Get new posts by email:
  

Short Takes: Credit Card Payoff Calculator

1. Preet gives us a credit card payoff calculator. Hopefully this will inspire people to pay off their high-interest debt and not cause them to give up because it will take too long.

<< Previous Post Next Post >>

Comments

  1. Grand Homme CajunJune 26, 2009 at 6:40 AM

    Thanks for the mention, have a superior fin de semaine.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael JamesJune 26, 2009 at 10:44 AM

    CC: Thanks for including me in your list. I almost didn't recognize your picture -- you're almost always smiling in person :-)

    Thicken: Thanks for the vote. I count your blog among the more thoughtful and useful blogs as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MDJJune 26, 2009 at 11:52 AM

    Thanks for the link Michael and congrats on the G&M coverage!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Four PillarsJune 26, 2009 at 11:12 PM

    Congrats on the Globe and Mail mention.

    I'll be reading that book as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.comJune 27, 2009 at 12:10 AM

    Thanks for the link Michael - you got my vote in the poll. Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Financial Lessons from Poker

Common advice about controlling spending is to track all your purchases and add them up each week or month. I believe that this is effective, but have been fuzzy on why it seems to work so well. Why can’t people just spend less without the constant reminder of how well they are doing? I got some insight on this question from, of all places, poker. For poker players there is a certain thrill to dragging in a pot of chips. The thrill is there whether it is a $1 pot or a $10 pot. The $10 pot gives a bigger thrill, but not 10 times bigger. Similarly, losing a $10 pot feels worse than losing a $1 pot, but not 10 times worse. This leads to some players playing in such a way that they maximize happiness by taking in many small pots, but losing some big ones. As long as they don’t count their dwindling chips, they can actually be happy playing this way. Counting your chips is a lot like adding up your spending at the end of the month to see what happened. You may feel good about ...
Read more

Are Financial Advisors the Solution or the Problem for Older Investors?

As investors age, two things become increasingly apparent: they need more help with their finances and investments, and they’re more vulnerable to financial exploitation.  Depending on who you listen to, financial advisors are either the solution to these problems, or they are part of the problem. On one hand, financial advisors and their firms like to sow self-doubt in the minds of do-it-yourself investors.  “Will you know when you’re no longer competent to manage your investments?  What will happen to your less financially savvy spouse if you pass away first?  You’d better hire a financial advisor while you’re still able to make good decisions.”  This paints a picture of competent and honest financial advisors stepping in to save their clients from themselves as they age. On the other hand, we have Ken Kivenko’s Financial Self-Defense Guide for Seniors .  Ken is a tireless advocate for Canadian Investors, and his guide is largely designed to help seniors ...
Read more

Deducting Mortgage Interest on Rental Properties

A colleague I’ll call Andy came up against a curious barrier to deducting mortgage interest on a rental property. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) likes to see a straight line between the mortgage lump sum and the purchase of the property that will generate rental income. Unfortunately, it seems that Andy cannot easily draw a line that would satisfy CRA. Andy owns a small home free and clear. He plans to move to a new larger home soon. He had hoped to rent out his old home to make some rental income. His plan had been to take out a mortgage on the old home and use this money to reduce the size of the mortgage on his new home. A side benefit Andy hoped for was using the interest on the mortgage on the old house once it becomes a rental property as a deduction against the rental income. Unfortunately, CRA won’t allow this. From CRA’s point of view, the borrowed money wouldn’t be used to purchase an investment, but would be used to buy Andy’s new home. The following Q and A on page...
Read more

Archive

Show more