Canadian Finance Blog

Carnival of Personal Finance #278 – Thanksgiving Edition

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

Welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance! Readers and bloggers from the U.S. may be thinking that it’s a little early for Thanksgiving, but here in Canada it’s Thanksgiving Day! To help celebrate, I’ve added some Canadian Thanksgiving facts from Wikipedia throughout the carnival.

If you haven’t visited Canadian Finance Blog lately, you may have missed a couple of big announcements. First is our own Canadian Finance Carnival, which has no date restrictions for posts, as long as they are still relevant and apply to Canadian readers. Second is a new site called Money Index, which brings all the top news sites and finance blogs together in on place.

Thanks to the 71 bloggers whose posts made it into the carnival and I hope our readers enjoy all these great articles!

Editor’s Picks

Kim from Money Crashers presents All I Need to Know about Money I Learned in Kindergarten, and says, “This classic poem offers a lot of great wisdom about personal finance as well as life.”

Matt Jabs from Debt Free Adventure presents How To Save Money Fast, and says, “Practising one or more of these tips is guaranteed to help you save least $100 in 30 days. I challenge you to try 1 or all of them… don’t back down from the challenge!”

Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents presents Dangers of Using a HELOC as Short Term Savings Solution, and says, “One of the trends that became popular during the housing market boom was relying on home equity to pay for unexpected expenses. Here’s why that can be dangerous.”

Mike from Green Panda Treehouse presents When You Shouldn't Be Tight With Money, and says, “Today I wanted to highlight a few times when you shouldn't be cheap with your money.”

Jim from Bargaineering presents How to Win the McDonald’s Monopoly Game.

Budgeting

Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff presents iPhone Apps That Help (Not Hurt) Your Budget, and says, “These are a few iPhone apps that can help you save money.”

Money Beagle from Money Beagle presents Is $18 Worth Being Less Aggravated?

ctreit from Money Obedience presents Forget Needs and Wants. Focus on Use Instead! , and says, “Focus on use when you buy things to avoid waste.”

ElizabethG (Modern Gal) from Modern Gal presents When the Emergency Fund is Depleted.

Career

Mike from The Financial Blogger presents A Day As A Financial Planner, and says, “A look at the day in the life of a financial planner.”

FMF from Free Money Finance presents Leaving Money on the Table, or Not, when Negotiating, and says, “If you’ve been wondering how to best negotiate a salary with a new employer, here are some great tips.”

Mr. Money Smarts from Smart On Money presents Controversial Statement Of The Day: Not Everyone Should Go To College, and says, “In this day and age it has almost become an untouchable gospel that everyone should go to college, and if you don't, there's no way that you can succeed in life. I don’t think that’s the case.”

Super Saver from My Wealth Builder presents Turn Down Offers, Not Opportunities.

Donna Freedman from Surviving and Thriving presents I’ll show you my salary if you’ll show me yours., and says, “I'd sooner talk about my sex life than my salary – and I believe that either one would be an overshare.”

Revanche from A Gai Shan Life presents How will you earn that raise?

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean. Frobisher’s Thanksgiving was not for harvest but homecoming. He had safely returned from a search for the Northwest Passage, avoiding the later fate of Henry Hudson and Sir John Franklin. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony in Newfoundland to give thanks for surviving the long journey. The feast was one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations by Europeans in North America.

Credit

Miss T from Prairie Eco-Thrifter presents 10 Ways To Get The Most From Your Money.

Miranda from Moolanomy presents Why A Good Credit Rating Is Important Even If You Don’t Use Credit.

Odysseas Papadimitriou from Wallet Blog presents Recovering Your Credit After the Great Recession.

Mr. Credit Card from Ask Mr. Credit Card presents Consumerist Doesn’t Know What an Amex Financial Review Is.

Tim Chen from NerdWallet presents Rewards Showdown – Chase Sapphire vs Capital One Venture , and says, “The Chase Sapphire and the Capital One Venture Rewards cards are both high-profile travel rewards cards for people with excellent credit. At first glance they seem pretty similar, and even their signup bonuses and rewards programs overlap. But when you really look at the numbers, some glaring differences appear.”

Craig from Free From Broke presents Guaranteed Ways To Lower Your Credit Score – 5 Steps, and says, “I find that many people out there seem to be looking to destroy there credit score, so here’s 5 ways to lower your score to make it easier.”

Debt

Neal Frankle from Wealth Pilgrim presents In Financial Trouble? How to Get Out Fast and Free, and says, “If you're in financial trouble, it's easy to freak out. But you don't have to. You really don't. This applies even if you lost your job and can't pay your mortgage or need IRS tax debt relief.”

Eric from Narrow Bridge presents Reader Question: Big Student Loans, and says, “How would you deal with $30,000 in student loans with interest rates up to 10%?”

NCN from No Credit Needed presents How To Deal When You Set A Goal But Come Up Short.

Finance

Money Thinker from Money Thinking presents Another Day, A New Dollar.

Kristina from Dual Income No Kids presents Were You Wealthy After Your Wedding?, and says, “I decided to do some research on the actual cost of wedding and determine if the party is really worth the price ”

Frugality

Simon Zhen from Realm of Prosperity presents The Subtle Money Lessons From My Childhood.

At the same time, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, in 1604 onwards also held huge feasts of thanks. They even formed ‘The Order of Good Cheer’ and gladly shared their food with their First Nations neighbours.

Investing

Dividend Growth Investor from Dividend Growth Investor presents Another reason for companies to pay dividends, and says, “Nonbelievers of dividend investing often claim that only poorly managed companies or companies which are in decline tend to pay dividends. This group of investors often is under the false belief that a company will be able to reinvest all of its earnings back into the business, while achieving high incremental returns on investment. “

Squirrelers from Squirrelers presents Investor Sentiment Metrics:For the Ordinary Investor?, and says, “Is is worth purchasing information on investor sentiment, or is it more cost-efficient to consider more traditional approaches, such as asset allocation and rebalancing, to optimize long-term returns”

Chris from Dealerity presents What Kids Can Teach us About Great Stock Picks!, and says, “This post is on the lessons I learned picking stocks in my childhood (and continue to learn into adulthood) and my cardinal rule: invest like a kid!”

Big Cajun Man from THE Canadian Personal Finance Site presents Does Your Money Work For You?, and says, “Does your money work for you, or do you work for it? It’s OK to work for it, but don’t fool yourself either.”

Matt from Dividend Monk presents Chubb Corporation (CB) Dividend Stock Analysis 2010, and says, “A detailed stock analysis report examining Chubb Corporation, an insurance company that has grown its dividend for 45 consecutive years.”

D4L from Dividends Value presents 12 Dividend Stocks For A Rainy Day, and says, “A pessimist might say life is a series of bad things happening, then we die. I certainty wouldn't go that far, but life often deals us unfortunate circumstances to work through at what seems to be the most inopportune time. During this most recent economic downturn, many people lost their jobs at a time when companies weren't hiring. When things like this happen, those with an alternative income, including dividend growth stocks, are in a better position to deal with the circumstances thrust on them. Here are some things you can do today to prepare for your financial rainy day:”

Mike Piper from Oblivious Investor presents Are You a Long Tail Investor?, and says, “If you look outside the realm of traditional investments, you may be able to find overlooked opportunities for high returns.”

Mike from The Dividend Guy Blog presents Canadian Banks Expected to Raise Their Dividends, and says, “A look at the direction of Canadian banks.”

MD from Studenomics presents Why Online Banks Are Killing Big Banks , and says, “A look at why online banks are taking over the big traditional banks.”

PT from PT Money presents Meeting with a Fee-Only Certified Financial Planner, Part 1: Finding an Advisor and Gathering Info, and says, “My experience working with a certified financial advisor.”

Kevin McKee from Thousandaire presents What is a Roth IRA?, and says, “There are thousands of posts that describe a Roth IRA on the internet. This is the only one with a video explaining why a Roth IRA is like Jean-Luc Picard.”

Ken from Spruce Up Your Finances presents Various Risk You’ll Face When Saving For Retirement.

Dan from ETFBase presents How to Short Treasuries, and says, “The Bond Bubble is upon us. With yields at record lows, here are several ETFs to short treasuries for profit using various strategies when the bubble pops.”

After the Seven Years’ War ended in 1763 handing over of New France to the British, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving. After the American Revolution, American refugees who remained loyal to Great Britain moved from the newly independent United States and came to Canada. They brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada. The first Thanksgiving Day after Canadian Confederation was observed as a civic holiday on April 5, 1872 to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.

Money Management

Kim at MMI from Blogging for Change presents How to wean your teen off an allowance.

FB from Fabulously Broke in the City presents What do you consider rich?, and says, “What people consider rich is interesting. There seem to be 3 camps of thought on the subject.”

Craig Ford from Money Help For Christians presents Cash Back Debit Card | How to Get More Cash Back with PerkStreet, and says, “Shares details on how to get a good cash back debit card.”

N. W. Journey from Net Worth Journey presents What to do if you are a Victim of Identity Fraud, and says, “Tips for dealing with identity fraud.”

eemusings from Musings of an Abstract Aucklander presents Money for couples: The contributions conundrum.

Beating Broke from Beating Broke presents The Debt Free Treadmill.

Bob from Christian Finances presents What to do with an inheritance, and says, “This article looks at how you should wisely handle an inheritance… “

Kim Snider from Kimmunications from Kim Snider presents The BIG Retirement Planning Secret.

Paul Williams from Provident Planning presents The Save 10% for Retirement Rule Is Stupid, and says, “Find out why the financial gurus are wrong and why these rules are completely absurd!”

Nicole from Nicole and Maggie: Grumpy Rumblings presents Finance and new profs, and says, “The title is specific to new professors, but it really contains more general advice for what to do the first year you have a real salary.”

Clint from Accumulating Money presents Who Should Have a Health Savings Account?, and says, “Thanks!”

Trent Green from Money for Regular People presents Do Banks Process Debit Card Transactions for Amounts Larger than Actual Purchases?, and says, “At its most basic level this article explains practical ways to protect yourself from unfair ways that banks could process debit card transactions. However, it goes further by highlighting the importance of focusing on the fundamentals as well as stressing the vital importance of having self-awareness when it comes to financial matters.”

Roshawn Watson from Watson Inc presents The Problem with Being Budget Minded is Other People, and says, “Refuse to allow others to set your household budgetary agenda. Normal is broke, so following their financial advice can be deleterious anyway. Don’t yield into intimidation or manipulation to spend if you don’t want to.”

Adam from Magical Penny presents Thirty Days and the 0.3 second Impulse Buy, and says, “I preach to wait 30 days before buying things…except I have a guilty confession about a 0.3 second impulse buy. I argue that life's too short to live in debt and be a slave to monthly bills and stuff, and life's also too short not to something take advantage of opportunities and experiences that inspire you.”

Kate Kashman from The Paycheck Chronicles presents Four Reasons To Include Your Spouse In Financial Planning, and says, “If you are the money person in your relationship, it can be easy to do it all yourself. There are four great reasons why you should share financial info with your spouse.”

Starting in 1879 Thanksgiving Day was observed every year, but the date was proclaimed annually and changed year to year. The theme of the Thanksgiving holiday also changed each year to reflect an important event to be thankful for. In its early years it was for an abundant harvest and occasionally for a special anniversary.

Real Estate

Kevin from Financially Poor presents 7 Ways To Improve The Resale Value of a Home.

Ryan Guina from Go Banking Rates presents Should You Rent or Buy Your Next Home?, and says, “We look at some advantages and drawbacks of both buying and renting a home.”

Sean Smarty from Grow Money presents 5 Things New Homebuyers Should Know Before They Dive In.

Saving

Lauren from Richly Reasonable presents Tools for Teaching Kids About Money, and says, “I don’t remember how to play piano (short attention span). Those tennis lessons sure didn’t stick (minimal upper-body strength). But I’ve sure found some of the lessons my parents taught me about money management invaluable (but if I had to tag a number on it, I’d say around $1 billion).”

Jason from Live Real, Now presents The Zombie Guide to Saving, and says, “It Halloween. Have you thought about what you can learn from the undead?”

Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Mastering Negotiation to Save Money.

Cathy Moran from Money Health Central presents Saving Even If A Zero Sum Game.

Taxes

Andy from Saving to Invest presents Check For IRA and Roth IRA Excess Contributions To Avoid a 6% Tax Penalty, and says, “If you find that you have made excess contributions, you must remove them before year end or face a 6% penalty for excess contributions. Instead put your extra savings into a good high yield savings account (post tax) or quality dividend stocks.”

After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11 occurred. Ten years later, in 1931, the two days became separate holidays, and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day.

Other

Kaye from Mrs Nespy’s Frugal World presents 8 Items to Donate Other Than Money, and says, “In a struggling economy more people need help and fewer can afford to give it…or so they think. Check out some things you can donate other than money.”

Darwin from Darwin’s Money presents Economics of Blogging 2: How I Make Money Online , and says, “The real deal on how bloggers make money – the Economics of Blogging. A good primer for anyone thinking of giving blogging a try.”

FruGal from FruGal presents Arts degrees: an expensive waste of time?.

RJ Weiss from Gen Y Wealth presents Improving Your Problem Solving Skills with the 5 Whys, and says, “There is a lot more to financial planning than just doing what the numbers and statistics tell you to do next. One of them most overlooked topics to financial planning, is problem solving. “

J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy presents Guy’s house burns down because he didn’t pay $75 fee!!!, and says, “Warning: This is a rant on humanity ”

Junior Boomer from Consumer Boomer presents Life Insurance Medical Examination – Be Prepared, and says, “When the time comes to purchase a life insurance policy, you will most likely be required to submit to a medical exam. Here are some important tips to help you be prepared for that exam.”

Madison from My Dollar Plan presents 8 Best Personal Finance Apps for Android, and says, “Great summary of personal finance apps for customers with an Android phone!”

Carnival of Personal Finance #278 – Thanksgiving Edition originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on October 11, 2010.