Three Years and Counting…

225 responses so far ↓

• 1 Chris // Nov 22, 2007 at 10:04 pm

  Those are very nice gifts you are giving away! Let me be the first to enter my name in the draw I really like your blog and it’s one of the few blogs I follow daily and makes me want to start my own blog! Maybe one day…

• 2 Craig // Nov 22, 2007 at 10:15 pm

  Please enter me. I love

• 3 centsprout // Nov 22, 2007 at 10:34 pm

  happy 3rd birthday (anniversary?)! i enjoy your blog and look forward to more of your interesting and useful posts

• 4 FourPillars // Nov 22, 2007 at 10:52 pm

  Congrats on the three years! Amazing.

  For the record - I did read that first post because I went through all your old posts when I found your blog.

  Money mistake - see my comment on LSIFs.

  Mike

• 5 Francois // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:03 pm

  This is the only finance I’m still following. Congratulations on your achievements!

• 6 Chris // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:05 pm

  I’ve been reading your blog for a while. It’s probably one of the main reasons why I’ve started investing. Thanks!

• 7 Mark // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:13 pm

  You’re bookmarked for a reason.

• 8 Steve Heath // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:13 pm

  Hey CC… congrats! And like FourPillars, after getting hooked on your site I went back and read every post from the beginning, including the Aeroplan post.

  But hey man, if it’s your blog’s birthday you should be GETTING presents, not giving them. Mine is a hot stock tip…

  Buy Berkshire Hathaway

  As for what you should write about next… personally I’d love some concrete advice on how to know when the market has finally hit bottom… now that I have a Qtrade account I need to know when to actually use it

• 9 Average Joe // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:13 pm

  How time flies! Seems like just yesterday.

  Congratulations on your milestone.

• 10 newinvestor // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:34 pm

  Keep up the great posts. Love the site and the giveaway!

• 11 T // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:34 pm

  Thanks for all the great advice!

• 12 Dan // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:34 pm

  Wow, 3 years and counting. Congratulations for doing a great job CC.

• 13 Adeem Zafar // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:48 pm

  I would like to congratulate you on this fine blog existing for the past three years spewing very perceptive and enlightening posts. Keep it up!

• 14 Sue // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:50 pm

  Great blog! Now that I’m pregnant finances are a greater concern to me and my husband… so reading your posts and your fellow blogger Four Pillars has been very inspiring.

• 15 Rob // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:54 pm

  3 years, wow. I’ve been following your blog for just over a year and a half now. Keep up the good work!

• 16 Jo // Nov 22, 2007 at 11:59 pm

  Congrats on the useful blog

• 17 The Dividend Guy // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:03 am

  Hey CC - enter me in please!! Congrats on 3 years of blogging.

• 18 Leon // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:06 am

  Congrats. I love reading your blog.

• 19 Ryan // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:10 am

  Great Blog CC

  I’m 19 and just learning about the value of money. I went through most of my teenage life not having a clue about how much i took my parent’s allowance for granted.

  Now I have an ETrade account and am a real investor! Your blog definitely helped me learn some things, and will still help me learn for (hopefully!) years to come.

• 20 Max // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:15 am

  Please enter me! I just came here from GetRichSlowly yesterday, and am looking forward to your posts.

  My big money mistake was spending too much in university and relying on credit cards, “knowing” that I would be able to repay them upon graduation. After graduation, I took a rather poor paying job, and due to my tendency to spend as much as I earned, made very little progress in my first two years after graduation, especially as about one third of my income was being used to pay down my credit cards and repay my OSAP. Since then, I’ve moved to a better paying job, and have less than $1k less to repay on my credit cards. Next up: OSAP!

• 21 Matthew // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:26 am

  I was referred here from Get Rich Slowly, and it seems like I’m right on time for a contest. Great!

  Despite having been incessantly told by my parents to save my money, it never really clicked until last year. With $20,000+ dollars in student loan debt and a couple thousand of consumer debt, I finally decided that I need to climb my way out and get myself moving forward on investments.

  I’m looking forward to reading what I, as a Canadian (as opposed to the great advice for Americans that GRS has), can do to help myself financially.

• 22 Brian // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:45 am

  Well congratulations on surviving 3 years as a blogger! I hope that it has been a fun and exciting learning experience.

  My Big Money mistake has been not paying attention to my money for over 25 years. Oh sure, I always spent it, and I was always wondering why I didn’t seem to have it. I even wondered how my friends seemed to be able to get that down payment together and pay off that unexpected car repair bill. But then, they did have better jobs than I did.

  Yeah, right….

  Looking back, I never took responsibility for my money. I sweated to earn the money, dreamed how to spend it and watched it dribble through my fingers.

  About a month ago I started to read personal finance blogs and finally combined the realization that I could control how I spent my money with the decision that I would control my money. After years of “I should budget”, I have a budget. It’s not perfect yet. I’m still making mistakes, but I know that mistakes are an opportunity to learn to handle my money better. I’ve set goals and made plans. The second quarter of 2010 should see me out of debt for the first time in over two decades!

  I’d like to thank all the financial bloggers who have inspired me!

• 23 Rick // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:50 am

  Awesome blog! Congrats.

• 24 James // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:57 am

  Big fan of the site, been reading for about 18 months now.

  My current financial success comes from having goals and sticking to them. After finishing school and starting work, I made it my goal to own a house as quickly as possible. Every two weeks I would pay myself first and invest in ETFs. Despite the pain in the ass it was to not own a car, I knew that I could get by with a metropass (Toronto) and save what I would have spent on the wheels (at least $500/month). After only two years I was able to buy a house. My next goal, tackle the student loans.

• 25 RichardM // Nov 23, 2007 at 1:15 am

  Awesome blog. I really enjoy reading it. Keep up the great work.

• 26 Richard // Nov 23, 2007 at 1:18 am

  Congrats on 3 years of hard work. My biggest mistake with money has been not letting myself be ok with making mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, it is a part of life. Yes, if I followed everything perfectly and did what all the experts told me to do, I imagine I would be in a different financial situation. I think the key is in knowing that a person can still have financial success and security even after having made mistakes. I think that a lot of blogs focus on saving more of what you have and not focusing on making more money. Making more money would take work but that might be less work than trying to make a smaller amount of money last.

• 27 WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com // Nov 23, 2007 at 1:47 am

  Hi CC - congratulations on 3 years! That is phenomenal. As a new blogger - I’ve only been at it for just over 3 months and making it to 3 years seems like a daunting task.

  I want to thank you for the contribution you’ve made to our community. Your blog is an inspiration for me, and is position one in my feed aggregator.

  As for my biggest investing mistake, I have two. I stopped saving to my investment account when I was about 18 - had I not, I would be about $50,000 wealthier. My father made me start investing once I got my first paycheck from McDonald’s, but once I moved out, I lacked the discipline and knowledge to keep it up - I even redeemed everything so I could buy a stereo.

  My second mistake was investing in a stock I knew nothing about. A friend of mine was a tech stock analyst who had become CEO of a new online company. Everything this guy touches turned to gold, so I decided that I would just get a line of credit and max it out to buy his company’s stock. Worked great for about 3 weeks - stock went to practically zero and I was out 95% - with nothing but a big honking debt to show for it.

  After that, I decided I would learn about investing properly - I studied many books and found myself deeply enthralled with investing and personal finance - so much so it has become a successful career for me. Now I even teach a series of workshops at U of T to help teach others how to avoid my mistakes and to do the right things and I am lobbying for personal finance education at all levels of schooling - elementary, secondary and post-secondary.

  If it wasn’t for those mistakes, I wouldn’t have the passion that I have for this field.

• 28 Mihai // Nov 23, 2007 at 1:55 am

  Great blog !

• 29 Mike // Nov 23, 2007 at 2:06 am

  Love the site, one of the best Canadian PF blogs out there.

  I suppose my biggest investing mistake is not imediately investing the extra money I’ve saved. Sometimes letting it sit in paypal or B&M ’savings’ accounts for years.

  I’ve finally gotten an esavings account at royal bank, and am going to open an ING account to get that referral bonus.

  At least it’ll earn some interest while I decide where to put it next.

• 30 Philip S // Nov 23, 2007 at 5:23 am

  An iPod or Future Shop gift card is always welcome….enter me please.
  Congrats on the milestone. Keep up the good work.
  Philip S

• 31 Adil // Nov 23, 2007 at 7:08 am

  Congrats on the milestone, CC! Your blog’s been bookmarked for a while now and I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts, which go beyond the standard tips that most other blogs can’t seem to get past.

  My ’success story’ (knock on wood) is still ongoing, but I think I’ve gotten a pretty handle after a rocky start. My very first investment was during the peak of the dot-bomb.. I bought and shorted Yahoo at exactly the wrong times.. That combined with the fact that I used my margin account to the max, I ended up losing close to 100% of my original investment.. Obviously, that had a traumatic effect on me and I swore off the stock market for good.. I looked at it as a cheap lesson learned as I only invested my internship savings.. So, when I graduated university, I tried to look for new investment opportunities.. It wasn’t until two years ago that I had amassed sufficient capital to make a decent-sized investment.. I found a company called EquityBuilders (www.equitybuilders.ca) in Toronto, which provided an end-to-end solution for real estate investors.. The company had it all.. It provided a hands-off approach to real estate investing, which was a necessity for someone like me who doesn’t live in one place for more than a year at a time.. It invested in the project alongside the investors, which proved that it in it for the long term.. Its management was composed of top-notch industry experts, which is always a good sign.. It provided projects outside of Toronto, which in my opinion had appreciated substantially and therefore unattractive.. The only thing it didn’t have was a history.. Given all the positives, I decided to purchase my first residential rental property with them and I’ve had very few complaints.. I have subsequently purchased more property through them and feel that this is a very important part of my long-term financial goals and portfolio.. I have since also gotten back into the stock market, but I now only invest in companies that are fairly valued.. I haven’t invested in any income trusts, though maybe I should.. One bump on the road has been my recent investment with EPSI aka ePayment Solutions aka ERSA Payment Solutions (epsicanada.com). This company provides an end-to-end solution for Interac terminals.. At the moment, it seems like it is a scam, but I’m hoping for the best.. In the near future, I’m also looking to get into an oil venture..

  Anyways, keep up the good work!

  Adil

• 32 0xCC // Nov 23, 2007 at 8:33 am

  Congratulations on three years of great posts. I just past three years as well but I don’t post anywhere close to as regularly as you.

  My biggest money mistake is probably borrowing to invest without really understanding what it meant and that it amplifies returns in both directions so any losses you have are also bigger than they would have been without borrowing, not just the gains are bigger. Anyone that is trying to sell you on borrowing to invest is probably doing so from a very biased position, the more of your money (borrowed or not) you have in your account, the more they get to collect in fees.

  I started borrowing to invest around 1998 when I was fresh out of school. I took the little bit of savings that I had left over after going to school and borrowed twice that amount so the bank owned 2/3rds of my investments and I only owned 1/3rd. That worked great until 2000 and the irrational exuberance ended. Then I went through 2-3 years of margin calls and interest payments on a portfolio that was shrinking in value. Not very fun to watch but probably a fairly valuable lesson to learn fairly early in my investing career.

• 33 MillionDollarJourney // Nov 23, 2007 at 8:46 am

  CC, congrats on the 3 year anniversary. It’s funny how a lot of the Canadian bloggers out there started around this time of year. It must have been the cold weather setting in, thus more time in front of a computer.

  Great prizes too BTW!

• 34 Novice // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:07 am

  Hi CC, congratulations on your blog, I think it’s really picking up steam and the contest is great!

  My biggest money mistake? Buying a new car right out of university as soon as I got my first ‘real’ job. I think if I look back I was paying around 40% of my gross income paying off this car loan (I try not to look back). Fortunately as the years went by my income went up but it was quite an albatross around my neck coming up with that $500 (at 8%! what was I thinking!) each month. Luckily, the car itself has been great and since it’s now paid for I intend to keep it until I run it into the ground. My best money move was buying a loft in early 2002 which I just sold this year for a lot more than I paid for or put into it, the profit from that alone basically meant I lived rent-free in retrospect. And in that time (my 20s) I also paid off my student loans so I wasn’t a total money goofball back then. I am going to teach my son (he’s 4 months old) about money in a way I wasn’t by my parents so he won’t make the same mistakes I did - or at least will make them knowingly. Incidentally - not blaming the parents, they did a great job raising me and my siblings, just want to share the money lessons I’ve learned in a way they didn’t.

• 35 John // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:10 am

  Great website!

• 36 John // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:12 am

  My worst mistake in investing is in the past getting too emotionally attached to my stocks and selling when there is a dip. I used to never have the patience to ride a stock out and became so consumed with the book value. Now, I try not to look at my balances very often and just enjoy reading blogs like this about other investment/stock ideas!

• 37 Kevin Sookocheff // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:20 am

  I’m just getting into investing and find your site a helpful resource for sorting through all the hype.

• 38 Mike // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:28 am

  Congratulations on 3 years. This is the only blog that I follow on a daily basis. A big part of that is the Canadian content. Well done!

• 39 Liisa // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:34 am

  I love give aways!! Please enter me! Congrats on your success.

• 40 George // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:47 am

  Well, here’s my entry, along with a bit of a success story.

  I’ve just turned 30. When I was 25, my wife and I bought a house. Since then we’ve been blessed with a cute little dog and two wonderful children. We’ve renovated our house a bit, bought a larger vehicle, and been able to partake in some of life’s luxuries (dining out, going to movies etc). We both went to university, and both graduated with some student loan debt.

  You might read the above paragraph and think that we’re up to my eyeballs in debt. Thing is, we’re not. My income isn’t anything spectacular, and neither is my wife’s, but we’ve been very diligent savers from day one. We’ve been able to delay purchases until we can pay for them in cash. Our student loans have long since been paid off in full. As a result, our only debt is our mortgage, and we’re putting aside a bit of extra money toward it with every payment (the goal is to have it gone completely by the time I turn 40). Our RRSP accounts are maxed out, and we’ve built up a healthy emergency fund. Furthermore, college funds (RESPs) have been started for both children.

  How did we get to such a successful point in life while we’re still very young? By making the following two principles part of our core financial plan:

  1) Make saving for long-term goals the highest priority.
  2) Put aside all moneys for savings as soon as the income arrives, and then pay for everything else (this principle has often been expressed as “pay yourself first”).

  Simple, but extremely effective.

• 41 Carlos Betancourt // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:50 am

  Congratulations, I’ve been reading your blog for the last two years and I can say that your postings have been very useful for me.

• 42 growthinvalue // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:01 am

  Congrats, CC. You’re the godfather of Canadian pfblogs in my books. Here’s to at least three more years.

  As for a money mistake, there are so many to choose from. For now, let’s go with blindly pouring money into my then-employer’s stock despite all evidence it was a stinker. Sound familiar?

• 43 Todd // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:13 am

  Great blog, I check it everyday!

• 44 Jamie // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:15 am

  I love your blog! There aren’t a lot of canadian blogs on personal finance. Thanks for posting all the great content. Please enter me in the contest.

  My Money Mistake:
  I have great parents who taught me to save, invest & manage my money. Because of this, I was off to a very good start. I took a 5 year program in university and was able to pay for the whole thing through scholarships, savings & part-time jobs… until my final year. During my final year of university I decided that it was time to have a little fun. I got a student loan, didn’t work part-time and had fun all year. I certainly enjoyed it, but I ended up paying for it when I graduated. Looking back all I can say is “stupid, stupid, STUPID!” The whole idea of spending less than you earn really sunk in as I paid off that debt for the next few years.

• 45 James // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:16 am

  Happy Third. Has it been that long? Prizes are always welcome.

  My money mistakes? I’ve had a few. My first was to not take responsibility for my investments. I basically handed it over to Midlyn Walwyn back in the day, then they became Merril Lynch. Then I had a parade of “advisors” that kept leaving the company. All the while I was reading and trying to learn and growing more and more skeptical of the “just hold on” approach to the mutual funds I was sold, hoping that this Canadian small cap fund would finally take off.
  It was very liberating to finally take over for myself. But that didn’t mean that I couldn’t screw things up for myself either. My problem is that I’m lazy. Although I try to read a lot of investment books and advice, I still find it hard to put in the due diligence. I’ve been guilty of a couple of small investments that were not thought out too well. Luckily I was too conservative to throw too much in those dodgy investments.
  I am beset by many little investing headaches. Not only am I too lazy to do the proper research, I counter that with reading too much and taking in too much information at times. I get paralyzed by too much information and can’t decide what to do! I find reading easy, but the digesting and taking in the information to help me to develop a proper investment strategy is another problem altogether.
  My current predicament is trying to find the right mix of contrarian strategy and strong dividend stock strategy that is to my liking. I’ve found myself following contrarian gurus, the “Contra the Heard” guys. I’ve had about a 50% success rate with their suggestions, so I’m a bit dissillusioned about them right now. I think I over-exposed myself to their contrarian strategies without thinking about what my comfort level was.
  Oh, well. There it is then. I’m off to find some deals on dividend stocks. Cheers.

• 46 Dean // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:17 am

  Thanks for the blog - I read it daily and have refered a number of people over the years.

  Keep up the great work!

  Dean

• 47 KS // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:39 am

  Congratulations on your 3rd anniversary!! I have been reading your blog daily for over a year now.

  Keep up the good work!

• 48 Joe // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:41 am

  One entry for me please! Love the blog..

• 49 Jon D. // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:43 am

  Awesome resource here, Ram. Always concise and informative, which is why I check back regularly.

  As I’ve posted in the past, my “tip” is for investors to learn about DRIPs. It’s a great free way to own and invest in blue chip companies, like Enbridge, Scotiabank Johnson & Johnson, to name a few.
  No cost and the power of compounding work for you, rather than against you. Also, considering dividends are the most tax efficient return for those earning less than $75k/Yr, it can be beneficial to most.

  Keep up the Good work!

  Jon Degan

• 50 Sean // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:53 am

  Congrats on the 3 year anniversary! I’ve been following for about 6 months now, and look forward to every post. Keep up the great work.

• 51 Damir // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:58 am

  I’ve been reading the blog every day for a year now. Very informative and useful blog. Thanks for your effort.

• 52 Jesus // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:02 am

  Congratulations!!!! Continue with the good job. I have been reading your blog for the last 6 month and I have learned many things about the canadian financial system.

  Jesus Betancourt

• 53 Aaron W // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:05 am

  Congrats on your three years. I’ve been reading your blog for about 1 year now. (I think I’ve read quite a bit of the older posts too.)

  My biggest financial mistake was leaving the real estate market at the wrong time. Back two years ago in November 2005, my husband and I quit our jobs and sold our house so we could do some extensive travelling. The selling of the house was not for money to travel; it was more of a convenience (i.e. the pain of renting it out). We sold our townhouse for $150,000 and we planned to buy a house when we returned and once we both had stable jobs.

  When we returned, we initially rented an apartment. A few months later, the housing boom hit Saskatoon and the exact same townhouse was now worth $250,000. We have now moved to Calgary and that extra $100,00 would have sure helped buy a house here!

  Lesson to learn: Whatever market you are investing in, if you are investing in it for a very long time, don’t abandon it for any length of time.

• 54 willfly // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:06 am

  I visit your blog daily and find the information presented very useful. My biggest investing mistake is recently when picking up an excellent business, I ignored the macro economic factor and have been hammered big time.

  Investing has to be dead boring- just like watching grass grow; however I got sucked into the excitement and am paying heavy penalty for it. I am hopeful that fundamental analysis was correct and that if I can survive oncoming recession; will emerge winner. Nevertheless it was a mistake and next time I intend to follow a “preflight checklist”.

• 55 Anand // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:14 am

  Hi CC, Congrats on 3rd anniversary of your blog, it is such a pleasure reading your blog everyday. You have lots of valuable information for a novice to experience investor.

  My money mistakes is a long list, I have lost quite a big amount when I started trading stocks because not doing study of my own and buying on other people’s bashing. but now I have my own trading system. 2nd I didnt buy house when house prices were low and feeling missed the wave.

• 56 JK // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:17 am

  Congrats on the anniversary, only blog I read every day.

• 57 Plan Your Escape // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:21 am

  Congrats on reaching the 3 year milestone! 800 posts is no small feat either! Great work.

  Peter

• 58 Tyler // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:27 am

  Great site. Visit it everyday! Congrats

• 59 Kris // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:30 am

  I love reading your blog to start my day, it keeps me focused on my goals.
  Keep up the great work, and please enter me into your draw, those are great prizes

• 60 brad // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:34 am

  Congratulations.

  My financial success story involves my move to Canada five years ago. I was born in Ontario but my parents moved to the States when I was just a year old, and I lived in the US until my early 40s when I moved to Montréal. In the States I racked up a considerable credit card debt during the first few years I worked as a freelance writer, as my income was variable (and small); I often wrote cheques against my credit card to pay for rent and used my credit card to buy groceries.

  Moving here to Montréal helped me get out of debt rapidly for two main reasons: my rent dropped by half and I was able to sell my car because I didn’t need it anymore. True, my income taxes doubled and sales taxes on purchases were of course much higher, but on the other hand my income “virtually” increased because I work for a US company and took my job with me; at the time the exchange rate was favorable enough to bump me up to a larger salary than I ever expected to earn, even though I didn’t get a raise. Plus of course I didn’t have to contribute to my company’s group health insurance plan anymore.

  The other Canadian/Québécois factor that contributed to my getting out of debt was that I was less tempted to buy things. Many of the online shops that I was used to using in the US either did not ship to Canada or the shipping fees were expensive and I would have to pay duty on delivery, so shopping became less convenient and therefore I spent less.

  Finally, by toughing it out for nearly five years in our less-than-desirable housing location (close by the railroad tracks and the old city dump), I was able to save enough money (we were paying $550/month for a three-bedroom apartment) to buy a car with cash and eventually to put down a 20 percent downpayment on a nice house in a beautiful neighbourhood.

• 61 Quick Lunar Cop // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:36 am

  I really love the site. I will soon be starting my own blog about personal finances, to chronicle my journey through difficult financial times and how things have improved through hard work. Keep blogging away!

• 62 M // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:42 am

  Hi CC,

  Money mistakes? Where to start? A long time ago, when I was not earning much money, I got myself into debt. Making minimum payments on my two credit cards was tough enough without actually paying them down. They weren’t even for huge amounts, just $500 and $1000, but without some external help, I might have got discouraged and maxed them out at the LCBO. Just one $800 gift from my mother got me in a position to get rid of the debt. I have not paid interest in a credit card since.
  Being more sensible with money enabled me to organize myself enough to drop out of work and go back to school, pay off the student loans reasonably quickly and eventually even buy a small house. I guess my tip would be the old “don’t spend more than you make”.

• 63 Colin // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:50 am

  Hi CC,

  Congrats on the 3 years! I’ve been reading your blog for about a year now and it is one of the few that I consistently read.

  Keep up the great work!

• 64 Dave Peplinski // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:58 am

  Congrats on 3 years. You’re a regular read in my RSS reader.

• 65 Debu // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:59 am

  Congratulation on 3rd anniversary. CC has become a daily habit like the morning newspaper. Thanks for helping us evolving everyday.

• 66 Tim // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:03 pm

  Here’s my entry.

• 67 Mel // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:13 pm

  Congrats on the milestone! Thanks for all the great advice!

• 68 nobleea // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:14 pm

  Congratulations on the great blog success!

  I first came across it when i googled for info on the smith manoeuvre. It’s been bookmarked for a while and well informative. I’ve been hoping someone will write an informative piece on setting up trusts, the various types and benefits.

  My biggest financial mistake? Probably being impatient and ADD-ish when it comes to stocks. I trade far too often, and while I’ve made money off this, I’ve probably paid more in commissions in the process! I would have been better off just sitting tight. Another mistake that I’ve since corrected is buying a stock based on someone else’s advice or reco. Usually doesn’t work out.

• 69 AM // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:21 pm

  I’ve been reading your blog for over two years now. I think its great that you offer a Canadian perspective on investing, which was a hard thing to find on the web back when I first got interested in investing.

  Congratulations on reaching this milestone!

• 70 Darren Anspach // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:33 pm

  Thanks!

• 71 Linda // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:36 pm

  Hi CC,

  Congradulations on reaching the milestone! I have been reading your blog for about a year now and it’s my morning newspapers.

  My biggest mistake is too cautious about investing in equity after the bubble of dot com on year 2000. So I put all extra money to pay back mortgage instead of investing in equity, thus miss out the last 3 years golden time.

  Congradulations again!

  Linda

• 72 Stefan // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:45 pm

  Congrats! Read everyday in my RSS !

• 73 Alex Givant // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:58 pm

  My comment to “Doing the “Impossible”.

  It was excellent analogy in “Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey (Total Money Makeover).

  He is talking about science experiment with monkeys: they put monkeys in some deep place which they cannot climb from and the only way to get out was to climb the pole. As any monkey tried to do that, guy with water hose washed the monkey down. After a while they get an idea it’s pretty stupid to try to get out: you cannot do that and get cold shower instead. So as any other monkey tries to climb up, other monkeys pull it down.

  Now interesting part: they take one monkey out and put new one in (this one doesn’t know about cold shower). It tries to climb up, but other monkeys pull it down. Now, one by one they replaced all the monkeys. All those monkeys have no idea about what prevents them to climb up, but as soon as one try to do that, other stop it.

  Now, back to people world: somebody says you that debt cannot be paid down or you cannot retire at 45 - he is a monkey who know nothing about cold shower, but won’t give you to climb up! Don’t listen to him!

• 74 Mike // Nov 23, 2007 at 12:58 pm

  Great site. Congrats on the 3 years!

• 75 Leah // Nov 23, 2007 at 1:06 pm

  I’ve been reading your blog for close to a year now, and it has definitely made me more interested in investing. It’s nice to have solid information from a Canadian perspective, something that’s hard to come by on the ‘net.

  My financial “success” story is ongoing. My husband and I are 27 and expecting our 1st child soon. We both have degrees (me bachelors, him masters) and decent paying jobs. We chose to invest in our education, and then paid down ~$25,000 in student loans in less than 2 years. We own our car, and have a $255,000 mortgage on a house (well, we share the house with a relative, because who can honestly afford a house by themselves in Vancouver anyways ). Thankfully we have managed to avoid credit card debt. We have begun investing in RRSPs, with about $20,000 so far. That’s where we are today.

  With a child coming, our income will take a hit, but we should still manage. I’m looking at taking some courses from the Canadian Securities Commission to learn more about investing and perhaps pursue this as a future income stream (financial advisor). Any information you have on their courses/programs would be a good topic for a blog post I think! Otherwise, keep the investment advice coming as I am always eager to learn more.

  Thanks, and congrats on 3 years!

• 76 Esme // Nov 23, 2007 at 1:21 pm

  Congrats! I started reading your blog about a year ago. I’ve been a regular ever since

• 77 David S. // Nov 23, 2007 at 1:23 pm

  Keep up the good work CC - reading your blog has been an educational pleasure.

• 78 Bruce // Nov 23, 2007 at 1:33 pm

  Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us “lurkers”. I visit your site daily and it always has something informative and makes me think.

• 79 Billy // Nov 23, 2007 at 1:46 pm

  3 years is a long time…congrats. I know that my blog (whcih I am not even going to link to) has numerous breaks of 3-6 months followed by an ‘I am not dead’ type of post.

  My biggest financial mistake — convincing myself that I could ‘afford’ a new car. While I can afford it in monetary terms, the extra drain on my income is more than I enjoy. At the moment, this extra monthly payment (about 6K a year) is holding me into a job that I don’t really enjoy anymore. Without this extra drain, it would be possible to find a different job and not worry so much about making the ‘correct’ salary.

• 80 Loonies And Sense // Nov 23, 2007 at 2:08 pm

  Happy birthday! Thanks for all the great posts. You’re part of my daily read.

• 81 Loonies And Sense // Nov 23, 2007 at 2:32 pm

  I’ve written a post about my money mistake.

  Here’s the link:

  http://looniesandsense.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-money-mistake-and-how-to-avoid-it.html

• 82 Christine // Nov 23, 2007 at 2:38 pm

  Congrats on the 3 years, and sign me up for the contest!

  My biggest money mistake is something I’m still dealing with and not even fully sure I can articulate here – but in a nutshell, it’s being over-aware of my finances. I’m a good saver and am in a good position financially, but despite that I spend too much time checking my accounts - and yes, reading too many personal finance blogs! Call it a bit of financial paranoia. This has it’s benefits – I am learning plenty about investing and how to best manage my money, but my savings system isn’t lazy enough for me to not constantly check on it unnecessarily.

  My plan to resolve this is to simplify and automate my savings process – I’ve set up a Pre-Authorized Withdrawal from every paycheque – and to close a number of unnecessary accounts (damn you PCFinancial with your unlimited number of free accounts!). Besides that, to just try and relax a bit!

• 83 Corey // Nov 23, 2007 at 2:48 pm

  Please sign me up.

  I’ve made several mistakes over the years. Here’s a couple:

  1) Getting behind on filing my income taxes. Note that I didn’t owe the government taxes so I was OK in that sense but the gov’t doesn’t pay interest on the money they owe.

  2) Naively buying technology-focused mutual funds right near the peak of the .dom frenzy.

• 84 Murray // Nov 23, 2007 at 3:11 pm

  Very informative blog. Thanks for all your hard work.

• 85 arm // Nov 23, 2007 at 3:32 pm

  I always enjoy reading your posts.

• 86 Murray // Nov 23, 2007 at 4:01 pm

  Great blog! Congratulations!!

• 87 Monty Loree // Nov 23, 2007 at 4:12 pm

  Hey CanadianCapitalist,
  Congratulations… please do enter me in your contest!!

  ALSO:
  Just a reminder that the Canadian Tour of Personal Finance blogs is on Tuesday November 27..

  Look forward to seeing your entry!!

  You can see more details and participants here:
  http://www.canadian-money-advisor.ca/tour-participants.html?TourDate=2007-11-27

  Please do let your other readers know if possible.

  Thanks,

  Monty Loree

• 88 Brent // Nov 23, 2007 at 4:17 pm

  Congratulations and thanks for all the hard work. This blog is one of my daily stops during my lunch break.

• 89 Mac // Nov 23, 2007 at 4:18 pm

  Congratulations on 3 years! I check your blog regularly. Please continue with the great work.

• 90 Scott // Nov 23, 2007 at 4:26 pm

  Congratulations on your 3 year anniversary! I make sure I check this blog out every day for your insightful commentary.

  For my money mistakes:

  Like yourself, I bought LSIF in February of 200o and subsequently watched the capital drop from $5000 to about $2000 over the last 8 years. Even with the tax refund this was a terrible investment. Thanks for the additional information on when I can dump this fund.

  Also, my first foray into stock “investing” was a purchase of both Bema Gold and Bre-X. Bema slowly but surely declined by about 75% before selling and we all know what happened to Bre-X. I was totally wiped out there.

  My best moves, paying down my mortgage quickly, buying quality blue-chip companies for the DRIP and selling my BCE Emergis in 2000 with a 200% gain.

  Thanks for a great blog. Keep up the good work.

• 91 Ian // Nov 23, 2007 at 4:38 pm

  Congrats on the 3rd year and thanks for all the blogs. I’ve only been following for the past 2 months but check in daily so keep on posting.

  As a fairly new Canadian and a new investor its blogs like this that supplements my expanding investment knowledge and I have to credit your blog with tuning me in to RSP contributions in kind. I’m slowly getting through the archives and by the time I retire in 15 years (hopefully) I will no doubt be up to speed and a competent investor!!

  Keep Blogging

• 92 growthinvalue // Nov 23, 2007 at 5:01 pm

  Here’s my entry CC. Huzzah for an extra ballot! Daddy needs a new computer.

• 93 Neil Galloway // Nov 23, 2007 at 6:06 pm

  Throw my name in the hat for the prize draw too. Congrats on the anniversary.

• 94 James // Nov 23, 2007 at 6:40 pm

  I’ve been with you since the start, great site always informative.

  congratulations on making it this far

  James

• 95 moneygardener // Nov 23, 2007 at 7:36 pm

  I like your blog and I read you everyday.

  Keep up the good work!

  MG

• 96 Alison // Nov 23, 2007 at 7:38 pm

  Congrats!

  …Alison

• 97 Tony Danza // Nov 23, 2007 at 8:16 pm

  Nice goodies CC thanks for keeping the blog active and fresh!

• 98 MikeH // Nov 23, 2007 at 8:42 pm

  Congrats! This is the first blog I’ve routinely followed. Thank you!
  (Please include me in your draw.)

• 99 Krusty // Nov 23, 2007 at 8:50 pm

  Love the blog, and i’ve been a regular reader for quite some time.

  As far as money mistakes go, my biggest was investing money from an inheritance through Investors Group.

  My advisor was a family friend, and helped guide us into various investments. As this was a hands-off investment, I didn’t really watch it too closely.

  However, my advisor was switching investments on me, from one ‘hot’ fund to another. All the while telling me things were good, and to hold on.

  After a long period of time, I decided to really bone up on my investment skills and open up a self-directed rrsp account at a discount broker. Almost immediately, my knowledge and insight into how things really worked blossomed. I was now able to really track how things were going, and was amazed at the amount of information was available to me.

  I began to read investment and personal finance books, as well as read blogs like this one. I’ve enjoyed all of it as i’ve finally been able to put the time and effort into learning.

  Needless to say, I soon transferred all the money from Investors Group to my own accounts, and have been successful since. No matter what, I feel like i’m in control and in touch with my own money, and that feels great.

  Funny enough, I ran into my old advisor recently, and he had left IG for another company. He made many comments about how stifling and sales driven they were while he was there.

  I heard the exact opposite from him when I was still his client…

• 100 walk0080 // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:37 pm

  Great website! I check the RSS feed almost daily.

• 101 Michael // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:42 pm

  This isn’t exactly a success or mistake (not yet anyway) , just more of an idea at this point…

  We bought our house in Kelowna, BC about 4.5 years ago for the even sum of $200,000. In that time, like most houses, it’s more than doubled in price. My question to you is, what are your thoughts on selling a house in that situation and using the gain, (in excess of $250,000), to invest in a way that would pay for rent of a house in whole or in part? Depending on the monthly interest and rent payment, would it be possible to live for almost free?

  Great blog,
  Michael

• 102 Michaela // Nov 23, 2007 at 9:47 pm

  I’ve just found your blog and am impressed by what I’ve read so far. I’ll be coming back for more!

• 103 Andrew // Nov 23, 2007 at 10:35 pm

  Happy 3rd Anniversary!
  I hope I win (My BDay is tomorrow - turning 25!)

  My biggest money mistakes:
  1) Spending more than I made and on frivolous items
  (ex1: an MD player + extended warranty…I wish I didn’t get that… I barely used it! I think I spent close to $700!)
  (ex2: eating out too often… still working on it)
  2) Contributing to an RRSP and deducting it off of my income when I was in a low income tax bracket. (Should have carried it forward)
  3) Not taking advantage of “Free” money (i.e. scholarships, bursaries, etc)

  You’re blog and many other Canadian personal finance blogs have given me a great head start in life:
  1) I’m now controlling my spending with a budget, debt free, and investing!
  2) I have a much better understanding of the tax system
  3) I look for deals/discounts whenever I can!

  Thanks, CC!

• 104 Karl // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:54 pm

  Hey CC,

  Been reading your blog for about 8 months now. Love it! Keep up the good work.

  My biggest financial mistake is not investing my money earlier! I didn’t appreciate my personal finance situation until a few years ago. I’m slowly learning in my spare time… and can’t wait until I start to invest in something bigger than my high interest savings account, but first I need to figure out my goals, and what I need to invest in to best attain those goals.

  Keep up the good work… See you on your 4th!

• 105 Ben // Nov 24, 2007 at 1:03 am

  Congratulations on your anniversary. I would say that my worst financial mistakes are:
  1) Not being disciplined in university and coming out with a ton of debt. I know that I could have saved at least 10K by doing a few simple things.
  2) Investing with a financial adviser through a large financial company. I was set up in seg funds with MERs all over 3%. It took me a couple years to learn enough and get confident enough to invest on my own.
  I have been fortunate that my wife and I have a shared conviction about money and growing wealth. We have been able to save %50 of our income and pay off all our debts and save a nice down payment for our first house. We are also faithful tithers (10% to our church). These are two of my worst mistakes, and some of my most important financial principles (tithing and shared financial convictions).
  Keep up the great work. I love the blog.
  -Ben

• 106 RickT // Nov 24, 2007 at 2:36 am

  Congrats on the anniversary. Worst mistake is investing in mutual funds and not watching them. I’ve sold off most and am moving $ to ETFs and dividend paying stocks. Live and learn.

• 107 Ahmed // Nov 24, 2007 at 4:27 am

  My worst investing mistake was selling my investments to buy a red sports car. Now both are gone.

• 108 Martin // Nov 24, 2007 at 9:05 am

  Great site! Keep up the interesting posts! I’ve been reading via RSS for more than six months.

• 109 Karina // Nov 24, 2007 at 10:04 am

  My favorite financial blog by far. Congrats on 3 yrs!

• 110 venter // Nov 24, 2007 at 10:15 am

  I think the biggest mistakes I made came from forgetting what “long-term” means and jumping in and out when the market had sudden drops. I used to have some Sprott funds (energy, can. equity) and was riding them to big gains in 2005 and into 2006. In the spring of 2006, as you know, we had a correction and I was loath to lose the large gains I had made. Of course, oil for instance had gone down to below $60 a barrel, it is now nearing $100 a barrel. If I had just rode the correction out, I would have made much larger gains. I think I may have been influenced to much by the talking heads who were saying oil was going to $40-50 a barrel, commodities prices were at bubble levels etc. Now, when bad news hits, I do nothing except not buy more stocks or funds till I feel comfortable or a great deal appears on a dividend paying stock on my watchlist.

• 111 Jason // Nov 24, 2007 at 10:25 am

  The only blog I read daily. Keep up the great work.

• 112 Nord64 // Nov 24, 2007 at 12:03 pm

  Keep up the good work.

  My biggest money mistake was buying a car without having the money. This was during the mid 80’s. The interest rate on the loan was in the mid teens and lasted for 4 years. Still makes me cringe just thinking about it.

• 113 khen // Nov 24, 2007 at 2:05 pm

  Congratulations on your 3 year anniversary!

  My biggest mistake was , as many people already said, buying a new car with no money. I am still paying the car loan and it will be done by 2009. I think I should have bought a used car or just commuted by bus. Also another mistake was not-buying a house. I donated too much money to landlords and I think I should have invested that money. Luckily I own my house now.

  Best thing I have done this year would be reading finance blogs including your web site. I learned a lot - saving ideas, RRSP, mortgage, investments and etc.

  Keep up the good work!

• 114 Marc // Nov 24, 2007 at 3:42 pm

  Excellent site…enter me up! I haven’t made my first investing mistake yet but I hope to soon before I have too much money to lose.

• 115 Layt // Nov 24, 2007 at 3:53 pm

  As Arnold would say….Ahxellent, Ahxellent!!!
  Keep up the good work, and everything else.

• 116 MikeM // Nov 24, 2007 at 5:33 pm

  Congrats on 3 years! I’ve been a reader for just over a year now and I appreciate having a Canadian perspective in a PF blog.

  My (our) biggest financial mistake was not negotiating at all on our mortgage rate. We also where much too conservative in taking a 7-year term at a fixed rate. We were just overly cautious as first time buyers.

  The flip side of that is our success story though. We have the BMO mortgage with the option of 20% prepayment per year, and the option of increasing your payments by 20%. As our incomes went up over the past 6.5 years, rather than inflating our lifestyle, we applied any savings over and above our RRSP limits to the mortgage principle and increased the payments a couple of times. We also paid weekly to accelerate things. Fortunately this means we’ve more than made up the extra we would have lost by not negotiating our rate (or taking a floating rate) and we’ll pay down our mortgage before the 7 year term is up.

• 117 guinness416 // Nov 24, 2007 at 5:49 pm

  Hey congrats on the anniversary (three years is an age in blog terms!) and thanks both for all of the great posts and for being my gateway drug into the world of Canadian money blogs.

• 118 Thicken My Wallet » Blog Archive » My Money Mistake and How to Avoid it // Nov 24, 2007 at 5:58 pm

  [...] post is an entry into Canadian Capitalist’s three year anniversary contest. Check it out and, speaking against my own intersts, enter as well. Congrats Canadian Capitalist on your [...]

• 119 johnny // Nov 24, 2007 at 6:03 pm

  Happy 3 rd anniversary,
  I have been reading religiously your post for over a year and think you are doing a great job and hope you continue.

• 120 mj // Nov 24, 2007 at 6:30 pm

  great blog, keep it up!

• 121 Riscario Insider // Nov 24, 2007 at 7:50 pm

  Congratulations, CC! Three years is indeed a milestone.

  Blogs are easy to start and to easy to quit . You’re prolific, yet your content remains of high quality. Your consistency is truly inspiring. Perhaps you can share your thoughts on what keeps you going.

  You’re one of the first financial blogs I started reading and continue to read. You were kind enough to mention my blog, in a post earlier this year shortly after the launch. For months, most of my traffic came from you.

  My biggest mistake(s) came when I first started investing. I accepted poor advice from investment advisors who were better at selling than selecting proper investments. I bought shares and warrants of companies that couldn’t drop in value … but did. Luckily the losses were manageable and I quickly learned that no one knows what the markets will do.

  (Seth Godin writes about sticking and quitting in The Dip. There are highlights at http://riscario.blogspot.com/2007/10/thoughts-on-dip-by-seth-godin.html)

• 122 canadian dollars // Nov 24, 2007 at 11:32 pm

  Hi CC! 3 cheers for 3 years and counting… with many more years to come. Congrats and keep up the good work. Your blog is very inspiring for us canadian financial bloggers that are new to the game!

  cheers
  CD

• 123 The1Opinion // Nov 25, 2007 at 1:53 am

  Keep the great articles coming !

• 124 Joel // Nov 25, 2007 at 2:48 am

  I love your blog… helps me plan my future

• 125 Pete // Nov 25, 2007 at 11:57 am

  Great blog I read it daily. I dumped the advisor a year ago and switced to the Money Sense International Couch Potato.
  Through sites like yours its good to know that I am not just on my own, just guessing at investments.

• 126 dee // Nov 25, 2007 at 1:11 pm

  Happy 3rd anniversary and congratulations! I’ve only been reading for a short time now, but I look forward to lots of interesting information in the future. keep up the good work, and I would love to be entered in your draw. what fantastic prizes!

• 127 Jason C // Nov 25, 2007 at 5:16 pm

  Your blog has helped change my investment patterns for much the better. Thank you for your ‘wealth’ of knowledge.

• 128 Craig B // Nov 25, 2007 at 9:05 pm

  Great website! Congrats on your anniversary!

• 129 Paddy H // Nov 25, 2007 at 11:03 pm

  Great site, and I’d love to win! Happy 3rd Anniversary!

• 130 Jason B // Nov 26, 2007 at 12:08 am

  Keep up the great work on the site, I know it will be a great 4th year. I wouldn’t mind winning I don’t have a great financial anecdote to tell, as I’m sitting 90% in cash as I’m building a down payment for a home. But if you’re looking for ideas, I just read a fantastic book called “What I Learned Losing A Million Dollars” by Jim Paul and Brendan Moynihan. It focuses on planning and decision making in investments, particularly when you find yourself in a losing position. It also discusses the psychology of losing, and why investors tend to stay in losing positions instead of cutting their losses. It was a refreshing read as most books focus on how to make money in the markets, while this book was about how NOT to lose money, and why that is more important.

• 131 James // Nov 26, 2007 at 12:28 am

  read your site daily from an RSS feed on Firefox!
  thxQ!

• 132 Kerry // Nov 26, 2007 at 1:54 am

  I love your blog. Thank you for sharing.

  My biggest money mistake was not taking responsibility for, or learning about, my investments. I was scared of investing and let a “Financial Advisor” do the work for me. Money was taboo, and while I was pretty good at saving…I just didn’t get interested in investing for myself early on. Luckily, I got a little smarter around my late twenties…and learned about loads, MERs, and how insidious those little fees can be. I was shocked and horrified when my so called “Financial Advisor” was really a salesperson taking a huge chunk of my savings.

  Finding blogs like yours really helped me learn about index funds, ETFs, and discount brokerages. The financial blogosphere in general is an amazing place, where money is not taboo and newbie questions are welcomed…and not mocked. I am very thankful to bloggers like yourself whom take the time and empower conversations about personal finance.

  Congratulations on three years. Thank you!

• 133 Bev Yakymiw // Nov 26, 2007 at 1:54 am

  lots of info add me please

• 134 Roger // Nov 26, 2007 at 1:57 am

  Your blog is at the top of my Favorites and a daily ‘must read’. Thanks!

• 135 Ada // Nov 26, 2007 at 8:29 am

  Please enter me.

  Thanks!

• 136 Maria // Nov 26, 2007 at 9:30 am

  I have been following your blog for the past 2 years - Congratulations!!! Thanks for all the gread advice.

• 137 Mike // Nov 26, 2007 at 10:30 am

  I found your blog about a year ago. It’s one of the few that I keep coming back too for daily reading.

  Thanks for the great read!

• 138 Craig // Nov 26, 2007 at 10:32 am

  consider me entered.

  Cheers,
  Craig

• 139 Ryan // Nov 26, 2007 at 10:37 am

  Hey CC, congrats on 3 years! I have been a faithful reader and commenter for 2 years now.

  My biggest mistake to date was listening to a financial adviser in March of 2000 to put the majority of my money in dot.coms. Fortunately this was my enrty into the world of investing and I did not have much to lose. It was a valuable lesson that will not be forgotten.

  My next big decision is where and when to get back in to the market with my kids RESP money. I transferred all of it out of RBC over to a TD account with the intentions of putting it all into various Efunds. However, I cannot shake the whole mess that is occurring right now south of the border and I am finding myself holding back on reentering the market. Any suggestions?

  Ryan

• 140 anjo // Nov 26, 2007 at 11:12 am

  Hi CC, while I haven’t commented recently I have been keeping up with your posts. Appreciate the great community that you have cultivated with your thoughtful insights into personal finance.

  Regards,

  Drew

• 141 telly // Nov 26, 2007 at 11:33 am

  Wow! Great job and congrats!

• 142 D from "Our Sesame Seed" // Nov 26, 2007 at 12:35 pm

  I have been reading your posts for at least a year now. It’s a great source of Canada-specific information, and is part of my daily routine.

  I have a financial success story that goes beyond the normal scope of your posts. I decided to move my family (wife and baby) from Ottawa back to my hometown of Calgary to do a MBA. Because we were going to lose our main source of income for 2 years, I was trying to keep moving costs down. I priced out several options, which ranged from $5,000 (U-haul) to $15,000+ (full service).

  In the end, I found a creative solution that cost me $300 total, including all of our gas and hotels for the trip.

  Instead of renting a truck, we bought our own vehicle in Toronto and resold it in Calgary at the other end. With the booming Alberta economy, the truck sold at a premium in Calgary, netting us enough profit to cover our costs. There were a few hiccups along the way, including a parking ticket, insurance headaches, and a miscommunication about parking that got the truck towed away from a church parking lot for a total bill of $500. Without that little incident, we would have a net gain of $200 on the adventure.

  I have chronicled the entire move in a series of posts at:
  http://oursesame.blogspot.com/search/label/moving

• 143 Mike // Nov 26, 2007 at 12:49 pm

  Congrats on your blog. I discovered it about 3 months ago and I read every post since…

  My 2 biggest investments mistakes:

  1- I graduated from University in 2000 and started working in Ottawa the week after. With all the money pouring in, I bought stocks from the company I worked for. Even though I worked in the company I knew nothing about it (big corporation). The stock went down 10% to 20% year after year and I didn’t sell. I find that we have a positive bias for the place we work in. Lesson learned: Never buy shares in the company you work in because of the positive bias.

  2- My second mistake was to invest in index funds (not ETFs). In the 5 years I hold those funds I was loosing 1.5 to 2% return every year.

  On the positive side, I learned one thing. Never listen to investment advisors who are paid on commission.

• 144 Randy // Nov 26, 2007 at 12:55 pm

  Excellent blog! Please enter me in contest.

• 145 chris // Nov 26, 2007 at 1:00 pm

  Keep up the good work!

• 146 Sam M // Nov 26, 2007 at 1:02 pm

  Hi there,

  I too very much enjoy the blog and its Canadian content…such a refreshing change from the US-centric (although very good) blogosphere.

  My financial story changed when I was unemployed here in BC in 2003. There were few prospects in my industry in Canada, so I moved to the UK for four years, which jump-started my career, due to the increased opportunities there and the greater respect for skills. I have since moved back to Canada, but I work from home for a multinational. I am very relieved to not have to work in the BC economy (I am not in resources). I have paid down debt aggressively, and we now have no debt in any form. We also refuse to buy a property in today’s bubble market in BC, which is saving us a ton of money and keeping us out of debt (we plan to buy in 3-5 years following a correction).

  Thanks!

  Sam

• 147 Jazmin // Nov 26, 2007 at 1:10 pm

  http://renaissancecanuck.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-money-mistake-and-how-to-avoid-it.html

  Mine isnt so much a one single money mistake as one single money cycle mistake. The same mistake that keeps coming back. I get it together and then lose it again.. over and over..

  Congrats on 3 years! That’s like a lifetime in net years.

• 148 Luc Richard // Nov 26, 2007 at 2:08 pm

  I’ve only recently discovered your blog but it didn’t take long for me to add it to my iGoogle homepage as required reading.

  Keep up the good work!

• 149 Darin // Nov 26, 2007 at 2:21 pm

  Great blog, congrats on your success.

  My financial success has been simple. Start investing young, don’t try and time the market, dollar cost average by adding to your investments at consistent intervals, select an asset allocation appropriate for your risk profile, maximize RRSP contributions and minimize transaction and advisory fees.

• 150 Anand Narayan // Nov 26, 2007 at 2:29 pm

  Love your blog. I’ve been reading for last couple years.

• 151 Ashley // Nov 26, 2007 at 2:30 pm

  great blog! please enter me into your contest ^_^

  Ash

• 152 deb // Nov 26, 2007 at 2:30 pm

  I get your blog via email every morning and look forward to reading it.

  I’ve learned alot over the past 3 years and appreciateyour summaries and highlights, the links and your info on ETF’s. It is all very sound and actionable advice.

  With life getting so busy and complicated, it’s nice to be reminded how to keep things simple and focussed.

  My biggest mistake is spending too much time focussing on money and investing. I’m now looking at ways to simplify and enjoy life’s daily pleasures.

  ds

• 153 Matt // Nov 26, 2007 at 5:55 pm

  Congrats on the milestone… here’s to another 3 years!

• 154 Dennis // Nov 26, 2007 at 6:06 pm

  Great blog and one I visit almost daily - and one of the first personal finance blogs I found. Lots of good stuff here and there has been a lot that I have investigated further and tried to implement in our own finances.

  Glad I could get you in touch with Margot Bai on her book and that you were able to give her good exposure on what is a really great book - glad to see it in your Christmas gift list.

  For my wife and myself one of the better things we have done with our finances is getting rid of student debt (aggressively) early on in our marriage and then when it was gone, pouring that same amount of money into our savings. It allowed us to get a great foundation and really helped for downpayment when we bought our house.

  I have also followed with interest your own experience with LSIFs as that has to be one of the poorer money decisions I have made, though it was done in conjunction with our financial planner. I will be looking forward to some dumping in the coming years.

  Keep up the great work.

• 155 Dave in Kanata // Nov 26, 2007 at 6:14 pm

  Three years … that’s an eternity in the dot.com world! Congratulations!!

  My biggest money mistake was not sucking up and selling Nortel until (embarrassed) one month ago (of course, just two days before it took a 20% jump).

  My dumbest money mistake was paying Bell around $15o/ year for 8 years not realizing I have been on a long distance plan of theirs for 8 years and not knowing that there $5/mo. Network Charge is only if you have a long distance plan with them. Now I pay 40 cents per minute with Distributel for LD and my bill for this month was a whopping $1.14.

  Keep up the great work!

• 156 Peter // Nov 26, 2007 at 6:46 pm

  Congrats on 3 years! I discovered the Canadian Financial Webring about 3 months ago and your blog is now on my daily reading list.

  My finacial story is fairly new. I graduated from university as a Mechanical Engineer almost 3 years ago with minimal debt (which I paid off quickly). Unfortunately money starting going out as fast as it came in. New car, new bike, new skis…

  Now that I’ve had my fun I decided this fall that it’s time to pull in the reins and start thinking long term. I bought a house this year and I this is my second year contributing to my RRSP. My goal is to be able to live comfortably while saving for a retirement of 50. Hopefully I’ll learn from the others that are posting here!

• 157 Earl // Nov 26, 2007 at 7:17 pm

  Congrats CC. I came across your blog by accident in my search for learning more about RRSP and capital gains. Rather that read the multitude of websites from FA’s trying to sell something, I’ve always appreciated the fact that your blog is from your point of view without an ulterior motive.

  Keep it up!

• 158 Option fool // Nov 26, 2007 at 7:38 pm

  Great website! Discovered it a month ago, and I’m now a daily visitor.

  Investing mistakes:

  1- I had US$ positions a few years ago that I knew I should have diversified away from, and into Euros. Didn’t on the advice of a friend. Oh, the regrets! But at least I’m not going to do like the average investor and “sell low”. I’m holding on for now, since bearish sentiment is so strong.

  2- Investing in a Japan fund around 2000 A.D. Lesson: just because the whole market goes down 50% doesn’t mean your mutual fund won’t go down another 40%. Ugh.

  Investing success:

  1- Using ING’s automatic savings program to spread out all my big bills: I take the total of my yearly RRSP contribution, my car insurance, emergency fund contribution, new car fund, etc. and divide by 26. Then I set up a bi-weekly withdrawal of that amount from my regular bank on the same day as I get my paycheck. In ING, I set up various account with nicknames like “Regular bills”, “new car”, “emergency”, etc. and have that amount from my bank split up accordingly. Then when those big yearly bills come, I’m ready to pay them off in one shot. And I’ve been earning interest all year on the amount!

  2- Spending extra to buy myself a nice car and driving it to death. Because you buy a good car, you don’t mind keeping it longer. But you save a ton by not hoping on the leasing treadmill. My current car is 7 years old and still looking good. I’ll probably keep it another 3 years at least.

  PS: As for option trading, the jury is still out on whether it’s been the greatest success story or abysmal failure of my financial life. Be really careful if you go down that road!

• 159 Jon Chevreau Interviews Ziv Brodie // Nov 26, 2007 at 8:08 pm

  [...] If you haven’t done so already, you may want to enter your name in the third anniversary giveaway. Your odds of winning are much better than the 6/49 and best of all, there is no ticket to [...]

• 160 larry macdonald // Nov 26, 2007 at 9:18 pm

  Can’t believe its been three years. Great way to celebrate anniversary with a give away.

• 161 Eric in Kanata // Nov 26, 2007 at 9:56 pm

  Great blog. I really enjoy reading it. Keep up the great work.

• 162 Leo // Nov 26, 2007 at 10:05 pm

  Great blog! Really enjoy it!

• 163 JasonR // Nov 26, 2007 at 10:38 pm

  I have really enjoyed reading your blog! Thanks for all the interesting posts :).

• 164 FinancialJungle.com // Nov 26, 2007 at 10:57 pm

  It’s always a pleasure to visit here, CC.

  My biggest money mistake is glaringly obvious to me: buying the best house in a risky neighborhood (next to an Indian reserve). Never will I live anywhere near an Indian reserve again. You never know when they’ll convert it to a landfill. Even though my house had appreciated well, it underperformed the general Vancouver market. Wish I could’ve “indexed” it somehow.

• 165 Penny // Nov 26, 2007 at 11:37 pm

  Congratulations on your milestone.

  Lots of very good information available on this site.

  Thanks

• 166 mariam // Nov 26, 2007 at 11:54 pm

  Hi CC,

  Happy anniversary! You continue to be the benchmark for Canadian pf bloggers!

  I wish you many years and more successes to come!

• 167 mark // Nov 27, 2007 at 1:21 am

  Congrats on three years.

  The books on your recommended reading list (esp. the getting started section) have had a big impact on how I approach personal finance. Thanks for putting that together! (as well as the ongoing updates, posts, etc)

  Keep up the good work.

• 168 yan // Nov 27, 2007 at 2:31 am

  Congrats! I happened to find this website about 6 months ago. From then on, I am following your blog closely . I have learn a lot from your posts. Thank you very much for the good work!

• 169 The Financial Blogger | My Favourite Money Mistake // Nov 27, 2007 at 7:40 am

  [...] by yourself. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Today’s post is in related to Canadian Capitalist 3rd year anniversary contest where he was asking bloggers about their money mistakes. I thought it could be interesting to write [...]

• 170 The Financial Blogger // Nov 27, 2007 at 7:42 am

  Hey CC ! congrats on your “3yr little boy”. A big thank to you for being so consistent and entertaining over the year!

  I’m in for the contest and here is my post about my money mistake: http://www.thefinancialblogger.com/my-favourite-money-mistake/

  Cheers,

  FB.

• 171 MM // Nov 27, 2007 at 10:20 am

  Count me in this competition!

  Congrats on the success of your blog. May it continue on for many years!

• 172 Tania // Nov 27, 2007 at 10:44 am

  Great Site! Count me in

• 173 Bryce // Nov 27, 2007 at 11:10 am

  I read your site every day.

• 174 Mike Belluz // Nov 27, 2007 at 11:14 am

  Great site! Keep up the encouraging words for us financial freshmen…

• 175 Plan Your Escape // Nov 27, 2007 at 11:21 am

  Hi CC,

  Here’s my contribution to the group writing project you’ve proposed:

  http://www.planyourescape.ca/my-money-mistake-and-how-to-avoid-it-27

  Great topic idea! If only that was my only money mistake ever …

  Congrats again on 3 years!

  Peter

• 176 Tim // Nov 27, 2007 at 12:15 pm

  Congrats on the three years! I really like the site. It is one of a few PF sites I read every day.

• 177 Chris H // Nov 27, 2007 at 12:58 pm

  Great site CC. Checking your post is one of my daily rituals.

• 178 the Wealthy Canadian // Nov 27, 2007 at 1:06 pm

  Congratulations on three years. I had stumbled upon your blog when it was still in its infancy and have been reading ever since. Good job. Here’s wishing you continued success.

• 179 TonyR // Nov 27, 2007 at 1:34 pm

  I’m in for hte contest,

• 180 Jordan C // Nov 27, 2007 at 1:37 pm

  Thanks for the awesome blog. A year ago, I was a financial newbie, but thanks to blogs like yours, I’m (hopefully) a more educated Canadian now.

• 181 Jerry Chappell // Nov 27, 2007 at 1:50 pm

  Keep up the good work. Your blog is a regular read for me. Thanks.

• 182 David // Nov 27, 2007 at 2:10 pm

  You are one of the best!

• 183 Jared // Nov 27, 2007 at 2:10 pm

  You’re one of my bookmarks for a reason. I’m a CA articling student.. and I think sometimes I learn more from your some of your posts than I do some days at work

• 184 John // Nov 27, 2007 at 2:57 pm

  Happy Birthday! Congratulations and keep up the good work!

• 185 Fernando // Nov 27, 2007 at 3:07 pm

  Hi! Congratulations on your continued success!
  I am an avid reader!

• 186 Steph // Nov 27, 2007 at 3:41 pm

  Congrats on an extremely educational & fantastic web site !!!

• 187 Don J // Nov 27, 2007 at 3:44 pm

  Congratulations on three years of great blogging!

  My big financial mistake has been in experimenting with the stock market. I had heard a few times that it was best to start out with some mutual funds and build investments that way, and only buy individual stocks when I had a good foundation built.

  Instead, I bought some Nortel stock (AFTER the big crash, but still at a much higher price than they’re trading at now!)

  I did this through TD Waterhouse, but I didn’t fill out all the paperwork right away. Now I can’t make any trades, and I haven’t had much luck getting the required paperwork done. (I was able to buy stock for thirty days before they cut me off, which was how I got into Nortel.)

  Making matters worse, I had spoken to a representative beforehand who assured me that the account I was opening did not have any inactivity fees associated with it no matter what I did. He was wrong (or lying). And since I can’t buy or sell stock… Well, I pay $15 every three months.

  The biggest mistake of all has been NOT DOING ANYTHING about it in the meantime. I am very active in most areas of my finances, but TD Waterhouse has made things hard enough for me that I haven’t done anything about my problems yet.

  Maybe, someday, I will fix things.

  In the meantime, my words to the wise: buy mutual funds if you’re getting started. And fill in all your paperwork.

  Don J

• 188 Kaveh // Nov 27, 2007 at 3:47 pm

  Recently, I was reffered to your blog by a good friend of mine…since then I’ve been checking it out regularly.

  After my graduation from engineering school, suddenly the whole world of finance and investments seemed attractive to me…I’m thinking of pursuing it as a hobby.

  I follow up all the reading you recommand. Congragts on your blog agian.

  Regards,

• 189 Thomas // Nov 27, 2007 at 4:48 pm

  Congrats on 3rd year anniversary. Keep up the good work! Cheers.

• 190 Jay // Nov 27, 2007 at 4:57 pm

  This is a fine blog. I initially found it when doing research into the “couch potato/lazy portfolio” approach. Your detailed information on your Sleepy version really added to my understanding.

  Keep up the great work.

• 191 Warren // Nov 27, 2007 at 6:36 pm

  Thanks, I enjoy reading your blog every day.. or, at least every new post.

• 192 Guillaume // Nov 27, 2007 at 9:57 pm

  great contest, can’t resist keep up the excellent work!

• 193 Shevy // Nov 27, 2007 at 10:04 pm

  Congrats on 3 years of PF blogging! You’re the first specifically Canadian PF blog I ever read (although I’ve read others since).

  My best money move would be signing up for my employer’s pension plan back in the late ’80s. About a year later they changed from a defined benefit plan to mutual funds, so they bought everybody an annuity with our contributions to date.

  When I left that job several years later I had the annuity (which will start at age 62) and 2 RRSPs. One contains the employer match portion and can’t be touched until age 62. The other was my own contributions. I used that money as a down payment on a small condo. Ten years later (i.e. this year) I sold the condo for almost 25 times the amount of my original investment. (And I’ve been repaying the money I took out of the RRSP all along, of course.)

  Mistakes? Oh yeah, I’ve made mistakes. Not filing taxes when I had a refund coming to me (about $2,000). Maxing out a couple of credit cards. Leaving money in non-interest paying accounts instead of opening an ING account. Buying a too-expensive car. Not paying myself first.

  But that was in the past. I’m working hard to fix any past mistakes and not make them over and over again.

• 194 Al // Nov 27, 2007 at 10:42 pm

  Congrats CC, keep up the good work. I’ve been a long time subscriber and your blog has consistently produced quality content. =)

• 195 Patrick McPhillips // Nov 27, 2007 at 11:36 pm

  Great Blog. I find your articles very informative. Keep up the good work! Cheers!

• 196 David // Nov 28, 2007 at 12:19 am

  Well done. I’ve been reading you for the past year or so and I am of the view that you are one of the top Canadian investment blogs. Good diversified approach.

• 197 Maxim // Nov 28, 2007 at 12:39 am

  Keep up your very needed and useful work!

• 198 Pat // Nov 28, 2007 at 7:53 am

  Excellent blog, always enjoy reading it. As for mistakes, investing in an ecological mutual fund in the 80’s and losing it all when we could ill afford it. Not saving money for a down payment the 11 years I was single. Not putting away money in the RRSP for many years. Not pre-paying pension contributions while on maternity leave.
  On the plus side staying with the same employer for 31 years and in a defined benefit plan which the employer paid contributions that matched mine. Purchasing the family home and having my mother hold the mortgage kept the money in the family.
  Keep up the good work, I’m looking forward to the next year of blogs.

• 199 My Money Mistake and How to Avoid it // Nov 28, 2007 at 8:17 am

  [...] · No Comments Well Ram over at the Canadian Capitalist is celebrating his blog’s third birthday and in order to help him celebrate I’m going to take up his challenge to write on my money [...]

• 200 Fred // Nov 28, 2007 at 9:30 am

  Glad to see that some decent Canadian investment content can succeed on the net. Congrats on 3 years.

• 201 M // Nov 28, 2007 at 10:04 am

  happy to read you every day, keep on

• 202 Talkinggoat // Nov 28, 2007 at 11:39 am

  Keep up the great work, it is much appreciated. I really found your info on td e-series funds very helpful, and the resps. Thanks Again.

• 203 Haania // Nov 28, 2007 at 12:02 pm

  I enjoy reading your blog every morning. Great work!

• 204 My biggest mistake - Fecundity // Nov 28, 2007 at 12:57 pm

  The Canadian Capitalist is running a contest in celebration of his third year blogoversary. He’s offering some truly snazzy prizes. [...] My biggest monetary mistake was taking eight years to graduate from university. Yep. Eight. Impressive, no? [...]

• 205 Steve F // Nov 28, 2007 at 1:19 pm

  First time into your blog. Looks like you have some interesting articles, so I will subscribe, and maybe win the prize.

• 206 Ian Singh // Nov 28, 2007 at 4:44 pm

  The biggest money mistake could be mine or my parents’.
  Whether I wasn’t listening or they didn’t teach me isn’t important, what is important is the value of teaching our children what to do with money, how to save it, how to invest, etc. I began working in high school and worked all through college. Had I saved even 10% of my take home, and invested it, even in GIC’s I would have a substantial portfolio and a nice downpayment for a home today.
  I think at an early age, we should all walk our children through what do do with money. Teach them to save a portion of their allowance, birthday gifts, part-time earnings, whatever, just keep them in the loop so they don’t end up less prosperous than us.

• 207 3Kids // Nov 28, 2007 at 4:52 pm

  Congratulations on three years anniversary. It must be many many late working nights for you to keep this blog alive. I am thinking to do the same thing myself recently. It’s an excellent idea to record our finance improvement journy in a blog. Keep great work.

• 208 moneygardener // Nov 28, 2007 at 5:07 pm

  http://themoneygardener.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-mistake-how-to-avoid-it.html

  count me in for another!

• 209 Jason // Nov 28, 2007 at 9:42 pm

  Congrats on the anniversary! I am a faithful reader via the RSS feed.

  As for my greatest money mistake, I would have to say buying a new car in my last year of university. I had a fairly large research grant and low rent and was not concerned about how large of an expense it would be! Two years later and I almost have the thing paid off, but my living expenses (and income tax) are much higher and I have had to exercise extreme discipline to limit my spending. I could have saved thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of dollars by being more savvy.

• 210 Potato // Nov 28, 2007 at 10:19 pm

  I found my way over here by way of themoneygardener (conveniently, the post right above mine).

  I posted my story of financial mistakes at:
  http://www.holypotato.com/?p=403

• 211 Mike M // Nov 28, 2007 at 11:04 pm

  Thanks for all the info. I subscribe to your RSS feeds and read your blog on a regular basis. Keep up the interesting posts.

• 212 vishnu // Nov 28, 2007 at 11:20 pm

  Hi
  I just started investing from last few months.The first mistake i have learned is that never follow the TV gurus like Jim Cramer and analyst blindly as they just move the stock then it literrally sinks.Eg NSTK check it out guys
  Again congrats for 3 years.Kee up your good work

• 213 Edwards // Nov 29, 2007 at 2:42 am

  I’ve been reading your blog for a year now, very informative.

• 214 Middle Class Millionaire // Nov 29, 2007 at 1:56 pm

  Congratulations on hitting the 3 year mark.

• 215 Marianne O // Nov 29, 2007 at 2:26 pm

  I’m just discovering your blog and am happy to have what looks like another good resource for the beginning investor. Right now we’re focusing on buying a house and paying down student loans, but are also starting to build our financial knowledge for the days ahead. Thanks for helping.

• 216 Brock // Nov 29, 2007 at 4:04 pm

  Congratulations on 3 years of a truly great, informative and regularly read blog!

  My investing mistake has been recent and ongoing as well and I hope to learn and make changes.

  I bought some stocks and sold them as soon as they dropped a bit. I made some money but should have not looked so much and should have not sold them as they are higher now. Some quite a bit. But in this market, it is hard to watch the ups and downs. I recommend just buy and leave it if you believe in the company.

  However, it is hard to resist watching them when you have a lot invested. I did not lose anything at least and made a bit but could have made a lot more if I just left it and stopped looking at it.

  So there it is, a classic that is repeated by others here.

  I would recommend in this market, be careful as there are a lot of swings.

• 217 TKO from Ontario // Nov 29, 2007 at 5:38 pm

  Greeting and Congratulations Cad Cap!

  Been reading your blog for 6 months now, keep up the great work.

  My biggest financial mistake would have to be paying interest on OSAP loan after going back to college fool time. Due to my omission I paid 1.5 years of interest on a $10K loan at a time when money was scarce. Ghrrr!

  To avoid it, all one has to is mail a form the college confirming enrolment and save money.

  Cheers your financial health,

  TKO from Ontario

• 218 Eric // Nov 30, 2007 at 10:53 am

  Excellent reading! It has changed the way I invest…

• 219 Canadian Capitalist // Nov 30, 2007 at 1:30 pm

  email entry from Jim S:

  Great blog!! Keep it coming.

• 220 Canadian Capitalist // Nov 30, 2007 at 1:32 pm

  email entry from Diane R:

  I have just discovered your Blog. As I get closer to retirement ( 13 months- but who’s counting!) I am reading more and more about finances. I have always been a saver. I think my best financial moves have been paying off my house mortgages (2 in 25 years) within seven years each. Second would be joining a stock investment club. When it folded I had learned enough that I then went out and opened my own portfolio via a discount broker and it is something I will have fun with when I retire. Worst financial move was putting $2,500 into Portus principal protected note. I trusted my fianancial advisor but obviously neither of us knew what it was all about. Luckily the regulators are getting my money back to me by dribs and drabs.

• 221 Canadian Capitalist // Nov 30, 2007 at 1:33 pm

  email entry from Nancy:

  Congrats on your 3 years, now a days to make it one year is a great feat. The prizes you are offering are a really great touch. I’m hoping it will draw in many more readers for you. I hope to continue reading for another three years. Good Luck for the future.

• 222 Dave from GP // Nov 30, 2007 at 2:55 pm

  Sorry wrong email first time. Count me in. Love the blog.

• 223 TN // Nov 30, 2007 at 4:56 pm

  Your site very useful and informative. Keep up the good work!

• 224 Dave // Nov 30, 2007 at 7:14 pm

  Congratulations on 3 years of financial blogging… I’m a subscriber to your feed and read your comments regularly.

• 225 Canadian Capitalist // Nov 30, 2007 at 11:01 pm

  The contest is now closed. The winners would be announced shortly.

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