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Site Issues, Carnivals and Weekend Reading - Jan 18, 2008
2008-01-18 11:30:00
This week was a technically challenging week for MDJ as I botched an upgrade thus making various parts of the site a little buggy.  One thing I noticed was that the post schedule was a little wonky, so thanks for being so patient while I'm working things out.  As per the messed up scheduling, I ...
More About: Reading , Carnivals , Issues , Site , Weekend

Shopping for a Newborn II - Summary and Tips
2008-01-17 11:30:00
As you might have read from a previous post on Shopping for a Newborn - The List, buying everything brand new can be quite expensive.  However, there are some ways to reduce your costs, which is what I'm all about.  Make sure to shop around.  Walmart and Toys R Us had the same brand names, but Toys R Us prices were about 10-15% higher. Note that if you are on a budget, then look at your local classifieds for used items (kijiji and craigslist come to mind).  You can sometimes find baby items in good shape and for a fraction of the cost.  At our local classifieds, we found a lady selling baby clothes, the baby bjorn carrier, and some other toys for about 30% the retail cost.  We even found a high end used baby crib for a great price, but the baby's grandparents insists on buying new (they're paying). Wait for the sales. A trick that I've found is that Walmart seems to sell their baby stuff at clearance prices at the end of the year or...
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Shopping for a Newborn I - The List
2008-01-16 11:53:00
We spent the past weekend shopping around for things that we'll need for the newborn when he/she arrives.  I must say that there is a LOT of stuff that you need to buy and none of it is cheap.  From what we've learned, here is a run down of the must buy big ticket items and what to look out for. Car Seats There are 3 types of car seats, all go by the weight of the child.  There is the infant car seat which will typically support 5-22lbs, the toddler 22-40lbs, and the booster 40-80lbs. The infant car seat is a must have as the infant will need to be transported from the hospital to home in safe manner.  Infant car seats are all rear facing to help protect the infants neck in case of an accident.  Look for an infant car seat with a removable base.  That way, the base can conveniently stay in the car should you decide to carry the baby around in the seat. You can find 3 in 1 systems that can switch between infant, toddler and booster.  Alas,...
More About: Shopping , List , The List

Book Review - A Million Bucks by 30
2008-01-15 10:30:00
Alan Corey, young author and millionaire, contacted me after visiting MDJ one day.  He told me about his story/book where he set a big financial goal at the age of 22 to become a millionaire before the age of 30.  Not only did he reach his goal on average income (below average in NYC), he ...
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Questrade USD RRSP and Referral Promotion
2008-01-14 08:30:00
We've all complained about those extra FOREX fees when buying US stock within an RRSP, but none of the big brokerages have done anything about it.   Complain no more because Canadian Capitalist has broken the news that Questrade now offers the ability to hold U.S Dollars (USD) within their RRSP accounts! What does this mean? Cheaper to Invest ...
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Weekend Reading - Jan 11, 2008
2008-01-11 08:30:00
Patrick at Cash Money Life hosted this weeks Festival of Frugality.  MDJ submitted the guest post on how to save money when buying a car.  In addition, the article was selected as an editors choice! Tim from Canadian Dream posted a very informative article on what happens if you don't plan for retirement.  The article explains ...
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Back in Business
2008-01-10 17:48:00
There's nothing like a fresh dose of panic first thing in the morning.  To make a long story short, I really messed up the blog software update that made MDJ unreadable for a few hours.  Thankfully, the feed wasn't affected.  Everything seems to be working fine now, if you find do something broken, please let ...
More About: Business , Back

Site Troubles
2008-01-10 12:16:00
Hi Guys, Sorry, having a few sites troubles today.  Hopefully we'll be back up later on today.  In the mean time, you can read todays post through the feed.
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Reader Mail: Babe in the Woods II
2008-01-10 08:30:00
Babe in the Woods has contacted me again with a bunch of questions.  After the last response to her questions, she has gone out and read a couple personal finance books and now has more questions.  So I've just finished reading The Wealthy Barber for the first time, and am pretty inspired. I'm starting to do ...
More About: Mail , Reader , Babe , In the Woods

VISA IPO is going to be Huge!
2008-01-09 08:30:00
Just doing some finance reading today and came by an article about the much anticipated VISA Initial Public Offering (IPO).  The reason that investors are excited?  VISA is the largest credit card network in the U.S and they basically print money. VISA is hoping that their IPO will raise $10 billion which, if achieved, will be ...
More About: Visa , Huge

Book Review: The Lazy Investor
2008-01-08 08:30:00
Since the success of the Canadian best seller Stop Working: Here's How You Can, Derek Foster has written another book called "The Lazy Investor ".  I was excited to receive his latest book for review as I really enjoyed his first book.  It's not surprising to see that Fosters dividend investment strategy is followed by many Canadian ...
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Building a Home Gym
2008-01-07 08:30:00
Another project that I'm evaluating with the upcoming new home is building a home gym in the basement instead of paying our monthly gym membership fees.  What kind of equipment and materials are required to build a decent home gym?  Here is what I am considering (from Spartan Athletic Products): Rubber Floor Mats: $65 (4'x6') x ...
More About: Building , Home

Weekend Reading - New Year Edition 2008
2008-01-04 08:30:00
I have found some great articles to kick off the new year that cover the topics of mortgages, stock trading, personal finance and oil. Canadian Mortgage Trends writes about the Top 5 Mortgage Trends of 2007.  Among them include how the down payment requirement for a conventional mortgage dropped from 25%->20% and the introduction of longer ...
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Financial and Blog Goals for 2008
2008-01-03 08:30:00
It's the beginning of the year and time again to declare my personal and blog goals for 2008 .  As indicated by yesterdays Financial Goals for 2007 Report Card, last year was a success in terms of the goals that I set and what I was able to achieve. This year, however, may be a bit more ...
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Financial Goals 2007 Report Card
2008-01-02 08:30:00
It's the beginning of 2008 which means it's time to to look back at my financial goals for 2007 and see if my original financial goals for the year were met.  It's report card time! Goal #1: Increase passive/alternative income to $500/mo  (Grade: A+) Final Report : Our passive/alternative income well surpassed the $500/mo. What I consider ...
More About: Card , Financial , Goals

Best of Million Dollar Journey: 2007 Edition
2008-01-01 08:30:00
Happy New Year! Looking back on 2007, MDJ has put up quite the few popular and controversial articles.  Below are the top articles on MDJ for 2007 grouped by popularity, comments, and general favorites. Here are the top 10 articles of MDJ for the year of 2007: The Smith Manoeuvre - A Wealth Strategy Canadian Discount Brokerage Comparison Anti-Smith ...
More About: Journey , Dollar , Million , Edition

Dec 2007 Net Worth Update (+2.35%)
2007-12-31 08:30:00
Time for the final installment of net worth updates for the year 2007.  December was a volatile month for the markets, but better than November. A few readers commented in my November net worth post that insurance shouldn't be counted as a liability.  Yes, technically, I can cancel my insurance anytime so it's not a real ...
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Weekend Reading - Dec 28, 2007
2007-12-28 08:30:00
Even though this week was slower in terms of traffic and blog posts in the blog world, there have been some great links that I would like to share with you. The Digerati Life hosts the Christmas Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.  MDJ submitted the post that compared the net worth of various PF bloggers and was chosen as an editors pick! CBC reports that over 5 million Canadians hit the stores during the boxing day sales.  Were you one of them?  I was! Thicken My Wallet answers the question "What does it feel like to own your own business?" Cash Money Life writes about 9 Financial Lessons. Canadian Capitalist clues up the DIY Smith Manoeuvre series with Part 4 - The Tax Element of the Smith Manoeuvre. Canadian Dream has a Christmas gift for us all in his spreadsheet giveaway that calculates the "Crossover point".  This is basically where your investment income meets your living expenses.  In other words, it calculates when you...
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Reader Mail: Relocating with Lots of Equity in my Home
2007-12-27 08:30:00
I received an email from Jimmy last week about his financial situation and he's wondering what I would do if I were in his shoes.  The basic idea is that Jimmy is relocating in the near future with TONS of equity in his existing home.  Should he buy a house in the new area or ...
More About: Mail , Home , Reader , Equity , Loca

QCash on: Borrowing to Invest: My Exit Strategy?
2007-12-26 08:30:00
QCash, the 37 year old retired millionaire, writes about his adventure in leveraged investing.  I have never been a big fan of leveraged investing.   Especially when I took early retirement and I don’t want to expose myself to any large risks that could thwart my plans.  However, I have found myself embracing the ...
More About: Strategy , Exit Strategy , Invest , Borrowing

Merry Christmas - 2007
2007-12-25 08:30:00
Merry Christmas to You and Your Family!   Not much of a financial post today, but I did leave you with this video to add to the festive mood.   Popular Posts: Canadian Discount Brokerage Comparison Top 6 ways to Save on Auto Insurance High Interest Rate Savings Accounts MBNA SPG Credit Card Review Questrade Review Copyright 2007 MillionDollarJourney.com - All Rights Reserved
More About: Merry Christmas , Merry

Year End Tax Tips: 2007
2007-12-24 08:30:00
I was watching the tax segment on Rob TV last night and they highlighted some year end tax strategies to take advantage of.  Here is a short summary of the year end tax tips of 2007: Tax Loss Selling. If you have taxable capital gains this year in your non-registered account, you may want to sell some ...
More About: Tips , Year

Carnivals and Another Camera Giveaway
2007-12-21 08:30:00
J.D from Get Rich Slowly has done another fine job hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance.  The MDJ article on New Car Buying Tips called "Confessions of a Car Salesman" was submitted and chosen as an editors pick. Preet Banjeree, the grand prize winner of the MDJ 1st birthday giveaway has decided to pay it forward ...
More About: Carnivals , Camera

Confessions of a New Car Buyer - Getting the Best Price
2007-12-20 08:30:00
After reading the popular MDJ article Confessions of a Car Salesman, regular reader Lisa went out with her new found knowledge to purchase a new car.  Here is her story along with some new car buying tips. Thanks FT for asking me to write this guest post.   Myself and my husband were in the market for a ...
More About: Buyer , Price , Fess

5 Ways to Beat the Christmas Rush
2007-12-19 08:30:00
It's that time of year that everyone is scampering around the stores and malls hoping to finish up their Christmas Shopping.  I was at Costco last Saturday and not only did I have a hard time finding a shopping cart, the cart didn't have any space to move with all the people jam packed in ...
More About: Rush , Beat

How Cancelling a Credit Card Affects your Credit Score
2007-12-18 08:30:00
Canadian Dollars asked a question on the Credit Card Arbitrage thread about the affect that canceling a credit card has on your credit score. At first thought, I would think that canceling a credit card would improve your credit score because it would reduce your total available credit.  But it doesn't quite work like that. After some ...
More About: Credit Cards , Credit Card , Score

Winners of the MDJ 1st Birthday Giveaway!
2007-12-17 11:30:00
The MDJ 1st birthday giveaway far surpassed my expectations with over 300 entries between the comments, email subscriptions, blog posts and facebook additions.  I guess a new camera from Canon is a desirable Christmas gift. All entries were placed in an excel spreadsheet and a web based random number generator chose the winners. Here are the prizes ...
More About: Contests , Birthday , Winners

Stock Trading Weekend - Dec 14, 2007
2007-12-14 17:30:00
Once a month I like to put up some great stock trading articles from my favorite stock trading blogs, Chris Perunna and Stock Trading To Go.  Here are some of their best articles over the past few weeks. Stock Trading To Go 10 Great Ways to Learn Stock Trading as a New Investor Pro Trader Jack ...
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Best of Million Dollar Journey: Nov 2007
2007-12-14 08:30:00
Time for another monthly tribute to the Million Dollar Journey top articles.  I'm a little late posting the best of November 2007, but here they are none the less. Here are the top 5 most commented articles of MDJ for November 2007: 1. Carnival of Personal Finance #126 (59 comments) This was the first time that MDJ ...

2007 PF Blogger Net Worth Comparison
2007-12-13 08:30:00
There are a lot of lists around the blogosphere that compare blogger monthly earnings, unique visits, pageviews and Alexa Rankings.  However, I haven't come across a list that compares the net worth of personal finance bloggers. MDJ is going to change that. Not all PF Blogger s openly display there net worth which is understandable.  However, out ...
More About: Net worth , Worth , Comparison , Wort