Canadian Capitalist

I thought I would avoid the bug that is going around the Blogosphere, but Nick of Bring the Cash Flow has tagged me into revealing five things you may not know about me. So, here we go:

I am one of those prototypical immigrants who arrive in Canada with $50 in their pocket. I came to [...]

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As we bid adieu to 2006, it is time to take a look at how we performed against the goals we set for ourselves. I strongly encourage you to write down your financial goals; it is a great motivator to help you succeed.

Fully Funded our Retirement Plans: I have to admit that it was a [...]

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I have railed against mutual funds so many times that you would find it surprising (perhaps hypocritical) to find that a mutual fund is one of the top ten holdings in our combined portfolios. The mutual fund I hold is Leith Wheeler Canadian Equity Fund and I have some very good reasons for breaking the [...]

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Many personal finance experts urge us to cut out our daily lattes or muffins or lunching out and save the difference. The $25 or $50 saved every week seems such a small, piddling amount, that it can’t possibly make a difference, right? It actually does and I have a personal story to illustrate the power [...]

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There is a meme going around where bloggers reveal the contents of their wallets and I thought I’d join the fun. Here are my very old black leather wallet’s contents:

Driver’s License.
CAA Membership card.
Prescription Drug Benefit card.
Air Miles Collector’s card.
Aeroplan Collector’s card.
Ontario Health card.
President’s Choice Financial Debit card.
President’s Choice Financial MasterCard.
American Express Platinum Cash Rebate card.
Ottawa [...]

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MyMoneyBlog is hosting a reverse carnival in which personal finance bloggers confess their dirty little money secrets. Here are the skeletons in my cupboard:

I once had tons of in-the-money options in a technology company, which at one point was 70% of my net worth. Let’s just say it ended very badly.
My very first investment was [...]

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As 2005 draws to a close, it is that time of the year to make resolutions (and hopefully keep them). Here are my financial resolutions for the New Year:

Fully fund our RRSP accounts. I have to admit that money has been a bit tight this year (spouse on maternity leave) and we have only contributed [...]

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My laptop first got infected with the SpyAxe virus and then with something called the Smitfraud-C trojan. I spent hours and hours trying to clean my computer and finally decided to just reinstall Windows. If it weren’t for Microsoft Money, I would just install Linux and spend my time more productively!

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It is already December and time to start setting financial goals for 2006. I believe that our net worth should grow every year and double every five years and taking into account our personal situation, my net worth goal for 2006 is:
Increase our household net worth by 15%
Historically, our net worth growth has been a [...]

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With recent additions to our family, our 92 Honda Accord is starting to feel very cramped even during short family outings. So, I have started shopping for a van that fits the following criteria:

Clean, well-maintained Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna
Recent model with 50k - 100k clicks
Private sale, so that I pay only [...]

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