Smith Manoeuvre/Dividend Portfolio Update – July 2013 + MORE

My 13 year old SUV named Moose feels like it’s on its last legs. There’s a loud whiny noise every time I turn the steering wheel, which likely means the power steering box is cracked. Moose drips engine oil everywhere he goes and now he leaks coolant!
With a Blue Book value of only around $3,000, spending ~$1,000 to fix doesn’t seem prudent…

Get a free slurpee at 7-Eleven on 7/11!
Just as we’re getting into the swing of summer, stores start putting out school supplies. But don’t despair! There is still at least a month of summer left and plenty of great deals and activities to finish the summer strong.
The Children’s Place – Today is the last day to head over to The Children’s Place and take advantage of their 4th of July sale — free shipping on every order plus 20% off everything…

What a crappy crappy week… From the highs of moving in to our new home, straight to the lows of less income and realizing how stressful rental properties can be 🙁 This post was literally supposed to be a “YAY!!! We’ve got renters!!!” one, but at the last minute it fell through and the family decided the place wasn’t for them…

The following is a guest post from Martin of Studenomics — you need to check the blog out to see what sort of new projects Martin has been working on to help you gain financial freedom.
Does it ever make sense to take a year off? Should you take a year off in your teens or 20s to figure everything out?
What’s my answer?
Nope…

This post is from staff writer Lisa Aberle, who’s been away for about eight weeks. We’re happy to have her back! I’m ba-ack. While you probably didn’t miss me, my family and I just got back to the U.S. after spending almost two months in Europe. Our trip was unique: While we did a few of the normal touristy things, most of our time was spent in a city not frequented by tourists…

We’ve covered healthy eating/cooking quite a bit already, in the Summer of Saving series.
But I wanted to dive a bit deeper in to preventative health through the food you eat, because it is so essential.
Remember hearing from your parents when you were younger: “You are what you eat?”
Is there anything we’ve learned in life that rings more true than that piece of advice? There hasn’t been for me…

For about a year, I used to buy these really great salad kits at our local grocery store. They came in these nice little clamshell boxes, had a fork already in there along with some salad dressing, and the salad was usually a pretty good one. It was incredibly easy to grab three or four of these and use them for quick meals on the go…

Your boss is nagging you — again — wanting to know where the reports are. They were due yesterday. The kids are bored, driving your wife nuts at home all summer. It’ll be months before you get any more time off. But you need it now. Not later.
As the news loops in the background, you start drifting to dreamland… smiling in your mind as you feel the breeze blowing in your face, like you were standing portside on the Carnival Dream…

So, blog peeps, I am 26 years old, and I have never gambled before. It’s not for any particular reason. I just haven’t made my way to a casino to try my hand at a game or two. The hubs says I have unrealistic expectations of casinos, mostly because I am really set on having a “Bond Girl Moment”…

I was talking to a friend at work last Friday about what he did for the Fourth of July. He went on to tell me about going to a friend’s parent’s house for a pool party. He said their house was amazing. I immediately asked what his parents did for a living or how they made their money…

Nobody wants to go into an exciting new situation expecting the worst — especially when that situation is moving in with someone, whether it’s just a new roommate or your significant other. But there are some precautions you can take to ensure that, if one of you ends up moving out earlier than you expect, everyone is financially protected…

For those of you just joining us, listed below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market gains/losses…

When a book stops selling well, we usually expect it to be moved from the shelf to a clearance table. Several writers and publishers say the opposite is happening on Amazon.The New York Times says:Bruce Joshua Miller, president of Miller Trade Book Marketing, a Chicago firm representing university and independent presses, said he recently surveyed 18 publishers…

In recent past we have seen gold prices coming down and it is predicted to come down further by the year-end. where as wine as an investment is gaining momentum and expected to increase further,as per Bloomberg news. Enjoy this guest post which discusses this matter further.

Gold and Wine that have been tracking each other’s prices for over a decade have finally diverged…

If you’ve ever lent somebody money and have had to actually ask to be repaid, you’ll know what I mean when I say it’s an incredibly uncomfortable experience. The better you know the person, the more uncomfortable it becomes.
In fact, this isn’t just awkward if you lend a friend or family member money, it can also be something else that you’ve lent (think your favorite sweater) and they haven’t been particularly forthcoming with paying you back…

If you are big into movies, one of the best things you can do is to earn sign up for the Scene program and start earning points. You can earn points for watching movies and buying tasty snacks. And you can redeem your points for a variety of great perks, including free movie tickets.
So, if you decide to sign up for the Scene program, you will want to start earning points as soon as possible…

Are you ready for a rainy day?
The day when the roof leaks, the air conditioner goes out, or the transmission in your car finally dies you will need a pile of cash sitting around to pay for that emergency.
Most financial pundits recommend 6 to 12 months of your expenses as an example of a fully-funded emergency fund…