Wealth

You Can Make A lot Of Money And Still Be Poor

It doesn’t seem to matter how much money a person earns, if they don’t work on developing effective money management skills, they can end up bankrupt.  I was reading an article on Yahoo! that talked about seven professional athletes who squandered away their money on all kinds of gadgets and doodads rather than investing it wisely.

Although it may seem like it would be easier to manage your money if you had a lot of it, it’s obvious from reading the article that having more money isn’t the solution.  Instead, what it takes is a disciplined approach; creating a budget, paying yourself first, controlling your spending, and most importantly, not spending more than you earn.  Although people who make a lot of money may not have to be as strict with their spending, they still need to follow the basic principles of effective money management; otherwise they could end up like Scottie Pippen and Lenny Dykstra.

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Family

Young Couples And Joint Bank Accounts

I read an interesting article on the Globe and Mail website recently that indicated that one third of young Canadian couples (aged 18 to 35) keep separate bank accounts, and that only one in ten couples share all their accounts.

This may be a bit surprising, except for the fact that many of the couples that were polled were not necessarily already married.  I think it’s important for couples to be on the same page with their finances, although I can understand why some couples choose not to keep everything joint.

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Outdoors

Join A Community Garden

Spring has sprung and it’s time to start thinking about gardening again.  Gardening is a great way to supply your family with fresh veggies and herbs and it can save you some money on your grocery bill.  Gardening is also a kind of therapy, a chance to get outside and commune with nature.  A little dose of fresh air and exercise is good for the soul.

If you don’t have a yard of your own in order to plant a garden, why not take advantage of a community garden?  If you don’t know if there’s one in your local area, perform a simple Google search and see what comes up.  You will likely be surprised how many opportunities there are close to home.  And if you don’t find any information, perhaps you can partner with your neighbors and start one.

A good friend of mine first introduced me to the idea of joining a community garden.  She lives in a condo but she enjoys gardening and didn’t want to be left out just because she didn’t have her own backyard.   She became part of her local community garden and found it to be a positive experience.

Community gardens are a great way to connect with your local community and they make gardening accessible to those living in condos and apartments. I have never been part of one myself because we have a postage stamp sized yard and I have converted all but one of my flowerbeds into gardens, but if I were to live in an apartment again, I would definitely consider joining one.

Have you ever been part of a community garden?

General

Now Is The Time To Pursue Your Goals And Dreams

“You’ll never be as young as you are right now.” These are wise words that my friend used to encourage my husband and I when we were telling her about our dreams of doing some extensive traveling.  As a couple we have always wanted to see more of the world and we like learning about new cultures and ways of life.  Unfortunately we also know that traveling can cost a lot of money, even though we are able to travel on an extremely tight budget.

That being said, my friend is right.  We certainly aren’t getting any younger.  Her statement goes for the pursuit of any goal or dream.  The time to start working towards your goals and dreams is right now.  We don’t know what will happen in the future, but we can make an effort to ensure our passions are not left on the sidelines.  If we are going to do some traveling, it does make the most sense for us to do it now, before we have kids and before we get too comfortable and let the golden handcuffs chain us to our jobs.  Right now we are considering our options and we are on the brink of making some life-altering decisions.

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Book Reviews

Book Review Of What Works On Wall Street

What Works On Wall Street; A Guide To The Best-Performing Investment Strategies Of All Time by James P. O’Shaughnessy

What Works on Wall Street is an in-depth book discussing how to successfully invest in the stock market whether by choosing individual stocks or by investing in mutual funds.  It is written by a professional investor and portfolio manager who has performed studies of 52 years of stock market history and has developed solid investment strategies based on his research.

It is highly informative and contains many historical charts indicating stock market performance and much more.  If you have always wanted to learn more about investing in the stock market, then this book is for you.  It will take you some time to get through it as it is almost 400 pages long, but even if you skim through it, you will be sure to benefit from it.

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