Category: Books

May 15, 2022 Books

A Guide To Canadian Personal Finance Books – Part 3

15Today’s post will cover two books focusing on personal financial planning areas. If you’re interested in more general books on personal finance planning, then be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this series!

I’ll cover these two books:

  • House Poor No More
  • Beat The Bank

House Poor No More

House Poor No More, by Romana King, focuses on everything you need to know about home ownership in Canada. Her book covers the following:

  • What you need to know about buying a home in Canada.
  • What home improvements will give you the most bang for your buck.
  • How to manage your mortgage debt, so you aren’t house poor.
  • What kind of tax deductions and credits you may be eligible for as a homeowner.
  • How to reduce the monthly expenses associated with owning a home.

So whether you’re thinking of taking the plunge into home ownership or already own a home and are trying to make the most of it, House Poor No More can provide you with the guidance you need to avoid being house poor!

Beat The Bank

The full title of this book is Beat The Bank: The Canadian Guide To Simply Successful Investing, and Larry Bates writes it. Once you’ve set up a budget and paid down debt, you’re ready to start investing to save for your future – but how do you get started?

Many people are intimidated by investing, so they either avoid it and buy only “safe” investments (like bonds) or pay high fees without realizing they are doing so. And high fees can cost you thousands of dollars every year, stripping away your gains!

With Beat The Bank, Larry Bates is trying to help hard-working Canadians keep more of their money. Larry’s professional background is in banking and investments, so he knows the ins and outs of investing. With his book, he can help you:

  • Learn how to avoid high fees, which means you’ll lose less of your returns.
  • Find out all the benefits of switching to low-cost investment products.
  • Put together a simple approach to investing that doesn’t take hours upon end to implement.
  • Gain the knowledge you need to achieve long-term investing success without paying high fees.

You work hard for your money and deserve to keep your investment gains – not lose them to high fees!

Both Of These Books Are Great For Focused Financial Learning

Once you’ve got a strong base for your financial planning, you’re ready to move on to more complicated topics like investing and making the most of home ownership. Which of these topics are you more interested in? Tell me in the comments!

 

May 1, 2022 Books

A Guide to Canadian Personal Finance Books – Part 2

In the first part of this series, I talked about two great introductory personal finance books – The Wealthy Barber and Millionaire Teacher. Today, I’m going to focus on two more general interest personal finance books:

  • Money Like You Mean It
  • Debt-Free Forever

Money Like You Mean It

Money Like You Mean It by Erica Alini describes itself as a book that offers “Personal Finance Tactics For the Real World.” It was published in 2021, so it’s a great book if you’re looking for something that reflects today’s environment – not how the world was twenty years ago.

Some of the things that Erica addresses in her book are:

  • How to navigate the crazy housing market, including the merits of renting versus buying.
  • Whether side hustles are worth it or not.
  • How to negotiate a raise.
  • How to invest so you can achieve financial independence and retire before you’re 80!
  • What to do about student debt!
  • How to handle complicated issues like family finances and unexpected changes in life such as a sudden job loss

This book can help anyone but mainly aims at Millenials and Gen Z.

Debt Free Forever

Gail Vaz-Oxlade wrote Debt-Free Forever. If this name seems familiar, it’s because she’s hosted several shows about getting smart with your money, including “Til Debt Do Us Part” and “Princess.” I’ll freely admit I’ve watched every single episode of both these shows. I’m such a fan of Gail I’ve even seen in her person – and she is FUNNY!

Gail is known for being straightforward and not mincing her words. Debt-Free Forever is an excellent choice if you are feeling overwhelmed by debt and don’t know how to start digging yourself out. Debt-Free Forever explains:

  • How to take control of your spending and determine where all your money is going.
  • How to list your debts and determine just how much you’re paying in interest every month.
  • Put together a budget you can actually live on.
  • Determine how to maximize your debt repayments.
  • Understand the importance of setting aside an emergency fund and how to get started building one.
  • How to get started setting short and long-term goals for a debt-free life!

If you are looking for a book that gets into the ins and outs of investing or negotiating for a raise, then Debt-Free Forever isn’t for you. If, however, you’re looking for a book that will give you hope and a clear plan to claw your way out of debt and stay that way, then Debt-Free Forever is an excellent choice!

Which book do you prefer?

If you’re starting on a financial journey, then Debt-Free Forever is a great place to start, with Money Like You Mean It being a great choice once you’re on the path to financial stability.

 

 

April 15, 2022 Books

A Guide to Canadian Personal Finance Books – Part 1

Despite all the options for online content, sometimes it’s nice to have a book. You can make your notes and highlight things that interest you, and you don’t have to try remembering where you found a specific tidbit of information on various websites!

A book is charming if you’re looking to give a gift to someone, such as a college or university graduate just starting in life! Getting a book focusing on Canadian finance planning is essential, as many savings options (such as RRSPs and TFSAs) are specific to Canada!

This will be a multi-series post, as I’ll cover several different books. I’m going to start with these two:

  • The Wealthy Barber
  • Millionaire Teacher

The Wealthy Barber

The Wealthy Barber, by Dave Chilton, is a personal finance book that’s been around for over twenty years. One of the reasons it’s so popular is that it provides financial lessons in an easy-to-understand manner.

The Wealthy Barber contains a series of stories told by the author’s barber about how to become financially secure. He covers various topics, from retirement to investing, and is very down-to-earthly. He doesn’t get into complicated financial terms that may seem intimidating or confusing – he explains things in a way that an everyday person can understand.

This is an excellent book for anyone just starting on their financial journey. Even if you’re comfortable with some aspects of financial planning (such as buying a house) but not others (such as investing for retirement), it’s a great introductory book.

Millionaire Teacher

The full title of this one is “Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules Of Wealth You Should Have Learned In School,” and Andrew Hallam writes it. Andrew was a teacher who noticed that most of the people he knew who we financially successful were also teachers. While teachers get paid reasonably well and have a good pension, they found that their success went beyond that.

So he looked at what he was doing and what his successful friends were doing and diluted it into the nine lessons in his book. He provides excellent, easy-to-understand advice and some general guidance on how to start investing (tip – try index funds!)  Whether you need to know what to look out for in a financial advisor (although you don’t necessarily need one) or what to avoid when investing (if it seems too good to be true, it is!), this book is a good choice for you.

These Are Both Great Introductory Books

If you’re unsure about the books, you can always take them out from the library and buy them once you know they’re a good choice for you. Have you read either of these books? Tell me in the comments!

November 15, 2019 Books, Saving money

3 great ways to save money on books

Image by Jose Antonio Alba from Pixabay

There’s nothing as satisfying as curling up with a good book. Here in Canada, the winter has already settled in (we had over 15 centimeters of snow last week!) so I’m feeling the urge to stay inside, make a cup of hot chocolate, and read a good book!

Saving money on books is easy AND awesome

I love to read. I’ve been an avid reader since I was a kid, and I still prefer reading printed books over ebooks. That being said – ebooks definitely have their benefits!

But I’m also cheap. So I’ve got three great ways to save money on books, which I’ve listed in order of cost and convenience:

  1. Download books
  2. Borrow books
  3. Buy books second-hand

Downloading books

Downloading books is awesome. You don’t have to set foot outside your door to do it- heck, you don’t even have to get off your couch to access them! And there are plenty of sites that offer them for free. Here are some of the most popular ones:

  1. Kobo offers plenty of free eBooks. They’ve got something from every genre (mystery, romance, science fiction, horror, etc.).
  2. Gutenburg offers anything considered open source – over 60,000 free eBooks. You can even read them online in HTML – a good way to procrastinate at work!
  3. Open Culture Books offers over 800 free eBooks to your Kindle, iPad/iPhone, computer, smartphone or e-reader, and over 1000 free audiobooks. There’s everything from the “Oz” tales to Jules Verne to Nietzsche.
  4. Goodreads is a great, free site (and app!) that you can use to track all of the books you’ve read. It also suggests books that may interest you based on the books you log. The books it offers for free are mostly classics, and some more modern ones (usually only an excerpt is available for those).
  5. Your local library also offers ebooks. They disappear after their checkout period is done, so you don’t have to worry about returning them or paying any fines.

Borrowing books

  1. Your best bet for borrowing books is your local library. Yes, libraries are still out there and they are going strong. While you still have to go into the library to get the actual book, you can search their entire catalog online, and renew books online as well.  If you truly can’t physically get to a library, many of them also will bring books to you and and pick them up! Contact your local library for details.
  2. Friends! If you have a friend who loves to buy books, and isn’t picky about lending them, you can always borrow from them. I borrowed the entire Harry Potter series from various people, as well as lots of other books!

Buying books second-hand

Buying books second-hand doesn’t isn’t as cheap as getting them for free, but the plus side is the book is yours FOREVER, and you don’t have to worry about returning it, or what to do if it gets damaged. Some people really like reading in the bath, and I’d only recommend this if you own the book (I’d definitely NOT recommend it with an e-reader!) :).  Here are three great ways to find second-hand books:

  1. The library! That’s right, libraries will sell books they no longer need (for example, they have too many copies of a bestseller from 5 years ago) for very cheap. They are usually only a dollar or two, and you are helping support your local library when you buy them!
  2. Used good stores. Stores like the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and Value Village tend to get books donated to them, and you can definitely pick up some books on the cheap at any of these places.
  3. Second-hand book stores. These aren’t as common, but they still exist. They offer more variety than the library or a used goods store, but they will usually be more expensive as the owner did have to pay for the books in the first place!

Happy reading!

You’ve now learned three great ways to save money on books:

  1. Download them – it’s free and easy, and you don’t even have to leave the house!
  2. Borrow or swap them – just ask a friend or check out your local library.
  3. Buy them second-hand.  You can save lots of money buy getting them “gently used” from your library, a used good stores, or a second-hand bookstore!

No matter how you get your books, you can rest secure that reading has so many benefits!

Happy reading!