youngandthrifty.ca

Weekend Ramblings and PF Blog Love: Did you RRSP yet? Edition

young — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:03:07 +0000

Deadlines are looming again (FYI if you didn’t know it is February 29, 2012) for your contribution to be counted towards the 2011 tax year.

I’m curious to know (you know, because I’m nosy like that), for those that contribute to an RRSP, when do you contribute?

Do you contribute in a lump sum in early 2011?
Do you contribute throughout the year in 2011?
Or do you wait until the first two months of 2012 to put in that big chunk of change in?

What I do (and there’s no rhyme or reason or method to my madness) is I contribute a set amount per month and then if I have room left over, I’ll contribute a lump sum to max out my RRSP afterwards. After I finish paying back my Home Buyer’s Plan, I’ll likely stop contributing to my RRSP’s (unless I have oodles and oodles of money after contributing to my TFSA already) since I plan to have a defined benefit pension plan. However, who knows, I might be desperate to decrease my taxes in which case I’ll probably contribute to an RRSP as well.

Speaking of RRSP’s, I had the lovely opportunity to talk to Bryan Borzykowski from Moneysense.ca (I idolize Money Sense so it was pretty awesome to be mentioned in it) and he interviewed me about my strategy for my RRSP’s.

Here are some RRSP posts that might pique your interest in case you’re not sick of seeing RRSP stuff just yet.

RRSP versus TFSA: Head to Head Comparison
RRSP’s Holdings Part 1
RRSP Holdings Part 2: What to Keep in and Out of your RRSP (I loved writing this post but no one commented on it, sadly. I wrote it when my blog was a baby in blog years)

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Pf Blog Love

This blog has been featured in the Jenny Pincher’s Blog Carnival (woohoo!)
My Own Advisor talked about the retirement goals of Gen X and Gen Y (and no one is thinking about being 67)
Free Money Wisdom got engaged and WON their honeymoon (that is so awesome!!)
Million Dollar Journey my blogging idol posts his net worth updates- he’s killing it and I know he’ll make his goal
Dividend Ninja also weighs in on the TFSA or RRSP debate
The Financial Blogger asks you where are you… where do you stand?
My University Money asks whether you feel more satisfied earning or saving (for me it’s both lol)
Boomer and Echo talks about the hot Boomer topic, of the OAS age increase from 65 to 67
It’s not too late! Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff shares her New Years Resolutions
Financial Uproar ponders the question.. why are people scared to be rich?
Financial Samurai asks those who are interested in quitting their jobs to blog full time to read this first

Why and How to DRIP: Dividend Re-Investment Plans

young — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:09:15 +0000

Dividends are the “tried and true” investment focus these days (other than dollar cost averaging through indexing, of course) for those that say “screw off” to mutual funds and want to DIY invest. Dividend paying stocks USUALLY have a proven track record and continue to give you dividend income even if the entire market isn’t doing so well in general. However, they are not immune and are vulnerable to the huge market swings even if their dividend payout is strong.

Dividend Reinvestment Plans, also known widely as “DRIPS” essentially help you automatically take the dividend income you receive and reinvest it, usually without having to pay commissions or fees. For example, the dividend income your receive may not be enough to purchase an entire share, but will allow you to purchase fractional shares. Over time, these fractional shares add up to one share.

Usually these plans are offered directly by the company, and they will have their OWN brokerage they use for the DRiPs. You can also choose to use your own brokerage (for me, that’s Questrade) but you won’t receive the discount of the 3-5% on the recent three closing prices of the stock.

Basically, with Dividend Reinvestment Plans, you can “set it and forget it”. This option is especially alluring for those who have the “buy and hold” mentality, and actually rewards those who like to buy and hold. Or in my case, prevents those who ideally WANT to buy and hold from panicking and selling their shares for a quick profit (I tend to suffer from that problem).

What Are the Benefits to DRIPping?

The benefits to DRIPing are numerous and I find that they do outweigh the cons. That being said, I currently only have one DRiP for an individual stock going on right now (but my TD e-series funds are DRiP’d regularly), but I would like to add more (just needs some organization on my part!).

Currently I am DRIPing EIF.TO in my Questrade TFTA and I plan to add FTS.TO and perhaps HSE.TO to the list of DRIP’ing dividend stocks.

PROS:

You’ll be investing and adding to your positions without having to pay fees or commissions
Certain Canadian DRiPs give a discount of up to 5% on the price of the equity (usually 3-5% discount) on the average of the price in the previous five days the stock was traded on the TSX (basically you only pay 95-97% of the regular price)
Compound interest is your friend over many years and much DRIPping
Oftentimes you can designate the number of shares you want to DRiP
Allows you to dollar cost average without having to put money in!

CONS:

Investing in dividend stocks is investing in individual shares and not a basket of multiple shares so it carries inherent risk
Inflexible at times- once you START a DRIP, you’ll often have to RE-APPLY for the DRiP for those new shares, if you ever add your positions to the dividend stock (so it’s merely annoying)
You won’t get to see that money add up nicely in your account because it will be automatically reinvested
Not all dividend paying stocks have DRiP available so you need to check with the company website
You’ll still have to pay taxes on the dividend income (even though its reinvested and you won’t necessarily “see” it) if it is in a non-registered investment account
Sometimes certain brokerages do not allow for fractional shares to add up (like Questrade); therefore less compound interest for you!

How Do You DRIP?

It may seem really complicated but it’s actually pretty easy and straight forward to set up, especially if you use Questrade (though you don’t get the perks with that like 3-5% discount of the common share price).

DRiPing with Questrade

(I’m including this because a reader wrote in asking)

Read this page on Questrade about dividend reinvesting first
Contact a Questrade representative (I called or chatted with them online) and ask about DRiPs. They will send you an email with the form for the application.
Fill out the application and mail it back to Questrade
You may (will likely) need to call them back a week or two later to confirm they received your form and that your shares in the dividend stock will start DRiPing.
Note that with Questrade, there is no discount for DRiPing but the good thing is that there are no brokerage fees/ commissions (but this is the case if you DRIP’d directly with the company too)

DRiPing directly with the company

Check out the company’s webpage (e.g. I looked at EIF) for DRiP information and how to enroll (and check with your brokerage too!)
Fill out the form and send it to the company
See how much discount the company gives to the share price for DRiPing (usually 3-5%)
Decide if you want to do a monthly cash purchase plan (e.g. dollar cost averaging) if the company has it available
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the DRiP!

Some great DRIP Resources

Here are some great websites to read up on to get you started on DRIP’ing. Most of these are Dividend Blogs, understandably

youngandthrifty’s Dividend Yields

Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel Book Review and Giveaway!

young — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:26:04 +0000

I had the opportunity to review Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel and boy, am I sure glad I did. It is H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S! I actually laughed out loud a number of times (and I must say, getting me to do that while reading something is pretty hard).

Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel is written by Phil Vallarreal. If you don’t know who he is, I have to be honest with you, you’ve been living under some sort of rock because he’s one of the writers/ contributors to the Consumerist. He’s also a syndicated film critic for the Arizona Daily Star and also contributes to OK! Magazine.

I had no idea he was this funny (sorry, Phil, I follow you on twitter, but I suppose it’s hard to capture that amazing sense of humor in 140 characters at one time). Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel is funny. At parts, it’s almost so funny that you feel guilty and sheepish to be laughing about it, and more importantly, you feel shocked that someone would actually say something like that out loud, let alone publish it in a book.

Basically, the book give 100 dirty little money-grubbing secrets that will help you save money.

Some of my favourites are:

Double your Pleasure, Double your Fries- in which the tip is to use ice cubes to make your fries soggy. After you’ve eaten the fries before you dumped the ice cube on it to make it soggy, go to the restaurant employees and demand new fries because your fries are soggy.
Tupperware Thief- when you go to parties, look pathetic taking home something wrapped in saran wrap or aluminum foil. More often than not the host will make sure you have some Tupperware to take it home in (and we all know how much Tupperware can cost). The only thing Phil says you have to deal with is the passive aggressive parting shot “oh don’t worry about bringing that container home soon- I’ll hunt you down for it if need be”. LOL love it!
The Legend of the Cubic Zirconium Heirloom- Now, I must warn you this tip was found in the last part of the book (which is, in my perspective, the funniest section labelled “Gross, Mean, and Just Plain Wrong…”). He talks about giving your future fiance a cubic zirconium ring and calling it a heirloom ring passed down to you from your mother. Adding some sort of sentimental story to it increases its luster even more. The author denies having used this tactic himself though.
Double Movies- Reading this excerpt made me think of my teenage days- going to an early film and then staying there until you see the next film in another theatre room. Who hasn’t done that before? It’s just a lot harder to do it as an adult lol, I would think.

There are some great tips in here that even I have tried (but I won’t tell you which ones) or that I think would absolutely work (the trick where he avoids going to concerts with his long term girlfriend by acting like a total jerk at the concert and embarrassing her… then apologizing profusely for a few days afterwards). That one, he has tried and now he’s married to his long term girlfriend.

Some of the most useful ones involved negotiating, complaining (which I am obviously good at LOL), and “sticking it to the man” (aka big bad corporate America).

If you’re easily offended (especially with things that don’t sound ethical) then I would probably not read this, but if you like sarcasm, cynicism, and quick humor, this is a great read and will have you laughing (and learning) about some crazy ways to save money.

Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel Giveaway

This book is worth $15.95 and it will be worth even more because I’m going to be shipping it out to you. Good luck and thanks for reading! Contest ends February 7, 2012.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Weekend Ramblings and PF Blog Love: Traffic Jam Edition

young — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:38:10 +0000

I had a realization this week, as I was trying to get home from the Lower Mainland area (which is for the record, against traffic). Usually it takes me 45 minutes to get home but instead it took me an hour and 30 minutes because of an accident. Earlier in the week, I was late 15 minutes because of an accident as well clogging up the highways. This is despite leaving the house with 20 minutes to spare. It’s so unpredictable and it really puts a dent in the day. I realized that if I cannot commute for more than 20 to 30 minutes a day. I just can’t. It drains my energy, makes me irritable, it takes up my time, it wastes my gas, and it makes my car feel even older by racking on the mileage.

I know that in many circumstances, there is no choice but to commute, but I think if I had to commute such a long duration to and from work, I would rather take public transportation because the commute would be a productive commute (reading, writing, thinking about life, instead of driving).

Thankfully, reading these PF blog love blog posts really calmed me down and I hope they can help you destress this weekend too.

Readers, what is the maximum tolerable number of minutes or hours that you can commute for?

PF Blog Love

Prairie Eco-Thrifter’s staff writer talks about how she traded labor for cookies to do her renovations (good ROI if you ask me!)
Retire by 40 analyzes how much he spends in comparison to the average American on coffee, pets, beer, electricity, gas.. etc.
Shawanda shares 10 Things we Love to buy but hate to use (I do love my blender though and I like using it )
My Broken Coin shares 39 things you didn’t know about her
Roshawn Watson talks about why we seek security versus freedom (the great education vs entrepreneurship debate)
Financial Samurai finally gives us a glimpse into his monthly spending
My University Money tells us that grad school isn’t the answer, especially if you’re afraid of life and getting into the real world (He’s not talking about me.. I hope)
Boomer and Echo’s Boomer talk about how much we spend on our pets
Financial Uproar is heading to V-E-G-A-S!
The Passive Income Earner breaks down how to assess if the Smith Manoeuvre is for you

Ladies, Men are Not ALWAYS Trying to Get Into Your Pants

young — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:53:31 +0000

Sam over at Financial Samurai recently shared an experience he had at a club in San Francisco, titled “Beautiful, Rich, and Still Single.. I wonder Why”. He met this seemingly nice and attractive girl named Cynthia. She turned out to be highly educated (a doctor of dental medicine student) and appeared quite wealthy, judging by her Manolo shoes and Chanel purse.

Not only was she confident, Sam felt that she seemed over confident. She told Sam that the reason she was still single was because she was too attractive and too successful.

This made me think about why there are so many people out there who are on the ‘prowl’ for a significant other, but who also have overly inflated self esteem?

Is it because we were all brought up to feel that we have done well (teachers giving us gold stars for simply completing the homework assignment, certificates for participation etc.)? Are we all living in bubbles? What ever happened to modesty?

One of my guy friends was at a club recently. He is a successful, genuinely nice guy. He is very open and friendly and when you meet him, you quickly realize that he doesn’t have any pretenses.

He was recently at a packed club and he accidentally spilled a girl’s drink (it was just so packed in there, everyone walking around with their drinks makes for a recipe for disaster). Now, I don’t mean to be judgmental, but the girl was average looking (certainly did not look like Cynthia at Sam’s club).

The girl was with her female friend and her female friend instantly piped up and said “HEY! You spilled her drink!!” He realized what he had done and felt awful. He immediately offered to buy her another drink.

The three of them went up to the bar and as they were waiting for the bartender to serve them, he decided to strike up some polite conversation with the girl whose drink he spilled. Her friend meanwhile was very nonchalant looking and not engaging with my friend. She was looking at her cellphone the entire time and was texting someone. I think I saw some eye rolls in there as my friend was talking to her friend.

As my friend was talking to the girl, I noticed that she was very abrupt with him. She barely made eye contact with him and was simply rude to him. She was very short with her answers to his polite questions. They were making sure that they got right up to the bar so that they could watch to see if he was putting Roofies or drugs into her drink.

Judging from her ambivalent behaviour, it really seemed like she thought he was hitting on her by “ACCIDENTALLY” spilling her drink and therefore creating an excuse to buy her a drink and talk to her. The friend also was talking about how she needs to see the drink to make sure he wasn’t trying to drug her.

Really?

First of all, girls who are interested in trying to get picked up by guys should try not to be defensive 24/7.

Guys are not ALWAYS trying to get into your pants (lol, right??). Sometimes some guys really are just nice and trying to be good people.

That being said, I’m sure there are a lot of guys who are good for nothing and are douche bags, but I think that if you have your back up 100% time, you close yourself to meeting genuinely nice guys.

I haven’t been inside a club in a long time before this (I think the last time I went was a year ago) and it ALWAYS intrigues me to watch the behaviour of females and males in a club. It’s like watching the Discovery Channel. Fascinating, really!

I recently read a great article in Vancouver Magazine titled “Do Vancouver Men Suck?” about how men are seemingly very casual, very passive in this city. It could be because women here in Vancouver tend to be stuck up and think any guy who is “nice” to them and genuine is trying to get them into bed.

Readers, do you agree with me? Do you think that there are a lot of Cynthia’s out there? Guys, do you find that girls seem to be on the defense when you try to strike up conversation with them?

No related posts.

Germany and Its European Family

guest — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:15:10 +0000

Image credit: mrvpn.com

Hello fellow personal finance readers. I go by the pen name “Teacher Man” due to the fact that I recently graduated from university and am in my second year of teaching high school. About 9 months ago my partner and I started a website called My University Money. It is aimed at helping young people (with a specific focus on post-secondary students) and just talking about financial and student lifestyle issues in general. Young & Thrifty was one of the first bloggers to really reach out to us and give us a little recognition when we were just starting off. When I read that Y & T was hitting a busy patch in life I offered to do a little staff writing for her, and she graciously accepted. Hopefully you readers don’t notice THAT much of a drop-off from the typical high quality posts you’ve come to enjoy here!

So if the Eurozone is all one big happy family, then Germany has got to be either the stern and conservative father, or the overachieving big brother. There is no shortage of screw ups in this family either. At first, it wasn’t too bad when the little guys were having problems. After all, cute little Ireland decided to take most of their medicine on their own, and who doesn’t want to help those feisty little leprechauns (sorry if this is offensive Irish peeps, I just always think of Notre Dame when I think Irish). But now the older brothers and sisters have been spending way beyond their means, and it’s quickly becoming apparent they should have got their hands slapped a little more when they were young, because now they would rather throw temper tantrums (*ahem* Greece rioters *cough cough*) than try to change. If we take this analogy to its logical conclusion, I guess France would be the mother that is trying to help, but has been using her credit card a little bit too much as well. This is basically what the European debt crisis has boiled down to. Despite all the numbers and rhetoric you hear about on TV, it is becoming more and more apparent that the overall health of the Eurozone will ultimately be determined by whether Germany wants to take care of everyone, or burn the place to the ground. That’s because this time around, good ole Uncle America and the rest of the developed world extended family is going through some tough times as well, and needs almost as much help themselves.

Tough Love or Hand Holding?

So what do you do if you’re Germany? What do you do with that bratty little brother Greece who says he desperately wants to remain in the family, but whose citizens riot at the mention of the measures that must be taken in order to make the country solvent again? What sort of help can you give to your other family members such as Italy, Spain, and Portugal? These guys are too big to all hold up at once. Would you as a German tax-payer, who has been relatively conservative with your money, help the rest of the Eurozone out? There are basically two main options from what I can tell.

Do the “Mature” Thing

The first line of thinking says that Germany would be better off in the overall economic picture by helping stem this debt contagion, and helping Greece and Italy balance their books. If these countries take major hits to their bonds, there is no question it will cripple Europe’s ability to raise capital for at least a decade. There is also a good chance that the French banks would fall, and unspeakable direct damage would be done to the German economy, but this wouldn’t even be the worst of it. Germany has built itself an enviable position of being an exporter of high-quality manufactured goods. It has benefitted immensely from the Euro and the open flow of goods within the continent. When an exporter’s consumer base just dries up, it doesn’t bode well for long-term growth, and the death of the Euro as a currency would take years to recover from.

Or Cut Thy Nose To Spite Thy Face (That Nose Had It Coming)

Then there is another, more interesting (in my opinion) stance. Basically there are many Germans out there who want to effectively say, “Screw it, it’ll hurt us, but these little brothers need to wise up, take their licks, learn their lesson and move on. If we keep bailing them out every time they get into trouble, they will never learn!” I can definitely sympathize with this (I’m a big brother… who would’ve guessed?). The phrase that people in the financial world throw around when discussing big bailouts is “moral hazard.” The idea is that if someone knows there will ultimately be no consequences (and this has been proven), then what’s to stop them from repeating the behaviour? You have to think that there are some days when Germany asks itself why it didn’t stay single like cousin England, despite the benefits it enjoyed for a time. I can only imagine the righteous anger that German people feel when they watch TV and see Greek unions protesting despite the fact that the government is beyond bankrupt (probably states like North Dakota, who had small banks, and small government, felt something akin to this when they were asked to bail out the big banks that are headquartered in New York). Relations between the Euro crew can be tension-filled at the best of times (and you think you’ve had fights in your family…), so this has to be a really tough pill to swallow for the Germans.

Debt Is Thicker Than Water

I’m sure that in the end the Germans will do the politically and economically smart thing and bail the other guys out. It doesn’t really matter if they do it through raiding their tax payer coffers to raise money for an “emergency fund” or through the issuing of Euro bonds that the Germans will ultimately be on the hook for (these would allow all of the Euro countries access to more cheap credit based on Germany’s good name… just what they need right?). The opposite path, while morally appealing, is too economically terrifying to truly consider. What kind of voluntary “bond haircuts” would European banks have to take? Would that be the end of any liquidity in Europe for years? All I know is that the USA is lucky they have a cool little brother (that understands bank regulation and has natural resource money) like us Canucks!

Y&T’s input: It’s nice that Canada is regarded as one of the top countries for a safe and effective banking system. We’re so used to being the underdogs!

No related posts.

Weekend Ramblings & PF Blog Love: Y&T Facelift Edition

young — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:09:59 +0000

As you probably noticed, this blog has gotten a huge facelift. It’s brighter, less saggy, and more professional looking. I was getting sick of looking at the old theme, and there were so many issues with it (like not being able to see threaded comments or have threaded comments), the code on the pages became visible after I upgraded the wordpress editions, and the sidebars were too narrow and things often got cut off. It was just frustrating, sometimes I would spend HOURS (and days) trying to fix something and studying the CSS or whatnot to try and adjust things a bit. Now I learned my lesson and I won’t touch anything lol or else it might screw up the theme/ appearance of the blog.

It was about time I invested in this blog, and I’m loving the design and the look of it so far. It was great working with The Dividend Ninja who was basically the mastermind behind this entire design. He even got me to give up the old yellow-green apples on my header and replaced them with juicier, less stale looking apples. It was great to be able to meet up with him and describe what I wanted to see.

So my dear readers, thanks for putting up with the wonkiness of my website the past few weeks (the right sidebar completely disappeared one day- it was good timing because I was already starting to work on the new site with The Dividend Ninja!).

What do you think of the new look?

PF Blog Love

This week’s link love has a lot of girl power! (With the exception of the boys, TDN, PIE, and RB40, of course). Have a great weekend!

Gotta give a shoutout to the designer of this new facelift The Dividend Ninja lists part 2 of the 2012 Canadian Stock Picks
The Passive Income Earner updates us with his first 2012 dividend income update. His goal is to get $7000 income in dividend stocks for 2012.
Also gotta give a shoutout to Give Me Back My Five Bucks who will be leaving for Germany very soon!
Retire By 40 asks if you are falling down the frugality rabbit hole. Is minimalism the new black?
Thirty Six Months shares some great tips on how to use tools to help you pay your bills online and save money
Yes I am Cheap also got a facelift and looks almost as good as me (just kidding Sandy!) She’s also celebrating her 3 year blogiversary!
Aloysa from the Broken Coin gives us a few things you really should be cheap about
Prairie Eco Thrifter shares the Top 20 Foods that increase your brain power. I think I’ll need all 20, please.
Little House explains why she’s not stepping on the gas pedal to buy a home yet
Lindy Mint has a great guest post on how you can work from home.. and make money!

Have a great weekend guys!

Quicken Home and Business 2012 Review

young — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:59:38 +0000

One of the benefits of being a personal finance blogger is having the ability to “test drive” things to write reviews about them. I was given a copy of Quicken Home and Business 2012 to try out and review.

I was very very excited to try Quicken because I have heard so many great things about it and it almost seems that any Personal Finance Blogger isn’t really a personal finance blogger if they don’t use some sort of snazzy personal finance software like Quicken to track their spending, their budgets, and their investments all in one place.

Now, I think my review might be skewed because I have never tried Quicken before, I have used Mint.com before Quicken, and I am an extremely low-tech person (which is absolutely shocking to hear from someone who identifies themselves as Generation Y, I know).

I gave it an honest effort, I spent about 4 hours trying to figure out it, clicking on tabs, clicking on graphs, and trying to input data. Then I became extremely frustrated because I wasn’t doing it correctly and was worried that I would have to be manually inputting data on a regular basis (like correcting my mortgage remaining amount, updating my bank accounts). I manually inputted all my investments because they do not have Questrade in their database (just like Mint.com).

That would just drive me up the wall.

I tried to set up accounts but then was asked to download some sort of spreadsheet from my bank’s website (which I couldn’t find) so that Quicken could update my Quicken account. I then resorted to manually inputting my information. I gave up after four hours and left it again for a week. With fresh eyes, I tried it again and no luck, really.

Here are some of the PROS and CONS of Quicken that I have gathered in my short time trying it out:

PROS:

Really really detail oriented- if you want detail, Quicken is your software!
I really really liked the “reminders” page where they reminded you that you have X number of days left to donate to a charitable organization to receive a tax receipt, or that you have X number of days to sell your shares you want to share for the 2011 tax year.
I liked the business section- you can even create invoices. It is very detailed and “professional”
I liked that there were multiple sections, like budgeting, housing and debt, investments, spending, taxes, and business (and more…). It really felt very much like an “all in one” personal finance software.

CONS:

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I found it very difficult to use. I wish there was some sort of instruction manual for it (though I must admit I doubt I would have the patience to read through an instruction manual- I barely had patience to read through the “getting started” instructions on the Quicken website)
Connecting the information in Quicken to your banking accounts isn’t as easy as Mint.com- It seemed to ask for your last statement date (I am honestly too lazy to scrounge around for my recent banking statements) and asked for you to upload a spreadsheet from your banking website to Quicken. I was unable to find the said spreadsheet or download link on many of my banking webpages.
It also slowed down my laptop (not sure if this is because I had to download a program that would allow Windows to run on my Macbook Pro)
It only works on Windows 7 or Windows XP (so no to Macs!)

Final Verdict:

Because it doens’t run on Apple computers (and doesn’t have that seamless intuitive Apple interface that I’m accustomed to), I found Quicken very non-user friendly. If it was easier to upload account information (like it is on Mint.com) I’m sure my impression of Quicken Home and Business 2012 would be different. I do not think I’ll be using it for ALL of my personal finance information and needs (I still really like Mint.com because its quick, easy, and there’s an “app for that”).

I do think I will try and include my investments in Quicken and my business information in Quicken because what I am currently using is basically archaic (notebook and pen, anyone?). I will need to delve more deeply as to how to use Quicken for these.

Readers, are you big Quicken fans? Have you tried the Home and Business 2012? If so, what do you think of it? Any tips for me as to how I can navigate it better? Do they have “Quicken for Dummies”?

Bloggers for Charity: Trans-Himalayan Aid Society

young — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:14:25 +0000

Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter created an initiative called Bloggers for Charity where people can bid to guest post on some well-known Canadian finance blogs. Some have been very successful (like Preet Banjeree and Canadian Capitalist- they both got $5000 bids!!) and some have not (hahaha like ME! I have not gotten one single bid, but that’s okay because I decided to bid on my own blog).

I have always wanted to write about Tibet ever since I visited it a few years back and I have been meaning to donate to a Tibetan cause since my visit. As I have already donated various amounts of money to other charities this year, my donation probably isn’t as generous as I would ideally like, but every little bit counts. So here is my opportunity and I am very grateful for it. So thank you, for not bidding to write a guest post on my blog lol.

Here is a picture of my donation receipt, notice how I have covered my name and address to avert any potential stalkers or fradulent ID scammers:

The Trans Himalayan Aid Society aims to support the health and education of children and youth in northern India, Nepal, and Tibet. They have been doing this since 1962. There were about 80,000 Tibetan refugees from the 1959 uprising in Lhasa and many became orphaned. Many settled in the old British Hill stations on the border of Tibet and India to escape the persecution in Tibet. Since then, TRAS has been involved with helping and empowering Tibetan refugees to regain settlement in their new home of India and Nepal. They assist in building settlement communities for Tibetan youth and elderly, with a focus on health and education across the Himalayas.

This charity is also based out of Vancouver and has been involved in facilitating the immigration of over 1000 Tibetans to Canada in the next five years.

Culture

Tibet and its people touched my heart. Since Communist rule, things have changed rapidly in terms of cultural genocide. Not only were monasteries and sacred Buddhist relics destroyed in 1959, many changes have slowly happened over the years that indicate the continual destruction of Tibetan culture. Our tourguide in Tibet was a young 24 year old. He did not know how to write the Tibetan language even though he is Tibetan. He was only taught Chinese in school because of China’s decision to slowly eliminate Tibetan culture and assimilating them into Chinese culture. He can speak Chinese fluently. He really wanted to discover his roots and so he took it upon himself to get to know the Tibetan monks in his community. He learned a bit of the Tibetan language from the Buddhist monks because that was the only place he could learn it from.

Religion

Instead of being a tour guide, when he grew up he always wanted to be a monk. In other countries where Buddhism is practiced and appreciated, for example, Bhutan, aspiring to be a monk is considered a good job aspiration and is very well supported. Unfortunately in Tibet, this is encouraged by Tibetans but they all know how bleak the future can be for a young monk in Tibet. It is reported that the Chinese government makes it mandatory for an aspiring young monk to APPLY to the Chinese government to be a monk. Many, many, many of these applications are unanswered or destroyed.

Therefore, there are very very few young monks. With no young monks available to replace the older monks when they pass away, this is how cultural genocide is achieved, unfortunately.

In Bhutan, another devoutly Buddhist country, all I saw were young monks in monasteries, training, studying hard, and meditating. In Tibet, I rarely saw young monks at all in monasteries.

Travel and Transportation

Sure, the Chinese government has provided a lot in terms of paving roads and making the travel between Tibetan cities and towns much easier. Recently, the Chinese government created a high speed rail connecting Chengdu in mainland China to Lhasa, Tibet. This has resulted in a mass influx of mainland Chinese settling in Tibet. Primarily because Tibet is exempt from the one child policy, so many people view this as a “free-er” part of the country where they don’t have restrictions for the number of children they can have. When I was in Lhasa, it was so developed with wide lanes, Chinese shops, and many inhabitants who had recently immigrated to Lhasa from Chengdu because of the booming tourism.

Another aspect that was difficult for me to understand (because I was enraged when I heard this) is travel (and you all know how much I value travel).

Tibetans can only travel within China. In order to travel outside of the country, they have to apply for a passport. For a mainland Chinese to apply for a passport to travel outside of the country, it is around $20 USD. Because our Tibetan tourguide was so amazing and he said all he wanted to do was to go to Nepal to visit his grandfather who he hasn’t met (his grandfather had helped the Dalai Lama escape to Nepal), I thought, hey I can chip in for your passport! However, it was much more than I anticipated….for a Tibetan wanting to travel outside of the country, it is $2000 USD. Even someone who lives in a FIRST WORLD COUNTRY cannot afford that!

Because of these rules and regulations, it is basically impossible to travel outside of the country, therefore making it impossible to escape.

Military

Apparently the highest number of Chinese military is concentrated in Lhasa. Every block I went to there were military personnel marching along the streets alongside cute Tibetan women making their rounds while meditating. It was a surreal site for sure. These military personnel would be carrying huge guns ans stand there while people were buying fruits and vegetables in the local market.

A lot of the military personnel were very young too- some barely looked seventeen. And unfortunately they did not seem to understand what they were doing, and many showed a lot of arrogance (though I suppose any teenager would show some arrogance when given guns and military weaponry).

I leave you with a photo of the Tibetan plains. All the flags you see are Tibetan prayer flags and their purpose is to provide a safe passage for the travelers crossing that plain.

Readers, thanks for reading. I’ve been meaning to get that off my chest for a while. It made me really sad to hear these stories about Tibet, and I hope you also get involved in supporting Tibetans to lead a better life. We are very lucky to live in a free country, and sometimes amidst the hustle and bustle of life, we forget that.

Weekend Ramblings and PF Blove Love: Bloggers for Charity Edition

youngandthrifty Cheap and Good Eats: Samurai Sushi House

young — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:21:07 +0000

photo credit: bc.hihenry.com

As much as I love All you Can Eat Japanese food, sometimes you just want some good ol’ sushi. Some HUGE pieces of good ol’ sushi.

No, Samurai Sushi House wasn’t created by Financial Samurai. Though it would be cool if he did create it

Samurai Sushi house is well known for their ridiculously large rolls (think sushi on STEROIDS). They are honestly about double the size of normal rolls. You definitely get your money’s worth here, and ordering three rolls will make TWO people full (instead of one person which is usually the case).

Samurai Sushi house is a small restaurant run by a Vietnamese family. Their “sister” sushi place is Ban Zai Sushi House in Richmond. I haven’t tried that place yet but will let you know when I do.

Samurai Sushi House is located across from Oakridge Centre (sort of in the heart of Vancouver, between downtown and Richmond). It is located on Cambie Street at the cross section on 41st Avenue. Very easily accessible by the new Canada Line (just hop off on Oakridge station).

Usually there is a line up. It’s a small place and there are only about 4-5 tables (that may be an overestimate). Most people order take out. They are lightning fast with their service. I suppose the only downside to eating at Samurai Sushi house is that some people may not like the lack of authenticity of the rolls. Obviously sushi rolls are not meant to look like they are on steroids. The chopped scallop roll also didn’t look like a “normal” chopped scallop roll you would get at another Japanese restaurant.

The California Rolls (invented in Vancouver #coolfactoid) are also very large and stuffed to the brim with imitation crab meat and very little avocado. I found their yam tempura roll to be very delicious.

So how cheap is cheap?

Very cheap.

The yam tempura roll was $2.75 and the chopped scallop roll was only $3.85. The california roll was $3.25.

See the picture I took below. I know I should have included another item in the picture so you get get its perspective. The plate is about the size of an outstretched hand (well, my outstretched hand anyway). So as you can see, each sushi piece is about half the diametre of a plate. The yam tempura sushi piece was about at least 3″ wide.

So total for (easily) two meals is $11!

Readers, have you tried Samurai Sushi House in Vancouver? Would you prefer quality or quantity when it comes to Sushi? Does size matter? (I personally prefer quality but that’s just me)