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The Bankruptcy of Chrysler Nearby; Fiat Also Visiting With General MotorsI was listening to a commentary on CBC this morning that talked about Chrysler declaring bankrutpcy. They were mentioning that the bankruptcy is almost certain.
What I thought was interesting was this: If Chyrsler declares bankruptcy, then it may shed some light for General Motors as to what they need to do. There are alot of questions right now as to what would happen if the big car company declared bankruptcy. There are really no answers. There is no way to talk about this topic as it's unprecedented.
Sometimes the only way to learn about something is to do it.
If General Motors is closing down plants for 9 weeks, to use up their current supply, that really says what the automobile sales climate is like.
I just purchased a brand new car (Hyundai Accent L), and it was manufactured back in November 2008.. This means that it had been on the lot for six months. At that point, you can see that with inventory stocked up like that the car companies are cash strapped, to say the least.
So.. is bankruptcy looming for Chrysler and General Motors? Probably. I think the public is getting used to the idea. And that will make it easier for the politicians to decide.
There is so much of a glut of cars right now... it just says that there is ample supply available. There isn't room enough for these big car makers.
MediaPostNewsThe United Auto Workers union would end up owning a substantial shareholding in Chrysler LLC Chapter 11 under a bankruptcy protection plan that the automaker is expected to present next week, Jeffrey McCracken and John D. Stoll and Stacy Meichtry report. The deal lets get rid of some liabilities, allowing Fiat to cherry pick the operations you want, if an agreement is forged sources.
For its part, Fiat has begun talks with General Motors about joining forces in Europe and Latin America, say the sources. The Italian company could close the purchase of a stake in GM Opel. But GM did not try to go forward until the plans are settled with Chrysler Fiat. Fiat has said it wants to have an initial 20% stake in Bankrupt Chrysler.
In either case, it would have a major impact on the automobile supply chain of car dealers, parts and others, as well as the worsening economies of the midwestern states.
However, both Fiat car company and the administration say that President Obama could prevent the bankruptcy of Chrysler if an agreement can be reached with the banks in question. "In a huge and complex negotiation like this, everything is speculation and up in the air until there is an agreement," said one administration official.
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How Bernie Madoff did his scandolous deeds - in JailIt still amazes me to read this story. Thinking of all of the people who were affected by the Madoff Scandal.. When you thinking of companies like general motors and chrysler who are affecting miillions of people. This scandal is small in comparison, however, it still affects a widespread amount of people.
CNN.com The employees were transfixed. Standing in the middle of Manhattan commercial flooring Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in late 2007, half a dozen staff members looked at the ceiling-mounted TV and CNBC aired a report on the mysterious death of Palm Beach, a hedge fund manager who was leading a double life. The police, apparently, even considering the possibility that he had been murdered. "Bernie Madoff," someone asked casually Bernard Madoff like to walk, "you've heard of this guy?"
Madoff a look at the screen, bleached, and exploded: "Why the hell would be interested in stuff like that?" The employees retreated. "I never saw him like that before reacting," Madoff said a trader who witnessed the explosion. "It's obviously affected a nerve."
0:00 / 2:48 Minnesota Madoff mess
That loss of control was very out of character for the head. But traders did not know at the time it was extremely Madoff develop a second life is two floors below them, one is to build an epic, and the inevitable explosion. Took a special pass to enter the "back office" in 17, which was making its Madoff $ 65 million Ponzi scheme. And even if a person can go in, there was not much to see: an old IBM computer server maintained in a locked room, the piles of trading states, and a staff of about 20 employees and paper pushers.
In retrospect, of course, there are indications, such as research has found fortune. IBM's server, for example, an AS/400 dating from the 1980s, it was so old that some data had been entered into the hand, but refused to replace Bernard Madoff. The machine - which has been autopsied by the government - is the nerve center of the fraud. The many thousands of pages of statements showed that his trade was never made.
Then it was the man who led the floor, Frank DiPascali, Bernie Madoff deputy chief of staff the 17. He was a veteran of 33 years of the related company, with a heavy accent and a Queens high school, but nobody was quite sure what he did or what his title was. "It was like a ninja," says a former trader at the legitimate operation above. "The whole world knew he was a great thing, but it was like a big shadow."
There are other mysteries, as we shall see. But even after the large detonation of five months in a brilliant fireworks display of betrayal and recrimination, Madoff plan - possibly the biggest investment fraud in the country's history - has remained among the most difficult to penetrate. More commonly, white-collar cases begin with a quiet, behind the scenes of research, followed by a series of transactions with younger employees, who are squeezed by lawyers and prosecutors to cough up details about their superiors. Step by step, prosecutors move up. Finally comes the denouement: the ringmaster hauled to court in securing handcuffs.
But Bernie Madoff all aspects of the traditional narrative that has been reversed. The case began with flabbergasting his confession, which was outside the investigation. Bernie Madoff argued that all crimes committed by himself, but because it covers decades and continents, a cloud of suspicion immediately plunged Bernie Madoff family members who worked at the company, as well as employees and business associates.
Now that the fog may be about to lift. Fortune has learned that Frank DiPascali is trying to negotiate a plea deal with federal prosecutors in which, in exchange for a reduced sentence, disclosed the encyclopaedic knowledge of the plan Madoff. And unlike his boss is willing to DiPascali names.
According to a person familiar with the matter, DiPascali has no evidence that Bernard Madoff other family members were involved in fraud. However, he was prepared to testify that he manipulated false returns on behalf of some major investors Bernard Madoff, including Frank Avellino, who used to run the so-called bottom feeding, Jeffry Picower, whose foundation was closed because of related Bernard Madoff losses, and others. If, for example, one of these clients had large gains in other investments, which would DiPascali, which produce a loss to reduce the tax bill. If true, this would mean that investors knew their statements fish. (Lawyers and Picower Avellino declined to comment. Marc Mukasey, DiPascali counsel, said, "We expect and encourage a thorough investigation.")
The emergence of this potential star witness can be on the case scenarios in their heads: Some people widely assumed by the public which has been implicated in the fraud may not have been, and a small group of investors that Bernard Madoff seemed innocent victims can not have been totally innocent, after all. But then, some things about the life of Bernie Madoff become what they seem.
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I've been slow posting lately.I thought I would pop my head in a little today. I've been working a little slowly on the site here... My wife has been pretty ill and It's a stressful situation.
I will probably do some posts as my energy permits... and also, I am working on a few other projects that I need to get done.
So... Hopefully I'll be at it in the next few days.
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The Necessity of Building Emergency FundsDo you have a financial emergency due to a job loss? Or do you have a medical expense that will significantly affect your finances? Almost everyone has a financial problem and the route that the recession is taking has compounded loss and depression. It's definitely time to reserve the cash flow and save up for emergency funds that has been depleted with the falling dollar, gas hikes and the weak economy. So what do you do when it comes to a matter of saving? The best way is to get creative and think of ideas and ways of how you can save money and stash it away as your emergency funds.
Maybe it's easier said than done, but there are secret routes to saving up emergency funds. You could also involve your children so that they are aware of finances and the nuances that are attached to it. You could draw your children into the circle of awareness by paying them money for a job done or collecting money from you as a fee for late payment. No doubt this would transform your emergency saving into an expense but the children will definitely get the idea that money is precious and needs to be conserved. You can also add on an imaginary 10% to the price of your purchase and then save the money. This would not only help you save some money, but it would make you prudent about spending and adding to expenses.
How to Save for a Rainy DayThere are many ways that can help you to save up for emergency funds. You keep a coin box and collect all your coins, which, in actuality is a very handy thing when you need money or you can collect five dollar bills. This really helps when you save money and adds to your emergency funds. Instead of the usual price that one pays for gas, you could add a dollar more and pretend that it is really a dollar extra. This will help you to put that extra dollar into your
emergency funds. You could sell all the unwanted things around the house and though you may have more than a few bargaining about the price, this method will add to your emergency funds. You could save gas money by buying all the groceries and other commodities that you may need in one trip. Instead of driving many times to the supermarket, you could take a walk that would help you save money as well as improve your fitness regime. Another way is to get a credit card that offers a good reward program. As soon as you get the rewards, pass it on to your emergency fund.
It is necessary to keep aside about three to six months of emergency funds that would cover payments. This would come in useful if you or your spouse loses a job or if any undue expense crops up. You can set targets and goals as to how much you would like to save in a given period of time. You can start small and then get used to doing without that money. Start a savings account or certificate of deposits (CDs) or a money market account. See that you get considerable interest for your savings, but make sure that you save your emergency funds in a place that would be accessible and not blocked when you need it the most.
Be Prudent and Creative about Saving Money
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Unprocessed Food is Cheap - HealthJust recently we've been trying to help my wife's health get better. Along with the chemo that she is doing, she also wants to eat healthy, do juicing etc.
I went to the store the other day and purchased a bunch of fresh vegetables that we're going to put through the juicer.
I filled up my basket and it was quite heavy. When I went through the check out, the bill only came to $27 !!
All of the vegetables that are recommended for my wife to eat to help fight cancer, was the cheapest foods of all. In my mind that means that I should be eating them as well.
For a very healthy diet that floods your system build up... you need fresh fruits and vegetables. Because we're juicing them, we're going through alot more than usual.
I purchased a 50 pound bag of carrots last week and it cost $25 for the bag. That's pretty reasonable. The bag has lasted us the better part of a week... and we're eating alot of carrots.
We didn't get recommendations to eat processed foods, sugary foods and deserts etc. These are costly and also aren't really recommended as cancer fighting foods.
BTW... cancer loves sugar.. sugary processed foods are BAD if you're trying to fight cancer. Something I learned recently.
I thought I would do a short post to say that unprocessed fruits and vegetables are really cheap. Ultimately they are the best food for you. The down side is that they take a little longer to process.
It goes to show that the best things in life are usually free or much less expensive.!!
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Low interest credit card - U.S. websiteI was asked to do a review for a credit card website that features American credit cards
Sometimes it's good to see what the "other guys" are doing.
This site allows you to search for low interest credit cards, secured credit cards, student credit cards and more.
The thing that's different about the U.S. credit card websites is that they show many of the banks' credit cards. Unlike Canadian banks which don't have affiliate programs for their credit cards.
This site has many different articles about credit cards which are things you need to know if you're going to carry credit.
The main thing you want to do if you're shopping for a credit card is look at rates and the other costs to own the credit card. It's all about the cost of credit. If you can find a better deal and save money, just by spending some time shopping, then it's really worth it. Sometimes you can save hundreds just by getting the lower interest rates.
And it's safe to use a site like this. All of the links follow back to the banks website, and the credit card issuers sites are always secure.
If you need a secured credit card, low interest credit card, student credit card etc.. and you live in the U.S... this is a good site to visit. It's got a clean look, has credit card comparisons and you can sort the credit cards by type.
This is a sponsored review
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this is a great video that talks about the debt situation in Canada.
I like the fact that the commentator puts the blame for the too high level of credit squarely on the consumer. We need to take responsibility for the amount of debt that we're in now..
Nobody forced the consumer to buy , and take on more credit.
Currently the Canadian consumer has $1.3 trillion in consumer debt, this includes mortgages
I like this second video as it gives an actual example of a lady who's quickly accumulated $10,000 in debt. The industry calls her a revolver, as she can't pay off her balances completely.
Credit card companies like revolvers as that's how they make their money.
This lady has figured out that "perhaps the credit card companies want you to carry balances!!"
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Debt Settlement - You don't have to pay your debts??!!Just going through youtube looking interesting things that people say..
This guy starts off by saying... "you don't have to pay your bills"
This makes me crazy. This guy is suggesting that you shouldn't pay your bills/debts especially if you owe $25-$100,000 on credit cards.
He mentions that you should be using the interest that you're paying the credit card companies to save up for retirement.
This is LUDICROUS
The following is what this guy is explaining on the video
He starts off by explaining you should just not pay your bills for six months.. This will start the collection process. You can then negotiate with the collection agency at 10% on the dollar.
Part of the negotiation is that the credit bureau wipes any negative debt notation off of the credit bureau.
So... after 6 months, you'll have a nice squeeky clean credit report, and no debt.!! Wow... this is fantastic!! Or is it?
There are so many assumptions in his discussion that they need to be addressed.
Also it's important that this type of service is for U.S.A. (Americans) only. This system isn't going to work the same in Canada.
I complete disagree with not paying your bills for the sake of getting out of them. That's the cowardly way to do this. This type of logic will erode the social fabric of our society.
IF YOU CAN, PAY YOUR DEBTS
If you've got alot of debt, and can afford to make payments, then you should pay for your debts as agreed. After all, you made all of the purchases that incurred the debt!
The only exception in my opinion is if you've got health issues, and your debt is making your health worse. Then it's time to seek debt settlement or bankruptcy help.
THE CREDITORS MAY SUE YOU
If you owe $25,000 -$100,000 then the creditors may sue you in Canada. This is worth going after in the courts. Don't assume that you can automatically settle you debts after not paying them for six months.
THE CREDITOR DOESN'T HAVE TO REMOVE BAD MARKS FROM YOUR CREDIT REPORT
This fellows assumption is that you can have the creditor or collection agent remove negative items and comments from your credit bureau, as part of the payment negotiation.. While some may do this, some may not do this.
It all depends.
CREDIT REPORT ITEMS MUST BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE AND VERIFIABLE.
Are you going to walk away with no debt and squeeky clean credit after the creditors and collection agencies write off your debt? More than likely not.
Why would the banks want to remove negative items. This sends a false message to other creditors that you've got good credit.
Again, you could ask to have negative items removed from your credit bureau, however, there is no law / motivation for the creditor to do so.
In my opinion, this is a shifty way to deal with your creditors.
If you've had a high consumption lifestyle, then you should pay for it, as agreed to when you took on the credit facilities.
If it takes you 10 years to pay off your credit cards, then so be it. After 10 years, you'll have learned your lesson about the effects of spending too much on your credit cards.
There are always exceptions to the rules, but in the case of North American consumers.. I think we're all guilty of over consumption.
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Peter Schiff on Youtube. - He's Right about the economyI like to watch Peter Schiff. He's usually pretty straight forward and understands the fundamentals of the economy.
Sometimes it's important to understand what's going on in the economy to know what we should be doing individually.
When you see the whole nation suffering from too much debt, and not enough savings, then you can see what the effects are overall.
This should tell people what they need to do in their own personal finances.
Peter Schiff is good to point out items in the economy that are going to affect everybody on the overall.
Learn more about the Canadian coin and the Canadian Economy
I recommend that you check out Peter Schiff's channel on youtube, if you're interested to know what's going on in the economy.
Ultimately it gets back to this.. low debt and high savings will save any economy. Not giving in to instant gratification like we have done for the last 20+ years.
It's also good to invest in R&D so that our country can be profitable and competitive in the future.
I think this economy is going to stay like this for a while until people get the idea and decide to really get on with fixing their balance sheets.
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Mortgage Crisis - The bank's Fault? - or the Consumer?I was reading a blog that said that the mortgage crisis is the bank's fault. I can't believe that somebody would seriously write this in a blog.
Let's see.. the definition of a Consumer, is somebody who consumes. Nobody put a gun to the consumer's head to buy. They all did so willingly.
There were no laws passed that said that the consumer HAD to buy houses, cars or consumers items.. they did so willingly.
IMO... if a person buys a house, they should understand whether or not they should be able to finance the property.. If you don't understand the contract, then hire a lawyer (or somebody trained in contracts) to help you understand the fine print.
I'm very surprised that the media is saying that the homeowner got duped by the mortgage companies.. That's ridiculous. That's putting the blame in the wrong place..
Buying a house for $250,000 is a big purchase. It deserves a great deal of attention, to understand the costs involved. A house has current and future costs.. A mortgage has current and future costs.
BUYER BEWARE: If you don't take the time to understand the costs involved, then you are at risk for making an expensive decision.
Here's what I would recommend to anybody buying a house.
- Learn how much the house & Utilities will cost
Take the time to gather all of the current utility bills, tax bills etc for the house you're looking at buying. See what the costs are.
There are also down payment, closing costs, inspection costs etc with the mortgage.
If you're clear on the costs, then there won't be surprises later on.
- Learn and understand the mortgage contract
Contacts are not easy to understand. You should NEVER sign a contract that you don't fully understand. Doing so means that you're vulnerable to whatever you agreed to.
If you're not sure what the contract language means, ask a lawyer. This is a cost of due diligence. If you need to save up additional money to afford the lawyer, then take the time to do so.
Ask the lawyer what the fine print means, and what are the things you should watch out for.
A lawyer is trained in legal speak and will be able to give you advice that the mortgage company may not come forward with.
- Learn about the fees and future/renewal costs of the mortgage.
This is something you should also ask a lawyer. What are the hidden fees, if any? What are the fees should you decide to refinance, or sell the property?
You might just ask the lawyer to itemize all of the potential costs that the contract holds.
This may cost a few hundred dollars, but the lawyers analysis could save you a ton of hard ship in the future.
I don't believe for a second that the mortgage crisis is the bank's fault. It's not the mortgage companies' fault. It's the consumer's fault all the way. They made the choice to buy the houses in the first place.
Each and every consumer who got involved with a toxic mortgage made the decision to do so. They could have known what the costs were before they took the mortgage. They could have insured for mortgage with critical illness insurance, and life insurance..
There's enough information in the market place to make an informed decision. If the consumer DECIDED NOT TO TAKE THAT INFORMATION, it's their fault!
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Consumerism Withdrawal - Do you suffer from it?This is one problem with the economic downturn that I thought of. Consumerism Withdrawal.
The premise of the economy for the last 20 years has been consumption. Living the American dream. People have done a pretty good job spending, and consuming.
There have been many posts in the blogosphere where people explain that they're going to cut back spending and go on a spending diet. They talk about how they're not going to go shopping for a month, or not buy anything on credit for the next three months. Ultimately with those posts, I just roll my eyes, and wonder about their resolve.
Once you've tasted luxury and spending, it's hard to give it up.
With all of the lay offs and the credit crunch that we're experiencing, I'm sure that many people are suffering from consumerism Withdrawal.
This is more like being forced to go on a diet because of food shortage. In this case, credit is tight, and people have overspent.
If you're suffering from consumerism withdrawal, there are a few things you can do to help the situation:
- Learn to enjoy life with what you've got
The problem with consumerism is that we're always looking for the next big toy, or the next fashion. We're satisfied for a small time with what we've purchased. Much of what people have purchased is to satisfy wants and not needs.
The best thing to do is to learn to appreciate what you've got already.
That's a pretty hard thing to do, if you're used to a constant diet of new things all the time.
I've found that I really only enjoy a few of the possessions that I own. the rest are just sitting in a closet doing nothing.
Enjoying what you've already got, means that you won't need to spend any money on goodies.
- Take the time to strengthen your balance sheet
If we're going to be in a recession for the next year or so, why not take the time to pay down debt and save up some money.
This is really not fun, and it's pretty boring, compared with shopping all the time for the latest gadget.
My thinking is this: if you've got money saved up, and you're not in debt,
you'll sleep better, and won't need to go through withdrawals at the retail store.
Having some money saved up, means that you'll be able to go into the store and make some moderate purchases, based on your available cash.
Buying things with cash will give you a little taste of having something new, without the pains of paying down credit later.
- Take the time to enjoy the free things in life: family and friends.
I've gone on a cash diet for the last few years, by choice. In doing so, I've learned to really enjoy free things. Going for a walk, visiting with a friend. I enjoy looking at flowers more.
There are many things you can do for free. Sometimes we look at these FREE things as boring and unexciting. If you're used to hyper spending at the stores and for entertainment, then going to the museum would probably be boring.
If you detox off of the sugar rush of retail spending for a few months, perhaps the free things in life will start to look good again.
Yes, that's what I'm saying.. hyper retail spending using your credit card is like eating alot of refined sugar products. They taste great, give you a sugar rush for the moment, and then give you a big let down afters. You get addicted to sugar, and retail shopping for the buzz it gives you.
The free things in life are more wholistic. They're not as exciting, but they are better for you in the long run.
I see Canadians and Americans going on a consumerism diet for the next year or so. Let's take the time to get back into shape financially and as well, start to enjoy less expensive more healthy activities again.
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Are we NOW happy with Less? - The EconomyThe other day I was chatting with my son, Alex.. He deleted his facebook account, and is cutting out other instant messaging type programs that's he's grown up with.
I was curious about why he would give up facebook.com especially because this type of program is meant for his generation.
He indicated that he's grown up with internet, video games, TV, cell phones. He's getting tired of all of the programs and software that replace human interaction.
I was intrigued by this.
Growing up in the 60's and 70's, we didn't any of these modern tools and conveniences and toys. Nowadays.. the kids are flooded with them.
The Point is:
North Americans have had 20 years of free spending. We've bought what ever we've wanted, and are now slaving away to pay for the credit cards we used. We've had 20 years of endless consumption. We know what consumption is. We know that we can get what ever we want if we work hard enough for it. Learn more about capital gains
We've been there, done that!
I'm just wondering if people will be content to sit back and take a break for a while, consumption wise. This would be hazardous to the economy.
Consumers need a rest. I'm sure alot of people are suffering burnout from trying to make payments on all of their debts. The satisfaction of getting that new 52" TV is gone, especially because many people have already purchased one and had that experience.
My question is:
As my son is tired of all of the new gadgets that he's been bombarded with his whole life.. are consumers tired of being in the buying / paying off cycle? Are consumers going to want to take a break from being on a continuous spending spree?
An even more intriguing question:
Are consumers going to be HAPPY with less?
I don't mean "are they going to suffer, and put up with less?".
I mean, "are they are actually going to be happier with less stuff, less debt payments, less noise in their lives?" These are some thoughts I've been having lately about the economy. If people are happy with less, then that will spell bad news for the current economy that relies heavily on consumer spending!
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Found on: CBC.ca and milliondollarjourney.com
This is completely ridiculous... this much taxes is choking Canadians!!
As a Canadian I enjoy the high standard of living that our country affords. After travelling to a few different countries and seeing documentaries on poor African nations etc. it's not hard to begin to appreciate all of the blessings our country enjoys.
But at what cost?
According to this article: 45% of our money is going to taxes whereas in 1961 35% of our money was going to taxes. That's a 10% increase in taxes over a 46 year period. Where does it stop?!!
SEE: The Canadian Economy in Brief - www.fin.gc.ca
SEE: Canadian Federal Debt and other statistics - canadianeconomy.gc.ca
The government needs our tax dollars to pay for costs of infrastructure, administration, and also to pay down the Canadian national debt.
It is my opinion that the governments should be prudently paying back the debt as they get surplus income. Keep the same services but use surplus money to pay down the debt which according to this Federal Government website is $481,499,000,000 as of 2006
A MUST SEE! Where your tax dollar goes - Canadian Federal Government MultiMedia presentation
There are many people who visit this site who have run on hard times and are getting hounded by collection agencies. I'm curious to know when the "collection agencies" are going to start hounding the federal government to pay down their debts a little?!!
It is not the purpose of this blog to be political, however, it seems that the government can get away with the same kind of spending and debt creation that that would cause criticism with a regular Canadian citizen!
QUESTIONS:
- Wouldn't it be better to have a "debt free" policy where the federal government eventually becomes debt free, and starts to make money on its surplus funds?
- Should the Canadian public take on the same spending policies as the federal government and spend ourselves into the ground? (Ooops, maybe we've already done that.)
- If the Canadian Federal government paid down it's debt substantially, would that set a good example for the Canadian people?
That's the end of my rant!
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Average Canadian family spends more on taxes than necessities of life: survey
Published: Monday, April 16, 2007 | 8:47 AM ET
Canadian Press
VANCOUVER (CP) - Taxes are taking a bigger chunk out of the average Canadian family income than food, clothing and housing combined, a new survey suggests.
The Fraser Institute says the Canadian Consumer Tax Index is up significantly in the past 45 years.
The average Canadian family earned $63,000 in 2006, with nearly 45 per cent of that going to taxes.
Just over 35 per cent was spent on food, clothing and housing.
In 1961, the institute says just 33.5 per cent of income went to taxes.
The tax index includes direct taxation, such as income taxes, sales taxes, Employment Insurance and Canadian Pension Plan contributions, as well as hidden taxes, such as import duties, gas taxes and excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol.
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Financial Tag... You're it!
Tagging a site has been around for a while. What a fun game!
I thought I should start a financial tag game.
I thought it would be interesting to find out these questions:
What are your favorite financial magazines, books, or websites?!!
To answer the question myself,
I've read alot of books over the years. I like books that talk about the fundamentals of personal finance.
- Richest man in Babylon - by George S. Clason
I read this book many years ago, but the impression that still remains is to be patient with your money and pay yourself regularly. Most importantly, make your money make you more money.
Patient means, don't let money burn a hole in your pocket all the time... Save for a rainy day. Save financial reserves to keep yourself out of trouble.
Make your money make you money means get a return on investment from your money. Compounding interest. Of course in order to do this, you need to have your financial situation in control.
- My Micro Economics text book from Red River Community college!
I reviewed this book the other day. It talks about Supply and Demand. I thoroughly at that book up in college and it gave me a better understanding of how business works, pricing with regards to supply and demand.
- Fortune Magazine, Entrepreneur, Forbes
I don't get magazines very often as I spend far too much time on the internet. However, when I'm on a plane I'll pick up a Fortune magazine, Entrepreneur magazine or Forbes and inhale them cover to cover.
These magazines are like candy. They're sweet and easy to read.
- http://money.cnn.com
This is a site that I'll visit each day to keep up to date with news and financial events. This site has enough info on it to keep a person busy reading for days!
- The Millionaire Mind book series.
I think I've got the whole series of this book, including the CD or cassette.
I was completely intrigued to read about how millionaires actually live and how they actually make their money.
Most millionaires surveyed in these books didn't drive the big fancy cars, or live in big fancy houses. They're down to earth, practice the fundaments of money management, and build their wealth.
To dispel myths of how the rich really live, these are great books!
So with that, I'll start Financial Tag by tagging the following bloggers:
| BigCajunMan, | Investing Intelligently | Canadian Capitalist |
| Free Money Finance | Everyone Loves Your Money |
UPDATE: April 27, 2007
I got an email back from FreeMoneyFinance.com who declined to participate in this match of Financial Tag. Here's what he had to say:
Monty --
I got your tag and didn't want you to think I was blowing you off, but I'm going to pass on the offer. After 4 or 5 of the "tell us more about yourself" posts, I'm kind of burned out on them.
For reference, though, here's a list of my favorite books:
http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2006/03/my_list_of_must.html
And here's a bit more about me that you may have missed:
http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2006/12/five_things_you.html
Cheers!
FMF
I can see FMF's point.. He is probably bombarded by requests all the time for these blog events. I really appreciate FMF getting back to me.
Coincidentally, FMF and I have two favorite books in common.. The Millionaire Next Door , and The Richest Man in Babylon. Great minds think alike.!
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Total Credit Recovery Gets Slapped -$4400 Fine!!
Here's an article that many of you have been waiting for!! Carole Roach takes Total Credit Recovery to small claims court in B.C. AND WINS!!. This matter had to go as far as the B.C. Supreme Court!
DISCUSS:: Carole Roach Success vs Total Credit Recovery here:
This is encouraging to everybody who has been harrassed by a collection agency!
Globe and Mail - Total Credit Recovery gets slapped!!
I saw this mentioned over at
Ask a Bill Collector's Blog
Collection agency slapped for being too aggressive
CP
Vancouver -- A credit collection agency has been ordered by the B.C. Supreme Court to pay a woman it harassed over a Canadian Tire credit-card bill.
A small-claims court earlier ordered Total Credit Recovery to pay Carole Roach $4,400 minus the $1,200 she owned to Canadian Tire after falling behind on her credit-card payments.
Total Credit appealed the judgment, and the higher court reduced the award to $1,585 saying there was no reliable evidence that Ms. Roach lost her reputation, but confirmed Total Credit used excessive and unreasonable pressure in attempting to collect the bill.
The court heard the company called Roach's workplace leaving urgent messages and faxed documents to her employer. CP I would like to congratulate Carole Roach for taking this collection agency to small claims court and winning!!
Other Links to news articles:
Credit card agency ordered to pay woman
According to CBC.ca - Carole Roach vs Total Credit Recovery
A 60-year-old Vancouver woman who suffered harassment by a collection agency has been awarded $2,000 by the B.C. Supreme Court.
Carole Roach owed $1,200 on her Canadian Tire credit card, and claimed she was put under undue pressure by Total Credit Recovery (B.C.) Ltd.
The agency contacted her at home and at work several times about the bill, said her lawyer, Jess Hadley.
"They phoned her at work and faxed her at work, and really stressed her out quite badly. And they persisted in calling her and contacting her even after she'd written a request asking they only contact her in writing.
"And that's something she's entitled to do under our consumer protection legislation, and they basically breached those protections."
Under the Collection Act, an agency must not put unreasonable pressure on the person in debt, their family or their employer.
The legislation also forbids calling the workplace except to confirm employment.
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GOOGLE IS THE WORLDS MOST VALUABLE BRAND!! 
According to the Globe and Mail, Toronto, Google is now the world's most valuable brand. Google's brand is worth worth $66.4 billion dollars or Approx $74.5 Canadian dollars. Googles' brand is now worth more than Coke, General Electric, Pepsi, IBM, Mac etc. Google now has a marque worth $66.4-billion (U.S.) What's 10 years old and worth more than Coke?
Google now has a marque worth $66.4-billion (U.S.), and has bumped GE from the top spot, a global market research study discloses KEITH MCARTHUR
MARKETING REPORTER A decade after its launch, Google has overtaken General Electric as the world's most valuable brand. The marque is worth $66.4-billion (U.S.), according to a study by global market researcher company Millward Brown Optimor. Its study calculates the value of brands based on their ability to drive profits and their growth prospects.
"It's been coming for a while, if you look at the growth in stock market value relative to all the other technology companies out there," said Alan Middleton, a marketing professor at York University's Schulich School of Business. Google ranks ahead of technology rivals Microsoft (No. 3), IBM (9), Apple (16) and Yahoo (42). But the list also places Google - a brand so famous that it was added as a verb in the New Oxford American Dictionary - ahead of some of the world's most storied brands, including Coca-Cola (No. 4), McDonald's (11) and American Express (19).
This is quite impressive since the Google has only been in the market place for 10 years, while the other companies have been in the market place for several decades. As of April 24, 2007 , according to CNN Money - Google Stock Quote - Google's market cap is $149,385,190,000. This makes googles brand value worth approx 44% of it's market cap?!!
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FROM: canada.com - American Express News
American Express earnings rise
Reuters
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2007
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Express Co. , the fourth largest U.S. credit card company, said on Thursday that first-quarter profit rose, helped by higher card holder spending.
The New York-based company said net income rose to $1.057 billion, or 87 cents a share, from $873 million, or 69 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of 79 cents a share before one-time items, according to Reuters Estimates.
A sample America Express-branded credit card is seen in an undated publicity photo. American Express Co., the fourth largest U.S. credit card company, said on Thursday that first-quarter profit rose, helped by higher card holder spending. REUTERS/PRNewsFotoView Larger Image View Larger Image
A sample America Express-branded credit card is seen in an undated publicity photo. American Express Co., the fourth largest U.S. credit card company, said on Thursday that first-quarter profit rose, helped by higher card holder spending. REUTERS/PRNewsFoto
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Revenue, net of interest expense, rose 10 percent to $6.67 billion.
Total cards in force rose 10 percent to 79.9 million from last year's first quarter. Average basic cardmember spending rose 8 percent to $2,817.
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NEXT Tour: May 7, 2007
Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs
This event will be hosted by:
THE MONEY DIVA: themoneydiva.blogspot.com
We need 10 participants:
There are about 4 bloggers that have signed up that didn't participate in the April 16, 2007 tour. These bloggers will be invited first to participate in article writing.
We still need 6 new Canadian Finance bloggers to give us a fresh set of 10.
If you want to sign up for this event, please visit:
/tour-register.html
UPDATE
New Email address created for the Tour.
You can use this email address to correspond with the host and submit your articles.
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Stock market versus investment funds
by Mark Plummer
The term "stock market" refers to the business of buying and selling stock. It is a market for the trading of company stock and derivatives of it. Both of these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.
Bonds are still traditionally traded in an informal, over the counter market known as the bond market. The worldwide size of the bond market is estimated at $45 trillion and the size of the stock market is estimated as about half that.
In the stock market, the participants range from small individual stock investors to a large hedge fund traders, who can be based anywhere. Usually their orders end up with a professional at a stock exchange, who executes the order. The purpose of stock exchange is to facilitate the exchange of securities between buyers and sellers, thus providing a marketplace. The exchanges provide real time trading information on the listed securities, facilitating price discovery.
You might wonder why should you care about the stock market. May be you are too young to be investing, or can't see the market relates to your everyday life. But, the fact is that if the stock investors have no money in the stock market, or are in school, the stock market does affect you. It affects everything you do from going to the mall to buying a new outfit.
The stock market is considered to be one of the most vital sources for companies to raise money. This allows businesses to go public or raise additional capital for expansion. The exchange provides liquidity that affords investors to quickly and easily sells securities. This is a good feature of investing in stocks compared to other less liquid investments such as real estate. The price of the shares and other assets is an important part of the dynamics of economic activity and can influence or be an indicator of social mood as shown in history. Rising share prices for example, tend to be associated with increased business investment and vice versa. The wealth of households and their consumption is affected by share prices. The fluctuations in the stock market occur partly because companies make money or lose money, but it is much more involved than that. The worth of a stock is what someone will pay for it.
There are many factors that have an effect on the stock market such as the state of the economy. If there is more money floating around, there is more flowing into companies making their prices rise. Another factor is time of year and publicity. Many stocks are seasonal which means that they do well during certain parts of the year like the ice company, which does well during summer.
Mistakes to be avoided by investors to make money in the stock markets
1. Don't buy a stock based on its past experience 2. Beware of stock market experts 3. Never be unrealistic with your expectations 4. Understand the consequences of failure on your portfolio
For more details please visit www.wealthcapfund.com
The term "stock market" refers to the business of buying and selling stock. It is a market for the trading of company stock and derivatives of it. Both of these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.
Bonds are still traditionally traded in an informal, over the counter market known as the bond market. The worldwide size of the bond market is estimated at $45 trillion and the size of the stock market is estimated as about half that.
In the stock market, the participants range from small individual stock investors to a large hedge fund traders, who can be based anywhere. Usually their orders end up with a professional at a stock exchange, who executes the order. The purpose of stock exchange is to facilitate the exchange of securities between buyers and sellers, thus providing a marketplace. The exchanges provide real time trading information on the listed securities, facilitating price discovery.
You might wonder why should you care about the stock market. May be you are too young to be investing, or can't see the market relates to your everyday life. But, the fact is that if you have no money in the stock market, or are in school, the stock market does affect you. It affects everything you do from going to the mall to buying a new outfit.
The stock market is considered to be one of the most vital sources for companies to raise money. This allows businesses to go public or raise additional capital for expansion. The exchange provides liquidity that affords investors to quickly and easily sells securities. This is a good feature of investing in stocks compared to other less liquid investments such as real estate. The price of the shares and other assets is an important part of the dynamics of economic activity and can influence or be an indicator of social mood as shown in history. Rising share prices for example, tend to be associated with increased business investment and vice versa. The wealth of households and their consumption is affected by share prices. The fluctuations in the stock market occur partly because companies make money or lose money, but it is much more involved than that. The worth of a stock is what someone will pay for it.
There are many factors that have an effect on the stock market such as the state of the economy. If there is more money floating around, there is more flowing into companies making their prices rise. Another factor is time of year and publicity. Many stocks are seasonal which means that they do well during certain parts of the year like the ice company, which does well during summer.
Mistakes to be avoided by investors to make money in the stock markets
1. Don't buy a stock based on its past experience 2. Beware of stock market experts 3. Never be unrealistic with your expectations 4. Understand the consequences of failure on your portfolio
For more details please visit www.wealthcapfund.com
The term "stock market" refers to the business of buying and selling stock. It is a market for the trading of company stock and derivatives of it. Both of these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.
Bonds are still traditionally traded in an informal, over the counter market known as the bond market. The worldwide size of the bond market is estimated at $45 trillion and the size of the stock market is estimated as about half that.
In the stock market, the participants range from small individual stock investors to a large hedge fund traders, who can be based anywhere. Usually their orders end up with a professional at a stock exchange, who executes the order. The purpose of stock exchange is to facilitate the exchange of securities between buyers and sellers, thus providing a marketplace. The exchanges provide real time trading information on the listed securities, facilitating price discovery.
INTERESTED IN AN ACTIVE TRADING SYSTEM?
You might wonder why should you care about the stock market. May be you are too young to be investing, or can't see the market relates to your everyday life. But, the fact is that if you have no money in the stock market, or are in school, the stock market does affect you. It affects everything you do from going to the mall to buying a new outfit.
The stock market is considered to be one of the most vital sources for companies to raise money. This allows businesses to go public or raise additional capital for expansion. The exchange provides liquidity that affords investors to quickly and easily sells securities. This is a good feature of investing in stocks compared to other less liquid investments such as real estate. The price of the shares and other assets is an important part of the dynamics of economic activity and can influence or be an indicator of social mood as shown in history. Rising share prices for example, tend to be associated with increased business investment and vice versa. The wealth of households and their consumption is affected by share prices. The fluctuations in the stock market occur partly because companies make money or lose money, but it is much more involved than that. The worth of a stock is what someone will pay for it.
There are many factors that have an effect on the stock market such as the state of the economy. If there is more money floating around, there is more flowing into companies making their prices rise. Another factor is time of year and publicity. Many stocks are seasonal which means that they do well during certain parts of the year like the ice company, which does well during summer.
Mistakes to be avoided by investors to make money in the stock markets
1. Don't buy a stock based on its past experience 2. Beware of stock market experts 3. Never be unrealistic with your expectations 4. Understand the consequences of failure on your portfolio
For more details please visit www.wealthcapfund.com
The term "stock market" refers to the business of buying and selling stock. It is a market for the trading of company stock and derivatives of it. Both of these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only stocks traded privately
Bonds are still traditionally traded in an informal, over the counter market known as the bond market. The worldwide size of the bond market is estimated at $45 trillion and the size of the stock market is estimated as about half that.
In the stock market, the participants range from small individual stock investors to a large hedge fund traders, who can be based anywhere. Usually their orders end up with a professional at a stock exchange, who executes the order. The purpose of stock exchange is to facilitate the exchange of securities between buyers and sellers, thus providing a marketplace. The exchanges provide real time trading information on the listed securities, facilitating price discovery.
Talk about Investing Here:
You might wonder why should you care about the stock market. May be you are too young to be investing, or can't see the market relates to your everyday life. But, the fact is that if you have no money in the stock market, or are in school, the stock market does affect you. It affects everything you do from going to the mall to buying a new outfit.
The stock market is considered to be one of the most vital sources for companies to raise money. This allows businesses to go public or raise additional capital for expansion. The exchange provides liquidity that affords investors to quickly and easily sells securities. This is a good feature of investing in stocks compared to other less liquid investments such as real estate. The price of the shares and other assets is an important part of the dynamics of economic activity and can influence or be an indicator of social mood as shown in history. Rising share prices for example, tend to be associated with increased business investment and vice versa. The wealth of households and their consumption is affected by share prices. The fluctuations in the stock market occur partly because companies make money or lose money, but it is much more involved than that. The worth of a stock is what someone will pay for it.
There are many factors that have an effect on the stock market such as the state of the economy. If there is more money floating around, there is more flowing into companies making their prices rise. Another factor is time of year and publicity. Many stocks are seasonal which means that they do well during certain parts of the year like the ice company, which does well during summer.
Mistakes to be avoided by investors to make money in the stock markets
1. Don't buy a stock based on its past experience 2. Beware of stock market experts 3. Never be unrealistic with your expectations 4. Understand the consequences of failure on your portfolio
For more details please visit http://www.wealthcapfund.com
About the Author
Asia based independent Offshore Investment advisor.Has been involved in the financial services and financial planning business since leaving full time education in 1977.It was his intention to provide an insight in to both the mainstream products offered by the general population of financial advisors out there and also the alternative investment areas that are often overlooked or ignored.
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Credit Card Reward Programs
by David Tanguay
Apply for American Express Credit Card Reward Program
When you are applying for new credit cards, take a look at the reward programs they offer. Almost every major credit card company like Secured MasterCard or Secured Visa Credit Card offers some type of reward program. Some offer cash rebates and others offer merchandise. See which one helps you out the most.
Cash rebates offers with credit cards vary depending on the company. Most offer between 1% to 5% cash back on qualifying purchases. That means that during the year if you spend $20,000 on your card you could earn up to a $1000 back. Make sure you read the terms, though, because many have a cap on how much you can actually earn back. The key to really taking advantage of this option is not to carry a balance and give all your rewards back in interest.
Many people I know save the cash back money and use it to take their yearly vacations. If you are not carrying a large balance on your credit cards and losing it on interest, you will actually be taking your vacation on them. And if you have $1000 to travel with, you can have one heck of a vacation
Credit card rebates
I personally prefer using cards that offer merchandise for your purchases. Usually you will receive one point for every dollar you spend. Then once you accumulate a certain total you can choose some merchandise. Many of them offer an online catalog to shop from. The credit card companies offer the merchandise in tiers. For instance, you might be able to get a $50 dollar gift certificate for 5000 points, but for 100,000 points you have the option of getting a high-tech outdoor BBQ grill.
I use the merchandise points I accumulate for gifts throughout the year. Especially for last minute Christmas gifts. Everyone likes a gift certificate, so there is a quick and easy gift idea.
I know many people who have learned to maximize these Air Miles credit Card rewards to the fullest. For example, you are use to just writing a check to pay for your utilities every month. Instead, just use the credit card to pay them, and just pay it off each month. It is not an added expense; you are just changing whom you write the check to. They also pay things like their homeowners policies on them and if you can, another big point gainer is paying your property taxes on them. You then can add a lot of everyday purchases and get your point totals very high.
So decide which type of reward program is best for you. You may want the cash rebate over the merchandise. Either way, make sure that you actually get to benefit from them. Check all the terms of your credit card, not all purchases you make will qualify for points or the cash rebate options.
About the Author
David Tanguay is dedicated in helping individuals & businesses get out of debt. To compare hundreds of credit card offers & rates please visit Apply for a Credit Card at http://easycreditcompare.com
Apply for American Express Canadian Credit Cards with Rewards Points and cash back offers also low interest.
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Credit Card Offers: What To Look For And What To Avoid
by Mario Churchill
In this day and age, credit cards are considered to be one of the most important financial tools in our society. With it, you can purchase almost everything you need in your everyday life even if you still don't have the cash for it. What you do is you have to pay back the credit card company every month for the money they lent you with interest when you used the credit card to purchase something.
This tool is great especially during emergencies and you have to consider the fact that when you lose your cash, you won't be able to replace it, but when you lose your credit card, your credit card issuer will be able to provide you with another credit card.
Today, there are different varieties of credit cards available in the market. All you need to do is choose one that you can afford and one that suits your everyday needs. In fact, you don't actually need to find credit cards as credit cards will find you. Because of the competition for potential cardholders, credit card companies are now mailing people randomly with credit card offers. In fact, a salesperson may have already knocked on your door to offer you credit cards.
When you are interested in applying for a credit card, you have to know what kind of credit card is right for you. Always remember that there are different kinds of credit cards designed for different kinds of people. The first question you have to ask yourself is if you can afford to have a credit card.
You also need to look at the different credit card offers as there may be some information that will be left out in the advertising or in the offer. Usually, credit card companies will offer you low interest rates, no annual fees, low APR and other attractive offers. In fact, some even offer zero interest rates and zero APR. If you think that this is too good to be true, then there is a great possibility that it is.
Ask the company that is offering you the credit card about their offers and ask if the low interest rates they offer in their credit card is either promotional or fixed. If it is fixed, then you may have struck gold and will be enjoy a lot of benefits with low interest rate monthly bills. If it is not, ask how long the promotional interest rate will last in order to know what to expect on your credit card bills in the future.
Never get blinded by other kinds of promotional offers that credit card issuers offer, such as free TV, free toaster ovens, free t-shirts, free microwave ovens and other freebies. This is only a marketing strategy to blind people in realizing that they are signing up with a credit card that has a high interest rate and high annual fee.
Always remember that you should only get a credit card that you can afford. Never sign up for anything just because it offers a lot of rewards and points when you use it. If you do this, you will just end up spending a lot of money from the purchases you made and accumulate high amounts of credit card debt. The best thing you can do when applying for a credit card is read the agreement stated on the credit card you are interested in. By doing this, you will be able to know the real deal inside the credit card outside the promotional offers.
About the Author
Mario Churchill has written many articles about the benefits of business and college student credit card offers and runs a website on locating the best credit card offers for your lifestyle.
Be careful for life insurance scams such as: Fraud, Phishing and Financial Misdeeds
Discuss Credit Cards Here:
Apply for Canadian - American Express credit cards Here:
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Lender's Get Aggressive To Help Borrowers That Are At Default Status On Their Mortgages by Dale Rogers
If the borrower has committed to staying in the property and fighting through the difficult period of pending foreclosure many lenders and their servicing agent are offering possible solutions. Early on, with mortgage lates, borrowers are being contacted with possible workout solutions to get caught up on their payments. However, many mortgage products with accelerating payments make it difficult for any mortgage borrower to recover. In the past, forbearance was the tool of choice to be utilized for a borrower to get caught up with payment arrears.
For example, if a mortgage payment of $1,500/month is three months down and soon to be four, the mortgage company might take this arrearage of $1,500 x 4 = $6,000 and spread it out over say a years time and a catch up payment of $6,000/12= $500/month. The regular payment of $1,500/month needs to be made plus the $500/month in the forbearance portion for a total of $2,000/month to get caught up and avoid foreclosure. In the past, this might have worked, now however, many borrowers are being crippled with accelerating payments of the first of say an Option ARM, or a 2/28 ARM that is adjusting way up and forbearance won't do the job. Rather, in many cases, a whole new loan product has to be put in place to even have a chance of rectifying the adverse mortgage situation.
Now the "old" forbearance has been modified to become even more flexible. Mortgage companies, with the current inventory of unsold homes, do not want to foreclose and end up taking an even bigger hit when and if the home sells after foreclosure. The writing has been on the wall for many lenders in this past year, work out the loan or eat huge losses. If someone is in the home and making payments, it can soften the massive write-downs that will follow in this extremely soft market.
Things were going ok for Jim and Terri until the auto accident that put Jim out of work and laid up with a broken leg and a disc problem. What savings they had were burned through in less than a month. The auto insurance covered very little of the medical bills and Jim's insurance at work carried a sizable deductible. The biggest challenge came for their family when Jim was not able to work for what was predicted for six months. The luxury items were the first to go. Because Jim was upside down on his car that was totaled there wasn't enough insurance settlement to pay for the debt. Jim was still on the hook for the difference and monthly payments were being demanded by the auto finance company.
Jim's attorney shared that there might be a chance for some type of settlement until he discovered the driver of the other car that had caused the accident was not insured due to a recently lapsed policy. The insurance carrier was not going to pay anything. Jim's attorney, a high school buddy, was going after the assets of the at fault driver but it would take some time to even begin the process. Jim and Terri had worked hard for five years to buy their first home and were just getting ahead when the auto accident occurred. With several months passing, the young couple was not able to pay even the minimum payment of their four credit cards.
The mortgage payment had not been made for the past three months. The phone was now ringing off the hook for medical collections, the auto finance company and the mortgage company was now threatening to foreclose. Terri took a part time job in addition to her full time job as an office manager at a collection agency. She knew that game inside out. With two kids it was becoming very clear that bad things were under way and if something didn't happen to turn the situation around, her family would be moving back into a small apartment again with trashed credit to boot.
Fortunately, Jim and Terri's families were close by and could help out with babysitting while Terri worked. Both of their parents were of modest means and not able to offer any financial help but were happy to pitch in with the kids and some of the maintenance work around the house. Jim was flat on his back with recovery time many months down the road. Jim had the phone close to his bed and he had been screening telephone calls for bill collectors and such. On a Friday, Jim received a call from the mortgage company that held their loan and at first Jim was going to ignore it. Jim figured he had quite enough "gut calls" for the day. The caller was in the process of leaving a message on the answering machine and was going on at length over the details of a plan from the mortgage lender that would help Jim and Terri get back on their feet. In the middle of the message, Jim lifted the phone and spoke with the caller.
It was a friendly voice. Jim spent almost an hour on the phone with explaining his situation and sharing the tale of woe and their streak of bad luck. The caller's name was Toby and after the conversation concluded, he suggested he would call back by Monday and would give Jim and Terri a concrete proposal to try and mediate the mortgage foreclosures short fall. After Jim hung up, he could only wonder if anyone could help him out of this financial mess. Sure enough, Toby called back Monday with a proposal. Toby explained his mortgage company decided to be very proactive with customers who had fallen behind and found it in their best interest to try and bridge the gap between their current situation and possible foreclosures. Another hour was spent going over Jim and Terri's family budget just to determine the short fall and rank what items could be quickly cut to generate a better monthly cash flow. At the conclusion of the call, Toby suggested that if Jim and Terri could tighten up their budget and eliminate in the short term, cable, cell phones, eating out, sell the one remaining car that had some equity and get a transportation vehicle the bank would substantially help with the payments.
This would allow Jim and Terri to bridge to a time when Jim could get back on his feet and return to work. Since the loan in question was an FHA loan, the lender was going to advance an interest free loan in the amount equal to twelve months of principal and interest payments including taxes and insurance. This was made possible by the lender making a "partial claim" to the FHA insurance fund, that is borrower funded, to help Jim and Terri get back on their feet. This was not a gift. Every penny would need to be paid back down the road. When borrowers use the FHA program they normally pay 1.5% of the mortgage amount up front called the UFMIP (Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premium) plus they pay .5% of mortgage amount spread out among monthly payments. The bulk of these insurance premiums are by and large used for foreclosure actions. Loans that are insured by FHA pay the lender the difference of the foreclosure sale and the loan balance plus costs. This can be 25% to 30%+ loss for FHA. The thinking here by FHA is that if they can extend a hand and get these folks back on their feet in say a years time, it would be saving FHA a ton of money.
This proactive approach is showing positive results. Jim and Terri seized on the proposal and in time were able to work out their financial situation and Jim was able to return to work. FHA was made whole in time; the credit card companies cancelled the accounts and agreed to take smaller payments for as long as necessary to get them settled at a reduced nominal interest rate. Terri was a good negotiator. Jim's attorney was able to get a judgment and squeeze enough money out of the ticketed driver and get some funds from the uninsured motorist fund. This allowed Jim to payoff the "up side down" portion of the totaled vehicle with enough additional cash to buy an older pick up truck with the remainder monies.
Terri was able to give up her part time job and the family slowly pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and they got back on their feet. The trailing medical bills were negotiated down after several over charges were discovered and a low monthly payment was set up. All in all, Jim and Terri considered themselves lucky in that the mortgage company stepped forward to offer a workable plan to save their home. It could have gone the other way very easily.
Lenders have recognized that the "bottom line strategy" of trying to work with borrowers who are in trouble pays off. From specially trained customer service representatives, like Toby, who are engaged counselors and not just adversaries. A customer service representative armed with tools like forbearance plans, to reworking old loans to new loans, to FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, all pitching in to help resolve and mitigate any salvageable financial situations. The borrowers will need to make an effort to meet the lender half way and do what they need to do to keep their home. For any homeowner, financial disaster can be just a car crash away. Fortunately, lenders are now stepping up their efforts to help families in trouble with paying their mortgage. Again, bottom line, the lender and the borrower can win.
Dale Rogers www.brokencredit.com
About the Author
Dale Rogers is a thirty-year mortgage veteran and frequent contributor to the Broken Credit Blog. The BCB is a free website created to assist the general public with information about credit repair and responsible mortgage lending.
Discuss Mortgages and Foreclosures Here
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Business Debt Management - Business Debt Management Restores Focus by Debbie White
You are a businesses person who has thought up and developed a business plan that has materialized into a quietly growing concern that serves the community well. However, for several reasons, the business is not growing quickly enough to cover the start up and monthly costs. Perhaps the business is growing slowly and customers are just now becoming aware of the service. Or, the business may have had a number of customers, but a few have been unable to pay the bills.
For whatever reason, the business assets are not enough to pay the monthly bill and business debts are beginning to accumulate. And even worse, you, as the head of this business, now find that you are spending more time thinking about business debt management than about the other aspects of the business. You may find yourself spending the hours in the day that should be focussed upon attracting new customers mired in the quagmire in debt negotiations with creditors. Or the hours you usually provide customer service and backup to your existing customers are being eaten away while you try to collect payment for services that have been provided. In either case, your focus is upon business debt management and not upon your business. With your attention divided in this way, it will not be long before serious business help will be necessary.
Now is the time to browse the Internet for business debt management. There are many services listed that offer counselling regarding business debt management, all forms of business help, solutions for resolving commercial debt, and who offer programs that result in business debt settlement. A business debt management firm will assess the business, the amount of debt and the ratio to assets. Most business debt management consultants will say that bankruptcy is almost never the correct step to take. It further weakens the local business fabric by unloading more unpaid accounts upon it. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get debt relief through declaring a business bankruptcy.
The business debt management consultant will come up with a plan that will reduce the amount of time that you, as the head of the business will have to spend on the worrisome tasks of dealing with your creditors and with those individuals who owe your business. The business help that the consultant provides will be aimed at paying off the commercial debt of the business in the quickest way that will still allow the business to keep running. The business help plan may take the form of business debt consolidation or business debt settlement, or a combination of both, depending upon the individual situation created by the business and its creditors. The debt management consultant will negotiate with the business creditors to develop a new payment plan that is tailored to a budget that is based upon the business assets. Often this payment plan will be accompanied by an interest rate that is reduced for some or all of the payment period.
The business debt management plan will certainly involve collecting at least a part of the debts owed to the business as well as paying those owed, over time. The consultant may offer quite generous terms to the clients who owe your business to recoup some payment assets. The business debt management consultant will put your creditors minds at ease and will institute a plan that will ensure payment in full of the business debts. Most importantly, the business help that you will receive from the business debt management firm will return your focus to the details of growing and maintaining your business, where it belongs.
Check these links to learn more:
CuraDebt.com - US Residents only
===================
About the Author
Debbie White is a contributing writer to http://www.curadebt.com and is currently writing some special articles to guide businesses on how to manage debt and avoid bankruptcy. For Business Debt Information and Debt Help Consultation,
call toll-free 1-877-850-3328. U.S. Residents ONLY
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Eliminate Your High Interest Debt by Marie Megge
Monthly credit card payments have recently skyrocketed, which has resulted in millions of people looking for some type of debt relief.
While consumers struggle to make even their minimum monthly payments, issuers of credit cards are realizing all-time record profits. For instance, credit card companies earned a staggering $90.1 Billion in profits from interest charged to consumers during the year 2006. What's worse is that these same companies earned $55.2 Billion in fees charged to their customers, such as over-limit fees and late fees.
If you're a consumer contributing to these ridiculous profits through high interest credit card debt, and you're struggling to meet your monthly financial obligations, it's time to reassess your current situation. I recommend that you gather all of your credit card bills and carefully review each statement. You'll want to determine exactly how much interest and/or fees are accruing on your accounts each month. After doing so, you should be able to have a clear understanding of whether or not you can realistically pay off these debts in a reasonable amount of time, and eliminate some of the interest you're paying. For a free Credit Card Interest Rate Worksheet, visit the following link: www.donaldsonwilliams.com/Credit_Card_Interest_Rate_Worksheet.html.
This simple worksheet will help you clearly review your finances and determine if you're being strangled by high interest.
If you find that your current credit card debt is nearly impossible to pay off through regular monthly payments to your creditors, it's time to seek help. The following solutions have helped many people to eliminate their debt:
It's time to take action now so that you can realize a debt-free lifestyle and eliminate your concern and anxiety due to money concerns. I wish you the very best in your endeavor to eliminate debt and concern.
About the Author
Marie Megge is a consultant in the credit services industry. Over the past several years she has assisted many individuals in resolving their debt-related matters. For more information regarding credit and debt visit http://www.donaldsonwilliams.com
DISCUSS Eliminating High Interest Debt HERE:
Discuss credit cards here:
Apply for a Canadian Credit Card here:
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IS GETTING A CAR LOAN TO FIX BAD CREDIT A GOOD IDEA?
Can you get a car loan when you can't even pay your monthly bills?
What Gary did is the worst thing possible to do. He lied on his credit application. And from the sounds of it, the car dealership recommended that he lie about his financial information.
This video is U.S. based, however, the same ads to help build your credit by getting a car loan appear in the newspapers in Canada.
The reason this guy has bad credit in the first place is because he's very interested in cutting corners. He's willing to lie about his financial situation to get himself a new car which he can't afford in the first place.
The same principals apply with debt. Make sure you have a cash reserve in your bank account in order to offset any emergencies you may have. Be patient while you save up your money. This is especially true when you're pulling out of a bad financial situation. Gary is perpetuating his bad situation by taking on more debt that he can't afford.
And... by the sounds of , this fellows new car, is going to cost him several more thousand which he'll probably put on a credit card!
SEE my previous post
Repair your credit with an AUTO LOAN?
Talk about this in our Auto Loans Discussion area.
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THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX - OTHER POSTSAfter my "thinking outside the box" post: Cancelled MONEY POLL, I felt like I needed to do a little more research on other bloggers who have talked about "thinking out side the box"
I found the following blogs who actually have the keyword term "think outside the box" in the title of their posts. These were just a few blogs that talked directly about Thinking outside the box.
That's what I was trying to do by inviting non-personal finance bloggers to comment on the following question:
"What is your best financial decision in the last 5 years"
The other good part of experience is that you figure out even better ways to do something. In the future, I'll ask many people the same question, but I'll know how to do it better and better.
If anybody wants to answer that question, please do feel free to do so in the blog comments area.
Think out side the box, while it's a good idea, sometimes it gets messy!
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UPDATE:
OOPS!! SORRY EVENT CANCELLED!!
Due to unforeseen circumstances, such as the fact that non personal finance blogs don't like to talk about money for some reason, I'm cancelling this MONEY POLL:
I've heard it said, "think outside the box!" In doing this MONEY POLL I thought that it would be interesting to think outside the box and get a fresh money comment from non financial bloggers. After all, it's not something they talk about every day. In thinking outside the box, I thought it would be refreshing for these bloggers to talk about something they've had success with. Success is good!
These are also bloggers who like to blog. They like to talk about things. I guess they don't like to talk about money.
My apologies to each and every blog to whom I placed a hand written - non-mechanical invitation. I spent the better part of two hours visiting each blog and posting my invitation to this event.
I've given each of these bloggers a free link back from my site. This means that their blog will receive extra traffic and readers from my blog.
The whole thing fit in my mind when I thought about doing this MONEY POLL. It seemed like a pleasant win-win activity.
The only thing that didn't fit, is that non-personal finance bloggers don't like to blog about money. End of story.
Live and learn.
"Sometimes, thinking outside the box, leaves you inside the garbage can where the garbage was disposed."
MONEY POLL:
YOUR BEST FINANCIAL DECISIONI'm asking the following question:
"What is your best financial decision in the last 5 years"
I'm conducting a Tags like / survey like question with the following 25 blogs. These are active bloggers whose blogs are well read and well respected.
The purpose of this poll question is to get some financial feed back from non personal finance bloggers.
We can learn alot about dealing with money by getting input from people about their GOOD financial decisions.
I will go to each of these blogs and personally invite these bloggers to drop by and respond here in the comments section, or write a post on their site.
I'm very curious to see what kind of responses we get from these bloggers.
NOT LISTED ABOVE, BUT WANT TO TELL US ABOUT YOUR BEST FINANCIAL DECISION?
Please write a comment in the comments section and or write a little post on your blog. Let me know so that I can come by and see what you've said!!
DEADLINE: April 30, 2007
I will be rounding up and doing a review on the posts and comments on April 30, 2007.
Thanks in advance for your participation!!
Contact Monty Loree at:
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NOTICE: Another Spam Email: I haven't seen this one before, so I thought I would post it for everyone to see.
See below for the completely bogus reasons why this could not be a real situation:
"Due to mix up of some names and addresses, You are advised to keep this winning very confidential until you receive your lump prize in your account. This is a protective measure to avoid double claiming by people you may tell as we have had cases like this before,"
In any countries, lotteries are highly regulated by their governments. If there was a mix up of names and addresses, there would be alot of poop hitting the fan, internal investigations, law suits, and possibly shutting down the lottery.
This would be a massive topic for discussion that would hit the news on TV, Radio and be blogged about all over the internet.
This is a protective measure to avoid double claiming by people you may tell as we have had cases like this before,"
Seriously, if this lottery organization kept having these problems, they would be deemed completely incompetent and would be stopped from operating almost immediately.
PLEASE: DO NOT FALL FOR THIS BOGUS EMAIL SPAM SCAM!>
Spam as received:
______________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS DEPT.
Free Loteria Espa?ol
Paseo De La Castellana
15-19, 28008 Madrid. Spain Branch.
Ref. N?: ES/007/05/12/MAD.
Batch. N?: GHT/2907/333/05.
RE: WINNING NOTIFICATION/FINAL AWARD:
ATTN; WINNER,
We are pleased to inform you of the release, of the long awaited
results of the FREE LOTERIA ESPANOL /INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAMES.held on 21th of APRIL 2007 your email address attached to the ticket number:
TK/4693659ES that drew the lucky winning number, which consequently won the lottery in the second category in four parts.
You have been approved for a payment of $1,500,000.00 US Dollars. (One Million, Five Hundred United States Dollars) in cash credited to file
reference number:
WQ/4249859609/GY4.This is from a total cash prize of FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS Shared among the ten international winners in second categories.
Congratulations!!!
All participants were selected through a Multi international computer
ballot system drawn from 98,000 (Ninety eight thousand) names of email users around the world, as part of our international promotion programmer.
Due to mix up of some names and addresses, You are advised to keep this winning very confidential until you receive your lump prize in your account. This is a protective measure to avoid double claiming by people you may tell as we have had cases like this before, please send your Full Name,Home and Office Tel & Fax Number, Mobile Tel Number and your winning ticket number, reference numbers and amount won information for processing of your winning fund to our registered the immediate payment of your prize.The Validity period of the winnings is for 30 working days hence you are expected to make your claims immediately, any claim not made before this date will be returned to the MINISTERIO DE ECONOMIA Y HACIENDA.
CONTACT DETAILS OF CLAIMS AGENT:
FREE LOTTO INC,
Mr. David Anderson,
Email: loterijadraws@walla.com
spanishadraws@walla.com
Tel: +34-634-093-135
Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications
please remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence they are your agent, and responsible for the processing and transfer of your winnings fund to you.
YOUR SECURITY FILE NUMBER IS YNB91237-D1-67/WM4 (keep personal)
Rememer, all winning must be claimed not later than 30th April 2007.
Please note, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications,
remember to quote your reference number and batch number in all correspondence.
Yours truly,
Walter Jones
Promotion Manager.
THANK YOU AND CONGRATULATIONS!!!
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Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blogs #2 - It's Starting!!
UPDATE:
I just added the tour participants page today!
Canadian Capitalists' Comments regarding the Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blogs - April 12, 2007.
Canadian Capitalist Said:
Hi Monty:
As I've participated and hosted many carnivals before, please consider (or debate) the following rules:
- Only one entry to the tour.
- Every entry should be in the following format: title, URL of post, 2-3 line synopsis.
- Consider limiting the number of entries. I'll bet you anything that in a year or two, you'll have 75 entries and not many hosts would want to read that many entries and create a post that is 5 pages long.
- Sign up should be very easy. Why should I get a username and password to submit an entry? (I hate having to register everywhere).
- Please add me as a host to the next available slot on the tour.
- How about getting a free email (say ctopfb@gmail.com)? Bloggers can send an email to participate and every week, you can change the password and notify the host. We'll also have an archive of all submissions.
Canadian Capitalist is bringing up some interesting questions and has suggested that we debate these questions.
Being that Canadian Capitalist has done many more Tours / Carnivals than I have, I am going to consider these questions.
Point #1:
Only one entry to the tour.
Only one entry to the tour? I'm not sure what that means.
I thought that 10 entries per tour would be fair.
I"d be interested to get some feed back on how many participants there should be per tour.
Point #2:
Every entry should be in the following format: title, URL of post, 2-3 line synopsis.
This would make it alot more convenient for the host if this information was provided.
The host could then add his review to this information.
Point #3:
Consider limiting the number of entries. I'll bet you anything that in a year or two, you'll have 75 entries and not many hosts would want to read that many entries and create a post that is 5 pages long.
As with Point #1 I thought that 10 entries should be the maximum amount per tour. It took me the better part of 2 hours to skim 10 blogs, and write a short review on each. Any longer and it would have felt like work!
Point #4:
Sign up should be very easy. Why should I get a username and password to submit an entry? (I hate having to register everywhere).
My reply to this is that I've been working on the internet since 1999. I have received a huge amount of spam over the years and only like to deal with "real" people.
The sign up form is for the following reasons:
1) Allows me to organize the participants information when it comes to scheduling participants and hosts.
2) Tells me that people are "real" and interested in participating.
Point #5:
Please add me as a host to the next available slot on the tour.
OK... I'll add CanadianCapitalist as a host...
Anybody else who wants to host a tour is invited to do so.
Point #6:
How about getting a free email (say ctopfb@gmail.com)? Bloggers can send an email to participate and every week, you can change the password and notify the host. We'll also have an archive of all submissions.
Sounds good.
I'm excited to have more discussion on these questions or any others that people have.
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The following are Self Counsel titles that we are starting to promote on
this site:
Self Counsel books are found in stores like Chapters, but we're making it convenient for our visitors to purchase these books online.
I'll be putting a separate "Store" together to promote the Self Counsel book products. I've purchase many Self Counsel books and I do like their quality.
If you get a chance, click through and see Self Counsel's selection.
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After I wrote the previous blog post about TransUnion Canada, I was curious to know which other bloggers in Canada are writing about the Canadian Privacy Commission.
Canadian Blogs who are talking
about the Privacy Commission
SWSDA Being Sued In Supreme Court
SWSDA was recently found in violation of the Nova Scotia freedom of information statutes and is being sued by Ed Cayer in Supreme Court to enforce the privacy commission ruling. The SWSDA, South West Shore Development Authority, is also known as the RDA (Regional Development Authority). Created by the Province of Nova Scotia mid 1990s and ...
Findlay On Governance
Last January it was the huge privacy breaches involving Winner stores and Talvest Mutual Funds. As we noted with considerable dismay at the time on these pages, Canada?s federal Privacy Commissioner waited weeks before going public with the information, leaving customers whose privacy had been compromised in the dark. Now, the problem involves Rogers Communications Inc., one of Canada?s largest telecommunications carriers. As The Centre for Corporate & Public Governance pointed out in a statement calling once again for action on the part of federal lawmakers, Rogers has known about the breakdown in privacy protection for five months, but is only now getting around to advising customers. There is no information about this breach on either Rogers? website or the Privacy Commission?s.
Privacy Law Blog
News Release: Privacy Commissioner concludes investigation of SWIFT (April 2, 2007)
Privacy Commissioner concludes investigation of SWIFT
Ottawa, April 2, 2007 ?The Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart, today announced the conclusion of her Office?s investigation of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a European-based financial cooperative, that supplies messaging services and interface software to a large number of financial institutions in more than 200 countries, including Canada.
Talk about the Canadian Federal Privacy Commission:
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I just found this on the news wires.
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=43091
I'm curious how Privacy Commissioner's office will think about TransUnion Canada giving collection agencies, call center software, combined with consumers private and personal information.
I desparately hope that has the correct permission from consumers to disclose the consumer's information to collection agencies!!
Here's how the chain of disclose should work:
- A customer signs a contract with a creditor giving the credit permission to disclose his/her information to a credit bureau
- The creditor discloses the customer's personal information to a credit bureau
- The credit bureau discloses the customer's personal information to a future creditor
The following SHOULDN'T happen:
- A credit bureau discloses an individual's personal information to a collection agency for the purposes of collecting a debt.
PIPEDA 7.(3) states: an organization may disclose personal information without the knowledge or consent of the individual only if
(b) for the purpose of collecting a debt owed by the individual to the organization. - SEE BELOW
This means that only the original company that contracted out the debt can disclose a person's information to a collection agency
The Canadian Federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Principle 4.3.1) states the following:
PIPEDA 4.3.1
Consent is required for the collection of personal information and the subsequent use or disclosure of this information. Typically, an organization will seek consent for the use or disclosure of the information at the time of collection. In certain circumstances, consent with respect to use or disclosure may be sough after the information has been collected but before use(for example, when an organization wants to use information for a purpose not previously identified.)
PIPEDA 4.3.2
The principle requires "knowledge and consent". Organizations shall make a reasonable effort to ensure that the individual is advised of the purposes for which the information will be used. To make the consent meaningful, the purposes must be stated in such a manner that the individual can reasonably understand how the information will be used or disclosed.
PIPEDA 4.9 Principle 9
Upon request, an individual shall be informed of the existence, use and disclosure of his or her personal information and shall be given access to that information. An individual shall be able to challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and have it amended as appropriate.
PIPEDA 4.9.5
When an individual successfully demonstrates the inaccuracy or incompleteness of personal information, the organization shall amend the information as required. Depending upon the nature of the information challenged, amendment involves the correction, deletion or addition of information. Where appropriate, the amended information shall be transmitted to third parties having access to the information in question.
7.(3) For the purpose of clause 4.3 of Schedule 1, and despite the note that accompanies that clause, an organization may disclose personal information without the knowledge or consent of the individual only if
(b) for the purpose of collecting a debt owed by the individual to the organization.
Talk about TransUnion Canada:
Talk about PIPEDA and Privacy Commissioner here:
TransUnion offers call centre software to Canadian clients
Debt collectors now have a more effective way of collecting their cash. TransUnion, a credit information company, has inked a deal with Austin Logistics to offer its call centre management software to Canadian clientele ? either on-site or as a managed service.
TransUnion gathers and analyzes information to provide credit reports, credit scores and fraud services. Through this joint initiative, it will combine its credit data with call centre management software, allowing financial institutions and collection agencies to focus their resources on accounts most likely to deliver the greatest return. The goal is to reduce collection and treatment costs, as well as risk throughout the credit lifecycle.
?We already have a deep footprint in financial services and collection agencies, so it?s a really nice fit between our two organizations,? said Derrick Breau, vice-president of sales and marketing with TransUnion.
The company will primarily be offering the OnQ and CallTech solutions to its commercial base. OnQ allows clients to automate and centralize their campaigns and list management. CallTech provides predictive, analytic call targeting, which helps clients determine the best time to call customers and increase the number of right party connects, therefore providing a better chance of collecting the debt.
?They?re looking for tools, data and analytics that allow them to better focus their resources,? said Breau. ?The challenge of the day in the IT world is all about limited resources ? you want to focus those resources where you get the greatest return.?
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Self Counsel Books - Write Your Legal Will in 3 Easy Steps
I am reactivating my account with Self Counsel books and thought I would display the Legal Wills book as somebody was asking about it.
I've purchased many of these Self Counsel Books and I do like them.
They're nicely written for Canadians.
Who links to my website?
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I just sent this press release out.
Canadian Collection Agencies Feeling Heat from Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca
Regina, SK, April 18, 2007
- Canada's #1 credit discussion forum and blog today has been helping Canadians better understand how to better deal with collection agencies, and not feel intimidated if they do get a call from one. Collection Agencies work for Canadian creditors such as banks, loan companies, and credit card companies and help them reduce their losses by collecting outstanding receivables.
Most Canadians are very diligent paying their debts on time and as agreed to with their creditors. On occasion, individuals experience unexpected events, such as health issues, job loss and business down turn in the family. Such unfortunate events make it difficult for these otherwise diligent individuals to make their regular debt payments. Missed payments can trigger calls from collection agencies whose business it is to collect money. Many times collection agencts are not be sympathetic to the individual's circumstances.
Monty Loree, CEO of Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca, explains how his site is helping Canadians properly deal with collection agencies: "Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca has open discussion on our credit forum where people share ideas and experiences about collection agencies. Visitors talk about the actions of collection agents and collection agencies and specifically what individuals can do if they feel the collection agencies are not behaving within their provincial regulations."
Further, Monty Loree explains: "Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca's goal is to help Canadians, feel more in control of their situation if they get a collection call. The discussion forum helps them learn that there are provincial regulatory bodies they can contact if they are feeling harrassed by the collection agent."
One example we're seeing - Telephone marketing scams / mail scams:
Monty Loree continues: "A problem that I'm seeing is where an individual is, in one form or another, being contacted by an unknown collection agent. Individuals are worried about telephone marketing scams, internet scams and identity theft. These individuals are starting to demand proof that the collection agent calling is actually licensed and legitimate, and under contract with a legitimate creditor."
Individuals who are receiving collection calls are urged to visit:
/category/collection-agencies.html. Here they'll find a vast resource of information which will better help their deal with Canadian collection agencies.
About Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca
, is a free online resource for Canadian consumers to learn about and discuss the Canadian credit industry, including collection agencies, credit bureaus, creditors and more.
Contact:
Monty Loree
Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca
PH: 306-949-9511
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It's time for me to review the Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs!
I want to again thank all of the participants for the time they took to research and write their articles and blog posts.
April 16, 2007
Big Cajun Man - In Niagra Falls
Big Cajun was getting his priorities right and took a wonderful trip to Niagra Falls with his family While his post is not totally personal finance, he did talk about: The Economic Model of Niagra Falls Ontario which is based on:
- The Falls (naturally, why else would I be there)
- Gambling
- Factory outlet stores
- Lingerie Shops
- Lingerie Shops" (no need to elaborate)
Investing Intelligently
Wrote a really long post about:
My New Passive Index ETF Portfolio
Dave's is a pretty detailed looked at what he's investing in.
Amongst many other descriptions he describes ETFs vs. mutual funds, Bonds, Real-Return Bonds, Canadian Equity Component, US Equifty Component.
(InvestingIntelligently has received 14 comments at the time of this review, so there are a bunch of people who really appreciate his post!)
I'm going to have to spend some more time on this post to understand all of the details. :()
Alex - Customer's Revenge blog post was titled:
To Grub Or Not To Grub
Alex's premise is that "that we don?t have to spend all that much time grubbing money. He's defined grubbing money as: "Shuffling cash around, setting up savings strategies, deciding how many lattes I can?t drink to bankroll my retirement, searching for low interest rates, etc."
He's got some suggestions that we need to read, so that we don't get caught up in the trap of money grubbing which could potentially cause regrets later in life! See what he's got to say about that!!
Million Dollar Journey wrote an article titled: Smith Manoeuvre Strategy: The Rempel Maximum
This is a new topic to me so I'm going to have to relay some quick details from Million Dollar Journey's article.
This article deals with "Smith Manoeuvre" which is based on the book with the same title, authored by Fraser Smith. "The Rempel Maximum" is also talked about and is summarized as: "The Rempel Maximum is a way to maximize the potential returns from implementing the Smith Manoeuvre through the additional tax deduction and increased leverage."
Monty's personal comment so far: "Holy cow, are these articles ever nicely written and full of info..."
Investoid.com's article is titled:
The Save Half - Spend Half Principle
Investoid's premise is that "if you don?t pay yourself now (not just financially but emotionally and psychologically), your current and future happiness will be negatively affected." Nicely said!!
He gives some ideas about how he and his family save some money for discretionary purchases which will give the family pleasure now. At the same time, he is earning more income, from which he takes a portion and saves that. So... he's spending some, and saving some! Good concept!
Melanie - Canadian Mortgage Trends posted about:
Defining Mortgage Professionals
This post is where she's answering the following question: ?What exactly is the difference between a mortgage broker, a mortgage planner and someone who sells proprietary mortgages in the role of financial advisor?? which she read in another blog.
She defines a mortgage planner as: "A mortgage agent is generally someone who finds the best mortgage for each client based on that client?s income, credit, and property profiles."
To see how she compares a mortgage planner to a mortgage agent, you're going to have to visit her blog. It's well worth it!
Jon - Be Young and Rich
Jon's been looking at retirement lately which he feels is a long way off.
He's outlined some of the ways that he plans to retire without relying on a pension fund.
Here's the bullet points of how he plans to retire with a secure income.
- Real Estate
- Starting or buying a business
- Stocks that pay out a regular dividend
To get the full details of his plan, you'll have to visit his blog to read about them! It's good to see that someone who's 25 is thinking about retirement. He WILL be rewarded for that!
The Money Diva's article is titled:
Measuring Net Worth ? advantages and limitations
Money Diva has written a nice post which is based on her experiences. I like that because it means that she's basing her writing on hard won truths.
The two main points I take from her post are these:
- if you are early in your accumulation phase then net worth may indeed be the best number to focus on.
- With regards to retirement: "you need income. Net worth doesn?t pay the bills every month."
These two points tell me that The Money Diva has given a great of thought over the years about these points. You do, however, need to visit her blog to get her full bodied discussion of these points! I DO like her experience!
Canadian Dream's article is titled:
How Much Do You Need to Retire? - Part I
While this is Canadian Dream's part I post of many to come, he's got alot of detailed information of what a person needs to do to calculate their requirements for retirement. The starting point for his calculations is a recent pay cheque. He then talks about what you should factor in or out based on your preferred retirement situation.
Some of Canadian Dream's calculations is as follows:
Take home pay $X.XX/month - retirement saving $X.XX/month - work expenses $X.XX/month - mortgage $X.XX/month - kid $X.XX/month
= $X.XX Base Amount
From this calculation you'll see that Canadian Dream has done this type of math before. When you visit his blog you'll the huge amount of details that he gives to help you plan for your retirement!
There is one more blog to review, but I have to confirm the details.
My goodness, that was a pleasant workout!!
When I started out with planning the First Ever! - Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs, I was confidently hoping that we would have some informative and valuable posts from our participants.
I was quite impressed with what these bloggers have provided for this tour!
I encourage you to visit each of their blogs, to read the entirety of their valuable posts. There is quite a few hours of blogging involved in this tour which means that you'll be able to have the benefit of all of their work.
PLEASE DO
You can let these participants know you dropped by their blog, by giving them a quick comment in their "comments section.
Thanks again, and I WILL look forward to the next Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blogs!!
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Get your I GOT INVOLVED banner here:
Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs
It's here (tomorrow), April 16,2007 !! The Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs.
I'm starting to receive the blog posts from the Tour participants.
I'll post my reviews of the blogs posts by tomorrow..
Want to register for the next Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs?
Give the Tour participants some "Comment and Links" love
I want to encourage everybody to visit the participants blogs, starting tomorrow April 16 and comment on their posts. They put in alot of work to write these posts, and we should show our support.
Also, if you're a blogger yourself, please DO mention the posts that you like on your blog and give the participants a link back to their posts, so that your readers can enjoy their posts as well.
This is a great way to show off our talented Canadian personal finance blogs.
Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca Offers Two New Canadian American Express Canada Credit Cards
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2000th Post on Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca!!
I'm pretty excited that we cracked the 2000th post on this site with kit bossert's post over here:
/threadview/457/2271/1.html
I would like to THANK everyone who has taken the time to tell us what is on their minds with regards to Canadian companies in the money and finance industry in Canada. Thank you for taking the time to post your experiences on this site.
We need the input of our visitors to make this a valuable site for everybody!!
This site has been running since July 2005, and we are definitely picking up some steam.
Since that time we've had some pretty heated discussions about collection agencies that are informative and very good value for our visitors.
The word is getting out there regarding collection agencies, credit repair, creditors etc in Canada.
This is a good day!!
We welcome all Canadians to this site who would like to talk about financial companies in Canada who you deal with. Good or bad, we want to hear your feelings and experiences.
We want to make Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca the premier Canadian Finance Blog in Canada !!
Thanks again to all of the participants who have made this such a great Canadian Financial website!
Online Credit Cards | Poor Credit | travel accident insurance
| Online Credit Reports | insuranceFree Link Exchange
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Mark O'Meara sent emailed this to me and I thought i would post this on the main page because we get alot of students looking for information regarding student loan help etc. If you want to get involved with this Canadian Coalition for Student Loan Fairness petition, they've got a link below for you.
Dear montyloree
I've been extensively involved with Julian on this... Please help out by signing this online petition! We're working on getting media coverage... Please forward to anyone you know with a student loan!
Mark O'Meara
Founder Canadastudentdebt.ca
NEWS RELEASE- 12 April 2007
VANCOUVER ? The newly formed group called the Coalition for Student Loan Fairness has launched an important online petition outlining a series of much needed improvements to the existing Canadian Student Loan program.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/StudentLoanFairness"
Spokesman Julian Benedict explains, ?This online petition is designed to highlight key issues struggling student loan borrowers deal with every day. We are urging people across the country to take action by signing the petition and thereby prompting politicians to move forward with modernizing our antiquated student loan system.?
In the wake of the recent decision by U.S. lawmakers to cut interest rates in half on government-held student loans, the group is calling for a similar reduction here. As well, the petition requests improvements to the current Interest Relief program, which a 2006 Statistics Canada report confirmed recently is underutilized despite the need. Also, the petition calls for the creation of an Ombudsman to deal with escalated student loan borrower disputes, amalgamating federal and provincial loans in provinces where this process has not already taken place, the reinstatement of the post-graduation interest relief period, as well as better debt relief programs for student loan borrowers, especially those with permanent disabilities.
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Canadian Tour of Personal Finance BlogsComing - April 16, 2007 !!I've been in touch with all of the participants for the First Ever! - Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs event and for the most part, everybody is excited about the event and writing their articles.
It should be a good event!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the participants are as follows: - Canadian Money Advisor
- Big Cajun Man - Canadian Financial Stuff
- Dave- Investing Intelligently
- Customers Revenge
- Million Dollar Journey
- Investoid
- Canadian Mortgage Trends
- Be Young and Rich
- Middle Class Millionaire
- The Money Diva
- Canadian Dream
I checked out my log files and noticed that I'm getting some visitors who were referred from the participants.
I'm hoping as well that some of our participants blogs are getting some good traffic from this site.
If you get a chance please do visit the participants blogs to get to know them better!!
If you're interested in signing up for the next Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs events here are the links to register, get guidelines etc.
PURPOSE OF THE TOUR EVENT:
The whole idea behind the Tour event is to have fun and get to know fellow bloggers. It's just a fun way to help Canadian personal finance bloggers show case their blogs and network with each other.
It also helps other Canadians who are interested in reading these types of blogs get to know these bloggers a little better.
We look forward to more personal finance blog participants in future events.. Get involved today!!
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Hey folks,
That's pretty important news that The Privacy Commissioner's Office is conducting an audit on Equifax Canada.
I would like to think that we in some small way had something to do with that process. I've been bitching to the Privacy Commission about Equifax and TransUnion since 2003-2004.
I'm pleased that Equifax, who has been very arrogant, is finally having to bow to a federal power. I am VERY pleased with that.
That's the best news I've heard in a long long time.
Previously I've complained about Equifax to Saskatchewan Justice. Equifax was able to smooth them over with Sask Justice, which made Saskatchewan Justice do nothing about what we were complaining about.
Having the Privacy Commission do this audit means that they're going to have to open up their books to the federal government which will give the consumer better control over things.
I'm quite sure that the Privacy Commission is going to find a great many holes in Equifax's system with regards to people's privacy and how their information is being reported..
This is a important piece of news Regarding Equifax Canada and the Privacy Commissioners office. that I found here:
Equifax location:canada - site: news.google.com
thestar.com
Mar 16, 2007 06:32 PM
Canadian Press
OTTAWA ? The federal Privacy Commissioner has settled litigation with the Equifax credit reporting agency over the commission's ongoing audit of the company's protection of personal information.
Equifax has dropped a Federal Court action complaining that the commissioner's office lacked reasonable grounds to conduct the audit of its online identification and authentication system.
"I am pleased that Equifax agreed to discontinue their court challenge because it is important for us to make use of all the tools at our disposal, including exercising our powers to audit personal information management practices in the private sector," commissioner Jennifer Stoddart stated today.
"I am pleased that Equifax agreed to discontinue their court challenge because it is important for us to make use of all the tools at our disposal, including exercising our powers to audit personal information management practices in the private sector," commissioner Jennifer Stoddart stated today.
"Ultimately, what we determine in our work can only be of benefit to the organizations involved and their customers."
The commission said its audit continued during the court action and a report will be provided to the 600-employee Canadian division of Atlanta-headquartered Equifax Inc.
The Privacy Commissioner, mandated by Parliament to be an advocate and guardian of Canadians' privacy and personal information, had launched its audit of Equifax in August 2006 under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
The commissioner has since published guidelines for businesses on identification and authentication.
The Equifax website gives businesses access to individual credit reports, including "in-depth information about your customers and prospects," as well as allowing consumers to view their personal credit scores for a fee.
For further information: Contact: Anne-Marie Hayden, Office of the
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, (613) 995-0103, ahayden@privcom.gc.ca
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I've moved our life insurance disussion forum for Canadians to:
http://www.quality-ins.com/category/life-insurance.html
On this forum, we're discussing life insurance companies in Canada.
ACE INA Life Insurance
AIG Assurance Canada
Allstate Life Insurance Company of Canada
Blue Cross Life Insurance Company of Canada
BMO Life Insurance Company
Canada Life Assurance Company (The)
Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company
CIBC Life Insurance Company Limited
CIGNA Life Insurance Company of Canada
Empire Life Insurance Company (The)
Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada (The)
Industrial-Alliance Pacific Life Insurance Company
Manulife Canada Ltd.
Penncorp Life Insurance Company
RBC Life Insurance Company
Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada
TD Life Insurance Company
Term Life Insurance Quotes
Transamerica Life Canada
Unity Life of Canada
I find that these companies are very tight lipped about their life insurance products and services and the only information you can get is through your agency.
As we start to generate some discussion, we'll be able to gather information, even if it is the hard way.
If you're a Canadian and want to learn more about life insurance, please do join in the discussin.
Monty Loree
http://www.quality-ins.com
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Snow in April in Regina, SK CANADA
I thought that if I show a picture of the snow and write about it, it would go away and not come back until October or November of this year.
It's not the fact that I'm really really sick of snow... WAIT!! Yes I am really really sick of snow already!!
Dear Snow Manufacturer,
My order for snow is now cancelled.
I am not paying for it.
Even if you send a collection agency by to collect money.
Please stop sending me snow, and don't bill me for any if you do.
Thanks,
The Snow Client.
Okay.. that's settled, no more snow this year until November 30, 2007!!
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American Express Air Miles for Canadians
I was looking around the www.airmiles.ca site, looking for flights to Calgary, Alberta that I can purchase with my air miles that I've collected using my American Express Business Gold card.
I'm excited to say that for only 900 points I can get a flight from Regina to Calgary.
I called the Air Miles hotline 1-888-AIR-MILES ( 1-888-247-6453 ) and asked them a few questions.
That would cost me 900 points round trip. That's a savings of Approx $250 based on 7 day pre booking. I would be required to pay air port fees, taxes etc for $130.
American Express Air Miles Credit Card for Canadians.
REQUIRED FOR BOOKING:
7-day advance booking required. And GOLD Collectors enjoy 2-day advance bookings** with WestJet, Air Canada, Calm Air and Harmony Airways. As always bookings are subject to availability.
** Air Miles GOLD Collectors must have a valid e-mail address at time of booking: otherwise, flights must be booked no later than 6pm Eastern Time on the 7th day prior to departure.
As I was looking around site I learned about the Air Miles Gold program.
A regular Air miles member has to book seven days in advance where the Air Miles Gold members only have to book 7days in advance.
GET AN AMERICAN EXPRESS AIRMILES GOLD CARD
I asked the customer service person at Air Miles about the benefits of being a Air Miles Gold member.
I found the following information on the www.airmiles.ca site.
Exclusive Air Miles GOLD Benefits
Travel
# 2-day advance booking** with WestJet, Air Canada, Harmony Airways, Calm Air, Delta Hotels, Best Western and Alamo Rent-A-Car***.
# Up to 40% off reward miles required for selected flights - updated monthly on airmiles.ca
# One car class upgrade on any redemption of a Compact Car or Mid-Size car with National Car Rental Canada, Alamo Rent-A-Car Canada and Alamo Rent-A-Car U.S.
# Exclusive specials on Package Vacations and Cruises - updated on airmiles.ca
# 10% off paid companion tickets* booked on Air Canada, CanJet and
Northwest Airlines??.
Merchandise
Up to 25% off reward miles required for selected merchandise.
Sponsor Bonus Offers
# Plus other Exclusive Sponsor Bonus Offers. Check back often as offers are regularly updated.
Go GOLD faster: Check out the Offers section for Bonus reward miles and use the Sponsor Finder Map to find your neighbourhood AIR MILES? Sponsors.
$20 plus GST administration fee will apply for each travel redemption.
* Must be booked in conjunction with a redemption ticket at time of reservation. Companion ticket must match redemption itinerary.
** Gold Collectors must have a valid e-mail address at time of booking; otherwise flight must be booked not later than 6 p.m. ET on the 7th day prior to departure and handling fee may apply.
*** Valid only for Canada and United-States rentals.
?? Northwest Airlines companion discount is only valid for travel within North America.
? Trademarks of AIR MILES International Trading B.V. Used under license by Loyalty Management Group Canada Inc. Sponsor and Supplier trademarks are owned by the respective Sponsors or Suppliers or authorized for their use in Canada. The way I look at it, if you're going to spend money for groceries, gas, travel, you might as well get an American Express Credit Card and save yourself some money on trips to Calgary and Regina!
See our Credit Cards for Canadians page.
AMERICAN EXPRESS DISCUSSION FORUM FOR CANADA
Talk about your Canadian American Express Credit Card on our American Express Canada discussion area.
See also our Articles about Canadian American Express
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APSS - AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan
I was speaking with Chris who manages Aids Society of Saskatchewan and is also a tenant in my building. She was curious about how to link to the major "FREE" search engines.
I told her that I would link to her AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan website to get her included on all of the major search engines.
If you get a chance, please go over and visit Chris and tell her that you saw her site on Canadian Money Advisor!!
This is a snippet of what Aids Saskatchewan does:
APSS - AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan
The voice and resource for HIV/AIDS in South Saskatchewan for over 20 years. APSS is a knowledge and care based community organization that promotes understanding of HIV/AIDS. Influencing legislators and policy makers on issues related to HIV/AIDS. APSS prides itself on providing resources for professional development in the field of HIV/AIDS and in our support of those at risk of or living with HIV/AIDS.
As a means to move forward into the new century we changed the organizations 'brand', developing a new logo and image. The award-winning firm Bradbury Design Inc., designed our logo pro-bono. It symbolizes the figures flowing together and uniting. This incorporates the values of our organization, nurturing, connectedness, inclusively, professionalism, flexibility, innovation and creativity.
AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan is a new name for our organization. Formerly AIDS Regina, the membership, Board, clients, stakeholders and staff went through a process of discovery about who we are, what we are about, who do we work for, what do they want and how would we deliver.
We believed our former name was too restrictive and could act as a barrier to services. We have always delivered services to all of southern Saskatchewan and beyond. Our new name reflects that.
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This is a controversial piece from Youtube.com
This clip is about a guy that's talking about an article in the Charleston Post & Courier about a woman, named Brenda Kelly in the Charleston, West Virgina. who has 6 kids
Other posts about Brenda Kelly
This is kind of a graphic video about a woman who has had 6 kids, and is now complaining about making $6 per hour, has made some bad decisions in life etc.
I'm curious to get your feed back on this video:
Should people be allowed to speak this openly about the social conditions of a working poor mom of six.
Should we applaud his honesty and bravery for speaking up about this topic.
Is this guys comment that "she should just stop having kids!!" too much?
How should we feel about what this guy is saying?
The blogger over at: http://www.couriercritic.blogspot.com/ had this to say:
Her children haven?t made the choices that THEY live with. They didn?t select their mother. And she is the only mother they?ll ever have. Any ?handouts? are as much for THEM (maybe more so) than they are for her. The article was weak on details of WHY she has either kept or lost her children, so unless you know the full details, you certainly can?t decide that the children are better off elsewhere!
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A hilarious little clip about Unexpected Financial Problems
Sometimes we get into debt and we don't really know why!!
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Some debt settlement articles:-- instapundit.com style:
Debt Settlement - Generation Debt: Articles on Cutting Interest Rates in Half
- Generation Debt -- Student loans, crap jobs, massive debt loads, rising inequality, and how to fight back--plus other writing by Anya Kamenetz
You've just gotta love that title. And Anya just loves to write about debt.
Credit card information: Debt Settlement Is Key -
Work with creditors to aim for a debt settlement that will help you lower the balance of your debt. You might even be able to find a company that can help you lower your debt as much as 75%.
Home Foreclosure Crisis Underscores Need for Debt-Settlement Programs
The home foreclosure crisis generated by subprime lending continues to get worse by the day. The trouble started a few years ago when mortgage interest rates dropped to staggering lows and low-income buyers could purchase a home with the help of a subprime loan ? despite their lower credit scores.
________________________________________________
Credit Repair Blogs posts:
Frugal for life - credit repair-I have gotten a couple questions on credit repair that I would like to bring up and answer. How do I get my credit information?
It is easier to get a *free* Report by calling and stating that you have been declined approval due to your report. And to get your credit score, unlike credit reports you can?t get these free but there are discounts available.
Man I've seen better pictures of Suze Orman!! - I think she's been taking the Money Drug too long!
 SUZE ORMAN STUNNED!!
Most of the time when I watch Suze Orman on TV, she's kind of hard to swallow. She keeps telling viewers the same over and over again.
Here's my thoughts on getting told something over and over again. Either she's compulsively repititive, or people don't learn by watching TV. In many cases the best way for people to learn about money and credit is by messing up a whole bunch and learning from their experiences.
Suze Orman, I'm glad that you're there to reinforce the facts over and over again!
________________________________________________
Alot of Garbage Spammy blogs on Technorati.com
Man oh man! I thought I would take a few moments and cruise some blogs that dealt with credit repair and debt settlement.
Searching on www.technorati.com - credit repair search produces pages and pages of spammy garbage results.
Quick Thanks: And... I wanted to thank FreeMoneyFinance.com for the link and the mention about my press release regarding Natale Law Offices this week.
________________________________________________
Talking about a blog rivalry here:
Finally, I just wanted to address a post over at:
DiscoverVancouver.com
jen said:
PAY YOUR BILLS PEOPLE
STOP TRYING TO WEASLE YOUR WAY OUT OF PAYING YOUR DEBTS
AT THE END OF THE DAY, YOU SPENT THE DAMN MONEY
SO DONT TRY TO PLACE THE BLAME ON SOMEONE ELSE
GROW UP AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
PATHETIC, REALLY!
My reply was this:
Monty Loree said:
People who say "Pay Your Bills" are as narrow minded as can be.
Jen, you are a rude person and very inconsiderate of people's feelings.
The reasons for people not paying their bills are usually health, relationships related, or they lose their job. There is usually some tragedy that causes a person to lose the ability to pay their bills.
Another reason is that a person is just out of university or college and trying to make their way in life, but run into the scrapes of learning to deal with finances.
It is totally inconsiderate to label a person a dead beat for not paying their bills after they have suffered a personal tragedy.
When your health gets bad, everything else doesn't matter until you get your health back, for example. I know this from personal experience. That doesn't make a sick person a dead beat.
So, why don't you get off your high (under-educated) horse, and start looking at things from the other persons perspective.
Narrow minded people, in my opinion, are the same as actual non-caring deadbeats.
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A little about the Tour event's participating blogs
In order to initiate some buzz for the upcoming event, I'm going to take a few moments to talk about the sites who have said they want to be involved in this tour.
- Canadian Money Advisor
This is a blog that talks about money issues in Canada. Much of the time Monty Loree concentrate's on the credit industry and what happens when people get out of sorts with their credit. Hassles from Collection agencies, creditors, credit bureaus etc in Canada. This blog / site was published in July 2005.
Canadian Money Advisor is based in Regina, Saskatchewan
- Big Cajun Man - Canadian Financial Stuff is based in Ottawa, Ontario.
His blog is about many different things in the financial industry in Canada.
Here's a few of his blog post titles:
- Less Housing Starts, More Employment and More Carnivals and Comments
- Canada's GDP Continues to Rise
- Life is a Carnival, Comments and Changes
- Bogus Collections and other Scams
- Dave- Investing Intelligently is from Vancouver, BC.
His blog is about investing in Canada and what he's involved with.
Here's a few of his blog post titles:
- Quicken 2007 XG
- New Portfolio Preview
- My Portfolio?s Performance for 2006
- Foreign Exchange Costs Associated With USD Investments in an RRSP
- Customers Revenge
Alex Gierus of Customers Revenge is currently from, Montreal, Quebec.
The goal of his website as stated on his site is: "I dream that this site will be like a union for the consumer. Together we will match their advantages with our own. We will band together to identify and punish the evil-doers and reward the ethical companies."
Here's a few of his blog post titles:
- Rebate Hell Lifted at Best Buy and Staples
- Pricing Psychology
- Charge Lots, Look Cool
- Oh My Stars -- Rebaters Are Thieves
UPDATE: Alex is definitely from Montreal!!
- Million Dollar Journey
Million Dollar Journey is from Eastern Canada.
The point of his blog is well stated in his title: The making of a millionaire - A Canadian Personal Finance Story.
Here's a few of his blog post titles:
- Stock Contest: Million Dollar Journey vs. The World!
- Money Management Software!
- Debate: RRSP vs. Mortgage
- Key Tax Considerations on an Investment Loan!
- Investoid
Investoid is from Alberta, Canada.
His blog is about personal investing - "Finance and Investing in Perspective"
Here's a few of his blog post titles:
- Short Term Stock Challenge
- The Lazy Active Portoflio
- Consumerism?s Sexy!
- Podcast Review: David Bach FinishRich Minute
- Canadian Mortgage Trends - Melanie McLister's blog is from Winsor, Ontario. Her blog is about Mortgages in Canada.
Being that Melanie is a mortgage specialist, she brings along some good information about mortgages in Ontario.
Here's a few of her blog post titles:
- Mortgage Rate Predictions of the Week
- Stats on Mortgage Psychology
- Mortgages for Fixer-Uppers
- Investing in Subprime
- Be Young and Rich
Jon Postal is from Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Jon is a self proclaimed dreamer who purchased his first home at age 23, and who's goal is to "be a real estate tycoon someday"
Here's a few of his blog post titles:
- March Update
- Tax Return
- Interesting Stats
- One Year Anniversary
- Middle Class Millionaire
Middle Class Millionaire is from Canada.
He is a self described hundred thousandaire, who goal it is to be a millionaire by the time he reaches age 40.
Here's a few of his blog post titles:
- Quarterly Review - Q1
- How I Got to Where I am Today
- Networth April 1 ? 2007
- Investing in Stocks vs. Real Estate
- The Money Diva
The Money Diva is 32 year old female consultant from Canada. She writes about her journey in personal investing and tells us that she is currently worth $621,700 as at April 2007. That's a pretty good sum to be investing with!
Here's a few of her blog post titles:
- Death and Taxes
- The Joy of Dividends
- Cash Flow is Number One
- Getting Aggressive?
The above are Canadian Personal Finance bloggers who have indicated their interest in participating in the First Ever! - Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs
The following are some Canadian personal finance blogs I'd like to invite to some future Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs events.
The above Canadian personal finance blogs are those listed on canadiancapitalists.com's site.
WE NEED ALOT MORE CANADIAN PERSONAL FINANCE BLOGGERS:
I do invite any other Canadian financial blogger to join in with us!!
Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blog links:
P.S. Don't forget to install this graphic
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GREAT NEWS!! - We've got enough bloggers!!
First Ever! - Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs has enough participants and we're on our way!!
SEE: Tour Guidelines
HELP PROMOTE THIS EVENT
USE THESE BANNER GRAPHICS
The following Canadian bloggers have expressed an interest in participating in our first event, and I want to thank everybody in advance for all the time they'll put into this. It shouldn't be much time required, however, it will be well worth it.
I'll make this graphic available to everybody to point back to our registration page, in case more Canadian personal finance bloggers want to participate!!
For the first event I'll host it on this site. That way everybody will have an example of what a host should do. I'll keep hosting it until such a time as somebody else volunteers.
The tentative line up of article writers should be as follows:
- Canadian Money Advisor
- Big Cajun Man - Canadian Financial Stuff
- Dave- Investing Intelligently
- Customers Revenge
- Million Dollar Journey
- Investoid
- Canadian Mortgage Trends
- Be Young and Rich
- Middle Class Millionaire
- The Money Diva
I'll write up a set of participation guidelines tomorrow as to what people need to do.
PLEASE TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS EVENT.
A great thing to do is post a little item on your blog announcing that we're having the event on April 16 and that you're involved in it. Also, post a link back to this site telling people that this is where it will be hosted.
The more we talk about this event, the more buzz we'll create, and the more readers we'll have on our blogs!!
In the meantime, if you haven't signed up already and are a Canadian personal finance blogger, please do feel free to continue to sign up for future events. I'm sure we'll have many more as the weeks and months pass.
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We've received some questions about where to get Secured Credit Cards in Canada on this site.
We're happy to have HomeTrust Visa card on this site. We've been affiliate with them for a few years now.
Home Trust Secured Visa
Apply Today!WHY YOU NEED A CANADIAN SECURED CREDIT CARD
Canadians generally will get a secured visa card for two reasons: - People who were turned down for a credit application due to no credit or poor credit
- Clients who have had credit problems in the past
- Discharged Bankrupts
- Students who have never had credit, or a loan
- Immigrants who have no credit history in Canada.
BENEFITS OF HomeTrust Secured Visa
Aside from allowing you to get "credit" in the first place, this card acts like a regular credit card which means that it reports to the credit bureaus on a monthly basis. This reporting activity helps build up your credit score.
WHAT DOES SECURED MEAN?
Just as a mortgage is secured by the property that the person's borrowing for, a secured visa is secured by cash.
You can receive a HomeTrust Visa by simply filling in the application and mailing HomeTrust a cheque or money order for the amount of the credit limit. ie.. The credit limit is $1000, you send them $1000 as a security deposit.
BAD CREDIT - EVEN BANKRUPT - IS APPROVED
HomeTrust Visa doesn't mind if you've got really bad credit! Because you're securing the credit card with a cash deposit, they'll approve almost anyone.
The only time HomeTrust Visa will not approve somebody is if they've declared bankruptcy and are NOT YET DISCHARGED from the bankruptcy. Otherwise, all other bankrupt persons will be approved.
YOU MUST MAIL IN THE APPLICATION
With most online Canadian credit card offers on the internet where you can go on to the credit card issuer's site, sign up and be approved with out printing anything muss and fuss.
The secured credit card is a little different, and a little more work. Because you are required to send in a cheque or money order with the application, HomeTrust would like you to do this all in one step.
WITH HOMETRUST, YOU'LL BE ACCEPTED 99% OF THE TIME!!
With this secured credit card you'll be accepted most of the time. This means that you'll soon have a Canadian secured credit card with which you can start to build your excellent credit rating in Canada!!
Fill out your form and mail it in today!!
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WE'RE ON OUR WAY!!
Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blogs is getting more and more interesting!!
I have to confess a little bit. Because I've been developing this site like crazy lately, I haven't had as much time to get out and visit the other Canadian Personal Finance blogs.
Today I spent a few hours travelling around and visiting some of the bloggers that have expressed interest in this Tour event.
It was nice to see fellow Canadian personal finance bloggers!
I want to extend an invitation to any and all finance bloggers whom I haven't visited yet. There are a few coming out of the wood work.
I'm sure there are hundreds of personal finance blogs in Canada, however they aren't visible on the search engines, making them hard to find. Don't be shy. You are invited to sign up for this regular Tour event.
The Canadian Finance blogs that have expressed interest so far are:
- Canadian Money Advisor
- Big Cajun Man - Canadian Financial Stuff
- Dave- Investing Intelligently
- Customers Revenge
- Million Dollar Journey
- Investoid
- Canadian Mortgage Trends
- Be Young and Rich
- Middle Class Millionaire
- The Money Diva
I think we could have a good first Tour with 10 blogs!
So, if you have a Canadian personal finance blog and would like to get involved, let me know.
I finished up the Tour Registration page, so you will be able to use it.
I also created some PROMOTIONAL BANNERS so that you'll be able to tell everybody about our First Ever! - Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs.
UPDATE:
The Money Diva was asking what's involved in this Tour event.
WHAT'S INVOLVED?
There are two activities with the Tour.
- Hosting the Tour
Hosting the Tour means that you write a summary and some comments about each blog that writes an article. This task means that you must visit each of the article writing blogs, get to know them a bit better etc.
- Writing articles for the Tour
This is not much more work than what a blogger already does. It should be a bit more formal, researched, linked up than a usual personal blog post. (This means that you work a little harder, because you're in the limelight and want to make a good impression on everybody :) )
The benefits of participation are: - You usually have more visitors to your site because they get to know about your blog through the Tour event.
- You get some important links from blogs that are commenting on your articles
- You get to know fellow Personal Finance bloggers better, which is always fun!
- If you research your article, you learn more about the topic, and pass that valuable information on to your readers.
Money Diva... I hope that answers your question!
Cheers.
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First Ever!! - CANADIAN TOUR OF PERSONAL FINANCE BLOGSI'm pleased to introduce Canadian Money Advisors first Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blogs.
We're inviting all of the Canadian personal finance blogs to join us in the event.
This event is similar to the Carnival of personal finance that has been going on for quite some time, except for the fact that it will be strictly Canadian blogs and sites that will be participating.
We're looking for Canadian Personal Finance bloggers who love to write about their experiences with their own personal finances in the Canadian Market place.
BENEFITS
The benefits of participating in the Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blogs is that you'll get a chance to show case your blog and an article that week to thousands of readers. Your blog will be showcased on many of the other personal finance blogs which will give your blog some good exposure.
Best of all, you'll be able to visit with other Canadian Bloggers who love to talk about their favorite niches in the spectrum of Canadian finance.
Topics could include:
- Personal debt & getting out of debt ... Always a favorite !
- Credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, personal loans etc
- Stock Investing, mutual funds, Canadian Bonds
- Credit Repair, credit reports, Equifax Canada TransUnion Canada
- Dealing with collection agencies, and other undesirables
- Doing your personal Canadian taxes
- Life insurance and other types of insurance in Canada
THERE IS ALOT TO WRITE ABOUT!!
As you can see, the list is quite long with possibilites about what your could write about .
The best thing of all, is that it will be purely Canadian content!
The Carnival of Finance is a great idea, but it's mostly American Content.
The structure of personal finance industry is different in Canada than the U.S. because of our unique Canadian financial laws. Because of that, how we deal with money and financial institutions in Canada is different than in the U.S.
ALL CANADIAN FINANCIAL BLOGS ARE WELCOME!!
If you're interested in joining up for the first ever Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blogs, please leave a comment in this post or use our Contact page. I will contact you right away to coordinate the details.
Looking forward to some great Canadian Personal Finance Blog Content!
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ADDING SOME CREDIT REPAIR ARTICLES TO THE MENU
There is alot of good stuff here that I wrote in 2004. The information is still relevant today as it was then.
I'm still finding that most Canadians haven't heard of credit repair, and don't understand the importance of getting their credit reports etc. We've come a long way, however there is still a ways to go for us getting our message out to all Canadians!
Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada are currently administering as much or more data than they were in 2004 when these articles were written. I don't believe that these companies have increased their staff very much in that time period.
It still is as important as ever that people order their credit reports and see what's being reported about them, if they haven't done so before.
Even if you've seen your credit report in the last few years, it's still good to order your free credit report by mail so that you can see what's listed.
TransUnion Canada
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EXAMPLE OF PHISHING EMAIL SPAM
This is a spam bogus email I just received.
If you get an email like this, please delete immediately!!
Monty's Commentary on this email:
You'd think that after receiving these same spammy emails day after day, for years that these people would stop doing this.
These spammy emails don't get any more believable!
I especially like the part where some of the money is going to "be used in helping the less privileges, mothrless babies home and charity organization in the world."
Canadians, don't get sucked in by these emails. They're bogus spam.
Somebody must be getting sucked in because I keep seeing these emails day after day!!
Monty Loree
_________________________________________________
Mr. Koutaba Jean.
The Account / Audit Manager,
Banque De Habitat Au Burkina Faso(BHBF).
Ouagadougou Burkina Faso.
Phone Number +(226)76059159
Dear Beloved,
I presumed that all is well with you and your family. Please let this do not be a surprise proposal to you because i got your contact information from the international directory in few weeks ago before i decided to contact you on this magintude and lucrative transaction for our future survival in life. Moreover, i have laid all the solemn trust in you beforei decided to disclose this successful & confidential transaction to you.
As the Account / Audit Manager of our bank, i have decided to contact you over this financial transaction worth the sum of DOLLARS($5.500,000.00 ) for our success.This is an abandoned sum that belongs to one of our bank foreign customers who died along with his entire family through plane crash disaster since few years ago.
Meanwhile i was very fortune to came across the deceased file!! when i was arranging the old and abandoned customers files in other to sign and submit to the entire bank management for an official re-documentation and audit of the year against 2007.
Be informed clearly that it was stated in our banking rules and regulations which was signed lawfully that if such fund remains unclaimed till the period of 4 years started from the date when the beneficiary died, the money will be transferred into the treasury as an unclaimed fund.
As a honour and advantage bestowed to our foreign customers base on the rules guideing our bank, it was stated obviously that if you are not a Burkina Faso citizen, you have the absolute authority to claim the fund despite your differences from the country of origin of the deceased. So the request of you as a foreigner is necessary to apply for the claim and transfer of the fund smoothly into your reliable bank account as theNEXT OF KIN to the deceased.
PERCENTAGE RATIO: note that 35% being will be your share in respect of your assistance and account provide for the tranfer, 55% will be my share being the pioneer of the business while the rest 10% will be used to install a joint company in your country which will bear our name in particular and whatever profit made out from this company will be used in helping the less privileges, mothrless babies home and charity organization in the world. <--That's heart warming!!
If you are really sure of your trustworthy, accountability and confidentiality on his transaction, contact me and agree that you will not change your mind to cheat or disappoint me when the fund have getting into your account. Besides you should not entertain any fear because i am sure of the success as an insider in the bank ok.
Please reply with the assurance, include your private telephone and fax numbers necessary for effective and easy communication in this transaction. As soon as you reply call me through my private telephone number indicated above so that i will let you know the next step to follow in order to finalize this transaction immediately.
I expect your urgent communication.
Yours sincerely,
Mr.Koutaba Jean.
UPDATE April 6, 2007
HERE'S ANOTHER BOGUS SPAM EMAIL FROM ABDOU ANAN
FROM THE DESK OF DR. ABDOU ADNAN.
AUDIT / FILE DEPARTMENT,
BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A)
OUAGA-BURKINA FASO
Tel: 00226.76158998)
Dear Partner,
Good day and how are you doing with your family? Hope fine.
Please let this message do not be a surprise to you because i got your contact information and lay all the trust in you before i decided to
disclose this confidential and successful transaction to you.
I am the MANAGER OF AUDIT & ACCOUNTANCY DEPARTMENT of our bank and i decided to contact you over this financial transaction worth the sum of ($20.000, 000.)TWENTY MILLION US DOLLARS.for our present future success.This is an abandoned fund that belongs to one of our bank foreign customers who died along with his entire family on through plane crash disaster about some fiew years ago.Meanwhile i was very fortune to came across the deceased file when i was arranging the old and abandoned customers files of 2002-2006 in other to submit to the entire bank management for an officialre-documentation.
Be obviously informed that it was stated in our BANKING POLICY and signed lawfully that if such fund remains unclaimed till the period of five(5) years started counting from the date when the beneficiary died, the money will be transferred into the BANKTREASURY as an unclaimed fund.
Besides, it is not authorized by the law guiding our bank for a citizen of
BURKINA FASO to make the claim of the fund.So the request of you as a foreigner is necessary to apply for the claim and transfer of the fund smoothly into your reliable bank account as the NEXT OF KIN to the deceased.
Note that when the fund is transferred into your account, Thirty Five
Percent (35%) will be for you in respect of all your assistance for the
transfer of the fund into your account and provision of the bank account
where the bank will remit the fund into,Fifty Five Percent(55%) will be for
me as the rest Ten Percent(10%) will be shared to Charity Organisations Centers, Motherless Babies Homes,and helpless people that surrounded us around the World.
If you are really sure of your integerity, trustworthy and confidentiality,
and accept not to cheat, betray or disappoint me after this when the fund is transferred into your account,reply for there-assurance with your telephone and fax numbers necessary for effective communication. As soon as you reply, call me through my private telephone number on (00226-76-15-89-98) so that i
will let you know the steps and procedures to follow in order to finalize
this transaction immediately.
I expect your urgent communication.
Yours sincerely,
DR.ABDOU ADNAN
Again people, the above is a bogus spam email where the sender is trying to suck you in for your personal banking information etc. Don't be foolish and reply to it.
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2012-11-13 23:08:19
Cbv Collection Services Problems
same deal,,these criminals sent a bill saying i owe 18,000$..hilarious,,they call me 5x per day..i am taking rogers to court..small claimes..why not y
Comment By:karen cliff
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2012-11-13 13:18:44
Retail Theft Could Get You Sued
I keep receiving emails and phone calls from people who think they can simply ignore the letters from these Civil Recovery lawyers.
Don't.
They
Comment By:Gerry Laarakker
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2012-10-18 08:23:07
Retail Theft Could Get You Sued
Bank statements can be demanded or balloon a day even fail to repay the debts incurred from the varied lenders. The offered amount in such cash untill
Comment By:Spadiatrere
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2012-10-09 12:42:44
Credit Repair Canada 3 Things You Should Know
to , take up a new job. Also, reflect on investing in generating a payday advance loan while using classmates and more, typically the segments. The in
Comment By:WarbabsjamY
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2012-09-30 20:03:01
Cbv Collection Services Problems
I had a telus pay as you go phone from 2003 2008 and now cbv collectons is claiming that i owe over 1500 dollars, the last time they called i called
Comment By:marcus
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2012-09-25 10:19:31
Cbv Collection Services Problems
Had a bogus 'roaming charge' bill from Telus a few years back. Got mad at them and switched providers. It went to CBV. Yes, they are persistent and
Comment By:Scammed
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2012-09-23 07:37:50
First Canadian Finance Scam Site
While these aforementioned dangers are a cause for legitimate concern, there are other dangers that derive from perceptions that often have no basis i
Comment By:effomicok
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2012-09-16 16:42:15
Retail Theft Could Get You Sued
I am sick of all you so called legal counsel, wanting money from me , there was a reason i was stealing the items in the first place, i have no money!
Comment By:a shopplifter
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2012-09-13 11:18:04
Car Repossessed Trouble With High Risk Car Loans
Our car loan was with wellsfargo to begin with then transfered to carfinco,. Have never had a problem with them yet and have less than 2 years left on
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2012-09-02 18:27:17
15 Blog Post Articles That Talk About Equifax
obviously like www.canadianmoneyadvisor.ca however you need to test the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling p
Comment By:promotion site
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2012-08-31 11:32:19
Retail Theft Could Get You Sued
so i went in zellers and i baught bus tickets. then walked around playing with toys, and i was with a friend, we're both adults who like stupid toys.
Comment By:Aj.
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