Canadian Finance Blog

Posted: 12 Jun 2011 02:00 AM PDT

I may be an Oilers fan, but here in Edmonton there hasn’t been much to cheer about other then #1 draft picks. So when the playoffs roll around, I’ll normally back any of the Canadian teams still in the hunt. This time, it’s Vancouver, and with them leading the series 3-2, hopefully we’ll finally have a Canadian team capture the cup for the first time since 1993!

Budgeting

Mike at Experiglot presents The $100 Swing, saying “Finding an extra cash flow in your budget.”

Business

Neal Frankle at Wealth Pilgirm presents 5 Best Entrepreneurial Ideas for Less than $5,000, saying “Have you ever contemplated starting your own business, but quickly gave up on the idea thinking, "I can't afford it, at least not now"? That's a conclusion you might come to if the business you've been thinking about is on the order of a franchise or of the old-school bricks-and-mortar variety. There are businesses you can start for less than $5,000, and some for a lot less—like close to zero.”

Mike at The Financial Blogger presents When You Should Create A Corporation, saying “We look at the idea of starting a corporation.”

Jim at Advisor Think Box presents Systemize your business, saying “Good planning is about recognizing the things that are working and the things that are not working. When you know what works, turn it into a process and repeat over and over. A business with good systems can’t help but be successful.”

Career

Lahesha Williams at Career Help for Christians presents 5 Ways To Find Work In A Tough Job Market, saying “Are you having a hard time landing a job in this tough economy? Then there are 5 simple ways you can get yourself a good opportunity and build your career.”

Glen Craig at Free From Broke presents Should a Prospective Employer Be Able to Check Your Credit Score?, saying “Do you think an employer should be able to check your credit score in the hiring process? Does it make sense? See some arguments pro and con.”

Debt and Credit

Janet at Credit, Eh presents 5 Steps for Dealing with Credit Card Debt, saying “If you are one of the Canadians looking for ways to pay down your credit card debt, meeting your obligations, there are some things you can do to make the process a little easier. Here are 5 steps for dealing with credit card debt”

Mike at Do Not Wait presents Manage Short-term Debt With a Personal Line of Credit, saying “How a LOC can relieve your debt.”

Economy

Big Cajun Man at THE Canadian Personal Finance Site presents Budget 2011 Redux, saying “The tories bring back their March budget with one or two added wrinkles, but nothing of great substance.”

Extra Income

Money Cone at Money Cone presents Selling Stuff on Amazon: A Step-by-Step Guide, saying “Selling stuff on Amazon is a great way to de-clutter AND get paid for it! If you have the item ready to ship, it takes less than 15 minutes to get listed on Amazon! Great way to make money out of junk! I've sold all kinds of stuff on Amazon since the time Amazon introduced this option! From printers to laptops, to game consoles to books! If it is in working condition and easy to ship out goes the item, in comes the cash! Made quite a bit of money over the years!”

Andy at Tight Fisted Miser presents The Cost of Procrastination, saying “There are many ways that procrastination can cost you. I have been meaning to review my advertising contracts for months but kept putting it off. I finally got around to doing that today and discovered that two of the contracts had expired months ago but I still had their ads on my sites. During those expired months I could have potentially made hundreds of dollars for those ads.”

Miranda at Financial Highway presents 35 Ways to Make More Money, saying “Even the best of times, one of the most common questions asked is, "How do I make more money?" While an increase in income can ease the way things work in your personal economy, it won't necessarily solve all your problems. “

Frugality

Emmie at Frugal Living presents Are Loyalty Cards Worth Keeping?, saying “From the company's point of view, loyalty programs bring in not only more profits from consumers but also provide the prospect of healthy long-term commercial connection, making the consumers feel highly-valued. From my point of view, consumers are better off shopping for specials in several different places and buying generic brands instead of committing themselves to a particular store chain.”

Briana at Stupid Cents presents Planning a Wedding for Under $1,000, saying “Planning a wedding doesn’t have to be expensive, and doesn’t require 6 months to a year. You can have a beautiful wedding for a fraction of the cost.”

Investing

Outlaw at Outlaw Finance: Investing Blog presents Online Stock Broker Comparison for Do-It-Yourself Investing, saying “A thorough review of some of the best online brokers. You don’t have to pay expensive investing fees to be in the game. Do-it-yourself and use one of these brokers to open up your first IRA.”

Boomer at Boomer & Echo presents When To Fire Your Investment Manager, saying “When it comes to dealing with a portfolio manager, investors frequently err in one of two ways. They fire managers they should keep and keep managers they should let go.”

Kevin at Invest It Wisely presents Three Reasons Why I Squirrel Away Money, saying “Embracing a philosophy of savings doesn't mean we need to be miserly. We can be frugal and have fun at the same time.
Here are the three main reasons why I squirrel away my money:”

Investor Junkie at Investor Junkie presents Buying Silver Online, saying “Silver is known as the poor man's gold. Silver prices are at the highest levels that they have been at in over 30 years. The metal has been on a roll and is trading for more than $37.50 per ounce. There are several advantages to buying silver over gold right now.”

Teacher Man at My University Money presents Investing Series – Compound Interest Magic, saying “We go over compound interest and how it can be great for you. We also explain how you should start earlier rather than later so you can retire with the lifestyle that you want.”

Steve Zussino at Grocery Alerts Canada presents Save money when eating out in United States, saying “Eating out is a major cost for families. We enjoy nice meals when we are on holidays and even though we both love to cook, to us a holiday means sitting down to enjoy a nice meal (breakfast we prefer to make ourselves). Having travelled frequently in the United States, we have found ways to save money when eating out. We use Restaurant.com in combination with Ebates to get cash back.”

IS at Intelligent Speculator presents Is There Anything That Facebook Cannot Do?, saying “We look at the success of Facebook.”

Mike at The Dividend Guy Blog presents Playing With Ex-Dividend Date, saying “Ways you can play with the ex-dividend date.”

Jim Yih at Retire Happy Blog presents Investing your TFSA, saying “Investing your TFSA is not that different than investing your RRSP. You can choose from a wide range of investment options. Be mindful of risk!”

Lifestyle

Mike at Green Panda Treehouse presents How to Save on Your Grocery Bill and Lose That Belly!, saying “Saving big money on food.”

Real Estate

Christine at Your trusted Mortgage Partner presents Is Rate the most important Factor?, saying “Although rate is important when choosing a mortgage, Product is more important. People are looking for a great rate but may not understand the “no frills” products that do not allow prepayment or portability etc. This articles reminds you of all the things to look for in the right mortgage product for you! “

Retirement

Darwin’s Money at Darwin’s Money presents Make Sure to Convert Future Pension Dollars to Present Value, saying “A critically important lesson in how to convert future dollars into present dollars. This applies to pensions and other social programs regardless of where you live or what language you speak. The language of math is key here.”

Group Benefits Guy at Group Benefits presents What makes a good Group RRSP or Pension Plan?, saying “Characteristics of a good pension plan. Considerations before you implement a group RRSP plan.”

Other

Philip at PT Money: Personal Finance presents Does This Get Easier? Getting Ahead Financially, saying “The journey to financial freedom isn’t easy and it isn’t quick usually. In this post I share some tips for making the most of your efforts to get to the tipping point quicker.”

Canadian Finance Carnival #40 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on June 12, 2011.