How to make and manage money
Well, it’s that time. I am now in debt over $200,000.00 and I am going to go pick up the key. The house is now mine. I will make sure to take lots of pictures, and I should be up and running on saturday night, or possibly sunday. Have a good weekend!
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I knew it was too good to be true. We almost got through the whole thing without any trouble. Then my lawyer called this morning.
You see I was waiting for something bad to happen and it was causing me a ton of stress and anxiety. Once the papers were all signed and money had changed hands I thought we were free and clear.
Well I was wrong. It seems that the previous owners were great at paying bills. So great that they paid too far ahead on the property taxes for the year. So now I owe them that money before I can get the key.
Now while this does not sound all that bad, I had already made arrangements through the bank to pay my taxes for me. So I do not have the extra $600 sitting around. I just gave them more than $18000 two days ago!
Anyway, I do get paid tomorrow so I can cover it. We just might have to buy the first months groceries on credit cards now 
It’s getting really exciting now. I get to pick my key up tomorrow!
I think everything is finally done except for the actual moving part. I made sure to keep really organized throughout this whole process. I can seem very overwhelming at times, but I’m sure anyone can do it as long as you don’t leave everything to the last minute.
Tomorrow I go pick up the key and then we are off to clean the house before we move in on Saturday. The house is in good condition so it should not take long.
There is one small problem though. When we first saw the house, it was in the middle of winter. We got tons of snow this winter so I could not really see the front or backyard all that well. I got the chance to see it last week. The front lawn is fantastic, not even a weed to speak of. The backyard is not as great.
Now when I saw not as great, I mean a total disaster. It is truly horrible and it is actually quite annoying as I was planning on using it this summer but now it needs tons of work before I could let any of the kids play back there. Out of control weeds. Gigantic bushes that have not been trimmed in years. Cinder blocks in random spots sunk right into the ground. Even more weeds. Giant holes and pits where bricks used to be. Old bikes and other metal junk thrown into the bushes.
I will try and remember to take some pictures as words simply don’t do it justice. Not that it’s going to stop me from making it a nice backyard, I just have to speed up and fix it first now.
There is a lot we want to do, but I will take pictures and save that for another post. I will also be posting the the entire process we went through, and all the associated costs so that you can get a good idea of what is involved with getting a mortgage and buying a first house.
One more thing, since it was our first house, we did not have to pay land transfer tax. Technically we did, but since the just rebate it right away back to our lawyer, they paid it for us! That was a nice surprise.
Are you Foxy? Subscribe to our Newsfeed!Hi All,
I know it’s been awhile but I have been busy. Anyway, I just wanted to write about mortgage insurance. When we went to apply for a mortgage, the person at the bank included mortgage insurance with it. I did not think anything of it at the time, other than it was just another added cost which annoyed me as they just keep popping up.
Why can’t people just tell you what it’s going to cost up front? I am very tired with added on ’service fees’ and they like which make your total cost go up %25. Anyway, back on topic.
Instead of just nodding my head and accepting it, I decided to see if there were other options. It’s only $70 a month but that is still money that is leaving my pocket. I called the same people that I have my car (and now house) insurance through.
They explained the options to me and I decided to go with Life insurance instead of mortgage insurance and I will tell you why. With mortgage insurance, if you die it pays off the remainder of the mortgage. Doesn’t matter how much is left on it, even if it’s just a few thousand dollars. With life insurance, if I die my other half gets 400K no matter if it’s tomorrow or 15 years from now when our mortgage is almost gone.
So we will be spending about the same amount of money, but the payout is double with life insurance and it does not go down at all.
Anyway, the insurance agent came over last night and we finalized everything and I am now insured. So is she, just not for as much. Not sure why I am insured for more, but it’s nice to know that money is there should I ever kick the bucket.
Now in the next little while I have to do some research into critical illness insurance as that is what people are recommending. Any thoughts on that one?
Are you Foxy? Subscribe to our Newsfeed!When looking for a financial product like a credit card, insurance or even a savings account, sometimes it’s hard to know where to look. How do you find the best deal?
Do you usually pick up the phone and call 20 different banks to find out who is offering the best credit card rate? Do you do a search on Google and try to sort through all of the sites trying to pick the best deal. How do you know that the product and company that you find will not raise their rates on you at the first chance they get? Sometimes I am so paralyzed by all of the different options that are out there that I am afraid to make a decision for fear of picking the wrong one.
Luckily for some of you, there is a great site for people in the UK that has almost anything they might need to make smart financial decisions. They have finance related articles that will keep you up to date in what’s happening in the financial world. They also have a quote search feature where you can do a quick search for the best deals on Credit cards, loans, Mortgages, Savings, Insurance, Banking, and investing. You can even search for products by certain categories like 0% balance transfers, or Air Miles Credit cards.
Keep in mind that a credit card should only be used when you need it for online purchases and emergencies, but at least with this kind of service you will be able to keep the cost down for those times when you do need it.
They also offer a range of financial tools that you may find useful like their reminder service that will send you a list of the best deals they have available whenever your credit card expires.
There is a money savings tip service that will send you information on personal finance, shopping, traveling, and other services that may be helpful. They also offer various free finance e-books.
As someone who is very interested in keeping up to date on the market, and learning new ways to make and save money, I think this site could be very useful. If anyone knows of any sites similar to this in Canada or the United States then let me know and I’ll post them on the site.
Are you Foxy? Subscribe to our Newsfeed!So I did it. I invested in the stock market for the first time. It was actually really easy once the discount brokerage account was set up. I just picked the stock, typed in the amount of shares I wanted and clicked “buy”. When I submitted the order, the share price was $19.55 but the shares were purchased at $19.60 so it was a tiny bit higher than I expected but still a good price considering the payout.
So far the price is staying around the what that I bought it at. This is not a growth stock and I am not expecting huge gains in the price. My first dividend payout will be sent to me on the 15th. I will receive a whopping $11. As I add to my investments that amount will grow, I hope to eventually be collecting enough dividends to support myself. This will take a while but I am patient.
Wish me luck!
Are you Foxy? Subscribe to our Newsfeed!Sorry, this one was kinda interesting so I thought I would share.
Are you Foxy? Subscribe to our Newsfeed!instruments of trade but a parcel of needles. Those of the master shoemaker anime myspace layouts professional to furnish him, for a certain number of years, with a certain pet food
As mentioned in a previous post, I recently read a book called “Stop Working, Here’s How You Can“. This book inspired me to start investing in the stock market for the first time. The problem was that I had no idea how to do it. Where do I go to buy stocks? How do I choose a good company? How does it all work?
I solved that problem by reading a couple of books on the stock market, these books talked about how to get started, how to evaluate the companies that you are investing in and what kinds of things to avoid.
The first thing I found out is that I needed a brokerage account. I also found out that there were different types of brokerage accounts. The more traditional option is the full service brokerage account where you get one-on-one guidance and advice from a qualified broker. These brokers will give you stock tips and even make purchases on your behalf. The downside is that you will pay hundrends of dollars in comissions for each trade that you make and there is always the risk that you are getting biased advice from someone who will benefit from your decisions.
Another option is to get a discount brokerage account which is more of a self serve type of service where you can buy your shares online. This only costs $29/transaction (sometimes less) but you have to do all of the research yourself. There will usually still be a lot of company financial infomation available to you with these types of services.
Since I am starting with a small amount of money, I decided that it would be best for me to set up a discount brokerage account. I did that through my bank and then found a stock that is currently paying an annual dividend of almost 14%, has a high growth rate, and has a long history of high dividend payouts. I am going to start with that one.
So now I am all set up. I have my discount brokerage account, I have $1000 ready to go and I have my company all picked out. Tomorrow I am going to invest in the stock market for the first time. I am so excited! I will let you know how it goes.
Are you Foxy? Subscribe to our Newsfeed!I’ve noticed some people coming to our site wanting advice on how to get other people to pay off their loans for them. I thought this would be a helpful topic for most people so I’ve put together a list of possible ways that you may be able to achieve this.
I found an article about a guy who is selling ad space to pay off his student loans. If someone pays him $200 (the amount of his montly student loan payment) they will get exclusive advertisement on his website for a month. This is enough to make his loan payment every month with other peoples money. The funny thing is that it’s actually working for him. Check his site out at sponsormyloans.com
Consolidating your debt is not actually getting someone else to pay off your loans but it can be almost as good. If you use a free credit repair service and consolidate your loans you might be amazed at how much lower your payments are. Sometimes if your loan has gone into collections, either you or your credit counselor can actually talk your lender into lowering the amount that you owe them to something that is more manageable for you.
Find yourself a man or woman who has a lot of money and wants to give it to you in return for your love and affection. You may have to lower your standards a little and date someone who is twice your age but at least your loans will be paid off.
This one is very similar to number 3. If you find that sugar daddy/momma and they want to marry you…congratulations! You have hit the jackpot; you will never have to worry about paying off loans again! Just make sure you know how to change a diaper.
This obviously should be your very last resort. I had a boyfriend once who had claimed bankruptcy simply because he didn’t feel like paying his loans back. This is not only wrong; it’s a very bad idea. It will be on your record for the rest of your life, and because of his filing for bankruptcy, my ex couldn’t even think of buying a house or getting a loan for a car because the bank could not trust him to pay it back. The funny thing is that he ended up taking off with a lot of my money when we broke up….I should have seen it coming.
Some people have no other choice but to file for bankruptcy and it is a quick way to get rid of your loans although you will likely loose everything you have that’s of any value.
If you have any other creative ideas on how to get someone else to pay off your loan, send me an email and I’ll post it on the site along with a link back to your site.
Are you Foxy? Subscribe to our Newsfeed!I’ve been hearing all of these doom and gloom stories about how the world is ending, the stock market is falling and people are loosing their jobs in the United States. I do agree that a lot of people are having a really tough time right now to say the least; some have been loosing everything they have.
This is very sad; it should be a lesson, and an early warning sign for us Canadians who are knee deep in debt, and maxed out on our mortgages. For those of us who aren’t, the recent economic troubles could mean a huge opportunity for investing in the United States and around the world. Our dollar is up, our real estate market is healthy, and our unemployment rate is low.
In contrast, in the United States foreclosures were up 75% in 2007, there were more than 2.2 million filings for foreclosures! That’s 2.2 million homes being sold at bargain basement prices. (Check out foreclosure.com to see all of the homes that are “on sale”) Also the US unemployment rate is on the rise, and their dollar is has been falling steadily for quite a while.
In spite of all of that, we Canadians are still going strong. This presents a rare opportunity for us. Many of us can now afford to buy beautiful homes in the US that we never would have dreamed of buying even a year ago. This weekend my boyfriend and I went for a drive south of the border. It is unbelievable how much cheaper the houses are there compared to here. A house that you would normally pay $300,000 for here in the Toronto area you can get there for under $80,000 in many towns and cities in Western New York. Some that are even right on a lake!
Other exciting oppotunities can be seen in the US stock market. I’m sure you’ve heard the term buy low, sell high. Buying now may be a good example of buying low, although there’s no way to pinpoint exactly when the market will turn around.
Investing south of the border may also help to provide income for you in the event that the Canadian economy suffers a blow. Just make sure that you do your research before you invest in any company, or property in Canada, the US or anywhere else.
As bad as things seem now in the United States economy, why look at the glass as being half empty when there are so many opportunities out there?
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