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Become our Friend on Facebook, and You Could Win a Palm Pre

Filed under: Contests and Giveaways

We know you're a busy parent/student/person on the go, and with back-to-school almost here, we're offering you the chance to win the perfect phone to stay connected with your family.

Introducing Palm® Pre™, a phone so in sync with your life it feels like it's thinking ahead for you.

Hectic schedule? Pre pulls your different online calendars into one view, making it easy to keep track of work appointments, family events and sports schedules, without having to search for them. Pre links your contact information like phone numbers, IM names, addresses, birthdays and even photos from different sources and displays it all in one view, giving you one place to find what you need. And Pre delivers incoming messages and notifications in an intuitively subtle way, letting you react or respond however you want. Calls from friends and kids, traffic updates, holiday party details - information that matters. With Palm Pre, it'll come to you. Palm also has the most popular app titles, immersive 3D games, and exclusive features like video posting to Facebook.

Enter to win a Palm Pre from WalletPop Canada


Value of the package (phone, touchstone charging dock and case): $730.

How to Make Better Use of Your Time

Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Saving, Shopping

We at WalletPop are obsessively focused on saving you money. But there's another precious commodity that is even harder to find, and that's time.
True wealth isn't defined by dollars or euros, but by the amount of quality time a person has. Most of us don't have the luxury of loads of Eat-Pray-Love-time on our hands. That's where WalletPop comes in. We can help you make small decisions that add up to improvements in your day to day life - really we can. Here's a gallery of tips on when to do things, so that you won't be wasting time later. Put these tips to work and we guarantee you'll have some extra time to enjoy yourself.


Parents: University Education Will Cost $100,000 in 2025. Are You Prepared in 2010?

Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Family Finances, Investing, Back to School

WalletPop Canada welcomes guest blogger Neil Jain, who explains how parents can take advantage of the under-utilized Registered Education Savings Plan program, and benefit from government grants.

By Neil Jain, President, Money Life Skills

It's back to school season! As we prepare to take our kids to their first day of daycare or kindergarten, university graduation day may seem far away. The sooner you learn about the $7,200 (or more) in grants the Federal Government is offering you as an incentive to save for your kids' post-secondary education, the more likely you are to participate in it.

Avoiding Debt Mountain

We know that post-secondary education is growing in importance because it enables higher wages and is increasingly required for many professions. But the cost of education unfortunately continues to rise faster than the rate of inflation! According to a variety of estimates, a four-year undergraduate degree will cost at least $100,000 in 2025. Although this may seem daunting to parents, the sooner you have a saving strategy in place, the less your children will need to worry about graduating with a mountain of student debt.

R-E-S-P, Find Out What it Means to Me

Despite widespread recognition of the acronym "RESP," or Registered Education Savings Plan, many parents don't know how the plan can benefit them and their children.

The RESP is a "container," similar to the RRSP and TFSA, where you can place money and shield your contributions and earnings from being taxed. You choose to invest this RESP money in to a basic savings account, GICs, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds or other qualifying investments.

How Much Money are We Talking?

If you contribute $2,500 per year per child, the government will chip in $500. That's 20% return right away! If you have unused contribution room, you can bump up your contribution to $5,000 in one year with a government grant of $1,000! If you diligently sock away $36,000 over a 14.4-year period, the government will kick in a total of $7,200 in grants. Additional grant money is provided for those with household incomes lower than $81,941 (current year numbers) and provincial grants are available in Alberta and Quebec.

The money withdrawn by your kids that is used for education will be taxed in their hands and, assuming they're not raking in lots of cash in their university-going years, they'll pay no taxes on it!

Stay in School, Kid!

Remember: the money in the RESP is strictly for post-secondary education. It can be used in Canada or abroad at a qualifying institution. However, if your child decides to not pursue university, college or an equivalent, you may need to return the grant money and pay high taxes on the earnings.

Get Started Now

My recommendation is to open an RESP with your local bank or credit union and deposit a small amount of money, perhaps $500 or $1,000. This will make you familiar with the process, the investment choices available and you'll become aware of other considerations including: who can contribute, how long you can contribute, when the money must be used and family versus individual plans.

How Do I Make it Work?

You need to consider the priority of saving in the RESP versus RRSP, TFSA and other priorities such as mortgage payments. You may also decide that you will only contribute a certain percentage to your kids' education and have them work part-time or take on some debt. This is quite alright as long as you have a strategy. Gaining the right knowledge about RESPs will help you make an informed decision and you will feel more confident as you take your kids to school this September!

Suggested resource: The Federal Government's CanLearn web site explains RESPs in a friendly manner and answers many common questions.
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Neil Jain is a Financial Consultant and Founder of Money Life Skills. Money Life Skills aims to empower people to make confident financial decisions. Our unbiased life stage seminar series and customized private consultations help save time and money with key life decisions including rent versus buy, joining finances, saving for children's education, optimizing investments, self-employment and getting established in Canada. For more information, visit www.moneylifeskills.com.

Saving Money as a Blood Sport

Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Economizer, Saving

While WalletPop advocates saving money whenever and wherever you can, we don't want anyone to go too far in their dogged pursuit of frugality. Which is why we hesitate to praise the singlemindedness of these zealots, who practice a form of extreme saving that might even be hazardous to their health (we're looking at you, Road Kill Cafe).

So rather like those Victorian cautionary tales, we present these examples of scrimping for your reading and gawking pleasure - not as a model of what we Walletpoppers aspire to.

Your Frugal Tips

Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Economizer, Family Finances, House & Home, Saving

We at WalletPop are constantly searching for new ways to save money to share with you, our readers. But this time we'd like to ask you for your best ideas for saving in these challenging times.

Have a look through the gallery of tips below, and see if you can add more ideas to the mix. Please leave any tips you have in the comments below and we'll select the best ones to add to the gallery. Thanks in advance for sharing your ideas so we can all start saving sooner.

Saving, Not Spending, Makes Us Feel Smarter: Survey

Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Economizer, Financial Crisis

They don't call it smart shopping for nothing but these days it's not the money we spend that's making us feel brainy – it's the money we save. That's what the researchers from Deloitte and The Harrison group learned. They surveyed 2,000-plus consumers and learned that four out of five say they find saving money using techniques like coupons and loyalty programs "fun." So fun, in fact, that 93 percent don't plan to return to their frivolous spending habits when the economy improves.

The research – which is called The New American Pantry Study (PDF) – pointed to five different, new consumer behaviors. Take a look. Join in. You may be more satisfied with how you're using your money if you do.

Keep on reading to find out what these five new behaviours are, and whether you exhibit them in your own daily life and habits.

Countries You Should Never Speed in

Filed under: Travel, Weird & Wonderful

According to Wikipedia, the fastest speeding ticket in the world allegedly occurred in May 2003 in Texas. It was supposedly 242mph in a 75mph zone. The car was a Swedish-built Koenigsegg CCX, which was involved in the San Francisco to Miami Gumball 3000 Rally. But what the article fails to mention is what that speeder ended up paying in fines.

Click through the gallery to see the astronomical fines that have been doled out for lesser speeds. Most interesting is that many countries base fines on the perpetrator's income. It seems the ability to pay (and also the ability to buy faster, high performance vehicles) is more relevant to authorities than one's actual speed.

Sharp Deals on Henckels Knives

Filed under: Daily Deal, Food & Drink, House & Home

PCR Home is cutting a sharp deal on Henckels International Knives.

At Loblaw Superstores across the country for one week (from July 23 in
Ontario at select locations and July 24 in British Columbia, Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Manitoba) Henckels International Knives will retail at 50%
off - while quantities last. The high quality knives, forged in Europe and
featuring ergonomic handle designs, are available in a variety of sizes and
shapes. Specific product offerings include Aviara Knives, The Henckel Block
Set, Berlin Steak Knives and more.

Product selection will vary by store and ranges in price from $14.49 for an Aviara knife to $99.44 for the block set. Berlin steak knives are $27.49 for a set of four. Visit www.presidentschoice.ca for store locations.

Opening Soon: Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

Filed under: Celebs & Money, Video

Decades after Godfather producer Albert S. Ruddy first attempted to create a film version of the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged, the sweeping anti-government epic is finally making its way to the big screen. It appears to be brilliant timing, as Rand's ode to triumphant individualism and unfettered capitalism is selling at a faster rate today than at any time during its 51-year history. Click through the gallery to see who'll be playing some of the main characters.

Trivia buffs should note that back in the 70's when NBC wanted to film it for television, author Ayn Rand wanted Farrah Fawcett to play the leading role. More recently, actresses Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie were considered, as was Brad Pitt for the lead male role. Instead, moviegoers will see Taylor Schilling play railway heiress Dagny Taggart plus other interesting casting choices.

3 Keys to a Successful Career Change

Filed under: Careers

In this economic climate, leaving a job (even one you hate) to try something new can be downright frightening. Yet we can wait until the time is right (or so we tell ourselves) and put off the unknown simply because it's easier to stay with what we're comfortable and familiar with.

Yet, change is inevitable, and it's best undertaken when the groundwork has been laid, and you can be sure you've done everything possible to ease whatever transition comes your way. Read on for Jean Chatzky's valuable advice on how to prepare for a career change and make it as seamless (and painless) as possible.