Give Me Back My Five Bucks

November has been a pretty good month. I stayed under budget, which was the most important thing. But I also learned that gas is included in the strata fees of my townhouse complex (I called the gas company – yes I am clearly a great homeowner since it took me 7 months). I figured I’d get a quarterly gas bill or something for my fireplace, but it never came. And none of the strata documents mentioned that gas was included. So that means I only need to pay for my hydro bill, which will probably stay constant around $25/month throughout … Continue reading →

Monday 21st $50 Starbucks (loaded a Starbucks card to take advantage of their rewards system) $24.48 Amazon.ca (6 Christmas presents) Tuesday 22nd No Spend Day! Wednesday 23rd No Spend Day! Thursday 24th + $861.19 freelance/side income $34.10 White Spot Friday 25th + $152.99 freelance/side income $3.75 parking $3.75 Skytrain $3.75 Skytrain $20 BC Daily Deals (2 x $10) $6.35 beer Saturday 26th $20.23 groceries $9.03 Pho Tan’s Sunday 27th No Spend Day!  WEEKLY EXPENSES: - $175.44 WEEKLY SIDE INCOME *: + $1,014.18 TOTAL: + $838.74 First, the big HUGE news of last week – I made my television debut on CTV News Channel! That’s right, … Continue reading →

Now that I’ve had a few days to go over the recommendations put forth by the financial advisor, I can share with you what he has told me about my investment portfolio. Please read my previous post, “Financial advisors: do you have one?” or my two posts on Moneyville about my experience with my financial advisor: “Why I decided I needed a financial advisor” and “How I heading for Freedom 55.” First, here’s a background of what I’m invested in: Holdings in TD Mutual Funds (mostly e-series): CDN Money Market, Canadian Index-e, U.S. Index-e, European Index-e, Japanese Index-e, CDN Bond … Continue reading →

Note: Today’s guest post is from Fabulously Broke, a 20-something who is currently a full-time hotel dweller, working as a freelancer in a big city. I am a minimalist. Actually, I didn’t know it was called “minimalism” when I first started, I called it being a “modern nomad”. What that term meant for me was someone who has the same lifestyle as a gypsy (traveling with what we own), but using a plane and living in hotels instead. I didn’t become a “minimalist” until around 2009. I wanted to become one, simply because I hated carrying all of this junk from city … Continue reading →

Get ready, because this is an epic contest – a $500 CASH GIVEAWAY to one lucky person! Do I have your attention now? :) Today I’m partnering with Life Insurance Finder to provide this awesome contest. Life Insurance Finder are a great new company that help you find and compare life insurance policies all in one place and without costing you a cent. All you have to do to enter to win $500 USD cash is tell me what’s on your Financial Bucket List. You can also blog and tweet about the contest too if you want more entries (trust me, you do). … Continue reading →