Canadian Finance Blog

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 02:00 AM PST

It’s hard to believe that this is already my 100th post for Canadian Finance Blog. Week after week, one post at a time, I’ve been writing about personal finance for this website. As you may have figured out by now, personal finance, for me, is very personal. That’s why you’ll notice that the majority of the things that I write about are directly related to what’s going on in my life. At the beginning, my wife and I were looking for which car to purchase, testing driving those cars, and eventually purchasing a used car. In the winters, I would write about going snowboarding on a budget, and in the summer I had a post about keeping yourself cool.

Looking back, there are a number of posts that really jump out at me.

The Economy of Doubt

In this post, I wrote about how doubt can cost you money. As I learned from the comments, there are multiple ways of looking at doubt. In some situations, doubt can cost you time and money by keeping you from making quick, quality decisions. In other situations, it is that skepticism and doubt that keeps your money in your pocket. It’s all dependent on the scenario that you find yourself in. Check the comments on this post for some great insight from the wonderful Canadian Finance Blog readers.

Live to Work; Work to Live

I think this post was popular because of the high difficulty of achieving a balance between your work and your life. Most people do not have the benefit of having a job that fulfills and sustains them, so they need to find a way of dealing with making money and having a life worth living at the same time. This post explores a few possibilities around your work and your life. What are you willing to give up in order to live a life worth living?

Dirty Car Dealership Tactics

This, by far my most popular post, has elicited a ton of response. Nobody likes getting taken advantage of. This post, written directly from our experience with a car dealership, shows what types of tactics a dealership can use in order to pry your hard earned money from you. A car purchase is expensive enough as is, there’s no point in getting taken for a few thousand more than you should. I still get upset when I think about what they were trying to do to us. We were young, we probably seemed impressionable, but because I had some knowledge of the industry, I was able to firmly deny that I would be paying for unnecessary fees, and as a result, was kicked out of their scummy dealership.

It’s always nice to see what type of progress you’ve made over the last few years. Have you been keeping track of your major financial milestones? While you’re in the trenches of trying to pay down debt and save some money, it’s hard to see if you’ll ever catch up or get ahead. Track your milestones, and review them on a annual basis. Over the last 2 years, my wife and I have purchased a car (for cash), paid off a debt, moved across the province, and banked up a good emergency fund. What are your financial victories?

100 Posts of Personal Finance originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 11, 2012.