Welcome to the Globe and Mail Personal Finance Reader. I’m Rob Carrick, personal finance columnist at The Globe, and twice weekly I compile a list of articles, blog postings, videos and websites that represent the best of what the online world has to offer on money-related subjects.
It’s true – you’re richer than you think. Bank of Nova Scotia rode this slogan for a while (much parodied during the worst of the financial crisis), but what I’m talking about here is something called the Global Rich List. It’s a website that will show you how your income compares to people around the world. Check it out and get some context about how rich you are.
Then, check out the many other resources in the Reader for making people smarter money managers. We’ve got an entertaining video series on basic personal finance called Saving Penny, tips for managing your credit rating and a directory of online coupons for goods and services. There are also lots of housing and investing links, including one for a quiz to help you determine how much investing risk you can stand.
Special note: We're compiling a list of best Canadian personal finance and investing blogs and we'd love to hear your suggestions. Please send them to me at rcarrick@globeandmail.com
From the Globe and Mail
Interest rates: Signs of anxiety Interest rates are rising faster than predicted, and consumers are feeling the heat. Broker or bank? Fixed rate with strings, or flexible terms? Borrowers need to get their houses in order
Variable or fixed mortgage? When is one better than the other? Analyst Vince Gaetano explains in this video.
Planning for her daughters The latest in our Financial Facelift series features a recently widowed woman who looks for ways to provide for her children after she is gone. It was followed by an online reader discussion on estate planning: Clever estate planning protects your money
Whose interests does your financial adviser have at heart? Some have yours. Others are sales hacks. The regulations make it hard to tell the difference
Saving for a summer vacation It's not too late to start, and it's not that painful, writes Chaya Cooperberg
Extreme frugality: Can you outcheap 'em all? Tough economic times and environmental awareness have caused many people to cut back on consumerism – but reusing old dental floss may be crossing the line
Must Reads From Around the Web
Dollars and Sense
The Global Rich List is a website where you plug in your annual pay and find out where you stand on a global basis. The numbers behind the calculations aren’t as up to date as they should be, but the message that we’re pretty well off here in Canada stands up.
Saving Penny is the name of a series of short, well-crafted personal finance videos about a young woman named Penny, her boyfriend Doug and her friends Jane and Allison. These videos cover topic like budgeting, saving for a home and buying a car, and they offer a nice mix of watchability and useful information.
A recent study shows that use of coupons found on the Internet soared 263 per cent last year in the United States. We have plenty of Canadian online coupon sites, including Flyerland, which I just noticed. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll round up all the sites of this type that I know about.
Seven mistakes that will hurt your credit rating, and how to fix them.
Housing Developments
Financial industry consultant Dan Richards weighs in on the debate over whether there’s a housing bubble in Canada. His verdict: not so much, except maybe in Vancouver.
Here’s Richards on whether your home can be considered a good investment.
Stay with variable-rate mortgages, suggests David Larock, a mortgage planner and blogger. His argument is that while rates will start rising this summer, the increase won’t be as sharp as some believe.
Investorama
Try this quiz, developed by a pair of U.S. finance professors, to examine your tolerance for investment risk. I took the test and scored “average/moderate.”
A great chart for keeping track of the returns from various categories of stocks and bonds over the years. While you’re on this website, called The Stingy Investor, check out some of the other excellent articles and resources for available at no cost.
Investors-Aid, an educational co-operative for individual investors, has issued an advisory about the no-charge 10-per-cent redemptions that deferred sales charge (DSC) mutual funds offer.
An investment adviser argues in this blog that the stock market’s going to get crazy again at some point, so be prepared.
Even investment writers have trouble understanding the jargon-infested legalese that prospectuses for financial products are written in.
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