Weekend Reading – Minimalism, giving away $100,000, good Presidents and more

Welcome to my latest Weekend Reading edition where I share some of my favourite articles from the blogosphere over the last week.

Before those links, earlier this week I received an industry take on Manulife’s new life insurance program called Vitality and I shared some perspectives on how my wife and I plan to generate retirement income.

Hard to believe November is right around the corner…do you hear the holiday Christmas bells yet? 🙂

Enjoy your weekend,

Mark

Young & Thrifty wrote about decluttering – on your way to minimalism.

Ally Bank says it is hoping to encourage Americans to look for opportunities to save through its “Lucky Penny” promotion, launched recently.  The lucky pennies carry a copper colour like real pennies, but feature the Detroit-based bank’s logo instead of Abraham Lincoln’s head. The flip side of the coin lists its value at 100,000 cents.

Boomer and Echo suggested some tactics to keep debt, if you have some, to a minimum.  I fully agree with keeping credit card to a minimum, or non-existent, is even better.  If you need to take on short-term debt use a line of credit, not credit cards.

Mr. Money Mustache is giving away his first $100,000.  Impressive.

Dividend Growth Investor outlined his plan to retire.  We share very similar strategies – from his post:

“I believe there are two ways for a dividend investor to accumulate their nest egg. The first one is to invest everything in dividend growth stocks from the very beginning, and watch the rising stream of dividend income over time. The second way is by accumulating their nest egg through buying low cost funds and ETF’s in their retirement accounts first. After they gain more knowledge, experience and capital, and they get closer to retirement age, the investor can slowly convert the pile of funds into an income producing portfolio that pays dividends. In my case, I am doing both essentially.”

Get a $75 gift card when you sign up for the attractive PC Financial MasterCard – a deal courtesy of my friends at RateSupermarket.ca.

Newbie investor?  Check out this post:

Saving and investing resources for newbies

I also tend to agree with Cullen Roche – Obama has been a very good President.  Unfortunately he inherited a financial disaster from his predecessor.

A nice honour to be mentioned one of the top personal finance bloggers in Canada here – so thank you!

Big Cajun Man is concerned we invest the way we vote – hurried and poorly informed.

Kerry Taylor says these purchases are a bum deal.

Michael James on Money and I agree – we believe many first-time home buyers may consider taking on an enormous mortgage normal.  Crazy mortgages.

Mark Goodfield is back from his summer vacation of golf and fun in the sun with the tax implications of the new principal residence reporting requirements.  No doubt people with a passion for flipping houses are going to pay dearly to the CRA for this going forward.