Acing the Debt Obstacle Course

April 5th, 2012

One of my most liberating moments ever was making that final payment that made me debt-free. At its worst, my credit card debt was around $15k and it was a terrible feeling. There were some setbacks and some habits that kept me from getting there for a while. Here are a few of the obstacles that tripped me up along the way.

Obstacle 1: Account overload. I had about three credit cards and a few different kinds of student loans. That meant it was pretty hard keeping track of where my payments were supposed to go and when. It also made it tough to get a grip on my balances and interest rates.
The fix: Keeping all of my debt paperwork in one place and making a sheet with the contact info., due dates, balances and interest rates for each account.
Obstacle 2: Interest oblivion. I had some of my biggest balances on my highest interest cards, which meant I was making payments and still getting nowhere.

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Tags: Debt, Debt Obstacle

A Proper Perspective of Industry Bailout

March 28th, 2012

Im rereading Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt - an absolute must read.

I was compelled to share his explanation of industry bailouts to shed light on a topic that has stolen the wealth of the American people.

This is an excerpt from the book concerning the bailout of The X industry .

After showing how a bailout of The X industry can only be done at the expense of all other industries, Hazlitt goes on to say

Similar results would follow any attempt to save the X industry by a direct subsidy out of the public till. This would be nothing more than a transfer of wealth or income to the X industry. The taxpayers would lose precisely as much as the people in the X industry gained. The g

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Tags: Bailout, Industry Bailout

TD Waterhouse Launches Mobile Trading

March 16th, 2012

TD Canada Trust has recently released an update to its mobile app that now allows clients to place trade orders from their smartphone. The TD Canada Mobile App previously provided features such as viewing bank and brokerage account balances, bill payment, Interac e-Transfer, fund transfer between TD accounts, stock quotes etc. TD Waterhouse has now added mobile trading to the feature list. The trading feature allows clients to place orders to buy or sell Canadian and US stocks and change or cancel orders. However, the TD Mobile app, which is available on the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices does not allow trading in mutual funds.

It appears that adequate security measures are in place to prevent unauthorized access if the mobile phone gets stolen or is lost.

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Tags: Launches Mobile, Mobile

Under Construction vs Ready to Move Property – Which one ?

March 12th, 2012

There is absolutely no confusion in saying that everyone wants to buy a house, a dream home which they can call their own. However, one big confusion among buyers is whether to buy an Under-Construction Property or a Ready to move in Property. Each of these options has its own pros and cons and it is extremely important to be aware about the advantages and disadvantages of Under construction and Ready to move properties. Lets look at them:

1. Delay in project & Dispute of the Land & Permissions

If you know of any project which was delivered on the exact day that it was promised, its rare! Delay in the project for various reasons is one of the top most issue with under construction properties.

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