Wealth Builder Canada

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T11:12:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! All the best in 2011 and I hope you all achieve your financial goals and a lifestyle you are thrilled with.

All the best!

Busy Times

2010-06-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

As some may have guessed, life has been quite busy for me lately. I was forced to spend some time away on business for my daytime career which offered little time for blogging and my own company. As a direct result of spending so many hours away from home I was able to accrue more income than usual. With so many hours billed my accounts swelled slightly over their usual amounts.

The final results:

Web traffic on my sites dropped significantly due to lack of new content

Bank accounts increased due to number of billable hours spent on work

Bills/utility debts dropped due to less hours spent at home.

All the additional income received was deposited directly into my emergency fund which swelled beyond my targets for the entire year. RRSP contributions for the last month almost doubled over projected. I fully intend on diverting some of the funds into debt repayment but for now (since it was un-budgeted) I will sit on the funds untill a proper plan with maximum yield is developed.

Overall I was unable to accomplish my usual daily goals with my own business and online work, but the net result was a tremendous positive in the cash flow department. Perhaps I will need to re-evaluate my targets and revisit plans for max results.

Cheers

Joined the Yakezie Challenge

2010-05-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

Just joined the "Creating Powerful Friends: Samurai’s Yakezie Challenge". Through selfless promotion of other Bloggers we will grow a strong network uniting many posters together.

I am truly excited to be part of the movement.

Check it out at the Financial Samurai.

Zero Dollar Day

2010-05-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

When was the last day you spent no money whatsoever?

A great technique for saving cash- simply don't spend it. I know this sounds crazy but it works. I have used this technique with great success to exceed my savings targets within my already tight budget. Try it for yourself.

Schedule your first Zero Dollar Day sometime during the next seven days. Prepare by scheduling it for a day which you have no planned expenses. Complete any required spending prior to that day (filling the vehicle with fuel, groceries etc). Do not "stock up on spending" though :)

Now go the entire day without spending a dime. It's not as easy as it sounds when that coffee or candy temptation presents. Once you have completed the day successfully (if you slip simply schedule another) plan your next Zero Dollar Day within the next 4 days. Repeat this process as often as you can.

It becomes addictive.

Once you have forced yourself to not spend money, the realization that you can live without certain things will present itself. From here you can begin trimming the budget even further. End result- wealth you didn't even consider before.

Did you really need that Timmy's coffee after all?

Cheers
WBC

Link Rally

2010-05-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

Collection of links from some great Blog Authors.

Does Money Buy Happiness? @ Fiscal Geek
Asset allocation for beginners @ Green Panda Treehouse
Playing China’s housing bubble @ Intelligent Speculator
You Can do Better Than The Millionaire Next Door @ Money Energy
Do’s and Don’ts with ETF’s @ Canadian Capitalist
Spending your Tax Refund @ Million Dollar Journey
The Two Faces of Luck @ Canadian Dream
Tracking Finances @ Four Pillars
Plan the Unplannable with Dividends @ The Dividend Guy
Debt clock: what does yours look like? @ Balance Junkie
The Power of Childlike Persistence @ Financial Highway
Start Living on one income @ Debt Free Adventure
Carnival of Personal Finance
Money Hack Carnival
Carnival of Money Stories

Million Dollar Club

2010-05-16T15:16:00.001-07:00

Today I declare that I am officially joining J. Money’s Million Dollar Club. I am now officially on my way to becoming a millionaire! You can join too, the concept is below.

You are definitely more likely to accomplish your goals if you put them down on paper. It gives you something to follow and each time you complete a goal from the list, you gain motivation. Check out my list and make one for yourself.

How I will do it

I can and I will employ solid personal finance theories in my life.

Stick to my Budget/Financial PlanI will spend less than I earn annually.

I will never buy a car just to keep up with appearances.

I will not buy a house that is more than myself or my family need.

I will not spend money just to spend it.

Involve successful people in my life, avoid negativity

Sell unwanted stuff on eBay/Craigslist/Kijiji

Develop my career to highest income earning levels

Develop other forms of passive income

Join the Million Dollar Club and start reaching your goals today! Do you already have a list of goals like this? Share them in the comments section below.

Be sure to head over to Budgets Are Sexy and check it out. Tell them Wealth Builder Canada sent ya!

Round of drinks on Me when I hit my goal... Cheers!

Back to saving money and gaining wealth

2010-05-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last Gaining Wealth and Saving Money post. I can honestly say I have been busy living my dream of sorts. Since my last post I have been extremely busy juggling my daytime employment and establishing my business. I am proud to say that my business is well on it's way to success.

Initially I registered the business name in Ontario, started it's website and began setting up the home office. As I moved through the process the snowball effect become quite apparent. Many business requirements rely on other tasks to be completed first. This quickly became a very large "to-do" list.

My to do list consisted mainly of:

Business Registration and Accounting Requirements

Improvements to the home office

Business Forms, Letterhead, Cards etc etc

Marketing Marketing Marketing!

I purchased Quickbooks Pro to keep track of all my business transactions. I had previously been tracking this information with simple excel sheets for my personal and business expenses. I was pleasantly surprised to find Quickbooks extremely user friendly and manageable. My accountant should thank me next tax season.

My home office was upgraded with a budget friendly devoted PC (resurrected from my closet) a printer/fax/scanner combo from WalMart at a very reasonable price. Many other office purchases such as paper, report covers, binders etc were purchased from the Dollar Store! That place has been the most useful office supply depot I have ever found.

I was able to print some new business cards, devise letterhead, forms and templates at a very mimal cost by searching around the net and simply borrowing the free templates already developed by others. At almost zero cost I have professional looking forms and templates for all required situations. As well, Quickbooks includes various templates for the accounting end of things.

Onward I moved to Marketing. This I believe, will be the most time consuming, yet best utilized time for my business. As I am already quite familiar with Blogging, I started a blog for the business and quickly added some content to use as the company website- free of charge :)

I will devote an upcoming post to the various marketing tactics I am currently using and how they have panned out.

Every day that passes I become less dependant on my day job, the ability to be free is at hand.

Stay tuned!

Home Based Business and Accounting

2010-03-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well it would appear that there is always more work than expected getting a home based business off the ground. Lately a good portion of my free time has been consumed getting the permitting, insurance, taxation and assets in order for the home office.

I set a good number of goals to be achieved in the last month. Many of which I hit with no issues, but many others present some small problems along the way. It seems as though many goals hinge upon completion of other items first. Without following the chronological order of business, nothing gets done.

I have had a home business established for some time, but it was not run efficiently and operated with less than optimal productive income. Going forward my goals and targets should bring a larger income to my personal accounts.

I have enlisted the service of Quickbooks Pro 2010 to move my business forward in a more productive fashion. This software is very user friendly in many aspects. As I move forward through the use I will post update articles outlining my success.

Overall, I wish I had gone through the process of setiing up the larger scale home business sooner, but better late than never. I look forward to reaping the rewards.

See the site Advanced Energy Solutions Thermal Imaging

Til Debt Do Us Part

2010-03-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

For anyone who hasn't seen this show, it airs daily on Slice and various other networks. The show presents a uniquely Canadian view on debt in general. The vast majority of the situations focus on the most common form of personal debt- consumer debt.

Basically a new Canadian Couple are the stars of each episode. Generally they carry between 40 and 100 Thousand dollars of consumer debt (usually on high interest credit cards). Gail Vaz-Oxlade shows them different methods for paying down their debt and gaining financial freedom using budgets, cash only, repayment schedules etc.

For anyone interested in Personal Finances, check out Til Debt Do Us Part. There are many interesting techniques and errors shown in each eposide, keeping the viewer interested and coming back for a new episode.

Heres a link to the
Gail Vaz-Oxlade
website for further information.

Personal Finances

2010-03-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

One line will sum this up... Treat your Personal Finances as a business.

Too many people have this laid back view of Personal Finances, Budgets etc. Quite simply, they do not take them seriously. Unfortunately I see this time and time again. Even people who operate a successful business will have Personal Finances that are simply headed, or already in, the red.

Take your Personal Budget seriously. Stick to it, and your financial goals. In many cases people have no idea what they spent their money on. If you treat things more like a business by keeping receipts, tracking money, and reviewing Personal Goals you will achieve success where many have failed.

Here's a link to my post on Google Adsense.

Google Adsense and Blogging

2010-01-13T14:52:00.000-08:00

Recently I chose to employ a well known feature of Google called AdSense on this Blog. For anyone not familiar with this quite simply you allow Google to place small ads on your website or blog. In return for doing this the Webmaster or Author will be paid for each time someone clicks on an add.

I debated for some time wether or not to monetize this Blog before I had attracted a substantial readership. Well I have not yet attracted the huge readership, but went ahead and added Adsense anyhow. I can vouch for the effectiveness of Adsense from my other Blogs etc. The payment only hinges upon how many visitors you can attract.

Time will tell how this will affect my SERP ranking for this Blog. Usually it is not a good idea to add Adsense this soon but what the heck, I am always looking for more sources to Make Money. I will update as time passes on the efectiveness of Adsense on this page.

Here's a link to my post Make Money In 2010.

Cheers

Make Money in 2010

2010-01-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

So I have set the same goal again for myself in 2010, make more money. Perhaps you are like me in that you are no longer satisfied with you current income or career. Come along for the ride with me :)

As I enjoy my current career immensely, I have no plans for leaving my day job. However, I have decided to explore other avenues of income. As well, I would like to try some new methods of using my existing equity and income more effectively. Some avenues I am currently using and will be trying soon are;

Continue building my home based business

Build Capital in my business (too many methods to list in this post)

Keep my Business and Career separate

Optimize Web Traffic to some of the other sites I am involved with

Manage business finances to optimize all personal income (taxes, expenses etc)

Promote my Ebook(s)

Help others to gain a career they can enjoy as much as I do

Use my business as a backup or future full time large-scale company

I have found many ways so far to make my current finances work more effectively in my favor, but recently the largest gains have come from what I viewed as the largest risk- starting a home business.

As it turns out, this does not have to be risky, or difficult at all.

Here's a link to my post The Importance Of Me Time.

The importance of Me time

2009-07-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

After an extended absence a new post has finally arrived.

Throughout the last few years I have basically been running from one goal to the next. Never satisfied when I have achieved a new level of success. I can testify that it does take a toll on a person over time.

In the last 5 years I have achieved scholastic success, began a new career, achieved accredation in many fields, taken alot of training, achieved increased financial successes and finally; learned to slow down once in awhile.

Recently I decided to focus exclusively on my financial gains. This, however, did not allow much for blogging as I have not yet monetized any of my blogs. Consequently I was able to gain further sucesses by focusing my efforts.

Project Debt2Freedom

2009-04-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Okay now you have some notes on paper right? The next step in Project Debt2Freedom is to fine tune your goals. If you are truly here to better your chances at Building Wealth and Saving Money than the following is of interest. Everyone has a different set of goals and potential hinderances. Mine were similar to what was listed in the earlier post buch much lengthier :)

Now here's where it begins to get difficult. Give each goal a rank from most important to least. This will be of great importance when you create your upcoming budget. Now, heres where I give you the first item of importance. The highest ranked item MUST be Eliminate Credit Card Debt. Of any item on your list, this must always rank the most important. Unless some bookie is knocking on the door right now- this must be the number one priority for your success.

I will save the details regarding the importance of Eliminating Credit Card Debt for another post, but believe me, it is top priority regardless of your situation.

Now rank your hinderances from most likely to cause difficulty to least. This will be entirely based on your own situation. You need to decide what is most important now and what may become an issue in the future. Don't worry if you are unsure about anything; no one can truly predict the future.

This list you have now should have only taken a short amount of time to rank and will become the foundation of your personally planned Project Debt2Freedom.

This is where you will notice that my method for you differs from any others you will find on the net. For one; it has worked for me and it will work for you (anyone at all, even a Stay at Home Mom) and most importantly-

It costs nothing.

On to the next post :)

Develop your Financial Success Plan

2009-04-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

The first thing you need to do is develop your plan. For future posts we can refer to this as "Project Debt2Freedom". This will lay the foundation for your future success. This does not need to be a complicated process, simply a few notes jotted down on paper. This will be the beginning of your overall plan of approach. It is important you write these down as you will need to reference your notes repeatedly during the rest of the process.

First off jot down your goals. These should be the items that are foremost in your mind right now. They can be as simple as;

Eliminate Credit Card Debt

Contribute to Retirement Savings

Pay off Loans

Develop other sources of Income

Buy a house or renovate your existing one

Retire Early

Develop a new Career

Etc Etc

These notes will reflect your personal goals. Now we also need to list the things that could prevent you from achieving these goals. They may be;

High Debt Load

Job Loss

Potential Job Loss

Potential impending expenses

Etc etc

Take some time to reflect on this part. The more items you list, the greater chance you can design the rest of your plan to achieve success. This should take at least an hour to accomplish. I found that listing these items at the beginning of a simple notebook to be a great help. This notebook will serve as your Diary of sorts, allowing you to quickly reference all aspects of your plan. It will also make it much easier later to see how far you have come in your quest to Save Money and Gain Wealth. Stay tuned for the rest of Project Debt2Freedom

How to Gain Wealth- First Post

2009-04-07T11:37:00.001-07:00

This is the first post for what I hope will be a useful tool for people similar to myslelf. Lets face it, everyone wants to Save Money and Gain Wealth. If not, you wouldn't be reading this. I suppose I could have titled this Gain Wealth For Beginners :)

This Blog will doccument the different methods and techniques I have used, or am currently testing, to Gain Wealth and plan for Financial Success.

A little background on me...

I have a career in the field of Alternative Energy which consumes much of my time. I enjoy learning as much as I can about topics that interest me. In the past year I have; bought my first home, reduced my personal debt, eliminated high interest credit card debt, increased my retirement savings, and began investigating many other methods of Building Personal Wealth.

Currently I have no intention of replacing my current career with any other incomes that I will share with you, but the option of having a "safety net" in place seems like a very good idea to me. With plant closures, layoffs, and these unstable economic times making front page headlines daily; methods of Saving Money and Gaining Wealth seem very attractive.

In the forthcoming articles I will attempt to doccument the techniques which have worked out well for me, as well as which have not.

This list of techniques will be on-going and will likely take some time before I can share all the relevant techniques with you. I have tried many and wish to share my experiences with anyone willing to achieve success. Some of the upcoming topics will be;

Financial Plan

Budget

Credit Card Debt

Saving Money

Investing

Make Money Online

Career

RRSP

Mortgage

Insurance

As I said this will take some time to get these topics covered so stay tuned :)

Check out my Green Energy related Blog here

Update: View Devolp Your Financial Success Plan