The best of the web on money, markets and all things financial, as chosen daily by Globe and Mail personal finance columnist Rob Carrick.

How I failed at buying rental property
Financial planner Jeff Rose talks about his mistaken belief that he could become a real estate investor. What got him going was some DVDs and audio training CDs from a guy who shows people how to make money in real estate, with no money down.

All I want for Christmas is some cold, hard cash
An economist makes the case for giving cash, not presents.

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Children are darned expensive
A reality check on marriage and raising kids from a psychology professor. Kids, she says, are "cute in the abstract." In reality, they're time consuming and expensive.

Invest in brain health
A list of tips for keeping your mind sharp in your senior years. A column I wrote recently on seniors and debt helped inspire this list.

Money matters
Join the 34,000+ people who subscribe to my Facebook personal finance community for talk about investing, retirement, real estate, banking and other financial matters. I'm also on Twitter.