I bet everyone has some new years’ money resolutions on their list, right Bellos and Bellas?  I’m used to seeing these following money resolutions on goals lists:

Pay down debt

Increase my net worth

Track my spending

Spend less on junk

Save eight months of salary

Well I have a great tool to help you achieve all of these on day one of 2011!  It’s called Mint.com. It’s the old Quicken.com and I’ve been using it religiously since I found Quicken.com.  And the best part of this program is that it is FREE!

You add all of your bank accounts, investments, credit cards, loans, assets and mortgages and it tracks all of your spending, budgets, net worth and investment returns.  What fun! You can add accounts from different banks, business and personal, and it even tracks my US Bank accounts for when I spend the winter down here.  All in once place!

Mint.com is available as an iPhone App!

Mint.com has an amazing app that is password protected and allows me to scan all of my cash, credit cards, budget and net worth on the first page.  You can scan your last transactions from any of your accounts, check credit card balances, and feel safe a check has gone through.  If I had to do those things with all my accounts I would have to check with four separate companies. Instead it takes two touches on my iPhone.

Every transaction that goes through any account or card gets categorized by Mint as best as it can.  If it doesn’t recognze someting it will keep it uncategorized and wait for you to assign it a category.  While waiting for someone at a mall (my mom) I’m able to categorize my transactions with a big smile.

It Helps Me Love My Money More

Mint also flags you when a big payment has gone in or out of one of your accounts and when an account has a low balance.  I had a friend coming to visit me in LA last month and Mint emailed me that I had a low balance in my US Bank Checking account.  It flagged that a big check had come out early, so I was able to transfer more funds before the weekend.  I would have never known that the check had come out early and I could have been out money.

Budgets Galore and More!

Another great plus for Mint is that it gives you great freedom to set budgets for the month.  You can set them and it tracks how much you have spent for the month on all of your budgets on the very first page of the iPhone app.  If you click on it it shows how all of your budgets are tracking.  If you do happen to go over (and I know none of my money loving readers would go over) it will send you an email letting you know.

Mint also sends weekly updates to your email account to let you know how much you’ve spent the following week.  It includes your net worth which comes in so very handy to keep you motivated to keep saving and making more money! Can I get a whoop whoop for making more money?

Keep loving your money with amazing tools like Mint.com and it’ll love you back with accomplished 2011 resolutions!

Dave

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Hi Kids,

What is a better gift to give than the gift of financial success!  It’s available at these fine retailers!

US Edition in book and Kindle format – amazon.com

Canadian Edition:

Book City

348 Danforth Ave, Toronto

1430 Yonge St, Toronto

1950 Queen Street East, Toronto

Nicholas Hoare

45 Front Steet East, Toronto

Ben Mcnally

366 Bay Street

Books For Business

120 Adelaide Street

Indigo / Chapters:

Montreal (St. Catherine St.)

Woodbridge

Yorkdale

Yonge and Eglinton

Bayview Village

Thornhill

Square One

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Hey Everyone,

Since my first print run in May I’ve already almost sold out of my first edition!  Thanks for everyone who has bought a copy. I really appreciate your support.

I’ve heard from the book store managers that the first print edition appreciates the most.  So my advice this week is to run out and get one of the last copies for the holiday, friends, kids, Nana and Papa! There are very few left so grab a first edition and profit!  :)

Here is where to still get a copy.  The second print is coming in two weeks!


Book City

348 Danforth Ave, Toronto

1430 Yonge St, Toronto

1950 Queen Street East, Toronto

Nicholas Hoare

45 Front Steet East, Toronto

Ben Mcnally

366 Bay Street

Books For Business

120 Adelaide Street

Indigo / Chapters:

Montreal (St. Catherine St.)

Woodbridge

Yorkdale

Yonge and Eglinton

Bayview Village

Thornhill

Square One

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I’m on a book tour and I’d love for you to come out to one of my event dates to meet me and talk money.  I’ll be signing my new book I (Heart) Money at the following Chapter and Indigo locations.  Hope to see you out and keep loving your money!

August 7th – 1pm -5pm

Chapters Bayview Village

2901 Bayview Ave Unit 132

North York, Ontario

M2K 1E6

August 21st 1pm-5pm

Chapters Woodbridge

East Woodbridge Centre, 3900 Hwy 7 West, Unit 1

Woodbridge, Ontario

L4L 1A6

(905)264-6401

August 28th 1pm – 5pm

Indigo Richmond Hill

8705 Yonge Street

Richmond Hill, Ontario

L4C 6Z1

(905)731-8771

September 25th 1pm-5pm

Chapters Woodbridge

East Woodbridge Centre, 3900 Hwy 7 West, Unit 1

Woodbridge, Ontario

L4L 1A6

(905)264-6401

Indigo Yonge and Eglinton – Coming Soon!

Chapters Square One – Coming Soon!

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My book is here! Anyone who loves my blogs can now purchase a money manual with all of my strategies and philosophies on investing, borrowing, saving and life. Purchase it right here from my blog and you’ll receive free shipping and handling! I know you love saving money too. :)  

I love money. I’ve always loved money. Loving money has allowed me to start my own ideal coaching business, buy my dream car for FREE, horseback ride every Thursday, travel more, and spend time with the people in my life I truly love. You should live your ideal life too.  This book will teach you how to dream your ultimate life then realize it by allocating the financial resources. Learn to optimize everything financial in the following book chapters:

1. Love Your Money – Simplify Your Financial Life
2. Live Like You’re Already Rich – How to become wealth like rich people do
3. Setting Goals For Your Ultimate Life – Dream your ultimate life than live it
4. Budgeting For Your Goals – How to track and save to pump back into your happiness
5. How to Use Money and Credit – How to win by using cash and cards
6. Investment Portfolios – How to build a zero dollar portfolio
7. Wealth Equals Income Steams – True wealth is built on multiple streams of income and how you can do it!
8. Mortgages and Loans – How to borrow to benefit you and save tens of thousands on your current mortgage
9. Insurance – How to only buy what you need!
10. Shopping – How to shop like a pro and save
11. Money and Relationships – How to pick the perfect money match
12. Financial Checkups – How will you know when you’re wealth?

Love your money and it’ll love you back with an Ah-mazing life!

Dave

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It scares me that the word “mort,” which means “death” in French, is in the word “mortgage.”  Here are a few ways to take the Grim Reaper out of your payment plans.  
 
We are at the bottom of mortgage interest rates and it is time to consider fixing your rate to save money and time off of your amortization. The Bank of Canada promised that we would have these low levels until June and June is only a few months away. We don’t know how fast interest rates will rise but we do know they will start to rise from here. The economy has shown signs that it is improving, and the major banks started raising fixed rates. It just might be time to fix.  
 
If you do choose to lock in, be sure to shop around and get the best rate. If you choose to use a mortgage broker you will be locking in for 5 years as low as 3.49% as of today. Even BMO has advertised a rate of 3.75% and it gets cheaper if you have other products with the bank.  
If you decide to lock at these super low rates make two extra steps to get the most bang for your buck and literally save thousands of dollars over the amortization period of your loan.  

1. Set your payments from monthly to bi-weekly–or even better weekly. Bi-weekly payment means you make one extra payment per year compared to monthly. Over the amortization time of your mortgage these extra payments will save you thousands.  
 2. Round up your payments. If your bi-weekly payments are $829.68, for example, round them up to $900. The extra $70.32 bi-weekly will save you even more over the amortization of your mortgage.  

It is so hard to step away from your prime minus variable rates when they are so low. I had a rate of prime -.85 before I sold my place. If you do decide to stick to your variable rate and hope that interest rates climb slowly over the next few years, increase your payments so that you are making the payments that you would be in a five year fixed. There are two advantages to this:

1. You will be paying down your principal very quickly, which will equal less principal to pay back when rates go back up. It will save you bundles in the long run.  
2. You’ll also be used to the payments at a higher interest rate. When you need to renew or decide to go with a fixed rate, you’ll have a few years of already making payments at that higher rate.  
 
Try out some of the mortgage calculators online like the one below to see how much interest you save with the different options, along with how many years you’ll “bump off” your amortization, instead of it bumping you off. And mortgage free years are years that you can spend that mortgage money on your extra special life!  

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