Here's an interesting editorial by Warren Buffet. You have to admire his honesty: "Last year my federal tax bill - the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf - was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income - and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent. "

Here's our basic mistake: "If you make money with money, [..] your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine - most likely by a lot". If you want to make money, you have to find a way to stop selling your labour at an hourly rate.

Here's the full article.

Enough with the Ipods and Ipads already! If you haven't done so yet - buy Apple stock. The company stock (AAPL) went up 6% in the pre-market trading on July 20th, after blowing away expert estimates. Apple made $7 billion in 3 months, which makes it the global leader in mobile phones and tablet PCs (more bad news for RIM).

I have yet to buy one Apple product. I think I have an Ipod shuffle somewhere that I've received as a free gift for opening a bank account.

(Just for the record, AAPL stock is now at $398.80)

Want a stock tip? Here's a simple one: Globe and Mail financial published a table of companies that have steadily grown in the past 5 years. As simple as that.

Companies that posted profit growth every calendar year, 2006-10
Company	Ticker	Price $ (June 29)	Market Cap ($-Mil.)	Dividend Yield %	Price to Forward Earnings
Open Text Corp.	OTC-T	60.82	3,482.0	0.0	C+
Home Capital Group	HCG-T	50.51	1,753.7	1.4	A-
Shaw Communications	SJR.B-T	21.59	9,389.1	4.3	C+
CGI Group Inc.	GIB.A-T	23.02	5,322.1	0.0	C+
Descartes Systems	DSG-T	6.75	419.7	0.0	C+
Stantec Inc.	STN-T	27.66	1,265.5	0.0	C+
Enbridge Inc.	ENB-T	31.16	24,126.4	3.2	D+
Equitable Group Inc.	ETC-T	28.60	427.9	1.5	A+
Atco Ltd.	ACO.X-T	61.63	3,562.2	1.9	B-
Shoppers Drug Mart	SC-T	39.76	8,646.8	2.5	C+
Astral Media Inc.	ACM.A-T	37.00	2,077.4	2.0	B+
High Liner Foods Inc.	HLF-T	15.96	241.2	2.5	A-
National Bank of Canada	NA-T	77.18	12,556.9	3.7	B+
Grades are relative to the largest 680 stocks in the CPMS universe based on market float (A is best; E is worst). Source: Morningstar Canada

 

This is an article from Sean Cooper, Pension Analyst, RESP administrator and Income Tax Preparer. Even though tuition fees are high and saving for university is more and more difficult, its still quite possible to graduate debt free.

In a nutshell:

1. Consider part-time jobs throughout your degree (with a healthy balance, otherwise your grades will suffer)
2. Summer Work (this is probably where you make most money for the next year)
3. Buying Used Textbooks (no brainer)
4. Eliminating Wasteful Spending
5. Bursaries and Scholarships
6. Living with parents, if possible. (Generally speaking, if you went to York U, Ottawa U, McGill U, etc. makes no difference to your future employer. The education program is government regulated and your degree paper will be of equal value no matter where you've studied.)

At the end of the day - its all about discipline. If you can control your spending, you'll be fine.

Read the full article.

Here's what your university major is worth, roughly:

Computers, Mathematics and Engineering are at the top.

The American middle class, concludes a new study from the ad industry’s top trade journal, has essentially become irrelevant. In a deeply unequal America, if you don’t make $200,000, you don’t matter. A small plutocracy of wealthy elites drives a larger and larger share of total consumer spending and has outsize purchasing influence.

Read the full article

I'm sure there are more than 5 places to retire for under $500, but here's a choice for you if you can't make up your mind:

• Leon, Nicaragua ($500-$600 per month)
• Medellin, Colombia ($700-$800 per month)
• Las Tablas, Panama ($300-$400 per month)
• Chiang Mai, Thailand ($400-$500 per month)
• Languedoc-Roussillon, France (monthly rental fee of roughly 400 to 600 euro)

Full story

A nice article by Kurt Rosentreter that I ran across (you can trust him - he's got so many acronyms in his title - its scary). Enough was already said about the new generation that is growing up, who are being bombarded with credit card offers without having a job, nevertheless, here's another article that I think is a good read.

Yes, I know he's got his own agenda there and his phone number at the bottom and that "Often financial advisers refuse to help young people because they don't have a enough money" (of course, he never refuses) and that he's got his books listed on a side, etc.