Canadian Money Forum has a great discussion about putting high risk investments within a TFSA.
Canadian Tax Resource lists 6 rules of thumb everyone should know.
The Digerati Life shows us that dollar cost averaging works.
Thicken My Wallet gives tips in picking the right executor and guardian.
Canadian Capitalist lists 9 lessons relearned from the financial meltdown.
Lazy Man [...]
Personal budgeting can be a different process for each person. When I talked about how personal budget tracking can save you money, I used an example of how my employer saves money by tracking each piece of paper we print.
I showed how the act of tracking each job before it’s printed and assigning it to [...]
Good credit card offers are harder to come by these days, but if you’re looking to trim your debt and you’re seeking the cheapest rates on cards, then balance transfer credit cards can be an option for you. The thing you may notice with these cards is that their terms are not as generous [...]
I opened a PNC Business Checking Account early this year for the little business I am running. The reasons I had the account with PNC are that 1) they have a branch office in our neighborhood, so it’s easy to make a deposit; 2) the account has low balance requirement and no monthly fees; 3) [...]
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It’s been close to 6 months since I put Lazy Man and Health into hiatus. With a new dog and a job, something had to give, and it was that. However, as I shift to a more blogging-oriented income, I might be looking revive it. What better way to dip my toe [...]
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I think we can all agree that a college education can be expensive. In fact, in many cases a four year degree can easily run upwards of six figures. You may have recalled one of my posts last week that talked about saving for your child’s college education versus saving for retirement. This generation is [...]
About the Author: Jeremy is a retirement planning specialist and founder of Generation X Finance and the guide to Financial Planning at About.com. To learn more, follow Jeremy on Twitter.
HSBC Direct is offering current customers Free Money. They’re giving $50 to customers for using the HSBC debit card.
More Information. For more information on the bonus offer, see the HSBC Direct offer page. Credit goes to Squeezer99 at Fatwallet for the find.
Prepare for the Future. If you aren’t a current customer you can always open a HSBC Direct account to take advantage of future offers. The minimum deposit to open is $1 and there are no regular monthly or transaction fees.
Written by Madison
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The following guest post was submitted by Kevin, web content writer for Resqdebt.com. For more helpful tips on how to save money and stay out of debt, visit Resqdebt’s website at www.resqdebt.com.
When Americans think of a person trapped in enormous amounts of debt, inevitably they think of irresponsibility. They think of fast cars and fancy [...]
Post by Frugal Dad
Now for something a little different. I thought to bring your attention to a fun event that just transpired at one of the sexiest and most entertaining PF blogs out there — at Budgets Are Sexy of course! J Money from BAS invited me to participate in his showdown series which involves him [...]
I was reading about Dollar Cost Averaging over on The Digerati Life this morning and found something immediately interesting. The articles makes a good point that if you were to look at how our stock market has performed in the last year, you’d likely have some good gains with dollar cost averaging. The [...]
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Fannie Mae, the mortgage insurer, announced early this week that it is revising the eligibility, underwriting, and pricing policy to support housing market liquidity and sustainability. In a statement (PDF file) released on Tuesday, Fannie Mae said that starting December 12, 2009, the minimum credit score will be increased to 620 for all loans delivered [...]
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Investing can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. With literally thousands of funds to choose from and countless individual stocks it’s easy to see how choosing the investments for your portfolio can be a daunting task. On the other end of the spectrum it can be incredibly easy. With the [...]
About the Author: Jeremy is a retirement planning specialist and founder of Generation X Finance and the guide to Financial Planning at About.com. To learn more, follow Jeremy on Twitter.
Asset Allocation is Important But There Are More Things to Consider When Investing
I opened a Solo 401k at Fidelity last year. However, I held off on making our contribution until just this month, so that we would be able to more accurately pinpoint our income.
This is one of the best characteristics of the solo 401k. As long as you establish your plan in the prior calendar year, you don’t need to make your contributions until your tax filing date, including extensions.
Unfortunately, Fidelity sucks. I just sent in our contributions, and they were rejected. Apparently they closed my account, because my name didn’t match their records. I got married six years ago, but I have a different account there that was opened before that.
So let me get this straight, their computer system can’t handle opening a new account for someone who got married and uses their married name? Give me a break. I must be the only person to have ever gotten married and change their name, right?
And this is much worse than when Scottrade tried to make me pay fees to change my name! Because they closed my account last year (and did not notify me), I can no longer make my solo 401k contribution for last year.
Since my extension was filed with an assumed solo 401k contribution, I’d be on the hook for additional taxes, including penalties and interest. I spoke with a supervisor about the situation, and he apologized. However, that apology doesn’t pay the tax bill! Thanks Fidelity, you suck!
After spending hours brainstorming, I came up with a back up plan to divert my contribution to my husband since Public Employees can Double-dip on Retirement. Thank goodness we live in a community property state too, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to just switch it like that without other repercussions! Although I’m not happy about it, at least we avoided a large tax bill full of penalties and interest.
I had planned to move a significant amount of money to Fidelity, using my solo 401k to execute a Roth IRA Conversion Strategy to Avoid Taxes. Looks like they’ll miss out on my business.
Instead, as soon as they cash the check for my husband’s contribution, I’ll be moving my account to a Vanguard solo 401k (which wasn’t available when I opened my solo 401k).
I’m sure it won’t matter to them that I’m moving my account. However, I’m a firm believer in taking your business elsewhere to demonstrate unacceptable service. They made a mistake they couldn’t fix. I assured them I’d tell everyone I knew, which is all of you!
Taxes are complicated, so it’s very important to have a service provider you can trust. Unfortunately, Fidelity wasn’t reliable enough. Vanguard, my paperwork will be in the mail shortly!
Written by Madison
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Before diving into the personal finance articles of the week, I usually write about a quick personal finance topic that I’m engaged in for the week. However, as I was writing about my difficulties dealing with Fidelity today, I got a little long winded…. obviously I’m really mad!
So, we’ll just jump right into the articles of the week, and I’ll be back shortly to tell you Why Fidelity Sucks!
Written by Madison
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Does your personal budget have holes in it, where the money just oozes out without you realizing it? Do you have a system in place to track how the money in your budget is actually spent?
If not, here’s a story that might convince you to track your money more closely. It begins several years ago [...]
Every now and again Ohio’s 529 Plan, CollegeAdvantage, offers a nice bonus program to bring in new customers. If you have kids opening a 529 plan is smart money management. If you are like me and only have nieces and nephews it is a great gift to give. Getting started with them [...]
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I am one of those people who strangers tell their life story to on airplanes and then at the end of the flight, look somewhat embarrassed and say, “I don’t know why I told you all that. I’m usually a very private person.” People leave their luggage with me at train stations while [...]
This is a guest article by Ray, the owner and primary author of Financial Highway, where he discusses investing, saving and practical money management concepts. You can check subscribe to his RSS feed or follow him on Twitter.
Money plays an important role in all our lives; the fact that you are on this finance blog [...]
Post by Frugal Dad
Well, we’re back where we started. The Dow Jones is creeping towards 10,000 in the midst of an economic recovery — at least, that’s what the general consensus is right now. Today, the Fed has decided to keep interest rates unchanged and near zero, which is going to be the status quo for [...]
One Year Investment Performance: Why Dollar Cost Averaging Works
My son Little Buddy isn’t so little anymore. He’s at an age where he can make observations and draw conclusions – often amusing – about the world around him. One of the conclusions he’s probably started to draw is that ‘work sucks.’
It’s not an attitude I’d like to instill in anyone’s child, least of all [...]
how to poison attitudes towards work in young children is an original article from the website brip blap.
When I started this blog more than three years, I got in a habit of writing about my net worth. As I mentioned on Monday, I stopped writing about my net worth for a variety of reasons. Along with keeping track of my net worth, I used to periodically review the expenses that [...]
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Becoming financially independent requires that you live below your means and pu tsome money away for the future but there’s more to it than that. Something as simple as your attitude about money can have a significant impact on the financial decisions you make. You can read all of the books, blogs, or money magazines [...]
About the Author: Jeremy is a retirement planning specialist and founder of Generation X Finance and the guide to Financial Planning at About.com. To learn more, follow Jeremy on Twitter.
Develop a Healthy Attitude About Money and Spot Unhealthy Habits
How can we make health care more affordable? How about cutting the cost of providing care?
My dad runs a micro-medical practice, where he’s a one man show (actually one man + one part-time woman since my mom helps out with office stuff some evenings).
His startup costs were pretty low since he bought most of [...]
It is never too early to start thinking of saving for college. Yesterday, we talked about things to consider when developing a college savings plan. Today we’ll review various college savings options in more detail.
When choosing a savings plan, you should be aware of the following:
In addition to the vehicles above, you could choose to use a simple high-interest savings account or a taxable investment account. Keep in mind that these options may limit growth and/or tax benefits.
Saving for college in advance is always a good idea, regardless of what vehicle you choose to use. With a little planning, you can minimize taxes, maximize financial aid, and help your child pay for college with as little damage to your wallet as possible.
While 529 accounts are the most common and make the most sense for the average investor, every option mentioned here can make sense in a particular situation. Consult your own financial advisor or a college savings expert to develop a college savings plan tailored to your financial situation.
Written by Jill
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Last week, when I logged into my Mint.com the first time in several months, I was shocked by how Mint categorizes the expenses downloaded from my Bank of America Checking account. I don’t know exactly how Mint processes the transactions, but it is just unacceptable to me that a popular financial product that is used [...]
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