Weekend Reading – Nothing like being home, top blogs and many others

While it’s fun to leave (on vacation) it’s also great to be home.  Earlier this week, my wife and I returned from our vacation to Costa Rica.  It was an amazing trip and well worth the planning and expenses associated with it.  We visited volcanoes, stayed in lodges at 7,000 foot altitudes, took a canopy tour through the jungle, I learned to surf and we had some downtime to relax on one of the best beaches I have ever seen.  I’m a big fan of saving and investing for the future but this trip was worth every penny for the experience.  I hope we can go back someday…

Upon returning home, I was happy to find out Modest Money listed me as a nominee for the Top Canadian Finance Blog for 2013.  I was in the running last year but fell short of the title.  Hopefully with your vote, vote here, you can put me to the top of the heap in round one of the voting.

Here are some great articles from many of my favourite sites to check out this weekend, I hope you enjoy them.  I’ll return soon to giveaway some tax software courtesy of H&R Block Canada, a great supporter of this site.  Come back for that!

Have a great weekend everyone.

 

Mike from Money Smarts Blog highlighted the RRSP contribution limits and deadline for this tax year.

Balance Junkie wondered if collecting Air Miles is worth it.

Retire Happy had some personal finance advice for couples.

The Blunt Bean Counter said less is more when it comes to dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Check out Financial Highway for 10 tax filing tips.

Dividend Monk reviewed Becton Dickinson.

Steadyhand said don’t reach too far when seeking income generating assets for your portfolio.

Invest It Wisely wrote about avoiding your personal fiscal cliff.

101 Centavos had another entertaining look at redneck dividends.

The Passive Income Earner shared some healthy dividend income this month.

Avrex Money listed some great Canadian REITs.

Watch out early retirees, Financial Uproar is calling you out.

Michael James on Money wrote about the importance of benchmarks.

Glenn Cooke reminded folks about three keys when buying any kind of insurance.

Canadian Couch Potato said index mutual funds still have a place…just not in my portfolio.

Modest Money is preparing to invest.

The Dividend Pig said Intel is now a contrarian play.

Preet Banerjee delivered an excellent TED Talk earlier this month.

Finance Fox thought about a different way of saving money.

Just to be clear, Big Cajun Man is not a fan of payday loans.

Dividend Mantra is focusing on reducing his expenses on the big three:  housing, transportation and food to achieve financial freedom.

Mr. CBB said income tax is like a four letter word.  I can think of a few of those words…

Niterainbow.com had some interesting KPIs for financial independence.