Thoughtful Words of Wisdom from Chicken Soup for the Soul (Co-creator)

Over  the summer I was approached again by a great writer/blogger supporter Jeff Rivera who has hooked me up with millionaire Mark Cuban and co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul Mark Victor Hansen.

Mark Victor Hansen recently started an on-line academy called GoRichKids.com.

As you know I am a huge promotor of kids learning early on respect and knowledge of money.  My oldest daughter (18yr) saved up enough money and managed to purchase her own brand new car (with no help from mom and dad).  Cynthia (15yrs) had been working now for over a year and purchased her own iphone and pays the monthly bill.

Recently, Veronica who is 14 had applied to IHOP and was hired but IHOP realized she was only fourteen and unfortunately their minimum age is15yrs.  But she was not deterred and got a job at Dominos Pizza.  She has been wanting a phone also but the rule is you have to be able to afford the monthly payments.  So guess we are going shopping for a phone pretty quick!

This is why I am such a strong supporter of Mark's site that helps young kids become entrepreneurs or Kidpreneurs as he likes to call them.

I would defiantly recommend you check out his site at:

http://www.GoRichKids.com

I would love to hear what you think about it.  Go kids go!

He also sent me a great article in regards to marketing your blog to the right target group and making your blog stand out.  Here is the article:

Building a successful blog

Every blogger dreams of garnering a large number of followers. Whether your aim is ten thousand followers or a million followers, there are many aspects that you need to consider to reach your aim. Deciding a goal, a number of followers, is the first step to achieving it. It is always easier to pursue a definitive goal. So now that you have a goal, what comes next?

The first thing you need to consider is the model that you want to work on. Blogs work on different models. The idea is to choose a model that you are suitable to and that suits you. When I had decided that I want to make it as a professional speaker, I wrote to Cavett Robert. He was the world’s best speaker at the time and has trained Zig Ziglar and me. Robert asked me to join his association – the National Speaking Association. I joined the association and went for one of their gatherings with a tape recorder. I practically interviewed every member present and asked them everything I could think of - how they started, how they worked, how they planned their talks and a lot more. When I went back home and went over the recorded conversations, I was able to look at their chosen methods of working objectively and choose which model suited me the best.

This is exactly what you need to do. Carry out some research on the models in use in the market and choose the one that you think will work for you. You can start your research by joining an association of bloggers.

The next step is to choose a great topic that you have a lot to talk on, but that is also relatively untapped. For example, have you considered the number of blogs that talk on menopausal mummies? This is a hot topic because many people would like to learn more about it, but are there enough blogs talking about it? If not, you’ve found your topic. Chicken Soup for the Soul touched a similarly untapped market when we started – that of readers who wanted heart warming stories of real people living in the real world. That’s the kind of niche you need to look for – one with great demand but little supply.

If you work systematically and from a business perspective, there isn’t much that will stop you from becoming a successful blogger and making your blog one of the most searched ones online. Choose your model carefully and select your niche with care. But first, learn to dream big because that’s where all endeavors begin.

*Don't forget to check out his website:http://www.GoRichKids.com

New Addition - Introducing our puppy "Seven"

SEVEN  - the day we brought her home 7wks

Seven today, enjoying the outdoors! 7 months

After many years of contemplation and begging from the kids - we took the plunge and got a dog.

I can't believe how we lucked out!  She is so sweet tempered, fun and very loving.

I have discovered having a puppy is ALOT easier than babies.  I know alot of people disagree but...

Here are three key issues that says otherwise:

Sleeping through the night at 9 wks old (my kids are great sleepers - but none of them slept through 10 hours at 9 wks old).  KEY: Kennel Train!  Highly recommend that!

Shared responsibility.  This one is major!  The kids do the majority of walking (though I do it when the kids are in school and the odd weekend and evening).  Since my husband and I go to bed WAY to early, the older kids put her to bed.  No worries there.  Just say "bedtime" and off she trots.  If she wakes during the night, the kids are the ones that wake up with her since I hear NOTHING...yeah!

She poops outside!  Believe me - after 12 years of one or two kids in diapers this is a blessing. We still get the "excitement" peeing which I am told will one day be done.  Fingers crossed.

I think the key was having your kids being older and watching hours and hours of "Ceasar  - Dog Whisperer".  Kudos Ceasar! AND being home with her to make sure she does not chew the house down.  I don't know how people do it when working full time.

The hardest part is having ALL eight of us follow through on being consistent with her.  All and all the last 5 months have ben awesome.  I am so glad that we got her and we can't imagine life without her now.  She gets so many hugs and kisses I am surprised she doesn't hide from us.

She now has "godparents" who babysat her when we went on holidays (my mom is not big on dogs in her house).  They loved her like there own and complimented us on how well trained she is.  She is missed greatly by them and they are now counting down the days to babysit again. Dog Mommy pride!!

We love you Seven! Welcome to our Family!

TFSA and Turning 18!

Ok, I know it has been forever.  I do have some great excuses - but for now the main one is that our oldest daughter graduated high school and turned 18!

Here is her graduation dress photo - we had a great time at her grad dinner and dance.

Yes, a milestone in any teenagers life (and also the forever young parents) but even more so when she is now eligible to open up a $5000 tax free savings account.

The agreement was that what ever the kids managed to save in their savings accounts (this money they could not access once the money was transferred in ) my husband and I would match it.

Now Alexis has been working since she was twelve and was "suppose" to save 40% of her pay.  That worked for a while till she got older and makeup, clothes and friends took priority.  So she says she became a little "lazy" in saving.  This changed once we reminded her of the "match your money" agreement.  Wow, that worked great.  (BTW, she has over $3000).

Though I do have a caveat on this - her sister who is 15 started working this winter once she was told of this race to save, she then replied that she would try to acquire $10,000 and we would have to match that! What?!  Ok, maybe we did not fully think this through - we had to put a limit to this - since we do have 5 more children up and coming.

So while we took our 18 year old out to dinner and celebrated her adulthood we discussed her opening up her own TFSA and teaching her how to research stocks and learn how dividends work.  Basically making her money make money!  She is so excited.

All we can say is that we wish we had this information or someone to help us out when we were her age and learn how to start off a financial life on a very positive note.

To her furture!!!  Happy birthday.

Shop around for Mortgage Rates - Don't be afraid to ask.

Its worth the time and energy to shop around for a great mortgage rate.

This is something my husband and I haven't done in the past, and I believe we have "paid" (literally) for it.

With our mortgage renewal coming up in April and with wanting to max out our RRSP, the timing to shop around was due.

We had started back in the fall and was prepared to payout an early penalty believing that in the end that the difference in the percent that we would get with a new mortgage was worth the three month interest cost.

We were determined to get a rate below prime (3%) and the only way we could do this was to go variable. But after researching mortgage articles it became clear that the difference between fixed and variable were not worth the risk.  Plus, honestly we just aren't comfortable with variable.

Thankfully this worked in our favour.  The new year brought about BMO's 2.99% FIXED 5 year mortgage.  We could not believe our luck.  We quickly jumped at it knowing that we would have to pay the penalty to pay out our current mortgage 3 months early.  But this we could justify.  Right?

The rate was good until nine days before our mortgage was to mature.  NINE days!  Would the bank be willing to extend it for nine days and save us about $3500 dollars?  You only have to ask right?

The worse they can say is no....Well, we walked away with smiles on our faces with no fees to pay and more money to put towards our TFSA and RRSP's!

Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

New Year! TFSA $5000

Have you added another $5000 to your TFSA?  Working on it, right?

Easiest way is to set up an automatic withdrawal from your bank to your TFSA account.  What ever amount you feel would be comfortable if you are unable to put the total amount in right away.  Which, hey, who has $5000 laying in wait to do that right?

It you set that up automatically you don't end up even missing that money.  Easier said then done, I know.  But what are you waiting for?  Even if you can only do $100 a month at least it is something.