The winners of the draw for copies of Mark Goodfield’s book, Let’s Get Blunt about Your Financial Affairs (using a pseudo-random number generator of my own design) are Murray D. and David R. Congratulations to both winners who I have already contacted by email. The interest in this book was high judging by the large number of entries. Thanks to all who entered and for the kind words many included with their entries.

Mark Goodfield, known as The Blunt Bean Counter, is an accountant who knows his stuff and can explain things clearly. He’s written a book, Let’s Get Blunt about Your Financial Affairs , that collects some of his best writing together into a range of areas that matter to Canadians. I’m giving away two physical copies of his book (see below for details of the giveaway). Some of the topics Goodfield covers are executors, wills, audits, taxes, RRSPs, RRIFs, retirement, and cottages. Goodfield draws from his extensive experience working with his clients to give insights about human nature to go along with solid accounting information. The book’s style is very conversational, which makes it much easier to read than you’d expect from an accountant. It’s tempting to say it could use more editing. One of the more amusing parts talks of the tail wagging the “dodge” instead of “dog”. However, the meaning remains clear, and these little things give a feeling of authenticity. My favour...

After a draw that gave all entries an equal chance, the winners of copies of John Robertson’s new investing book The Value of Simple are TW (paper copy) Del (ebook) I have contacted both winners. Thanks to everyone who entered the draw! I appreciated that many of you took the time to add a note explaining what you like about my blog. It seems that the Friday “Short Takes” articles are more popular than I realized.

Many good investing books advocate simple, index-based investing strategies. No doubt some readers are lulled into thinking that these strategies are just too simple. However, real-world complications find their way into even the simplest of strategies. John Robertson makes a strong case for investing simplicity in his new book, The Value of Simple . (The giveaway for this book is now over.) The main thing that separates this book from other investing books is that Robertson goes into detail for how to invest using each of three different financial institutions and types of funds: Tangerine funds, e-Series funds at TD Direct Investing, and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) through Questrade. He judges these to be good trade-offs between cost and simplicity. He goes through the important practical steps of using each type of account using a few screen-shots. Most investing books back away from the details Robertson takes on. This is mainly because these details are untidy and make ...

A group of Canadian bloggers and an online insurance specialist got together to write The Beginner’s Guide to Saving and Investing for Canadians , edited by Dan Bortolotti. Having followed the authors’ excellent blogs for years now, it’s no surprise that the book is well-written. At only about 100 pages long, the book’s main strength is that it sticks to the big important issues rather than diving too far into minutia. At the bottom of this review, I’ll describe how you can enter a draw to win a copy of the book. The first chapter, by Krystal Yee, covers budgeting and basic cash-flow planning to get out of debt and create savings. Although quite basic stuff, many Canadians make the kinds of mistakes Yee describes. It’s hard to build a solid financial future while paying interest on credit-card debt. Jim Yih goes through the alphabet soup of different types of savings accounts (RRSP, RESP, TFSA, etc.). It’s possible to write a complete book on the details associated with each ...

Last week I announced a giveaway of the book Your Money Ratios . The winner of the draw is Nathan. He has been contacted by email. Thank you to everyone who entered and thanks once again to the Penguin Group for offering a book for the draw. For those who feel cheated by this meager post, I suggest reading Scott Adams' article in the Wall Street Journal . He might be onto something by trying to provide those who pay the most in taxes with various perks.

In the book Your Money Ratios , author Charles Farrell lays out a blueprint for your entire financial life through your working years. If you’ve ever wondered if your debt repayment and retirement savings are on track for your age, this book provides an answer. The book’s publisher, Penguin Group, has graciously offered an extra copy of the book as a giveaway for my readers. (However, the giveaway is now over.)  To enter, just send an email to the contact email address in the upper right corner of my blog with the subject “Book”. Readers who subscribe to my feed will have to click through to my web site . Another benefit of going to my site when reading a post is to see the comments other readers leave on that post. All entries received before noon on Sunday, January 30 will be considered for the draw. I reserve the right to eliminate entries that I judge to be outside the spirit of the contest. The word “ratios” in the title might scare off some readers who think there w...

Gene K. wins the draw for a copy of Mike Holman’s RESP Book (see my review here ). Thank you to everyone who entered the draw.

Who knew that RESPs had so many rules! Mike Holman clearly explains all the ins and outs of RESPs in his book The RESP Book: The Complete Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans for Canadians . The book is only 118 pages long – the author tends to get to the point quickly. Holman has graciously offered an extra copy of the book as a giveaway for my readers. To enter, just send an email to the contact email address in the upper right corner of my blog with the subject “Book”. Readers who subscribe to my feed will have to click through to my web site . Another benefit of going to my site when reading a post is to see the comments other readers leave on that post. All entries received before noon on Saturday, October 23 will be considered for the draw. I reserve the right to eliminate entries that I judge to be outside the spirit of the contest. Holman covers the full range of RESP topics: contributions, grants, withdrawals, opening an account, and basic investing informati...

From first-hand experience, I can tell you that dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) can be bewildering. I would have to say that just about all the CRA people I have spoken to seem motivated to help me, but they all seem to disagree with each other. In his book Tackling the Taxman , Alex Doulis gives a host of examples where CRA employees don’t seem as willing to be helpful as I’ve found them to be. This book may actually be mistitled because most of the CRA people I’ve spoken to are women. However, given the tone of this book, my guess is that these women don’t mind being left out of the accusations. It’s clear that Doulis knows a great deal about income taxes and the dispute process between CRA and taxpayers. The parts of the book that explain these matters are very useful. However, the bulk of the book is a collection of stories of serious misdeeds by CRA employees. These stories are entertaining, but they don’t have quite enough detail for the reader to figure ou...

We attach all sorts of emotional meanings to earning and spending money according to The Secret Language of Money , by David Krueger and John David Mann. The authors seek to help you rewrite your money story to improve your life, but it is much more than just a self-help book. The publisher, McGraw Hill, has graciously offered four giveaway copies for my readers (but the draw is now over). To enter the draw, send an email with the subject “Book” to the address shown on the upper right corner of this blog. The draw will close Tuesday October 13 at noon. I will contact the winners to get postal addresses. This time, McGraw Hill has agreed to send books to winners even if they live outside Canada and the U.S. When it comes to investing, spending, debt, and financial scams, many of our decisions are driven by emotions. Because I see myself as a rational person, I didn’t expect much of what was said in the book to apply to me, but I did see myself in some of the examples. More ofte...

The winners of the random draw for the book Inside the Mind of the Turtles: How the World’s Best Traders Master Risk , by Curtis M. Faith, are Marina and Alan. I have contacted the winners and have collected their addresses. The publisher, McGraw-Hill, says that the books should arrive in the next week or so. Thanks to everyone who entered the draw.