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:

The Best Way to Build Wealth

Here's another great read from "The Little Book..." series. The Little Book that Builds Wealth by Pat Dorsey is a book about finding great companies to invest in. He takes an important lesson taught by Warren Buffett which is to look for companies with economic moats. Moats used to be water ways built around castles to protect it from incoming invaders, an economic moat is similar only that it guards a company's earning from competing companies.

What does a company with a wide economic moat look like? Pat Dorsey explains the four common traits of a great economic moat:

1) Intangible assets - these are strong brands that entice customers to pay more. This also includes patents that a company may own. 

2) Cost advantages - some companies have important cost advantages based on scales of operations, proximity to resources or well-engineered processes.

3) Customer switching costs - some companies make it difficult for customers to switch to a competing company's product because switching is expensive and/or time consuming

4) Network economics - the more people who use this product the more valuable it becomes. For example Microsoft Office becomes more valuable as more people use it and share files even if there are free word processing and spreadsheet software available.

One of the easiest ways to tell if a company has a strong economic is by looking at it's long-term (10 year) average return on equity. This value tells an investor how efficiently a company utilizes invested capital to generate more earnings. If the return on equity is in the double digits year after year, it's a good sign that it has a strong economic moat and probably has one or more of the traits listed above.

Happy hunting!

What's your opinion worth?

 
http://www.i-say.com/

Here's a great way to make a few extra bucks online. i-Say by Ipsos is a marketing company that tries to understand consumer spending habits by surveying consumers online. Join i-Say and get periodic invites to do online surveys. Each survey you complete is worth a different amount of points, usually the more time it takes the more points it's worth. Once you've accumulated enough points you can exchange them for gift cards and prepaid credit cards (works like cash).

I've tried a few of these sites and i-Say is one of the most legitimate. There are frequent surveys and there are a lot of great prizes to spend your points on. One big bonus is that usually before you qualify to do a survey, there is a pre-survey to get an idea of what demographic you're in. If you qualify you go on to do the rest of the survey to receive your points. If you don't qualify most online survey sites won't reward you with anything, wasting a minute or two of your time. At i-Say you usually still get a few points for doing the pre-survey.

Give it a shot. Finally somebody who's listening to what you have to say and they're willing to pay you for it!

Here is a video about how to avoid scams and make money with online surveys:

Top 3 Personal Finance Books - Setting the Foundation

Happy New Year!

So I bet you've made a bunch of New Year's resolutions and this year you're going to get all your financial ducks in a row, right? There's a myriad of personal finance advice out there, so it can be difficult to sift through he garbage. Fortunately by reading just a few personal finance books you can be way ahead of the pack.

You might be asking yourself, what is personal finance anyways? Personal finance is the very practical subject about how to handle money in your life. There's no escaping it, we all deal with money everyday. We work hard for our money, so wouldn't it be nice to learn how to get your money working harder for you. Personal finance is about enriching your life by doing such that, it's about learning how to handle your money in such a way to become financially free.

 Financial freedom can mean many different things to many different people. There's no one size fits all plan, which is why it's important to tailor your finances to reach your own personal goals. Money should never be an end in itself, but a means to an end, which is why it's so important to set financial goals in the first place.

By understanding the purpose of money in our life we can live a much more meaningful one and truly build wealth. Personal finance isn't about amassing a fortune only to be a miser. It's about having security in knowing that you have enough to weather life's inevitable ups and downs, providing for loved ones, and the freedom of enjoying what life has offer.

The topics covered in these books include:
     - The role of debt (particularly how bad credit card debt is)
     - Setting financial goals
     - Paying yourself first
     - Mortgages
     - Insurance
     - Saving for retirement (RRSP for Canadians, 401K for Americans)
     - Investing

By reading these three books you'll be setting a strong personal financial knowledge base. There will be some repeating themes in these books, but they're each taught in a slightly different way. One author may explain a certain theme that will really get through to you, while another may bore you. So my recommendation is to read them all, eventually something is going to sink in. By doing so you'll gain a clearer picture of what to do with your money so that you can eventually become financially free:

1) The Wealth Barber by David Chilton

 For more information visit:
http://reynold-savemoney.blogspot.ca/2010/06/one-of-best-personal-finance-reads.html


2) The Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam

3) The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

For more information visit:
http://reynold-savemoney.blogspot.ca/2010/09/whats-your-latte-factor-automatic.html

Here's a short video clip about Andrew Hallam's story and some of his solid financial advice:

Birthday Swag!

Birthdays can be a harsh reminder of our inevitable mortality, but there is a lot to be grateful for. For instance you can take advantage of birthday freebies. Here are two that I learned about the other day.

1) Booster Juice - just mention it's your birthday and you can get a free smoothie (you may have to print out a coupon online, but I was able to just show some ID).

2) Denny's - Ok the food isn't great at Denny's, but in this economy who can turn down a free meal. You can get a free grand slam breakfast there on your birthday, just make sure you bring some valid ID.

I heard also that you can get a free coffee at Starbucks, but I haven't tried that. Apparently you need a Starbucks card of some sort.

If you know of anymore birthday freebies, add it to the comments!

Check this out: