Big Cajun Man

Nov 3: Best from the blogosphere

November 3, 2014

By Sheryl Smolkin

November is Financial Literacy Month (FLM) in Canada, and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada is playing a role in raising awareness and mobilizing organizations across Canada to take part. Here are some blogs and other commentary on financial literacy.

Financial literacy means having the knowledge, skills and confidence to make responsible financial decisions. The FCAC recently released its “National Strategy For Financial Literacy Phase 1: Strengthening Seniors’ Financial Literacy.

The Toronto Star’s Ellen Roseman writes that, “Financial literacy for seniors is crucially important, but it’s not a panacea. Let’s put money into enforcing consumer laws and protecting the vulnerable from tricksters.”

Redux: Real World Example: Kids Allowances is one of Big Cajun Man’s (Alan Whitton) first bits of writing where he commented on how a simple idea about making his childrens’ allowances easier to administer taught him more about money.

Savewithspp.com also previously dealt with financial literacy for children in Your kid’s allowance: Financial literacy 101 and Back to school shopping: A teachable moment.

Back in November 11, 2011 in Financial Literacy Week teaches us about financial success Jim Yih shared 26 simple ideas to grow, manage and protect your wealth. Some of my favourites are:

  1. Know yourself first.
  2. It all starts with planning.
  3. Pay down and manage your debt.
  4. Save money automatically and regularly
  5. Understand how your money is taxed.

And last but not least, the Government of Saskatchewan’s Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority has a website with links and tools supporting financial literacy for young people/parents/educators, adults and seniors.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.


Sept 29: Best from the blogosphere

September 29, 2014

By Sheryl Smolkin

As I write this, Summer is definitely over. The nights are getting chilly and the tree on our front lawn seems to be dumping a never ending volume of leaves.

If you are offered something for free it seems to always end up costing you money. In Free is a Good Price (but still can be expensive) Big Cajun Man because they have Home Depot credit cards, he and his wife are now victims of yet another massive personal information breach, which may cause them financial Issues in the future. As a result, he got free Equifax credit monitoring for a year, but the services were not really free because his identity is now in the hands of “dastardly thieves.”

Robb Engen asks the question Should You Pay Off Your Partner’s Debt? in Boomer and Echo. The decision to pay off a partner’s debt shouldn’t be taken lightly, as it can lead to resentment or even divorce if the couple is truly financially incompatible. Nevertheless, he and his wife pooled their resources and their finances became a joint endeavour after they started living together in 2003.

Jessica Moorhouse blogs at Mo’ Money Mo’ Houses. She tackles the issue how to manage family finance when one partner is a freelancer with erratic income. For any of you in a similar situation, her only piece of advice is to communicate, communicate, communicate! Being on the same page is crucial, even when you make money differently or one person makes more than the other.

Be cautious of debt repayment companies says Wayne Rothe on Retire Happy. They will consolidate and pay off your loans and set up a repayment schedule to their own company. He says this is something you can do for yourself or with the help of a friend to avoid paying the additional fees that are part of the deal.

And finally, Choosing Mutual Funds in your Employer Pension? FrugalTrader  says pick the index funds – the ones with the word “index” in the title of the fund. If you follow the indexed “couch potato” philosophy of investing, then you’ll pick 4 funds:

  • Canadian Index
  • US Index
  • International Index
  • Bond Index

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.


July 21: Best from the blogosphere

July 21, 2014

By Sheryl Smolkin

185936832 blog

This week we bring you blogs from some old favourites as well as some new finds.

On the Canadian Personal Finance Blog, Big Cajun Man reminds us of some of the hidden costs of going away to university that you or your child may not have budgeted for. Don’t forget computers and other devices; trips home; and non-refundable activity fees.

The Frugal Trader shares on Million Dollar Journey how he finally hit the million dollar net worth milestone. Starting at about $200,000 in 2006 he reached his goal by spending less than he earned; aggressively paying off debt; and buying long-term appreciating assets.

We follow Tom Drake on the Canadian Finance Blog, but in a recent interview we became aware he also owns and writes for Balance Junkie. In a recent blog on that site he shares the following three ways to change your lifestyle to save money: Less entertainment, more education; exercise more and eat healthy; and get enough sleep.

On July 7, 2014, Blonde on a Budget  started a year-long shopping ban. Her goal is to spend less, save more and learn to enjoy what she already has. Here are the rules of her shopping ban.

Finally, Kevin Mercadante’s blog Out of Your Rut is referenced in this space for the first time. He recently wrote an interesting post about breaking free of the constraints of being middle class.

Kevin says it takes a lot of time, effort and financial resources to maintain the stereo typical middle-class, suburban lifestyle. The resources that you devote to the chase can take away from other directions in your life that might not only be more productive, but might also better suit your personality and preferences.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.


Big Cajun Man shares RDSP, RESP expertise

July 17, 2014

By Sheryl Smolkin

Alan Whitton and his son Rhys
Alan Whitton and his son Rhys

 

podcast picture
Click here to listen

Hi,

As part of the savewithspp.com continuing series of podcast interviews with personal finance bloggers, today I’m talking to the “Big Cajun Man,” author of the Canadian Personal Finance Blog.

In real life, he is actually, Alan Whitton, a mild-mannered government civil servant and father of four, living in Ottawa. Alan has been blogging about finance and consumerism for about ten years, focusing on real life experiences.

As a result, he has written extensively about Registered Disability Savings Plans and parenting a disabled child.

Welcome, Alan.

My pleasure Sheryl.

Q: First of all Alan, tell our listeners where your alter ego name, “Big Cajun Man,” came from.
A:  Well, I was playing golf with friends and was wearing a straw hat and someone yelled at me, “What do you think you are, some kind of big stinking Cajun man?” and the guys I was playing with have called me that ever since.

Q: Why did you start blogging?
A: Well, I started initially just on BlogSpot as sort of an open letter to my mother because at the time, my wife was pregnant with our fourth child, who was a bit of a surprise. Then I realized I could write about other things and I was always interested in money so I figured I’d just start blogging about it.

Q: How frequently do you post?
A: I try to write four or five posts in a week. The Friday post is usually a ‘best of’ what I’ve seen during the week.

Q: How long are the blogs and how complex are they? Do they vary?
A: Oh, it’s usually somewhere between four and eight paragraphs. What shows up, or what I read about or something that happens in my life is usually the catalyst for the more interesting ones.

Q: Tell me about some of the topics you write about.
A: Well, family and money and how families work with money, a little bit on investing, a lot more on disability and how families can deal financially with kids with disabilities or loved ones with disabilities. And that really, again, arose because when Rhys was diagnosed on the autism spectrum, I had to learn about all this so I figured I’d write about it too.

Q: And, how old is Rhys now?
A: He is 9. I have three beautiful daughters who are 24, 22 and 20, and my son who has just turned 9. It’s a multi-generational family. That’s why I end up writing about things like university costs and parenting a 9-year old.

Q: There are probably over a dozen personal finance bloggers in Canada. What’s different about your blog. Why do you think it’s a must read?
A: I don’t know. I mean, my point of view as a father of a multi-generational family is interesting. I always have had a different perspective on things. I leave a lot of the specific investing ideas to some of the more qualified chaps like Michael James and Rob Carrick. I mostly just talk about John Public’s point of view of things.

Q: How many hits do you typically get for your blogs?
A: Between 8,000 and 12,000 a month. It started off very slowly and I think with the backlog of over 2,500 posts there’s a lot of people who just search and end up finding me accidentally.

Q: What are some of the more popular blogs you’ve posted?
A: Well, anything under my RDSP and RESP menus are popular, like how to apply for your child’s disability tax benefits. And on the RDSP side of things all the fights I’ve had with TD about putting money in and taking money out. Also, surprisingly, I wrote one simple blog that just said “I am a civil servant,” and let me tell you, that one caused no end of excitement.

Q: What is the essence of that particular blog?
A: I was trying to blow up some of the very negative views people have about civil servants. I mean, I worked in the private sector for over 20 years. I‘ve been a civil servant for 4 years.

Q. Tell me some of the key features of Registered Disability Savings Plans and what parents of disabled children need to know about them.
A: Well, just that right now they’re sort of the poor stepson at most financial institutions. I mean they’re not very flexible. Typically, at worst, they’re really just savings accounts. You can buy GICs or the bank’s mutual funds, which usually have very high management fees.

From what I can tell so far, TD Waterhouse is the only trading partner or trading house that has an RDSP where you can actually buy whatever you want like ETFs. But even the TD plan is not very well set up. It’s pretty cumbersome to put money into.

Q: What’s cumbersome about it?
A: Well, I can’t set up a weekly automatic withdrawal. I have to put money aside into another TD trading account. Then I have to phone up every once in awhile and transfer the money from the trading account into the RDSP. And then I have to call back after the money’s cleared to say, “And now I want to buy these ETF’s or index funds.”

Q: Why is that?
A: I don’t know. I’ve asked TD that a whole bunch of times. It’s just the way the system works. I’ve poked at them as best I can. I’ve asked a few other people to poke at them, but I haven’t really received a satisfactory answer.

Q: Are there legislative rules about how you can invest RDSPs?
A: Not, necessarily. It’s just the banks are putting that kind of limit on things because it’s not a big money maker for them. They’re not going to make a fortune on amounts people deposit into RDSPs.  Whereas with RESPs, there are more people with kids going to university.

Q: What are the contribution limits on RDSPs?
A: The overall lifetime limit for a particular beneficiary is $200,000. Contributions are permitted until the end of the year in which the beneficiary turns 59. Up to a certain amount every year, depending on how much money you make, will be matched by the government.

Based on parental income, an RDSP can get a maximum of $3,500 in matching grants in one year, and up to $70,000 over the beneficiary’s lifetime. A grant can be paid into an RDSP on contributions made to the beneficiary’s RDSP until December 31 of the year the beneficiary turns 49.

Q: Do you have a favorite personal finance blogger that you read religiously?
A: I’ve got a couple. I like reading Michael James “On Money”, but he’s a friend of mine. I really like the Canadian Capitalist, but he’s sort of taken a hiatus. “Boomer & Echo” and the “Canadian Couch Potato” are quite good and so is “My Own Advisor.” I’ve met most of these guys at various conferences. I also read Squawkfox and have had extensive correspondence with her on Twitter.

Q: What, if any, money making opportunities or spin-offs have there been as a result of your blogging career?
A: Well, I don’t do this for the money which is obvious given how little I make at it. This is more of a cathartic thing for me.

Q: If you had only one piece of advice to readers or listeners about getting their finances in order, what would it be?
A: Get out of debt. Debt is a bad thing. There’s no such thing as good debt. It’s all bad. Don’t fool yourself into thinking there’s livable debt like a mortgage or maybe paying for your university. Somehow carrying debt has been normalized in the last 30 years or so but it’s still really not ok.

Thank you very much, Alan. It was a pleasure to talk to you.

Thanks for the opportunity Sheryl.

This is an edited transcript you can listen to by clicking on the link above. You can find the Canadian Personal Finance Blog here.


May 19: Best from the blogosphere

May 19, 2014

By Sheryl Smolkin

185936832 blog

In our eternal quest to link you to the best in personal finance blogging, once again this week we combed the web looking for great stories that will incent you to watch your nickels and save more for retirement.

On Boomer & Echo, Robb Engen discusses his experience  Breaking Subconscious Money Habits. Something as simple as eating weekend breakfasts at home instead of at Tim Hortons saved his family over $500/year.

Sarah Milton writes on Retire Happy about how Impulsive spending can derail your finances. While it may be tempting to buy something on sale because it’s a bargain, it’s only a bargain if you need the item and will use it within a reasonable period of time.

Automated arrangements where money comes out of your account to pay bills or amounts are regularly charged to your credit card are a great idea until something goes wrong and you don’t catch the error. That’s why Mr. CBB on Canadian Budget Binder says it is essential to review automated bill payments every month. That way you can discover and rectify inadvertent overbilling, duplicate bills or amounts incorrectly charged to your account.

If you really want to decrease the amount of income tax you have to pay, Big Cajun Man, Alan Whitton tries the idea Work Less and Pay Less Tax on for size. He says he’d rather take an extra 10 weeks of vacation off than go down to a four or three day work week, because he probably would have to do the same amount of work in a shorter period of time. Nevertheless, rather than working less, he would be more inclined to try to earn more money, so the tax hike didn’t hurt as much

And finally, Dan on Our Big Fat Wallet discussed what everyone loves to hate – bank fees. In I Hate Bank Fees, So I Bought the Banks he admits being frustrated by all of the bank charges he pays each month. So he decided to buy bank stock. The big 5 Canadian banks have had stellar capital gains and paid great dividends over the last five years.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.


May 5: Best from the blogosphere

May 5, 2014

By Sheryl Smolkin

185936832 blog

A couple of travel-related stories caught my eye this week.

If you have a spring or summer wedding on the horizon, find out Why a marriage contract may be right for you. It may not sound romantic, but drawing up a pre-nuptial agreement with your future spouse could save you a lot of grief later on, particularly if both of you are bringing significant assets into a second marriage.

In Retirement do’s and don’ts on the Canadian Personal Finance Blog, Big Cajun Man says make sure you have enough money to retire on, because if you don’t, you aren’t retired, you are destitute. To avoid that undesirable outcome, he recommends taking care of your health, not supporting your adult children and clearing your debts before you retire.

And finally, Krystal Lee has introduced us to her brand of frugality on Give me back my five bucks. But when it comes to fitness, she finally shelled out $100 for the Fitbit Flex and posted a review of the fitness tracking device. She likes the iPhone app, the sleep tracker and the silent alarm. She also says it is easy to use and set up. But she finds the step count to be inaccurate at times and says the calorie counter is a bit annoying.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.


Apr 21: Best from the blogosphere

April 21, 2014

By Sheryl Smolkin

185936832 blog

If there are snow flurries as forecasted for this week, it’s probably all my fault because I took our winter coats to the dry cleaners this past weekend. But when the temperature goes up, the temptation to put away boots and down jackets for another year is irresistible.

Sometimes your financial accounts also need a spring cleaning. In Spring Financial Cleaning Big Cajun Man recounts how he cleaned up his Quicken data files removing redundant accounts so they give him a more realistic financial picture.

Jim Yih reminds us that investing and taxes go hand in hand, particularly outside of your RRSP. That’s because different forms of investment income can provide significant tax benefits.

In spite of the plethora of personal financial blogs and other sources of financial advice available to Canadians, Brighter Life editor Brenda Spierling reports on Brighter Life that Women lag behind in financial planning. Does this sound familiar? She suggests that you create a financial plan and open an automatic savings plan or payroll deduction plan as soon as possible.

This week Robb Engen on Brighter Life writes tongue-in-cheek about Bank Slogans And Taglines, Translated. For example, he says TD’s “Open earlier, open later. Even Sunday” really means, “We don’t care that most of you want to bank online. We’re going to make you come in and speak to an advisor so we can sell you more products  any time, day or night.”

Finally, after a foot injury in January, on Give me back my five bucks, Krystal Yee reports that she laced on her running shoes for the first time 75 days later and that she is determiend to run and blog her way back to top physical condition.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.


Mar 17: Best from the blogosphere

March 17, 2014

By Sheryl Smolkin

185936832 blog

The road to retirement is a long one with many twists and turns on the way. In addition to saving to pay for your retirement you have to think about where you will live, how you will spend your time and how much you will need for health care costs not covered by Medicare.

In Retirement: Who do you want to be when you grow up? on retirehappy.ca, Donna McCaw says we could be volunteering, mentoring, coaching, working part time, serving on committees or boards, engaging in politics at various levels, writing, taking courses, getting more fit, and taking on projects, challenges, or causes.

Dave Dinnen weighs the pros and cons of retiring early in his blog Should you retire early or retire late? on Brighter Life. Early retirement costs more and most of your friends will still be working. But he retired at 54 and loves that he is young and free with the time to make his own lifestyle choices.

For many people, getting ready for retirement is such an overwhelming goal that they simply can’t get started. Using cleaning her office as an example, Eileen Chadnick of Big Cheese Coaching says Tiny is the new big – when it comes to goals. It’s often better to set smaller goals, because you’re more likely to achieve them. This gives you something to celebrate and reinforces the habit of goal-setting in the first place.

Lent started on March 5th. Big Cajun Man suggests that for your financial Lenten journey you could go without lattes for 40 days; read four personal finance books and live on cash for 40 days. Even if Lent is half over when you read this, it’s not too late to commit to strategies that will save you money all year.

And, on another note, independent life insurance broker and president of Life Insurance Canada.com Inc. Glenn Cooke exposes three big fat myths about critical illness insurance on myownadvisor.ca that you need to know about. For example, you could be denied coverage for a heart attack because insurance companies use their own definition of a heart attack instead of the typical consumers definition of heart attack or even the medical industry’s terminology.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.


Feb 17: Best from the blogosphere

February 17, 2014

By Sheryl Smolkin

185936832 blog

Whether you are saving for retirement or for other long-term goals, the key is that you have to spend less than you earn.

In What is “Saving?” Gail Vaz-Oxlade says it’s also important to distinguish between saving to buy a car or go on a vacation which is planned spending and saving for another chapter in your life like retirement.

Big Cajun Man says in I did my RRSP and TFSA Now What? that opening accounts and depositing money are just the beginning. Unless you develop an investment strategy and make sure you aren’t paying exorbitant fees, your money won’t grow the way it should.

The Toronto Star’s Ellen Roseman recently wrote a great column about How to plan for retirement on a low income. She says people who expect to receive the guaranteed income supplement (GIS) to top up their old age security (OAS) pension after age 65 should save in a TFSA and not an RRSP because TFSA withdrawals will not impact GIS eligibility.

First Foundation is an Alberta and Saskatchewan based financial services company. In their owngrowprotect blog they have started a 52 week money challenge. The author of Go To Disney Land or Pay Bank Fees, Your Choice! calculates that his family can save over $500 per year by shifting to no-fee banking which in ten years will add up to a family visit to Disneyland.

And Mark Seed from My Own Advisor asks the million-dollar question how much money do you need to retire well? He says that the magic number is indeed $1m or more. Even if some costs disappear in retirement like saving for retirement itself and mortgage payments there are costs in your future like property taxes, utilities, gas and food that are going to grow over time.

For those of you who think saving $1m before you retire is an unattainable goal, frugal lawyer Dave explains how he reached $1M net-worth by the age of 34 in this post on the Million Dollar Journey blog. It helped that he rode his bike to work instead of buying an expensive car like many other young lawyers in his firm.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.


Aug 19: Best from the blogosphere

August 19, 2013

By Sheryl Smolkin

blogospheregraphic

Whether you are going back to work or back to school this fall, this week we highlight blogs that will help you pay down current debt and avoid going into debt in future.

10 Steps to a Debt Free Life starts with the cardinal rule: Spend less money than you earn. And Big Cajun Man says once you no longer have any debt, save the money instead of going on a spending binge.

While living frugally may seem to be an impossible challenge, Gail Vaz-Oxlade once again reminds us that Frugality = Deprivation. Not!

One way many youg people are keeping expenses down these days is by cutting the cord to either cable or satellite television services. On howtosavemoney.ca SavingMentor explains why regardless of what you may have read to the contrary, Netflix Canada can be a pretty good deal.

If you are a college or university student, taking out student loans may seem like an inevitable necessity. But before you do, read about What to consider when taking student loans on myuniversitymoney.com.

And finally, if you are not sure what career options to pursue, don’t forget to consider a lucrative trade. On milliondollarjourney.com you can find out about how apprenticeships work and and how you can earn while you learn.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.