I've decided that I have to start trying new garages in order to find one that fits my personality and my wishes. The first I tried, Gary's Automotive, is about 3 blocks away from my work, so I called them up and brought my car in for an oil change and an inspection as I knew I had at least some brake work to be done.
Gary's did the oil change and inspection over the course of the afternoon. They are very thorough, which I liked a lot. They also emailed me the detailed estimate, which was nice. The estimate came to $2600, which isn't really their fault (most of the work needs to be done), but was a bit higher than my liking. They are very careful, professional, and I bet they do quality work... but I wouldn't know.
Two days later I decided that out of that estimate I needed one item done immediately. I called Gary's in the morning and was told "no problem, bring it in at lunch". When I brought it in at lunch and told the guy I only wanted this one item done all of a sudden the story changed: they were now too busy to service my car today and I should come in tomorrow.
I do not take kindly to people who I'm paying for a service trying to put me into a dependent situation like this. I'm not going to wait for your shop until you have time to spare for me. If you're busy, that's fine, it's a sign of a good shop. But if you tell me you're free to work on my car this afternoon when I talk to you on the phone, you better set an appointment for me so you don't waste my time while I'm trying to pay you money to do your job. What's wrong? You don't like being paid to work on cars? Because I was going to pay you money to work on cars.
Thankfully the garage next door is happy to do so. See ya.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Car Insurance
The day you turn 25, be sure to call your car insurance provider. If you haven't had an accident yet, you are eligible for a better ranking that is only available to those older than 25.
As well, if you pay your car insurance monthly, you are actually paying interest on a loan to your insurance company. I bet they didn't tell you that, did they? Just another example of an additional cost of not having enough money.
Anyways, the numbers:
before: $1200/year broken into monthly payments
new policy: $880 paid annually
Savings: $320/year!
Monday, March 16, 2009
$2000 is the new $0
Back in my f1rst p0st one of my goals was to remove my $8.95/mo. fee TD bank charges me if my balance dips below $2000. That 8.95$/month is $107.40 a year - ridiculous! That's 5% on $2000! Having paid off all debts I am now keeping this balance at all times in order to not pay my bank a cent in fees. They already get the interest of the money in my chequing account!
Next up on the fees target is my car insurance. I currently pay it monthly instead of in advance. I'm not sure what this is costing me but ill be sure to post when I figure it out.
My sister told me that she and her husband accumulated over $300 in President's Choice points by using their PC Mastercard for all their purchases. That sounds like a great plan! Pay it off at the end of the month and earn free groceries. Awesome! For that, I think it's safe to say good-bye TD Visa!
Next up on the fees target is my car insurance. I currently pay it monthly instead of in advance. I'm not sure what this is costing me but ill be sure to post when I figure it out.
My sister told me that she and her husband accumulated over $300 in President's Choice points by using their PC Mastercard for all their purchases. That sounds like a great plan! Pay it off at the end of the month and earn free groceries. Awesome! For that, I think it's safe to say good-bye TD Visa!
Hot to Trot: When not to buy a house
So with no debt and a bit of money in the bank, my girlfriend and I got excited with the prospect of owning a house. Our logic was that putting money into a property instead of into rent was always the better choice. We were booked to go see some houses and were about to drop serious money onto a house when my Dad presented some logic that was irrefutable to me.
Annual interest on $270000 mortgage at 5%: $13500
Current rent: $1200x12 = $14400
Additional bills with house ownership: $3000(taxes) + $600(water) = $3600.
Total relevant annual expended money with house ownership: $17100
(left out other bills as we have to pay them regardless of ownership or not)
In other words, we're calculating how much money we pay in either living situation that does not accumulate into net worth. The logic of "paying rent is wasted money" is true, but so is "paying interest to the bank and taxes to the city". At a $270000 mortgage, you're actually spending an extra $2700 annually that does not accumulate into your net worth.
At what mortgage amount would I be saving money VS renting at $1200/month?
Good question. You start saving money at the point where (total yearly expenditure of owning) = (total rent). Let's assume taxes+heat totals $4000/year. Expanding above we get:
(interest) + (taxes and heat) = (rent)
(interest) + ($4000) = $14400
interest = $10400
So as long as your interest is less than $10,400 a year it is worth it for you to buy a house. At 5% this is a $208000 mortgage. At 7% this is a $148,571 mortgage.
Additional savings while renting
We did not address another big difference between a huge debt load (while mortgaging a home) and money in the bank (while renting): Accumulated interest on your savings. Investing that down payment (safely) helps it grow and is a benefit you will not see for a long time once you do take the plunge.
The last factor we might want to weigh in this decision is the current market. While it's true over time that house prices will appreciate, the current economic situation is unstable enough that it's quite possible that house prices will fall, in which case we're much better off renting until our dreams are affordable :)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
How to quit your cell contract without paying your ETF (Early Termination Fee)
I've had a Rogers cellphone for the last year and a half. We're switching to minimal Pay as you Go cells and got a landline through our ISP Teksavvy (who I cannot say enough nice things about. They are amazing!)
So I had to cancel my cell. While I am halfway through my 3 year contract, Rogers still wanted $360 for me to cancel. I almost paid it then reconsidered, and put an ad up on usedottawa.com and craigslist. From the perspective of a person looking for a cell contract, by taking over my contract they get the phone for free and that's a year and a half less they are in their contract for. Saved me a ton of money! So it's a win-win for everyone involved.. except Rogers who doesn't get my $360 and an extra year and a half locked in on someone else.
As far as I know this is the only way I know to get rid of your phone without paying the early termination fee.
So I had to cancel my cell. While I am halfway through my 3 year contract, Rogers still wanted $360 for me to cancel. I almost paid it then reconsidered, and put an ad up on usedottawa.com and craigslist. From the perspective of a person looking for a cell contract, by taking over my contract they get the phone for free and that's a year and a half less they are in their contract for. Saved me a ton of money! So it's a win-win for everyone involved.. except Rogers who doesn't get my $360 and an extra year and a half locked in on someone else.
As far as I know this is the only way I know to get rid of your phone without paying the early termination fee.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Cash Budgeting: 2 weeks in
We've completed our first cash-budgeted pay period and have learnt quite a bit!
Pros:
- Instant feedback. This is much better than card-based budgeting because personally, I find my bank's statements to always be back a few days, some vendors seem to get registered late, weekend purchases get processed seemingly on the monday, etc.
- More meaningful. Watching the mone leave your wallet and be replaced with coins and fives gives a much more realistic view on how much you have spent compared to signing your name at the bottom of a sheet.
Cons:
- A single budget isn't very realistic or fun. Saying things like "we could go for a beer but then we'd be out of budget for food" is depressing. I think I'm going to modify my plan by having a $200 monthly budget for fun that gets banked seperately than the day-to-day. It's my intent to also use that $200 for saving up for trips.
- A little dangerous.. I don't suggest you walk around all the time with all your money in your pockets. For a forgetful person such as myself it's a little sketchy!
Pros:
- Instant feedback. This is much better than card-based budgeting because personally, I find my bank's statements to always be back a few days, some vendors seem to get registered late, weekend purchases get processed seemingly on the monday, etc.
- More meaningful. Watching the mone leave your wallet and be replaced with coins and fives gives a much more realistic view on how much you have spent compared to signing your name at the bottom of a sheet.
Cons:
- A single budget isn't very realistic or fun. Saying things like "we could go for a beer but then we'd be out of budget for food" is depressing. I think I'm going to modify my plan by having a $200 monthly budget for fun that gets banked seperately than the day-to-day. It's my intent to also use that $200 for saving up for trips.
- A little dangerous.. I don't suggest you walk around all the time with all your money in your pockets. For a forgetful person such as myself it's a little sketchy!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Cash-based budgeting
So despite having cleared all of my debt I am not saving money at a rate I feel I could. My biggest issue with wesabe and the like is that while it is very very informative, it is all post-purchase analysis - IE I've already spent the money. I want to try a more proactive approach that will keep my purchases in line.
I find more often than not it is very hard to mentally add up purchases that I make over a 2 week period. If you asked me how much I spent in the last 2 weeks I would tell you a number that would be off probably by almost half. I just can't do it. I think my issue is that when I spend $30 three times in my head that adds up to "not much, oh... 50$ or so" not the near $100 it really cost. So I end up without any concept of "reduce spending this week since last week was over budget". It doesn't help that my bank account statements online are about a week too slow, so i make any financial decision on those values based on old information.
Anyways, whatever the reason for my math failures, I'm going to try a pure cash based budgeting approach. I get $450 every 2 weeks to spend on everything. That works out to me putting about $1000 in the bank every month. If I can spend less than that, that's great, my girlfriend and I get to go out or buy something we want.. but if it's a week in and we've got $100 and that's it we'd better save for some groceries!!
I find more often than not it is very hard to mentally add up purchases that I make over a 2 week period. If you asked me how much I spent in the last 2 weeks I would tell you a number that would be off probably by almost half. I just can't do it. I think my issue is that when I spend $30 three times in my head that adds up to "not much, oh... 50$ or so" not the near $100 it really cost. So I end up without any concept of "reduce spending this week since last week was over budget". It doesn't help that my bank account statements online are about a week too slow, so i make any financial decision on those values based on old information.
Anyways, whatever the reason for my math failures, I'm going to try a pure cash based budgeting approach. I get $450 every 2 weeks to spend on everything. That works out to me putting about $1000 in the bank every month. If I can spend less than that, that's great, my girlfriend and I get to go out or buy something we want.. but if it's a week in and we've got $100 and that's it we'd better save for some groceries!!
Friday, November 14, 2008
"The List"
Like many people I know I have a tendency to buy on impulse. Sometimes it's a 20$ item, but I've done it too with items more towards $1000. Recently I decided I wanted to start DJing parties, so I researched online and ended up with 2 CD players costing me around $850.
$850. To play some parties. I already have a fully capable laptop (and it's actually easier to use). I've since decided to get rid of these players (anyone wanting 2 lightly used Denon DNS-1000 cd players? I'm looking for $650 for the pair, a great deal ;).
As a software designer I often fix problems in two ways - the first is to fix the problem directly, the second is to fix the problem that allowed the first problem to occur. Applying that logic to this purchase, I solved the direct problem by (hopefully) selling the cd players. But to prevent it to happen, I invented... "The List".
What is the list? It's simple. Any time I want to purchase something over $100, it must first sit on a list of things I want for a full 30 days. This gives me 30 days to stare at the item, dream of holding it, and also stare at the price tag for the item and see it floating away in the sky. By 30 days if I still want it, I can purchase it. If I decide mid-term I don't want it, hey I just saved myself all that money.
There's some exceptions obviously: anything that is a life necessity (car breaks down, etc.. doesn't require the list), and anything that is a fleeting deal (cheap vintage synthesizer on craigslist for example) do not need the to sit on the list.
But otherwise, this should stop some frivolous buying.
$850. To play some parties. I already have a fully capable laptop (and it's actually easier to use). I've since decided to get rid of these players (anyone wanting 2 lightly used Denon DNS-1000 cd players? I'm looking for $650 for the pair, a great deal ;).
As a software designer I often fix problems in two ways - the first is to fix the problem directly, the second is to fix the problem that allowed the first problem to occur. Applying that logic to this purchase, I solved the direct problem by (hopefully) selling the cd players. But to prevent it to happen, I invented... "The List".
What is the list? It's simple. Any time I want to purchase something over $100, it must first sit on a list of things I want for a full 30 days. This gives me 30 days to stare at the item, dream of holding it, and also stare at the price tag for the item and see it floating away in the sky. By 30 days if I still want it, I can purchase it. If I decide mid-term I don't want it, hey I just saved myself all that money.
There's some exceptions obviously: anything that is a life necessity (car breaks down, etc.. doesn't require the list), and anything that is a fleeting deal (cheap vintage synthesizer on craigslist for example) do not need the to sit on the list.
But otherwise, this should stop some frivolous buying.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Daily Expenditures Add Up (Food)
You always hear people say that the small stuff adds up. Let's play with some numbers and figure out just how much. Not all of these fit this blog's mandate (mainly, do not impact your quality of life) but many of them are changes you can make without changing anything really.
Let's first define some metrics. There's 365 days in a year. There's 52.1 weeks in a year. For simplicity let's say that there's 104 days in the year where you do not work (assuming 5 day work weeks). That leaves 261 days of work. Subtract your 10 holidays and a sick day, let's stick with the nice rounded number of 250 days a year where you go to work.
Purchasing Food:
1. Daily coffee @ $1.45 = $362.50
Add a bagel @ $1.25? Make that $675/yr.
2. Daily fast-food lunch combo @ $8.00 = $2000
Making @ Home:
1. Coffee at home
(We Buy PC Organic Fair-Trade Coffee, $8.99/pound, and it lasts about 3 wks.)
So we buy about 18 pounds of coffee yearly resulting in $161.32. And that includes coffee for both of us in the morning and on the weekends, and the coffee is quite a bit better.
2. Lunch
I eat a pretty simple lunch usually, I get it from my Dad. I usually have:
1 peanut butter sandwich with honey
1 Apple
1 Banana
tapwater to drink.
Total cost for this lunch is probably around $2.50 a day, if that. So lets say $625/yr.
Differential
Coffee -> $362.50 - $161.32 = $201.18
Lunch -> $2000 - $625 = $1375
Total Savings: $1576. And that's not even trying!
You might claim my lunch isn't interesting enough. I'm definitely in a minority eating the same simple lunch day after day. But you don't need to chose something that simple! Just buy it from the grocery store and instantly you will be saving over 50% of the cost for the unhealthy fast-food alternative.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Wesabe after a month
I've been using wesabe for about a month. I could not get the "auto-importer" to work with my bank (td canada trust) so I have to manually add my account activity logs every few days. But it's worth it. I can get monthly spending/earning, then look at tags and groups of tags for reports to see that I spent more on gas, or less on this or that.. very quickly once your transactions are tagged you can see patterns emerge that you didn't accumulate before. It has some simple "goal" settings (basically a goal for certain tags IE spend no more than $x/month on transactions tagged as FOOD).
The bads: It's a bit slow. Sometimes it's hard to tell what your report is really showing (ie it sometimes duplicates items with 2 tags.. so your $200 gas that is also $200 tagged as "bill" will come up as $400 spent. YMMV). Some other small bugs such as events for "today" will not show up. Ever. So you might see it on your account activity but when you upload it it won't be there until the transaction occurred in the past.
The goods: Everything else. They are actively working on fixing bugs (one of the biggest community groups on wesabe is "help make wesabe better").
It has made us much more aware of how we spend our money and it is very interesting to make custom reports to see what is going on.
The bads: It's a bit slow. Sometimes it's hard to tell what your report is really showing (ie it sometimes duplicates items with 2 tags.. so your $200 gas that is also $200 tagged as "bill" will come up as $400 spent. YMMV). Some other small bugs such as events for "today" will not show up. Ever. So you might see it on your account activity but when you upload it it won't be there until the transaction occurred in the past.
The goods: Everything else. They are actively working on fixing bugs (one of the biggest community groups on wesabe is "help make wesabe better").
It has made us much more aware of how we spend our money and it is very interesting to make custom reports to see what is going on.
Monday, July 28, 2008
DIY Auto Repair: Brakes
This weekend in an effort to save money I did the brakes on my car in my parking lot. It isn't just the cost of the job - every time I bring my car to the mechanic I feel as if it's a random chance whether or not they are doing to hold my car hostage for unneeded repairs. Plus, I want to learn about it both to save myself from being screwed in the future, and since it's useful to know.
Before we begin, a disclaimer: Follow the safety manual presented in your car's manual and your maintenance manual before starting any work. Use the right tools. Under no circumstances will I be responsible for your or anyone else's injury or death or anything else. I'm just telling you my experience.
I did the front pads and rotors on my 1997 Toyota Corolla. What I needed:
General:
- Haynes auto manual (must have.. even if you don't do your own car maintenance, you can read the section before bringing your car in to the shop so you know what parts are in there and what the mechanic is going to do so you know they did a sane job)
- Jack (basic scissor type is fine)
- Jack stands (ask your friends and borrow some, save you ~$50. you need 2.)
- Lug wrench (if you just have a J-shaped lug wrench I suggest spending $20 on a decent T-shaped wrench from your local part store. It's much easier to get the wheel off with that)
- Wrench/Socket set - basic $20 wrench set might work, but a variety of tools can sometimes be nice when in rough spots such as a rachet set with multiple sized handles
- Hammer - for loosening up bolts.
- Misc: WD-40, clothes hanger, brake cleaner, rag. A suggestion is to have a friend on call who can come pick you up in a moment's notice and drive you to your parts shop in case you're missing anything.
I will not include the cost of these tools in the cost equation for the job because you should be able to find someone who you can borrow them from, or just get them and they will pay for themselves by the time you're done the brake job.
Now, the parts:
- new pads (set of 4, $80)
- new front rotors (2@$20, total cost $40)
total parts cost: $120.
Note that if you buy your parts yourself you can still get a shop to install them - they just won't guarantee the parts, only the labour.
I'm not going to walk you through how to change your brakes.. there are plenty of better tutorials out there so go read them, and read your car's maintenance manual instructions as well. I will however offer you some tricks I learnt while dealing with stuck parts. It seems as though rusted on parts is probably one of the harder things an amateur can deal with, and is probably the reason many people end up giving up their brake job and taking it to a shop.
Note: Almost all of these tips are dangerous. Don't do them without considering the risks, and again.. YOU ARE COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS NOT ME.
Stuck lug nuts - did you get a good lug wrench? Put the lug nut in the wrench, and stand on the end of the wrench. You should be able to turn it. If not, purchase a metal pipe a few feet long, run the lug wrench arm through the pipe, and push on the pipe. Adding length to the wrench arm gives you added torque, so the same force applied twice as far away as before will actually be twice the force on nut. NOTE - be sure to loosen all your lug nuts BEFORE RAISING THE CAR ON THE JACK/JACK STANDS. Applying this much force necessary to loosen the lug nuts could push the car off the jacks and could hurt you very badly.
Stuck wheel - With the lug nuts off will the wheel not budge? You shouldn't have to take anything else off to get the wheel off except the lug nuts, unless your maintenance manual says otherwise, so don't start removing the bearings or anything like that. My Dad gave me this trick, and it worked: Put the lug nuts back on the wheels, but leave them loose (about a 1/4 inch space between nut and wheel). Take the car back off the jackstands (annoying, I know, but it works), and drive the car about 10 feet. You should hear the wheels unstick themselves and begin to wobble when you start moving the car. Now raise the car back up (safely) and the wheels can be removed with ease!
Stuck/Rusted Bolts: You are almost definitely going to encounter a stuck bolt while working on your car. Some ways to fix:
- hammer time. Some people suggest putting a socket onto the bolt, then hammering the socket, and it will loosen up the bolt. I don't like this because I'm directing a hammer pretty much right at my car parts.. one slip and I need a new caliper or something else I wasn't planning on fixing. Instead you can try hammering the end of the wrench while the other end is on the bolt. Note that the wrench could fly off and stab you or someone else around so please BE CAREFUL.
- WD-40 and a beer. Spray it, go have lunch, come back, try hammering it again, and it should be quite a bit easier to move.
- Dangerous way!! Do not try this at home! For a really stuck bolt, position the wrench horizontally on the side where if the wrench were to go UP, the bolt would be loosened. Now take your jack, put it under the wrench, and jack up the jack till it moves the wrench. Your jack can lift probably 3000 lbs, so it will definitely be able to move this bolt. However, THIS IS SUPER DANGEROUS!! You are creating a system under major pressure when you start jacking the wrench before it moves. If that wrench were to slip off the bolt or off the jack it could easily go flying and impale someone. SO don't do it.
Hopefully with these tips you are successful in doing your own brakes servicing. Even if you fail, you will learn tons in the process! And if you succeed, that is anywhere from $100-$300 (judging by googling for "average brake job cost") you have saved!
Before we begin, a disclaimer: Follow the safety manual presented in your car's manual and your maintenance manual before starting any work. Use the right tools. Under no circumstances will I be responsible for your or anyone else's injury or death or anything else. I'm just telling you my experience.
I did the front pads and rotors on my 1997 Toyota Corolla. What I needed:
General:
- Haynes auto manual (must have.. even if you don't do your own car maintenance, you can read the section before bringing your car in to the shop so you know what parts are in there and what the mechanic is going to do so you know they did a sane job)
- Jack (basic scissor type is fine)
- Jack stands (ask your friends and borrow some, save you ~$50. you need 2.)
- Lug wrench (if you just have a J-shaped lug wrench I suggest spending $20 on a decent T-shaped wrench from your local part store. It's much easier to get the wheel off with that)
- Wrench/Socket set - basic $20 wrench set might work, but a variety of tools can sometimes be nice when in rough spots such as a rachet set with multiple sized handles
- Hammer - for loosening up bolts.
- Misc: WD-40, clothes hanger, brake cleaner, rag. A suggestion is to have a friend on call who can come pick you up in a moment's notice and drive you to your parts shop in case you're missing anything.
I will not include the cost of these tools in the cost equation for the job because you should be able to find someone who you can borrow them from, or just get them and they will pay for themselves by the time you're done the brake job.
Now, the parts:
- new pads (set of 4, $80)
- new front rotors (2@$20, total cost $40)
total parts cost: $120.
Note that if you buy your parts yourself you can still get a shop to install them - they just won't guarantee the parts, only the labour.
I'm not going to walk you through how to change your brakes.. there are plenty of better tutorials out there so go read them, and read your car's maintenance manual instructions as well. I will however offer you some tricks I learnt while dealing with stuck parts. It seems as though rusted on parts is probably one of the harder things an amateur can deal with, and is probably the reason many people end up giving up their brake job and taking it to a shop.
Note: Almost all of these tips are dangerous. Don't do them without considering the risks, and again.. YOU ARE COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS NOT ME.
Stuck lug nuts - did you get a good lug wrench? Put the lug nut in the wrench, and stand on the end of the wrench. You should be able to turn it. If not, purchase a metal pipe a few feet long, run the lug wrench arm through the pipe, and push on the pipe. Adding length to the wrench arm gives you added torque, so the same force applied twice as far away as before will actually be twice the force on nut. NOTE - be sure to loosen all your lug nuts BEFORE RAISING THE CAR ON THE JACK/JACK STANDS. Applying this much force necessary to loosen the lug nuts could push the car off the jacks and could hurt you very badly.
Stuck wheel - With the lug nuts off will the wheel not budge? You shouldn't have to take anything else off to get the wheel off except the lug nuts, unless your maintenance manual says otherwise, so don't start removing the bearings or anything like that. My Dad gave me this trick, and it worked: Put the lug nuts back on the wheels, but leave them loose (about a 1/4 inch space between nut and wheel). Take the car back off the jackstands (annoying, I know, but it works), and drive the car about 10 feet. You should hear the wheels unstick themselves and begin to wobble when you start moving the car. Now raise the car back up (safely) and the wheels can be removed with ease!
Stuck/Rusted Bolts: You are almost definitely going to encounter a stuck bolt while working on your car. Some ways to fix:
- hammer time. Some people suggest putting a socket onto the bolt, then hammering the socket, and it will loosen up the bolt. I don't like this because I'm directing a hammer pretty much right at my car parts.. one slip and I need a new caliper or something else I wasn't planning on fixing. Instead you can try hammering the end of the wrench while the other end is on the bolt. Note that the wrench could fly off and stab you or someone else around so please BE CAREFUL.
- WD-40 and a beer. Spray it, go have lunch, come back, try hammering it again, and it should be quite a bit easier to move.
- Dangerous way!! Do not try this at home! For a really stuck bolt, position the wrench horizontally on the side where if the wrench were to go UP, the bolt would be loosened. Now take your jack, put it under the wrench, and jack up the jack till it moves the wrench. Your jack can lift probably 3000 lbs, so it will definitely be able to move this bolt. However, THIS IS SUPER DANGEROUS!! You are creating a system under major pressure when you start jacking the wrench before it moves. If that wrench were to slip off the bolt or off the jack it could easily go flying and impale someone. SO don't do it.
Hopefully with these tips you are successful in doing your own brakes servicing. Even if you fail, you will learn tons in the process! And if you succeed, that is anywhere from $100-$300 (judging by googling for "average brake job cost") you have saved!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Trim your bills - good and bad
From staring at my monthly bills on wesabe for awhile I decided to try to trim my bills a bit. Here's my 2 experiences (so far) this week:
The Bad
$60/month for cellphone? Insanity! I call my cell provider (rogers) and remove this crazy... "cell essentials pack" costing me $11/month and replace it with a text message plan that is cheaper ($5/month) to save a crazy amount of money (like.. 4$/month since the $11/month had a 30% discount on it).. and lose my voice mail and caller id. woops. My plan is to get a couples plan with my girlfriend and hopefully that will actually reduce our payments.
Total savings yearly: About $50. Hopefully more with couples plan.
The Good
$50.51/month for internet with Bell. That is insane. We get ~30kbs up/down at most times. Plus Bell is actively and admittedly using DPI to filter out pretty much everything. Plus their customer service sucks (no I don't want to talk to Emily thank you very much). Looks like we can get for under $40/month from teksavvy or ncf the same service we get now, except with teksavvy we will be paying a company that actively is against the filtering of it's users.
Total savings yearly: $140, depending on final bill total from teksavvy.
The Bad
$60/month for cellphone? Insanity! I call my cell provider (rogers) and remove this crazy... "cell essentials pack" costing me $11/month and replace it with a text message plan that is cheaper ($5/month) to save a crazy amount of money (like.. 4$/month since the $11/month had a 30% discount on it).. and lose my voice mail and caller id. woops. My plan is to get a couples plan with my girlfriend and hopefully that will actually reduce our payments.
Total savings yearly: About $50. Hopefully more with couples plan.
The Good
$50.51/month for internet with Bell. That is insane. We get ~30kbs up/down at most times. Plus Bell is actively and admittedly using DPI to filter out pretty much everything. Plus their customer service sucks (no I don't want to talk to Emily thank you very much). Looks like we can get for under $40/month from teksavvy or ncf the same service we get now, except with teksavvy we will be paying a company that actively is against the filtering of it's users.
Total savings yearly: $140, depending on final bill total from teksavvy.
Learn your money - Wesabe.com
If you haven't seen it I cannot more highly recommend signing up and diligently using wesabe.com. It allows you to upload your transaction statements from your bank, tag your transactions, and start looking at and understanding your spending. For example, I tagged all my eating out as "restaurant", and also put "good" or "pub", the latter denoting when I really didn't need to go out for food but ended up getting something greasy with a beer to wash it down. I found my "pub" monthly spending was almost half what I spent on food every month!! Extremely useful website.
I have not been able to get the automatic uploader working with firefox in either linux or osx but I think it's because my bank's online site does something funky with the login form that the wesabe script recorder cannot parse.
I have not been able to get the automatic uploader working with firefox in either linux or osx but I think it's because my bank's online site does something funky with the login form that the wesabe script recorder cannot parse.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Prediction Scenario: Stock Volatility Following Trade Resumption
Stock Volatility Following Trade Resumption
Trade halts occur in order to disseminate news releases in a timely fashion. Question is, how volatile are the stocks following the news release? Can we predict which direction the stock will move?
RSS feed to watch:
http://rss.newswire.ca/en/newswire/rls_str_en.xml?642B050C780E11DC887DDB50B1B1FDF9
Trade halts occur in order to disseminate news releases in a timely fashion. Question is, how volatile are the stocks following the news release? Can we predict which direction the stock will move?
RSS feed to watch:
http://rss.newswire.ca/en/newswire/rls_str_en.xml?642B050C780E11DC887DDB50B1B1FDF9
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Step one: Trimming The Fat
Think of your bank account as a bucket. The money you earn is water poured into the bucket. Think of the money you spend as a hole in the bottom. Your goal is to keep more water in that bucket. Obviously there's two solutions. Until recently I've always been obsessed with increasing my income: online ventures, stock investment plans, etc. Meanwhile I was blindly ignoring the obvious: I had some huge leaks to block first.
I'm not willing to change my lifestyle
For my age I live a very relaxed lifestyle. I enjoy dining out, travelling, having nice stuff (synths), eating really well at home. While I think there's definitely room for me to save money in my social life, I'm not going to restrict myself at this point in time for a simple reason: I don't want to :).
Money truly wasted
Fees, interest, charges. This is my primary focus. This is money I'm spending for which I see absolutely no benefit. Reducing this is literally free money in my hand every month.
Goal 1: No Credit Card interest
When I bought a car a few months ago I got an $10k unsecured loan from my bank at 10% interest. I put the purchase of the car onto that credit line and began paying it off. That meant that my debt payments monthly were now split between my credit card at 18% and my car at 10%. At first I was rolling my CC every month so I wasn't paying any interest, but as I started focussing on paying off my car I started to accumulate a CC balance from month-to-month. Which charged interest. At 18%.
Solution: Consolidate debt to lowest interest rate available
I moved my CC balance onto my 10% unsecured loan, saving myself 8% annually. Considering my CC balance was ~2000$, this saving is equivalent to a $2000 investment at 8% return (which would be pretty sweet to come by). Now every month I will pay off my CC balance in full and pay down my loan with the remainder. The side-benefit is that I can track monthly how much I'm really spending for fun and groceries since I put mostly all of it on my CC to save on bank withdrawl charges.
Goal 2: Optimized Bank Fees
My current bank account charges me $8.95/month if I dip my balance below $2000. While I think this is dismal and I need to change banks, for now this isn't changing. But lets see if we can improve the fees.
$8.95/month x 12 months/year = $107.40. $107.40/$2000 = ~5%.
So I would need to borrow the $2000 for less than 5% interest to save the $8.95 fee. Until I pay off my 10% debt this is not worthwhile unless I find a new, lower rate credit line.
Solution: Look for cheaper account
I'll have to start searching for a cheaper loan or cheaper account from another bank, until my finances improve the point of being able to keep a positive $2k balance. But even then, I'll want that $2k in a 4% interest account from somewhere like ING.
I'm not willing to change my lifestyle
For my age I live a very relaxed lifestyle. I enjoy dining out, travelling, having nice stuff (synths), eating really well at home. While I think there's definitely room for me to save money in my social life, I'm not going to restrict myself at this point in time for a simple reason: I don't want to :).
Money truly wasted
Fees, interest, charges. This is my primary focus. This is money I'm spending for which I see absolutely no benefit. Reducing this is literally free money in my hand every month.
Goal 1: No Credit Card interest
When I bought a car a few months ago I got an $10k unsecured loan from my bank at 10% interest. I put the purchase of the car onto that credit line and began paying it off. That meant that my debt payments monthly were now split between my credit card at 18% and my car at 10%. At first I was rolling my CC every month so I wasn't paying any interest, but as I started focussing on paying off my car I started to accumulate a CC balance from month-to-month. Which charged interest. At 18%.
Solution: Consolidate debt to lowest interest rate available
I moved my CC balance onto my 10% unsecured loan, saving myself 8% annually. Considering my CC balance was ~2000$, this saving is equivalent to a $2000 investment at 8% return (which would be pretty sweet to come by). Now every month I will pay off my CC balance in full and pay down my loan with the remainder. The side-benefit is that I can track monthly how much I'm really spending for fun and groceries since I put mostly all of it on my CC to save on bank withdrawl charges.
Goal 2: Optimized Bank Fees
My current bank account charges me $8.95/month if I dip my balance below $2000. While I think this is dismal and I need to change banks, for now this isn't changing. But lets see if we can improve the fees.
$8.95/month x 12 months/year = $107.40. $107.40/$2000 = ~5%.
So I would need to borrow the $2000 for less than 5% interest to save the $8.95 fee. Until I pay off my 10% debt this is not worthwhile unless I find a new, lower rate credit line.
Solution: Look for cheaper account
I'll have to start searching for a cheaper loan or cheaper account from another bank, until my finances improve the point of being able to keep a positive $2k balance. But even then, I'll want that $2k in a 4% interest account from somewhere like ING.
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