Canadian Personal Finance Blog

This morning it dawned on me that while Quarterly Personal Financial Reports are very important as a communication tool, the most important report you can create is a Yearly breakdown of your Personal Finances for your spouse and who(m)ever else you want to communicate this information to.

Yearly Personal Finance Report

You need to think what exactly needs to be in this report, because it is easy to “kitchen sink” the report and put way too much information in it, so that your spouse becomes confused and/or loses interest in the message you are sending.

The advantage you have if you have done quarterly reports, you already know what is going on, but summing up the year may take a little more work on your part and some of the more interesting things you could show in this report would be:

• The progress you have made paying down your large debts like:
• Your Mortgage
• Automobile Loans
• Student Loans
• Credit Card debt
• How your retirement savings have grown over the year
• How much money you have saved in your “Vacation account”
• How you have done compared to your start of year Personal Financial Goals

The final point I think is the most important, because with the End of one Year, you have the beginning of another, and with your Year End report, you should include your Goals for your Personal Finances in the coming year as well. If the goal is more specific the easier it is to figure out whether you have succeeded or not, so remember that point.

Quarterly Personal Finance Report Links

• Personal Finance: The Quarterly Status Report (Wrap Up)
• Personal Finance: The Quarterly Status Report (Last Parts)
• Personal Finance: The Quarterly Status Report (What Debts)
• Personal Finance: The Quarterly Status Report (What Assets)
• Personal Finance: The Quarterly Status Report (How)

As my lovely wife is likely to point out I have not done any Christmas shopping as of yet, however, from experience I can put out a quick primer on some of the big mistakes that I have made over the year Christmas shopping (no not what to buy, although I have made plenty of mistakes with that too) but the Art of Christmas shopping is the topic.

• If you are attempting to pay for everything with Cash, that is a good idea, it puts a HARD limit on how much you can buy on a single trip. If however you need cash, don’t use the WHITE or unbranded cash machines to get your money, because of the incredible user fees on them. Just because you are under pressure, don’t forget the basic principles of not throwing your money away!
• I like to think I go Christmas BUYING not Christmas SHOPPING. Shopping has connotations of comparing and browsing and such, and there is no time for such fun and frivolity (unless I am buying something for my wife, in which case it isn’t BUYING it is PANIC’ing, because I rarely if ever know what that special gift should be).
• Don’t Christmas PANIC (see previous bullet). As with any financial endeavor PANIC is the worst motivator, because you are going to forget all of your planning, ideas and your common sense. If you feel like you are out of control, walk out of the store and come back when your brains are less frazzled.
• If you have a Christmas Budget, stick to it. Going into Christmas Debt for the sake of buying your Aunt Hilda that coffee maker you think she needs, is really not the answer either.
• What is wrong with Gift Cards? Yes, they are cold, yes they show you have no imagination and yes it shows you hate shopping, however, it does allow the recipient to BUY what THEY want (especially good for folks you can’t figure out what to buy for, but very bad form if you are buying your spouse one (unless it is a $10,000.00 Best Buy gift card then I think you are ok)). Remember also to NOT buy ones with expiration dates.
• Do you have to buy things as gifts? If you have a friend who hates shoveling snow, maybe you can give them some shoveling services from you? You could make something (yes a little late for that, but then again). Sometimes the best gift is not necessarily the most expensive gift.

I, on the other hand have painted myself so far into a corner I am standing on tip toe, when it comes to Christmas Shopping. There is a pair of bunny rabbits that have been wandering around our house, maybe I could catch them and get some mittens made out of them? Now that says Christmas in a special way (that would assure me a special place in Spouse Hell).

Carnivals This Week

I am mentioned in the following excellent Carnivals:

• The Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Money Smart Life
• The Carnival of Debt Management hosted by Debt Consolidation LowDown

Runners World

My daughter ran in a 10 Km race on Sunday, and I was very impressed with her ability to stick with it and work hard and get a very good result. I never had the “intestinal fortitude” to run (I get bored, sore and I stop), and that kind of “drive” is important in Life (and can be applied to Personal Financial Planning easily). An ability to deal with a short term pain for a long term gain is what runners are all about.

More interestingly was the technology around the race, which was very unobtrusive but gave amazing results. Each runner had a radio transponder ankle bracelet, so that their “time” was very real, since it started when they crossed the start line and stopped after the crossed the finish line (given the number of people starting in MASSIVE races like the Boston Marathon, I now understand better how they can get such clear times).

What was MORE amazing was the web site that the Running Community in Ontario (or is it Canada) has where all I had to do to find my daughter’s results was, open the page type in her name and the results appeared on line right there. Now that is a good use of technology.

I wish financial tools on line and on computers were that easy to use. Some are relatively straight forward like the Bank Web Sites, Quicken and Microsoft Money, but end up becoming very cumbersome, because they are trying to attract too broad a customer base (i.e. be all things to all customers). Something a little simpler might be what is needed?

I was impressed with this whole running thing.

Canadian GDP Up in August

The GDP is up again for August, with an increase of 0.2% which is small but at least not negative.

Retail and Mines and Petroleum showed the biggest gains overall, but another up month for the GDP is a good thing:

In August, economic activity increased 0.2%, its average pace since the beginning of 2007. Increases in retail trade and oil extraction propelled the growth, while a decline in utilities dampened it. Both the goods- and services-producing industries advanced. Gains were also registered in construction, forestry, mining excluding oil and gas, and wholesale trade. In addition, the accommodation and food services, and financial sectors moved ahead. Conversely, utilities retreated and manufacturing stood still.

By industry you can see where money is being spent and money is being made, no surprise that Minerals and Petroleum are strong here. Canada is now the Natural Resource house for the Americas, or one of them. Interesting, because most governments have tried to NOT be labeled that way, and now Canada seems to be happy with this label.

In my quest to figure out the cost of healthy kids we have two final topics to cover.

Limit their TV and Video Games (and Computers)

In this case, you actually can save money with a healthy kid, if you don’t buy XBox’s and their associated games, and don’t have a premium cable or satellite package. For a while we had digital cable full blown and were spending upwards of $110 per month on cable alone! That is a big parcel of money.

My kids do have a PS2, but they don’t play with it much luckily, however, they do spend an awful lot of time on the computer (which I have not upgraded in 5 years) on MSN, facebook and playing the SIMs, so that is not good (although not that expensive either). My view on High Speed Internet access for the house is that it is a necessary evil that I am willing to pay for to do my job, and the kids benefit from that. I may get them a new computer soon, but whether it is going to be allowed for MSN and such, is another question.

Limit their intake of junk food

Another interesting problem. Junk food is cheaper to buy usually, and the kids like to eat it, so putting together a healthy menu is not an easy task? Don’t believe me?

• How much does a liter of coke cost? How much does a liter of Milk cost?
• Given the high prices of fresh fruit compare that to a bag of chips?
• Fresh Veggies? Good cuts of meat?

This stuff is not cheap folks, yes there are ways to get your healthy food cheaper (farmers markets, coupons, buying on sales and freezing), but that is all hard work for folks, and a lot of people just “cop out” and take the easy route.

Our grocery bill is quite high I think, but if the food is healthy I am willing to pay the extra money.

Conclusions

Raising healthy kids is an important thing for parents to do. Having kids understand how to stay healthy, and live healthy lives (in a financially friendly way) is one of the most important gifts parents can give their kids.

If you are having problems financially look where you can cut the unhealthy things like TV and such and then use that money on more healthy practices. It’s important, so work at it, to get it done.