RRSP time

Hmm.... One of them lazy days. So the only thing I can do is work! But before I go do... ugh... manual labour, let me post.

Dear Munnybagz,
Can you talk about spousal RRSPs during 2007 if both people have room to contribute. And how it impacts on the husband's taxes and if it impacts the wife's at all.
Anonymous

First off, any money you put into a company RRSP is untaxed. You don't need a spousal RRSP if you're both maxing your company RRSP contributions. But other than that, any contributions are good. If only one person is contributing, that will not end up as enough!
Remember, any money that you can save is good. It's better to be able to double your RRSP contributions than have a latte every day. I'm kind of going off track here, but it's good to stress the point that you should always contribute if you can. But it's always better to max your company RRSP contributions first.

This response has been brought to you by Fractals by an 11 Year Old!

Silly yet Sightful

My friend asked me why she didn't have any money. At first i thought it was a silly question. But I realised that not everyone actually knows why they don't have any money. She spends only about $220 every year, but she was bringing in about $500 a year. But she has NO MONEY! Where has the money gone off to? (me, I wish) But obviously she's not completely aware of her spending habits. She started talking a little bit more about the little things she buys, and it quickly showed that she was a spend-a-lot.
What she should do is track everything she buys for a whole month, and see how much she really spends. That way it will show her what she's wasting and doesn't need to buy, and that can help her save money. Otherwise, she'll keep flushing money down the drain. Or the black hole in her wallet, which is where she thinks it goes.

Financial Success in Autopilot

Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Is there never enough money "left over" to pay yourself after bills and other living expenses? I'm sure you've heard the term "pay yourself first" before, but lots of you must be wondering, "How? There's barely enough money for me to get by in life, let alone put aside for my future!" Well, there IS a way. You have just proved that you spend all your money. But you have also shown that you can't spend what you don't have. So what if you were, right before you even RECEIVED your paycheck, to take money out of it and put it in an RRSP or another future savings investment. Most companies offer automatic payroll deduction, and the best part is the money you put in it doesn't get taxed! You can also use automatic payroll deduction to save for a "rainy day" or even pay off your mortgage!
Again, you're all saying, "Where am I supposed to come up with this money? Won't it affect my current style of living?" That's the beauty. Let's take this true story for example. Someone named Kim was saying exactly that, so the man who came up with this beautiful thing called the "Latte FactorTM" named David Bach asked her to walk through the day and quickly discovered that every morning she would buy a latte and a muffin for $5.00. He explained to her that if she stopped doing that and saved the $5.00 a day she was going through right there, she could retire with that money! To find the money, you have to first discover YOUR Latte FactorTM. It's usually something you buy every day that is a WANT instead of a NEED. For example, if you stop of at Starbucks and buy a latte every day (Not that there's anything wrong with Starbucks, I personally find their Chai Lattes DELICIOUS!) or you buy a pack of smokes every day. (Now, there is EVERYTHING wrong with smoking!)
If you want more information regarding automating your savings efforts and the Latte Factor(tm), please read his amazing and eye-opening book, the Automatic Millionaire.

Invest in a Rainy Day!

What happens when it rains? People stay inside and go stir crazy! But not when you have something to do! This is why you should always have a rainy day pot. That way, you can go see a movie, or go to a show or something, instead of lying around with the heater turned up. Just make sure you don't save your umbrella-money... Some of you adults out there might not think that this is applicable, but there is a different meaning to saving for a rainy day. What would happen if you got laid off? Where would the money come from if you didn't have a job? You would need to have saved it before-hand. This kind of rainy day saving should allow you to live normally for at least 6 months. That's one long rainy day! But that kind of rainy day savings could be applicable to anything, also known as an "emergency fund". That kind of fund would cover small emergencies like a broken arm, but it's good to have larger funds, like if your roof blows off in that 6-month-long rainy day!

Frugal vs Friendship Necklaces

Sorry I have not been able to post lately. I have been on the verge of death ( just kidding) and could not lift the laptop without needing to lie down, but I am feeling better now. So without further ado, I will type the rest!

Dear Mr. Munnybagz,
My wife and I have always talked about money with our two kids. Our son, 13, is quite good at managing his money. He chooses to bank everything he gets. Our 10-year-old daughter, however, tends to spend whatever she has on things like extra milk, pencil grips, and friendship necklaces. Do you have any tips for us? How can we teach our daughter to be more frugal?
Sincere regards,
A Concerned Father

Dear A.C.F,
How many pencil grips does one need? Anyways, this is a very easy problem to solve. If she's going to continue to waste money like that, you can put her allowance somewhere safe so she can't spend it. And explain to her that if she continues to spend money like that, she'll have tough times later in life. Also, give her more milk at dinner so she's not as thirsty... And one final piece of advice: if she really wants to buy those things, let her. After all, she's only 10. Not many kids have any money sense at all at that age. So she will learn when the time is right.
So until next time, wait until next time!
Munnybagz

Finally - A Question has Come on Insurance!

Well, after quite a long delay I have received a question. So now... I write!

Dear Munnybagz,
My partner and I both work and we own a house. Since we are both well off, do we need life insurance? I just think it would be a waste of money.
Please respond!
Insurancely Challenged...

Dear Challenged,
Yes! Let's say one of you did indeed die. Sure, you would be able to survive off of what you make, but you wouldn't be able to pay for your mortgage all by yourself. All the things that took a joint effort to pay off like a car, a house, bills, all that taken out of one salary really hurts, and you wouldn't be able to maintain your standard of living. So let's say one of you got life insurance. But the other person died. Then you would still get nothing, plus you would have wasted money on insurance. So the best thing to do is get one life insurance plan that you can both put into, and it would cover both of you. That's the best way to ensure a painless-after-death situation.
Munnybagz

P.S. I need more questions, because I can't write as much if I only can talk about non question-answering things...

Sorry for the Inconvience - This Will Have to do Today.

I’m sorry everyone, but I can’t write a long FunnyMunny post today. However, there is good news. The reason is, I was busy working on my personally owned website! The reason I want my own domain is because of one thing… ads! Here I am, telling you how to make money, the entire time waiting to make money of this site! Well, the time has finally come! When the website is ready to unveil, the new URL will be www.funnymunny.ca!

If any of you are wanting to own your very own domain, I have found a very inexpensive way to do it. The normal rates for a domain can go up to 8 USD a month. That would be 96 USD a year, or 112 CD a year. But, with the help of the easy-to-use and inexpensive www.lowcostdomains.ca, I am only paying 17.45 a year! I’m saving almost 100 dollars. But, anyways, when the site comes up and the ads work, if you are at all interested in them, please click away as I get only 0.25 cents for 1,000 impressions, but 1 cent per click!

Guest Post: How to make money on the internet

Hello FunnyMunny fans. Munnybagz has been stuck in traffic for the last three hours, with about one more to go, so he asked me to write for him tonight. He wanted me to write about ways for kids to make money on the internet. Well, there are lots of ways to do that, here are just a few ideas:

1. Sell stuff on Craigslist. Craiglist is a free buy and sell service, so selling things you don’t want anymore costs you nothing. If you don’t have anything to sell, you can ask friends and family if you can sell things for them for a commission. Perhaps 10%? Maybe 20%.

2. You can buy things on the internet and save money, which is another way of making money. See the previous post Saving Money for Hot Spenders. You can save hundreds of dollars by shopping around online before buying anything at a store.

3. Start a newsletter, blog, or website. Once you have lots of subscribers or visitors, you can get sponsors and advertisers for it. For instance, you can start your own blog, like this one (but about a different subject you are interested in) and place Google Adsense on it.
There are lots of other good creative money making ideas for kids too, but beware of the many ”get rich quick” schemes being promoted on the internet. Be careful that you don’t fall into a trap and get scammed.

If you have any other great ideas for how kids can make money on the internet, please leave a comment.
That’s it for tonight folks. Stay tuned for the return of Munnybagz tomorrow.

Hey Kids- Do You Still Want a Credit Card?

Aren’t we in such a wonderful age? Quickly pay for things with a credit card! Never again will you need to save to get something. Now you can buy it and THEN pay for it! Right? Wrong! Credit cards are the real thieves of the money world! People who don’t understand credit cards can go over 100,000 dollars in debt! You need to understand that one thing a credit card is not is free money. And they are also the jewel in the sand! When it comes to interest rates, that is.

Did you realize that credit cards can charge up to 28 percent interest? If you have 100,000 dollars in debt, thats 28,000 dollars you’re paying to the bank just because of your wild spending habits! Now I know that some people out there have good spending habits. Only buying things when they know they have the money. But it’s just plain old unfair for those who save before they spend. With all these rewards you get for using your credit cards, like air miles, or don’t pay until 2008. What rewards do people get for saving their money that aren’t self-earned? It’s kind of like how someone gets praised for quitting smoking, whereas the person who should be getting praised is the one who never started.

If you’re about to give a kid a credit card, you’ll be damned if you charge it to you’re account. As long as it’s not their money they’re spending, they don’t really care how much they spend, or how much more you have to pay then what they bought costs.

Banks- Gaining Interest Rather Then 10 Cents

I remember a time when i had a mere 85 dollars in my bank account, and every month, when i would collect interest, I would get 1 cent every month. Now I obviously have a lot more money in my account, but I’m still getting very low interest. I know a bank that would give me a much better return, but I’m just too lazy to go there. There’s no excuse for you not having enough time. If i had taken an hour or two to get a better account, i would have gotten at least 10 percent of my money in interest. So even if you’re quite happy with your current bank, it’s always a good idea to look around for some that pay better interest. And before you open an account, make sure you check for any fees whatsoever! Some banks can actually have you LOSING money in a savings account! Check out all your options for an account to hold money. GIC’s are really good for kids who don’t want to spend their money and are only interested in making more. They give a lot more interest in a much shorter period of time. But if you want constant access to your money, a GIC is not the option for you. They have a minimum amount of time until you can take your money out, which is normally 6 months. And if you’re just a kid with not much money or you’re looking for an account to hold your only money and you can’t afford to lose it, don’t put it into an account with a risk factor, no matter how low it is. Remember, taking loans out of banks is a sin unless mandatory. Rates on bank loans can cause blindness, paralysis, or even, in extreme cases, death! (just kidding) Banks don’t make money by giving it away. The loans they make interest off of need to make more interest then they are paying to customers!

10 Percent is More Than 10 Percent

If you want to have a successful retirement, it’s always good to have multiple sources of income. Not only do you want to have a few income-generating investments and a pension plan, it’s always good to have the ten percent you’re saving as a backup, or “fun fund”. That way, if you live longer then your pension, you can still have money!

Saving Money for Hot Spenders

There probably is a phrase out there that states, in some way, that saving money is earning money. I’ts not. Earning money is where you work and new money comes into your hand to reward you for your efforts. Saving money is where you prevent money that you are already in possession of from being thrown away. The easiest way to save money, in my opinion, is to not spend it. But, alas, we all get an itchy credit-card hand once in a while, but you can still save money while spending money. Here are some tips. Don’t get trapped in a fad. People spend hundreds of dollars on the latest collectibles or playing cards, only for them to go out of fad a year later. If you must take part in a fad, think about whether or not you’ll be able to get your money back by doing something like selling it on eBay. Don’t buy thing you know you’ll never use. I remember an Archie comic where Jughead walks in carrying a yacht steering-wheel with his parents saying they don’t even have a yacht. To which Jughead says, “I know, but it was such a bargain!”. Don’t be daunted by the task of looking around for a few hours to find the best deals. You think that it would be better to spend an extra 150 dollars on golf clubs and work overtime for 3 hours instead of looking around for golf clubs for 3 hours and saving 150 dollars? Look at it this way. If you earn 60 dollars an hour working overtime, that means that you’d make 180 dollars in 3 hours, right? Thats 30 dollars more than 150 dollars in 3 hours. But wait! There’s more! Minus taxes that only is about 45 dollars an hour. That makes 135 dollars. 15 dollars less than the saved money. You may have new money in your circulation, but you have taken out more old money then new.