#10: Global Housing Bust by Canadian Capitalist.

Most of us think that only Americans are stuck with a housing bust. In fact, Canadians seem to be the exception. CC gathered several articles about the housing market in other countries.

#9: Monavie Scam? Was My Wife Recruited Sell Snake Oil? By Lazyman.

Another story about a MLM company. Monavie might not be as strong as Primerica, but would certainly make some serious profit while selling drinks at $40 a bottle!

#8: Top Three Investing Mistakes by Canadian Capitalist.

Three great lessons from this Canadian engineer. I think we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. Therefore, it’s even better to learn from other people’s mistakes!

#7: Income Property Financing For New Investors by Million Dollar Journey.

I am planning on buying a rental property before my 30^th birthday (that gives me another 3 years and a half) and I am trying to gather as much info as possible about the topic.

#6: How Should I Cure My Dissatisfaction? By Plonkee.

There are people who are never satisfied. I think those are the one who will accomplish a great deal of stuff. However, you have to determine a point where you will stop asking for more.

#5: Mortgage Slaves by Fours Pillars.

Is your property a shelter or an investment? One thing is for sure is that the mortgage attached to it could help burry you alive into debts!

#4: Maybe Higher Food Prices Are Actually Good For Us by Generation X Finance.

Find out how the great power or Economic applies on our lives. It is crazy how prices of food can influence our ways of eating!

#3: Risk Capacity and Risk Tolerance Are Different Beasts by The Dividend Guy Blog.

Sometimes, you are willing to take a lot of risk but you just can’t afford to take them.

#2: Managing All My Money Is Futile: Outsourcing My Finances by The Digerati Life.

I have to agree with that one, if not, I could lose my job

#1: Financial Infidelity: The Leading Cause of Divorce? By Million Dollar Journey.

I always saw my couple as a financial team. If one of us started to lie or hide stuff related to our finance, this would definitely cause serious damage to our relationship.

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I received a really cool news yesterday in my mail box: According to FireFinance The Financial Blogger ranked 75 out of the best 100 PF blogs!!!! It’s a good sign for a blog when you have to schedule about 30 minutes a day to take care of your blog besides writing posts!

So let’s take a look at what caught my attention last month:

#10 Partying likes it 1929 (not a blog)

I found this article and I thought it was pretty funny to see (serious) people thinking it’s the end of the world. I would bet that they were writing the same apocalyptic scenarios when Enron and Worldcom went bankrupt or when Nortel decided to jump of the cliff… Who was there to remember clearly 1929 anyway?

#9 Are You Selling Your Credit Score by Moolanomy.

An interesting thought for people who thinks that registering for credit cards in exchange of a plastic coffee cup where it’s written “I’m with stupid” is a great deal. You credit score is something very important. You can read my 2 post series about credit and trustworthyness for a good laugh.

#8 The Whole life Sabbatical (the 3 parts) by Brip Blap.

Another great series from Steve. He discusses the different types of responsibilities we face, how we handle them and if we can get away from them. I would personally never leave my wife and kids but I was speechless in front of his argument about infirm and elderly parents.

#7 Feeling Overwhelmed? Take a Cath-up Day by Paid Twice.

This is the perfect example of a simple thing where everybody says that it’s impossible to do but we all should do it. You want a secret? it is more feasible than you think!

#6 Biggest Money Mistake: Credit Cards by Debt Free Revolution.

Don’t we learn the most from our biggest mistakes? DFR is explaining how she dug herself into a pit of debt with the shinny and promising credit cards. Print this one and give it to your teenagers so they can read it between two PS3 games.

#5 The Seven Habits of Wealth by The Dough Roller.

While I wrote about the Seven Sins of Personal Finance, DR wrote an interesting post of habit to develop in order to become wealthy. They are not fun nor sexy but they work for sure!

#4 30 Personal Finance Rules of Thumb by Million Dollar Journey.

A cool compilation of rules of thumb that can help you out in your quest for financial freedom. I still disagree with the following rule: You should spend no more than 2-3 times your household salary on a house. I’m at 3 times right now and I live in one of the cheapest place in Canada…

#3 The Costs of Home Ownership by Canadian Capitalist.

Thank you! a home is not an investment, it’s a luxury where you spend a lot of money into! Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great to be the owner of where you sleep (and do other stuff…. like washing the dishes!), but it is definitely not an investment.

#2 Savings is Different than investing by Plonkee.

I don’t know if I agree with Plonkee yet about is point, but one thing is for sure; ones must make the difference between a savings account and an investing account. To me, you should put money aside period. However, if you need your money for a specific project in a specific time frame, an investment account may not be the best financial tool for you!

#1 How Much Do You Need To Retire (part 1 to 5) by Canadian Dream.

Yet, another boring topic for many people but I still think that retirement planning is fun (damn, my new job is really getting into me!). Canadian Dream is trying to shed some light on this obscure aspect of personal finance.

One last thing before I let you go, don’t forget to submit your post for the Carnival of Money Stories as I will be hosting it next week with another great theme!

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#10: Are you Saving Enough For Retirement? Check Out This Rule of Thumb by The Dough Roller.

While I am not a big fan of rule of thumb in general, the article is trying to make people realize that they are probably not saving enough for their retirement.

#9: Over 1 in 3 new home owner in the States owe more than their houses are worth by Were Does All My Money Goes?

A short but shocking article showing what could happen to Canadians in the West if we don’t manager our money properly.

#8: A Clear and Present Danger: The humanities by Brip Blap.

Steve is debating where the government’s subsidies should go in the complicated world of education. Should we encourage only the smart and productive students or should we allow everybody to go to school?

#7: How To Grow a New Blog Efficiently at Blogthority.

This article was written by Mike from Four-Pillars. He definitely knows what he is talking about since his blog (with the help of Mr. Cheap ) is growing at a very good pace!

#6: 2008 Federal Budget at Taxtips.ca.

It is not a blog but I think that many Canadians should read what’s on this website and especially this article. Any tips to save a penny on taxes is a good one

#5: Investing in Yourself: Personal Growth by The Simple Dollar.

Investing is not always only about money. It is also about yourself and your family. In order to grow and evolve as a person, you need much more time and effort than money to be invested.

#4: Reminder: Savings is Different than Investing by Plonkee.

A great example that you must look at ads, think about it and analyze it later on.  As Plonkee mentioned : “Too many people don’t realise the difference between savings and investments.”

#3  7 Things Women  Wish Men Knew  About Money by Being Frugal.

There is nothing like a chick to bring you down to earth! Every time I go on my financial bubble, my wife is always by my side to make sure I don’t go crazy.  According to me (women, close your eyes and stop reading), #7 is very important

#2  What Price Are You Paying To  Have It All ? The Supermom Myth by The Digerati Life.

Another gem by SVB. She is giving her thoughts about the Supermom Myth, a concept that has been reviewed by many many people. It is great to have a wife that does it all, but sometimes it could get ugly!

#1 Why You Can’t Trust Real Estate Agents When Selling A house by Four Pillars.

I personally think that you can never ever ever EVER trust a Real Estate Agent   Instead of getting emotional on the subject, I will let you read this 2 parts post (the first one being why you can’t trust them when buying a house!). If you could only remember the title, you will be good to go in the housing market

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#10 Prepaid Wireless Plan Comparison by Million Dollar Journey.

#9 Prequalifying Vs Preauthorizing Vs. Preapproving Letter by Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

#8 Current Market Conditions Encourage Bad Decisions – Don’t Make the Same Mistake by Generation X Finance.

#7 Why The First Million is the Hardest By Enough Wealth.

#6 Teaching Preschooler About Money by I’ve Paid for this Twice Already.

#5 TSX Drops 600 points in one day and I’m not worried by Where Does all My Money Goes.

#4 American subprime crisis: should the rest of us care? by Plonkey Money.

#3 How to Talk to your Teenager about Personal Finance at Brip Blap.

#2 Why Most Investors Don’t Make Money In The Stock Market by The Digerati Life.

#1 If I Could Re-Write Rich Dad Poor Dad by Thicken my Wallet.

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#10 I Just Saved $7 On My Electric Bill Without Spending A Dime at My Two Dollars.

Reality or fiction? I don’t know yet but I will certainly try this easy trick to save money on my electric bill!

#9 Our Best and Worst Wedding Registry Experiences (hint: Avoid Sears) at Lazyman and Money.

A great review of stores that could help or ruin your wedding registry experience. In fact, I don’t really like Sears either for many reasons. Those reasons are an A/C, a vacuum and a photo session!

#8 Babycenter.com A Nifty Tool to Calculate the Cost of Raising a Child at The Dough Roller.

Since I have already two babies, I know how they can be expensive. For those who are in doubts, you can surely read this article and visit babycenter.com!

#7 Ah Ha! The Value Of An Asset is Better Appreciated When you Lose It at Money, Matter and More Musings.

As Golbguru says in his intro : ” This is rather obvious, but not much appreciated in day-to-day life, so I thought of giving it a shout-out.”. Today, when you come back home, make sure to be greatfull for what you have.

#6 The Exciting Financial Year That Was At The Digerati Life.

A great recap from a great blog. If you haven’t started reading SVB’s blog, start with this one so you won’t be lost!

#5 Confession of a New Car Buyer – Getting the Best Price at Million Dollar Journey.

I really liked his first article about how car salesmen can act. This one is about a true story of a reader that went in a car dealership. Find out what happen on his blog!

#4 Top 5 Guaranteed Ways To Lose your Money investing at Stock Trading To Go.

They are mostly in line with my 7 Sins of Personal Finance Part1 and Part2.  We still don’t know how to make money with our investments, but we now know 5  things to avoid when we are trying to!

#3  DIY Smith Manoeuvre Part 4 at Canadian Capitalist.

I’m a big fan of the SM and i encourage you to read the full series. It will give you a lot of information as of to how implement a SM and start investing. The interesting part is that CC has no intention to do a SM so I guess he is able to provide a non-biased opinion on the subject.

#2 How to be a good partner to a stay-at-home spouse at Brip Blap.

This guy always comes with the most original posts! I’m almost jealous Seriously, I really enjoyed this article as I am planning to have my wife to stay at home in a year or so. Great tips!

#1 The Preet Principle – Leveraging to Invest the Right Way! Part1 at Where Does All My Money Goes.

A very interesting and complete (and lengthy!) series on leveraging. Preet is an Investment Executive with ScotiaMcLeod so he knows what he is doing (hopefully LOL!). Seriously, you copy an paste the full series (it makes 14 pages on Word) and read this on your way to work. It is definitely worth your time!

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#10: Staying on Track When You Work at Home by Lazyman. After he resigned from his job, Lazyman decided to take some time off and work on side projects. One of them is his blog. He is resuming his first month as being a hubby-at-home.

#9: Time to Run and Hide From Stocks ? by Flexo. I don’t know about your portfolio but mine is going down. I am showing a negative overall return of -8% for 2007. Nothing really to brag about! Flexo is asking himself if it’s the time to sell and run…

#8: What could you give up when you’re in financial trouble? by Cleverdude. A series of two articles where Clever Dude is using his own situation to show you how you can cut in your expenses without having to sell away your newborn. Those are tricks I would use to cut down in my expenses in order to reach my $1,500 project. Unfortunately, I have used most of them already!

#7: Blog Income Report by John Chow. Not a big found but still motivating for me. I sometimes make reference to thisk famous blogger on my blog and I wanted you to know why. I’ll let you go on his blog to find out how much he made last month. Just a clue : it was more than what my wife makes in a year!

#6: Credit Cards: Friend or Foe? by Money Smart Life. I personally think they are my friends for the reasons mentioned in this article. However, they can betray you and become your biggest enemy within a few months as well…

#5: Anecdotes and Advice from a First Time Home Buyer Part 8 by Four Pillars. Did I ever told that this guy is writing great series? Well this time it is his friend, Christine who made this great series for people that are looking for their first house and even for people that are already home owner.

#4: The Sandwitched Generation by Golbguru. As a proud parent of two beautiful kids, I am really concern about this issue. I am the only child in my family and my parents are not getting younger. While I will have to take care of William and Amy, I am wondering if I will have to take care of my Mother and Dad.

#3: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds by Brip Blap. I think I will print this article and post it everywhere on January 2nd where I realized that I gained 10 pounds over the Hollidays!

#2: Quitting My Job, Retiring Early: 5 Steps To Lifestyle Change by Silicon Valley Blogger. I did quit my job in the past and it was one of best thing I ever done in my life. Now, we are working on having my wife to quit hers and it will hopefully work out in 2008.

#1: Confessions of a Car Salesman by Frugal Trader. Hum… I thought they were crooked but they are worst than I thought. I personally think that this article is valuable for most salesperson in any field (personal finance included). Beware!

#10 September Earnings and Traffic Report, Profits up 88% at stocktradigingtogo.com. Blain is definitely a ig inspiration for me as he was recently able to create a great source of income from his blog. In September, he made $930.66 and I can tell you that he reached over 1K for the month of October. While not being as evil as John Chow, he is one his way a good chunk of money out of the blogosphere.

#9 An Early Retirement update From QCash at milliondollarjourney.com. I really wanted to pick up posts that inspire me. This one is definitely in line with my goal of retiring yound and healthy. After all, life must be lived not worked

#8 How Spending Money Can Actually Save You Money at moneysmartlife.com. Sometimes, life is so simple that you can actually save money while spending. This is quite an interesting concept.

#7 Ten REasons you Should Quit Your Job at mytwodollars.com. Hey! It seems that I am not the only one who thinks that quitting your job could be beneficial for you!

#6 Things I Learned From My Grandparents About Money, Part2 at bripblap.com. Human beings tend to forget about history and their past. I guess we could learn a lot from other’s experience. Our grandpartents can definitely teach us some good stuff about “The Good Old Times”.

#5 Crossing Generations: Being Grateful For What We Have and Some Reflections On The Future (can the title be longer?) at taoofmakingmoney.com. This post is in the line with my #6 and tell you why we should be grateful to our parents and grandparents.

#4 The RESP Series by four-pillars.ca. Another gem by FP; this guy knows how to get to the bottom of things. If you have children and you think about their future education, stop reading my blog (don’t you dare!) and go see his complete RESP series!

#3 Debunking 13 Retirement Myths Part1 at consumerismcommentary.com I just hate financial myths and cliché’s. It’s a good thing that I am not the only one!

#2 Personal Finance Lessons from the Poker Table at bargaineering.com. I love poker and I love personal finance. What a great deal to put both of them together!

#1 8 Lessons I Learned From The Cheapest Family In The Nation at thedigeratilife.com. We always think taht we need more and more money in order to meet our own and our family needs. Well, there is always a way to make it up with less money!

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Happy Monday everyone! (sic)

As you can see, I’ve updated my blog and created a new format. I’ve been working on the layout for a while and it’s now online! The categories and the other section on the sides will be changed shortly while I didn’t have enough time over the weekend (I still have a life besides blogging ). So Welcome to The Financial Blogger V 2.0; next step coming: ads!

Oh boy, this monthly top ten took a good two hours as I saved 32 very interesting articles for September. After debating every single one with my wife, we have come to this top ten. That should give you enough reading for this week!

 

#10 How Many Earths Would it Take to Sustain You? By Consumerism Commentary.

This is a short and sweet post that will make you think twice about your life style and how we hypothec or future on this planet. It is important to take the time to realize that our good old planet is probably dying and definitely not eternal

 

#9 Pirates of Personal Finance by Brip Blap.

A cool and refreshing post about personal finance advices. Apparently, pirates were excellent personal finance advisors. Brip Blap is explaining some piratical tidbits. Here’s my favorite: Arrr, no need to enlist with the Navy there be plenty o’ opportunities fer a young pirate in these seas – rum running, lootin’, rampagin’. The same thing but in my own words: you don’t need to get a stable job, there are plenty of opportunities where you can create your own company.

 

#8 The One Hour Project by the Simple Dollar.

This is more than a post, it is a great series concerning small things you can do to improve your financial situation. Each of them takes one hour to accomplish. I decided to link to the category instead of choosing only one post. Therefore, you will be able to figure which ones suit you best.

 

#7 How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? By Fours Pillars and Mr. Cheap.

This specific post has been written by Fours Pillars. However, he recently decided to merge his blog with another great blogger, Mr. Cheap (From Financial Security Quest). It is a great idea since they are both great writer. More on this post, it is a well detailed analysis of the blogger’s own situation. He explains why he took so much (750K seems pretty big at first glance, but it is almost the bare minimum to be honest).

 

#6 The Breast is Best by Million Dollar Journey.

MDJ is definitely my favorite blog by far. While he can write about convertible bond arbitrage, he can also talk about breastfeeding. Everything can be found in the same blog! Anyway, this article is about all the benefit for women and children of breastfeeding. It’s a must for everybody!

 

#5 Sales tactics by Money Smart Life.

This is another great category where Ben explains how salesman can be faster than you to close the deal and make a decent profit. He outlines 5 sales tactics that seem to work as I encountered them myself while shopping. Learn how to speak their languages and you will make great deals!

 

#4 Renting vs Buying a Home: A Detailed Calculation by Clever Dude.

Instead of telling you what to do and why, Clever Dude made a detailed list of all points to be considered when you are facing this choice. I think this dilemma is more about personal values and lifestyle than a financial matter.

 

#3 Watch Prices Go Up: Interesting Facts About Inflation by The Digerati Life.

A very great post from the Silicon Valley Blogger. That makes me think of the good old days where you could by a castle for 200K. It is now though to find a mobile home for 100K! She does not only compare price but also explain the inflation factors and provides great tools to understand this phenomenon.

 

#2 Chess and the Art of Financial Goals by Dough Roller.

This is the first post of an interesting series about the comparison of chess and the world of finance. In addition to the great post, you get in bonus a chess problem to solve. I guess it will be a bit different than the classic sudoku!

 

#1 8 Personal Lessons I Learned From Monopoly by Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

When I was a kid, I used to play this game all day long. This is by far the most exciting board game I know. The most amazing part is that out of a simple game, there are a lot of financial basics. My favorite lesson is number 6: Life Isn’t Fair, It’s What You Make Of It. It’s up to you to make it happen!

If you liked this article, you might want to sign up for my FULL RSS FEED. Then, you would get my daily post in your email and can read it at any time. To subscribe, please click HERE.

 

The other thing I realized that could be very annoying for RSS readers is that I am not providing full RSS feed. In fact, I though I was until Fours-Pillars pointed it to me. Please forgive me as I am still new to all this web technology and I am learning as I am blogging. I did some researches and I found out that I was not using the right version of feedburner. It is now setup properly!

Now, let’s take a look at what was interesting in the blogosphere during the last month. This time, I am putting my number 1 post at the end of the article to keep you reading till the end

#10: College Will Kill Your Entrepreneurial Spirit While Simultaneously Turning You into a Worker Bee by Violent Acres. While not being a personal finance blogger (in fact, I don’t think there is an adjective to qualify what she is writing about) she gives her “violent” expression of how was here childhood and relationship towards money. She explains how she built her entrepreneurship and points out that 6 out of the 10 richest people in America are proud college dropouts. I guess diplomas is not necessarily the best path to wealth.

#9: Four Simple Stock Market Lessons Related to Life

by Stocktradingtogo.com. It is definitely a must for young traders or traders-to-be. These lessons are really good especially when you are considering the roller-coaster market we presently have. You can also find a follow-up post here. On another note, I want to thank stocktradingtogo.com four his August Top Commentator Contest (I’ll let you guess who won ).

#8: Stay Away From The “90 Days, Same As Cash” Trap

by moneycrashers.com. It is now easier to get credit than to find p*”n on the internet. But are stores really helping you out? In fact, this articles explain how you get stuck with huge interest bill at the end of the day.

#7: How I increased my income 62% in 14 months…

by Lazymanandmoney.com. An impression and inspiring post about one’ success to increase significantly his income in a very small period of time.

#6: Against the grain: Why we chose an interest-only mortgage

by cleverdude.com. I used to think that interest only mortgage was a bad product. However, I have changed my mind for several reasons about a year ago. Clever Dude explains part of these reasons in this article. Sometimes, personal finance is just less important than other life’s benefits.

#5: Thrift or Theft?

By gracefulretirement.com. Many bloggers write about frugality. Several individuals talk or read about frugality. However, there are others that are stealing and think that they are being frugal. Ask yourself if you would like to teach these “border line methods” to your children.

#4: 101 Ways to Put $101 in Your Pocket This Month

by blogingawaydebt.com. This is a nice (and legal!) list of tips to save a couple of bucks at the end of this month.

#3: Yogi Berra’s 7 Secrets to Building Wealth

By doughroller.net. Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra catched more than a few balls while he was playing for the Yankees. Great food for thoughts when you want to invest in the market.

#2: Life Is Like A Game Of Chess

by thetaoofmakingmoney.com. This is great analogy about life. I think that the analogy got completed along with the comments. Make sure to read all of it.

#1: This month, I have two bloggers in first place because they wrote about the same topic and put great effort into it (one visually, one by a complete series). Thedigeratilife.com offered us:

Are You Ready To Be A Parent? Know The Cost Of Having Kids and four-pillars.ca created an awesome series about baby expenses.

I hope you enjoyed these posts as much as I did and that you learnt something. I would also suggest that you read all comments associated with theses articles. A post is just not as complete without comments!

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Have you notice something about my layout? The whole blog is in different tint of blue and white. Everything but one thing… This big orange button. You know what? There is a reason for that… It is because I want to make my RSS FEED button visible! Please register for this blog RSS Feed by clicking on that orange button Then, you’ll get my daily post in your email everyday!

I do not know about you, but I sometimes have a hard time following everything that is being written in the blogosphere of personal finance. I decided I would create my Monthly Top Ten Posts. Then, I can share with you my favorite articles across the web! So here is my first edition for July:

#1: How Money Can Change A Life by Money Smart Life: This was definitely my favorite post this month. It makes you think about how money can change your entire life. This is a great lesson to learn for us all.

#2: Criteria for Purchasing Rental Property by Million Dollar Journey: As I am looking into buying a rental property in the future (2 years maybe), I was glad to see what other landlords as to say about picking the right property. Comments on this post are very interesting as well.

#3: Why You Spend and Save The Way You Do: The Science Behind Money Behaviors by The Digerati Life: I am always fascinated to learn how my brain thinks and how I think I made the decision. The way you spend money can be analyzed and therefore, you should be in a better position to correct your spending habits.

#4: 50 Tips for New Personal Finance Bloggers by Clever Dude: As I am still new to this world, advises such as them are priceless for me. I think it is a good summary and definitely a good start for any bloggers!

#5: Think About Your Finances Before Having (More) Children by Money, Matter and more Musing: Too many people have kids without thinking about their finance first. I agree, the decision should come from your feelings. However, your feelings are not paying for the food you will give to you little angel.

#6: Start a Company When you are Young from Go Big Network: Do I have to say more? The title says it all!

#7: Campaign Against Financial Myths: Part 4 – Mortgage & Home Ownership by Grad Money Matters: A definite must for anyone who is thinking of buying a house. Ownership is not as simple as turning the key and opening the door.

 

#8: The Magic of Positive Thinking by Financial Security Quest: An interesting post about how your way of thinking my influence your life. I think that what you think about will define you as a human being.

 

#9: Three Ways to Be Sure You’re Paid What You’re Worth by Get Rich Slowly: This is an eternal question: Am I paid what I am worth? Find out some tips to know if you should ask for a raise or if you should consider yourself lucky!

 

#10: How Do You Start an Investment Club? by Thicken My Wallet: hum.. an investment club. While it sounds like a good idea, starting one and keeping it active seems a lot more complicated than it seems.

I hope you enjoyed reading these articles as I did! There are several many others but I did not want to make a Top 50!