Index Fund Investing

There are a lot of options out there when it comes to investing your money. The RRSP deadline has recently passed and those of us who have contributed to our RRSP's were probably bombarded by a ton of choices. Index funds are your best choice when it comes to keeping investment costs and portfolio turnover low, which is the key to investment success.

 A good example of an index fund portfolio is to own three indices:

1. Candian Bond Index
2. TSX Composite Index
3. Dow Jones Industrial Index

The amount you allocate to each will depend on a few factors such as your risk tolerance and your time horizon for your investment. More weight should be towards bonds and less to equities (stocks) if you are risk adverse or if the money is needed relatively soon. A rule of thumb is to use your age as the percent allocated to bonds, i.e. the younger you are the more you should have invested in riskier (potentially more rewarding) equities.

The key is once you've chosen your allocation, you rebalance your portfolio no more than once a year to maintain the same allocation (thus forcing you to buy low and sell high). As your portfolio grows in size it may be advisable to add a few more indices such as a European Index or Japanese Index, this will add another level of diversification to your portfolio and a few more asset classes to rebalance.

Just watch this short video and hopefully you'll agree that index funds are the way to go:

Brown Bag Savings

Hi frugal friends,

sorry I haven't been posting cash saving tips lately. Since finishing school and entering the "real world", I've been trying to climb the corporate ladder.

One bad habit that I've been getting into is eating out. I find that after working a full day it can be difficult to make dinner, let alone prepare something for lunch the next day. However, eating out is one of the biggest expenses and getting into the habit of eating out less can save you tons over your career. I remember living on $30/week of groceries when studying, that's a lot of Kraft Dinner and eating beans out of the can.

I found this great little video on how to save more on brown bag lunches. The girl in this video is easy on the eyes too!

Moving? Get Free Moving Boxes!

My friend was moving apartments the other day and he was telling me how his roommate had taken some of his moving boxes without his permission. When he told me he had paid good money for his moving boxes, I told him that when I moved I just went to the grocery store to get some cardboard boxes they were going to throw out.

An advantage besides getting free boxes is that you can dispose of them after the move, thus freeing up space. Ask for "banana boxes", which are pretty big and can carry quite a bit of weight. They need to have a liner in the middle of the bottom of the box which is usually a strong construction paper material.

Good luck and remember to lift with your legs!

Here's a video with some extra cash saving moving tips:

Another Book from the Shark Tank

Robert Herjavec is best known for his roles on the reality television shows Dragon's Den and Shark Tank. In these shows budding entrepreneur's approach self-made millionaires for capital to help seed the growth of their business.

Robert Herjavec's "The Will to Win" is less of an autobiography (although he does talk about his upbringing and background) and more of a book packed with business advice and career tips. Robert is the son of a Croatian migrant who immigrated to Canada as a young boy. His father was stuck at a dead end job for his entire life sweeping factory floors because it was difficult for a non-english speaking immigrant to get decent work. Despite his father's bleak job opportunities, he was happy to move to a country where people were free to express their political opinions.

Robert started from humble beginnings and from that developed a strong work ethic and drive to succeed. Robert's initial source of wealth was a security software company he started. Later as his wealth grew he invested in various other things.

This book contains a lot of tip lists such as:
- Ten ways to measure productive fun
-  How salespeople can handle rejection
-  Three ways good leaders handle communication

I found that the tone of this book was sometimes that of a lecturing parent and sometimes the advice was a bit lofty and abstract. Something that any football coach would yell, like "work hard", "don't cheat", etc... . I found that the most interesting bits were the actual stories he told about his work experiences and the deals he's made. If you like the show Dragon's Den and/or Shark Tank than you'd probably like this book. Also, there is a book available by Kevin O'Leary another Dragon/Shark that you'd probably like (Kevin O'Leary).

Here's a short clip about the book:

RetailMeNot has come to Canada!

Do you ever shop online? Have you ever been a click away from check-out and asked if you have a coupon promo code?

Well here's a website that does a great job of compiling online coupons in one convenient location.  RetailMeNot was only available for US sites but has just recently launched a Canadian version. This is definitely a site to check out if you online shop.

Here's a how to video: