The End

Sorry folks this is the end of my backup blog. I've finished the install on the new site and I'll be changing the Feedburner feed over tomorrow morning.

Please update your bookmarks to: http://blog.canadian-dream-free-at-45.com

There will be no more posts to this site.

Thanks,
CD

Confessions of a Personal Finance Blogger

Perhaps there is something in the air or perhaps my frustration at working on switching to a new hosting service that has me thinking about my limitations and failures. So in the interest in proving I am not a personal finance guru all the time I present a brief list of confessions.

1. With the recent market correction even I have had the thought "Did I make a mistake and is this investing with index funds a good idea?"
2. I bought a stock when I was a teenager with no knowledge of what the company did or anything else other than I liked the name of the company. Sad but true. In the end the stock fell so much that I could barely cover the trading fee to get out of the stock.
3. I've gotten to the point of reading so many personal finance books over the years I can now pick up new ones and skim entire chapters after reading two paragraphs in a chapter. You can only read about this great concept of 'living below your means' so many times before your brain starts to turn to mush.
4. I do enjoy investing and personal finance, yet I very much dislike the paper work that comes with it (bank forms, account statements and booking appointments during my lunch hour to sign forms).
5. Some days even I think "Am I too obsessive about all this personal finance stuff? Am I the only one who thinks that most people are strangely reckless with their money and still manage to turn out relatively fine some how?

Domain Jumps

Hold onto your hats everyone I'm going to try to jump over to my own host this weekend. As such I'm switching this blog back to it's old blogspot domain this weekend to act as a back up.

So check your bookmarks to determine which one you have.

http://canadian-dream-free-at-45.blogspot.com - This one will be the backup copy by Monday.

http://blog.canadian-dream-free-at-45.com - This will be the new host by Monday.

I'm going to try to import all the previous posts and fix the RSS feed as well by Monday. So check the new host address first on Monday, if there is a new post the transfer went well. If the transfers has issues I can't resolve by Monday I will post an update to the backup blog.

I'm begin the switch first thing on Aug 11, 2007.

Site Redesign Questions

Well after playing with my current blog design for months I'm ready to move along to another design. So this post has two main functions. One to warn you that I'm going to be playing with other templates so at times the blog will look horrible as I work out the bugs. The other function is to let you have your say on what you would like to see or what you currently dislike about the blog.

So if you dislike where the menu or links are let me know. If you like a particular template you have seen elsewhere also let me know. Do you like the three column format or do you prefer a two column format? I'm take suggestions via comments on this post or by email at candian.dream.free.at.45[at]gmail.com. Feel free to be brutally honest about everything as I'm not really attached to much of anything.

Thanks for your help,
CD

Cutting Out Clutter

Like most homes I have far too many things. I have junk and clutter hiding around every closet it seems and it has been getting worse since we last moved to a bigger house almost a year ago. So for the last few days I've been on a war with my house getting rid of clutter.

The reason for this sudden change was I just got sick of all the stuff taking up my time. Then I realized it was costing me to actually keep this junk/clutter. I have to move it, clean around it, worry about it, avoid it and then pay my insurance company money to insure it while I make up my mind. All this time for clutter and junk? What have I been thinking?!?

To start we started with our closet upstairs I purged the excess clothes and then moved onto the bathroom and got rid of all of those small bottle of lotion and shampoo we seem to collect for no reason. Then I hit up my study which I have been avoiding. I finally filed the last six months of phone bills and then my wife got a much needed second file cabinet for all her daycare business files. I'm not done yet, but I already feeling about 300% better going back to work next week with a much cleaner study. I can finally stop feeling guilty every time I sit down in the room about not getting to my 'to file' pile.

So next time you start avoiding some clutter I suggest you don't avoid it and just get it over with. You will feel better and be saving yourself some time down the road and perhaps a bit of money by not having to pay someone else to clean up your junk.

Taking a Long Vacation

I'm into my second week of vacation here and I have to say I really am enjoying this second week at home. I'm not relaxing as much as my first week off, but I'm getting a ton of things done around the house and I'm not in a big rush to get in done in two days like a normal weekend.

This will result in me going back to work recharged since I had a week away from everything last week and I also get the benefit of having less to worry about at home since I clear off much of my to do list. Not to mention the house will be cleaned, the fridge will be full and the grass will be cut as I head back to work next week.

Perhaps the only drawback to a vacation at home would be the fact if you don't get away for a while it might not feel like a vacation. The upside of coarse is the home vacation is cheap. In total for two weeks off I will spend $500 on my vacation including gas, shopping and entertainment.

So next time you book time off considering taking a long period off. You might be able to sample the best of both a vacation away and at home.

I'm BACK

Ok, I'm not really back. I'm still on vacation, but I'll be putting some posts up this week.

Thanks to Frugal Trader from Million Dollar Journey for looking after my blog while I was gone. It was most appreciated!

I've just finished looking at the comments while I was gone, but if you sent me an email it might take a few days for me to get back to you.

Upcoming Vacation and Idea

Well folks, sorry for not having your regular wandering reading post this week. I've been very busy lately as I'm trying to clean things up so I can head out on my vacation for the next two weeks starting on this Sat.

The good news is I got someone to look after this blog next week while I'm gone. Frugal Trader from Million Dollar Journey has agreed to look after things. I'm putting together several posts so next week you will have interviews from J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly and the Money Diva from A Canadian and Her Money plus what ever else FT wants to use out of my list of draft posts. If you ask nicely he might even write a guest post for you all.

The week after next, I'll be around somewhat. So that week the posts may be a bit erratic as I'm planning on doing some renovations around the house.

Now that you are all informed about my vacation plans, I've got an idea I want to run pass you my loyal readers. I've been approached to be part of a group blog on personal finance, since this is only in the idea stage, I'm not going to name with whom. Yet if I joined the group blog I would likely stop posting here and merge this blog into the group one. The idea would be to provide great posts from several writers on a wide world of personal finance all on one blog. You would still get posts daily, but I would likely drop back to just three posts a week. So what I would like from you is your opinions on the idea. Do you love it, hate it, or don't care as long as I don't stop writing somewhere? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Extented Leave from Family

During the last few weeks I've recently got my first idea of what an extended leave from my family feels like. I have to admit I'm not crazy about it so far.

To give you all some background I have travelled a lot with my various jobs before this, but never for this long of a period. I'm going to be just shy of three weeks when I get onto a plane later this week (by the way, this is your fair warning that Friday's post will be up very late). Being away has never bothered me that much before until this time. Why? I have to admit I think it has to do with the kid.

Before leaving my wife was difficult, but I knew she could handle it. Now she has been stuck playing single parent for the last few weeks and I feel guilty leaving her to handle all of that. Also I find after being home for a long period of time that the being away is hard for me as well. Overall it just isn't worth the lose of my personal time being away this long.

So in light of all this I've been laying some ground work with the bosses and the IT people about doing remote projects. As of right now almost everything I have done down here that needed to be done in person could have been done in a week. After that they could have saved a small fortune and shipped me home early and worked out of my Regina office. Phone calls, email, internet and scanning documents could have easily covered the rest. I guess the big issue about this is getting people used to the idea of remote working. I'll keep you all posted on how I do with getting them to accept the idea.

Over Insurance on Record Keeping

At what point is keeping a record of something holding you back? Is it really useful to keep your bank statements for the last seven years? If so what for? Are we getting too much insurance for ourselves with our paperwork which will likely never use again. Ever.

I thought of those questions a while ago and I've started a program to reduce the amount of paperwork in my house that requires me to do anything. First most of my bills now come automatically out of my account. Then I signed up for electronic bank account statements and Visa bill statements.

So far I would estimate I have eliminated about 1/3 of the paperwork I used to deal with at home. The more interesting fact is I have yet to need one single piece of paper that I am no longer keeping a hard copy of.

Now I've been thinking of taking it to the next level and stop keeping Visa slips and bank slips for longer than one month. One month should give me enough time to check that the slip in question did show up in the account. After that they will be shredded and tossed out. The only exception to this rule will be any slip that could be used in taxes. Those slips will stay on file regardless until seven years have passed.

I aware I might run into a situation where I would wish I did not get rid of some of this paperwork, but in the end I feel the risk is well worth getting my time back.

Once this phase is done I'm not sure what is left to reduce. Does any one have any ideas on how to further reduce paperwork at home? If so please share.

Update

Well folks I did have the best intentions of writing a proper post today. My airline had other thoughts, since I ended up suck in an airport for five hours yesterday waiting for my second flight of the day. Therefore last night I got in and ate some supper and went to sleep.

So here is the deal. I did get some reading done during my exile in the airport, so I will be writing a couple of posts tonight and will publish an extra post either later today or tomorrow morning.

Thanks for your patience,
CD

Getting Things Done

To be honest I'm not the most motivated person at times. If I deem a task as non-critical it can languish on my To Do list for months. Yet in the last month I've been very good about cleaning up various personal finance issues.

For example, my pension from my previously employer has now been transfered to a Lock-In RRSP at my bank. I just filled out the paper work to increase my life insurance for my wife and myself so I can finally drop my mortgage insurance in the next few weeks. I also increased the deductible from $500 to $1000 on my home insurance renewal to save $123/year. Then I also just took advantage of RBC's new rebate program and will drop my bank fees from $6/month to approximately $6 per year.

So what spurred this burst of energy? Nothing specific other than the feeling of I should just stop pushing off everything and just get it done. To deal with all of the above issues took perhaps a total of 2 hours of my time and have a cost savings of approximately $223/year. So if you know you have things to do and have been pushing them off I highly encourage you to just suck it up and get it done. You might find it a bit easier than you thought.

Please note that I've had a very unexpected situation come up which will result in me being away for the next 3 to 6 weeks. I will have access to the internet during most of this time, but since I'm unsure of my schedule my frequency of posts will vary heavily. For example a post on Monday is highly unlikely, but it still may happen if your lucky. Have a good weekend - CD

New Schedule

First off thanks for everyone's comments yesterday. The advice was good and the words of support were most welcome. Thank you I needed that.

I've decided to make a few changes around here. The good news is most weeks you will still have five posts a week. Here is the new format I'll start using:

Monday- Regular Post
Tuesday -Wildcard Post
Wednesday - Regular Post
Thursday -Link Post
Friday- Regular Post

The link post starting next week will be similar to some of the other PF link posts you normally see like Canadian Capitalist's This and That posts or Million Dollar Journey's Weekend Reading posts. The wildcard post on Tuesday will be just what the title suggests an outstanding wildcard. Some days it will be a guest post, others a special feature, others a off topic post, others a humour post and sometimes just nothing at all.

The above structure is two fold. First it will provide some order to my regular postings and second it will introduce two important outlets for me. The link post will provide you with some interesting items from around the net and any new blogs that I'm reading. While the wildcard post will provide an outlet for my creative side and yours. Yes that's right, I want you the reader to provide input on topic ideas, jokes, or a guest post about anything. So I don't care if you have never had a blog before or even if you failed your high school English class if you have a topic you want some feedback on send me an email (candian.dream.free.at.45@gmail.com). I'll be happy to be your editor for your guest post (by the way I'm about 100% better editor of other people's material than my own).

So everyone what do you think?

Blogging Burnout

Perhaps it is just me, but lately I'm seeing signs of burnout in myself with this blog. My post quality is dropping off and my attention to my usual topics is wandering. My passion for my writing is getting weaker and I'm finding the mornings harder to face when I get up to write a post. I've had mini-burnouts before this, but they don't really compare to what I'm seeing this time.

So what I need from everyone is some advice. For those bloggers that have been going for a year or two how often did you face this? Does it just come and go? For everyone else, any ideas on facing burnout in general?

Basically I don't want to stop blogging at this point, but I am considering a cut back in posts.

Thanks for your help,
CD

Best of Section

I'm considering putting together a series of links to some of the 'best' of this blog. What I really need is a hand picking out some of your favorite posts. So please leave a comment with what do you like and why?

I'm thinking the How Much Do I Need to Retire series is a likely one, but after that I'm not sure. I have a few personal favorites like The Specter of Inflation, but this really isn't going to be about me but rather what you like.

Thanks for your help and enjoy your weekend.
CD

Wills

During the 100th Post Contest, Ricardm suggested a topic of wills. A will can be a tricky thing in regards to its importance shifts around on you depending on your situation. Let's review a few different situations.

Situation #1 - Single and No Kids

Here a will is not as important for a lot of people since they have no dependents, yet it still can be useful. In this case it can be used to direct your estate to someone who may need it more than your parents (whom will typically get everything if you die without a will) such as a sibling. If you have no living relatives the government will take over your estate.

Situation #2 - Married and No Kids

In this case if you die without a will the spouse will still get everything, but in the event both of you die you will have no say on where the estate goes. Instead it follows the order in which you died. For example, if you die in a car accident and then your spouse dies later at the hospital the estate would go to your spouses parents. Your parents would get nothing. So a will in this case starts to become important.

Situation #3 - Married with Kid(s)

Once you hit this stage it is VERY important to have a will. Otherwise your kids could get part of your estate even when your wife is still alive [depending on your province your wife could get as little as the first $40,000 (in AB) up to the first $200,000 (in ON) before spliting the rest with the kid(s) - see here]. Also you have to determine who will become guardians of your kid(s).

In all of the above cases if you don't have a will the government will appoint someone to divide up your estate and charge the estate for the service. So in the interest of keeping the government out of your dead pocket you will want a short will.

Depending on your province you might be able to use a holographic will to explain your wishes (see here for where this works). A holographic will is written entirely in your handwriting and with your signature and date. It works well to provide a basic will in Situations #1 and 2 above, yet when you have kids you will likely want to see a lawyer about preparing a formal will.

That is a brief overview of wills, obviously you should do your own research by your province to determine what works for you, but in any case a will is generally a good idea to speed things along once your dead and prevent the government from taking more of your money. Good old death and taxes right?

A Short Vacation

As with any well balanced life, everyone needs to take a vacation once in a while. So with this in mind I will not be posting over the long weekend. I'll be back with a post on Tuesday next week.

Take care of yourself and try to spend one day this weekend not thinking about money. I know that's a weird suggestion from a PF blogger, but we have to remember the other half of the money equation: happiness.

CD

Comments on this Blog

Well over at Million Dollar Journey a bit a side debate started on who can leave comments on this blog. So I'm going to put this to the reader's to decide.

Your options included:

1) Let anyone post to this blog and we accept there will be spam which will have to be deleted.
2) Let anyone post to this blog, but use comment moderation to weed out the spam prior to being posted, which will result in delays between submitting a comment and having it posted.
3) Let only registered users post to this blog (the current default)

In order to have this as a fair vote I'm defaulting this blog to Option #1 for the next week. After that I'll go to what ever option you the reader's decide by the highest number of comments. So leave those comments and let me know what you want.

Ads On This Blog

Back on the 100th post contest I had a bit of a surprising topic suggested by Canadian Money asking what I thought of the ads on this blog and were they worth it. I say that is surprising to me since I had never even thought about that as a topic you the readers would like to hear about.

I currently only run Google Adsense ads on my site in three locations. One is on the far left column, one on the far right and one at the top of the middle post column. For those of you not familiar with the program let me give you the basics. For each click on those ads Google pays me a tiny fee which varies depending on what the advertiser wants to pay. Some of the rules involved are I personally can't click on any of my ads for any reason. Also I am not allowed to ask you the reader to click on an ad in any of my posts. Basically the ads are there, but there is no obligation for you the reader to read them or even ever click on them.

In my opinion I keep the ads for two main reasons. One the income for the ads provides me with a minor sense of obligation to get out of my bed early every week day to write these posts. I consider this blog a part time job where I am getting paid (although the pay per hour is well below minimum wage). That minor extra motivation really helps some days in the beginning when I had yet to develop a sense of responsibility to you the reader to write a post every week day because you expect it.

The second reason I keep the ads is the income can be reinvested into the blog itself to fund contests and buy its own domain name. I put $50 of my own money aside as seed money for the blog, but once that is gone the blog has to be self funding (by the way we are almost out of seed money with the 100th Post contest).

Overall I don't mind the ads myself on the blog. I already spend my days saturated in ads everywhere else on the web, so why should I make this blog any different if I can use the income to improve the blog for you the reader.

Enjoy your weekend,
CD

100th Post

Well today marks a very special day here at Canadian Dream. This is my 100th post. It almost doesn't seem real that I have been writing for this long now, but we are here never the less. So thanks everyone for the comments, questions and ideas for posts. With out you this blog wouldn't exist.

To celebrate I'm going to have another contest. This time I'm going to give away a $25 gift card for Chapters, so that the winner can pick out which personal finance book they want as a prize. To enter please leave a comment to this post with a topic idea for a post or a reader's question before April 3rd, 2007 at 7 pm CST. Limit one entry per person. Contest only open to residents of Canada and the winner will be picked by a random number generator.

Good luck to everyone and thanks for reading.

CD