Cash Money Investing

It is a common saying in Canada and the United States and I am sure all over the World: financially free.  But how many of us actually become financially free?? What does it even mean??  To me, financially free means having income that cover your expenses without actually working.  This income is accumulated from assets, interest, dividends, royalties, etc.  However, the key to being financially free is to be earning the income passively.  If you are looking at becoming financially free, the following points will aid you in achieving your goals:

Well after approximately 12 years of increases (except during the 2008/09 pullback) in the Vancouver Real Estate Market, it finally looks like the Bubble it is starting to slowly deflate.  In just over a year, listings have doubled in many areas of Vancouver.  Here are the numbers: On May 16, 2011, the listings were as follows: Vancouver - 3233, Burnaby - 1968, Port Coquitlam - 507, and Coquitlam - 1571.  After checking today (November 26, 2012), here is what I recorded: Vancouver - 6078 (188% increase), Burnaby - 5308 (270% increase), Port Coquitlam - 1076 (212% increase), and Coquitlam - 

Many people wonder what the rich invest in. However, what most fail to understand is that the rich (or financially independent) are not better investors than the poor and middle class but are actually they are only better savers. They have learned how to live on less than their pay check allows. This allows them to save a portion of their check and ultimately allows them to invest in different financial vehicles.

A surprise announcement by Ottawa will, in my opinion, have a devastating impact on the housing market and for the overall economy for that matter.  New buyers will qualify for less and therefore, not be able to "afford" as much.  This will cause downward pressure on prices, ultimately driving them down.  However, the big impact comes from how the Canadian economy is tied to the real estate market.

Over the past six years, many Americans have found out that there is problem with residential real estate.  Let's suppose you lived in Scottsdale, Arizona and purchased your house in 2005, at near peak of prices.  Now, let's assume you purchased an average 3-bedroom, 2-bath house for $350,000 (average for a home at the time) and purchased it with 25% down payment -  a substantial down payment.  Also, assume you had a very well paying, $100k per year (government job) and because of this, you were paying over and beyond the minimum mortgage payment to to the bank in an effort to pay off your

College debt is a major problem in North America. In 2010, the average student loan in North America has surpassed the $25,000 mark.  American students alone have a combined student loan of approximately $1,000,000,000,000 dollars.  But in reality,  $25,000 of student debt is quite manageable; however, what is disturbing is why it takes the average post graduate over 7 years for students to pay off their student loans. I think there is something else lurking in the background here.

Recently, I was thinking about the last "7 Ways to Save Money" list I made and thought just how typical and boring it really was.  I thought about what people really wasted their money on.  Then I got to think that in reality, people waste money on different things at each different stage in their life.  So I decided to start off by targeting the worst money waster: the mid-twenties dude - which is what I recently past. 

It is no secret that the average poor and middle class North American family have not fared very well financially over the last 30 years.  Do you ever wonder why is this??

It is very likely that you have heard or seen statistics that the rich in North America have been getting richer ever since the financial crises of '08/09.  According to Forbes, the average income of the top 1% of Americans is just over $700,000 per year.  This is about 13 times that of the average 99%, or about $50,000.  Why is this the case??  Why do they make more money and sometimes pay less tax than the rest of us??  Well it turns out that there are good, justifiable reasons to why the rich get richer, the poor get poorer while the middle class slowly evaporates.  It is interesting to

Many people think that if they have a mortgage or rent a house that that is their biggest expense.  Surprisingly, it is not.  The biggest expense we all have is: TAXES.  According to some studies, we pay over 50% of our income to the Federal government.  Most people don't think twice about it and just keep paying taxes and some even pay more than they have to.  If you make a decent income, you should find ways to pay less in taxes, legitimately of course.  Both the US and Canadian tax codes are filled with nice incentives for people who kn