to add dynamic, promising new blogs. If you come across a blog that you would like me to add, send me an email via my contact page or write a comment underneath this post.

I will be using sites’ own descriptions to describe these sites. For example, A Dawn Journal would appear as: A Dawn Journal – A blog on Personal Finance, Investing, Entrepreneurship, and More. Sites will be listed in alphabetical order – this puts A Dawn Journal on the top spot. Let’s begin our list.

Canadian Financial Blogs – The List

A Dawn Journal – A blog on Personal Finance, Investing, Entrepreneurship, and More.

Canadian Capitalist – A personal finance blog to help Canadians navigate their way through the alphabet soup of financial acronyms: RRSPs, RESPs, TFSAs, mutual funds and ETFs

Canadian Personal Finance Blog – Personal Finances and Consumer Concerns, essays, stories, examples and how to articles with a distinctly Canadian Point of View

Canada Personal Finance Website – A personal finance website written in simple and understandable terms from a Canadian perspective.

Four Pillars – Investing and personal finance

The Dividend Guy – One Guy’s Journey to Passive Income Through Dividend Investing

The Financial Blogger – Got Money?

Thicken My Wallet – Everything to do with thickening your wallet

Million Dollar Journey – The Making of a Millionaire – A Canadian Personal Finance Blog. Daily topics include The Smith Manoeuvre, RRSP, Canadian discount brokerages, Questrade, early retirement and book reviews

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative – A mainly Canadian economics blog

Where Does All My Money Go – Where Does All My Money Go

NB – I will be adding more sites slowly

Toronto Stock Exchange Has Launched A New Portal Called TMX Money

TSX Launches TMX

First Published: June 15, 2009 ADawnJournal.com

Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) has launched its new financial portal “TMX Money.” Visitors will be able to access a series of new features and investment research tools to make informed investment decisions.

Some of these tools are:

– Stock screener
– Financial calculators
– Stock Market glossary
– Customizable ticker
– Business news
– Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) portal
– And much more

I like ETF portal the most. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are growing in popularity and opening up new investment opportunities and possibilities. I encourage you to check out TMX Money’s ETF section as it provides helpful ETF information. Visit TMX Money for more information.

Personal Finance and Kids

Kids Need to be Taught About Money

First Published: June 23, 2009 ADawnJournal.com

The Alberta Finance Minister has said that both parents and the government need to take a firm hand in teaching kids how to be financially responsible now and in the future. With the current global financial situation having some bad news for everyone, even among the growing number of positive signs, it is now viewed as absolutely essential that sound financial planning is given the emphasis it requires at all levels, rather than leaving children to find out about the intricacies of the subject first-hand when they leave college and start looking for work. The minister, Iris Evans, said that her own children – all of whom are now grown up – have succeeded in life because she made sure to teach them about money.

Although not everyone would agree with the entirety of the Minister’s speech – which made great play of the importance of each family having at least one stay-at-home parent – the message of teaching children about money and how to handle it is one that will surely recur as we work to get out of the troubled financial climate of the present. At least some of the problems that the world is currently dealing with have something to do with irresponsible consumer borrowing and spending, and if good habits are locked in at an early stage then there is all the more chance that financial crises like the present one will be rarer and shallower in future. What the government may do remains to be seen, but there are plenty of things that a parent can do to instill the right habits in their offspring.

Savings accounts are something that will often be encouraged for the very youngest kids, but when they get to around the early teens the interest seems to drop off quite considerably. Finding a way to encourage your teenage child to save and pay close attention to the value of money is not difficult. All that one needs to do in the present climate to make one’s children pay heed to the importance of sensible financial practices is watch the news with them. As banks, businesses and other organizations battle the ill-effects of financial laxity, there has never been a better opportunity to pass on a message of caution.

It may be increasingly difficult in this day and age to avoid debt in one’s everyday life – particularly if one intends to make a go of a business career at any point – but a bit of financial wisdom can give the children of today the thought processes to deal with the future in a mature and secure way. Don’t teach them to be afraid of debt, but to understand good and bad debt. Don’t let your children see loans as free money, nor see savings as being boring or cheap. Good financial sense starts at an early age, and with a bit of forward thinking can lead to a very satisfactory future. Instilling these messages will mean less likelihood of a repeat of what we are currently dealing with.

What Is A Mortgage?

Mortgage 101: Tips

First Published: June 24, 2009 ADawnJournal.com

You would be surprised indeed to know that a great many people do not really know what a mortgage is. If you are one of those people, don’t feel too bad about it. You’re in good company, and quite numerous company at that. For one reason or another, in early years we don’t learn that much about private finance. In school we’re busy learning reading, writing and arithmetic, then sciences, languages, history and so forth. Then it’s off to college where we specialize  in whatever we were really good at when we were at high school. After college we’re more concerned about finding a job than anything else, so by the time we get to actually dealing with buying a house we’re into our twenties and heading rapidly for our thirties.

It is therefore entirely possible to get to a certain stage in your life and all of a sudden realize that these “mortgages” of which so many of your contemporaries speak are actually an entirely foreign topic to you. You know they have something to do with houses and money, and you can probably assume that they are involved in making available the money to buy a house, but there is a whole lot more involved. Although you may well be fully aware that there is a lot more to mortgages than that, it may not be immediately clear to you what that “more” constitutes. Here are some of the basic, yet important, facts and details about mortgages.

· A mortgage is a loan taken out with the express purpose of buying real estate (see? The money-house thing was right.)

· The loan is usually paid back over a term of twenty five + years. Government plans and guidelines hint that they would prefer to make the maximum term somewhat shorter.

· Given the large amounts of money lent in a mortgage, and the extensive period of time over which they are paid back, the bank asks for security on the loan. This is almost always taken in the form of the property the mortgage is taken out to buy.

· As the above suggests, failure to maintain payments on a mortgage will possibly result in the bank taking ownership of the house via a “repossession” or foreclosure.

· The banks are then required to make the house ready for sale and take care of the sale themselves at a reduced price – therefore they prefer to look for a way of agreeing a reduced payment until the customer can pay the full amount.

At the end of the mortgage period, congratulations! You are the owner of the house you bought all those years ago. Prior to that it is part-owned between yourself and the bank, but as long as you choose a mortgage on which you can realistically keep up with payments there is no reason why you need worry. Common sense plays a huge part in picking the right mortgage, and as long as you apply your brain when choosing you should stand a good chance of keeping ahead of the game. Just make sure you have a fall-back if times get tough.

How To Protect Your Marriage In Economic Downturn

Money, Finances, Economic Crisis, And Relationship

First Published Date : March 5, 2009 ADawnJournal.com

Money is one of the major causes of friction in a relationship. Most probably, money issues are second only to infidelity as a cause of divorce. In a relationship or a marriage, couples are bonding together from very different backgrounds. Two different persons with different incomes, different debts, and different ways of managing personal finances are joining together to share and form common values and perspectives. These issues, specially money issues can be a real problem.

An unstable, or even a healthy relationship, can go thru a rocky ride during economic downturn. The reason is very simple. Money and finances get over-heated and threatened during post economic downturn. These issues always exist; however, during good times we tend to ignore these because there is always food on the table and somehow we manage to get by. But things change during economic downturn. When jobs are hard to find, the cost of living is on the rise, suddenly things don’t look rosy anymore. Our emotions and spirits change and our relationships reach on the verge of a breakdown.

What you can do to protect your marriage/relationship in a downturn? Try taking the following steps. These steps are not just good during an economic downturn. You should apply these anytime to make your relation journey a smooth one.

·   Talk – Communicate with your partner regarding money issues and any other issues on a regular basis. Take the current economic crisis as an opportunity to get together and start communicating. Talk about your fears, goals, issues, and so on. Divide financial tasks and work together to make changes on your financial plans.

·   Track Your Expenses – Tracking expenses gives you a visualization of where your money is exactly going. You need to know this to cut unnecessary expenses and increase your savings. You can do all sorts of calculations and thinking in your mind to figure out where your money is going – but the real picture may not be the same as your mind tries to depict. Spending just a few dollars here and there daily can add up to a large amount at month’s end and tracking expenses will show you how powerful it can be to cut once-daily visit to your coffee shop. Tracking expenses will gradually help you make better decisions.

·   Set Goals – Set long and short term goals. Write down these goals in a notebook and setup monthly or quarterly meetings with your partner to review your goals. Goals could include buying a house in three years, kids’ education fund, retirement etc.

·   Budget – I don’t believe budget works; however, follow these two simple rules and avoid the hassle of budgeting: spend less than what you earn and spend within your means, and track your spending.

·   Change Your Outlook – Change your outlook from my money, your money to our money. Once you are married – your incomes, debts, money, finances, everything become OURS. That’s the purpose of marriage or staying in a relationship.

·   Maintain Joint Accounts – Always maintain joint checking and savings accounts. This forces you to work together and it’s easier to manage one account than many accounts. Joint accounts provide the extra boost to become financially successful as couples. It reminds you that you two are one now, and your financial success depends on how you can plan and act jointly.

·   Maintain Two Separate Credit Cards – You need to do this to have better credit scores. Better credit scores will help you to get lower interest rates on your loan to buy large item purchases such as house, car etc.

·   Don’t Hide Anything – Never hide anything from your partner. If you have bought an expensive item impulsively, discuss it with your partner. It is better to tell him something you did without his knowledge now, rather than him finding out years later.