I think many of us feel that if we could just make it big or get a lucky break we would be able to solve all of our problems.  That's not always true though.  We've all read about or heard about the family that won the lottery and then went bankrupt a few years later.  The above video usually brings about a "holier than thou" response from viewers who think they would be much smarter than these "dumb athletes" but how sure are you about that?  Can you honestly say you've never made a purchasing decision because of how you thought someone else might think of you?  I know I can't.  As Dave Ramsey would say, winning the money game is "more behavioural than mathematical."

The more I listen to Dave Ramsey the more I like his common sense, behaviour modification approach to winning at the money game.  In the following video we see Dave's 7 Step approach to becoming debt free and financially independent - two things that are essential to Finding North in your finances.

I've been doing my taxes online for about three years now.  Recently I found a terrific website that allows you to quickly and painlessly fill out your tax return with zero calculations on your part.  Check out SimpleTax to see what I mean, but be careful or you might start enjoying doing your tax returns.

Before I started helping people "find north" in their financial lives and get on the path to financial indpendence, I was a school teacher.  One day a student came up to me and asked me if I had ever heard of the proverb, "a penny saved is a penny earned."  Of course I had, but I had always just assumed that the proverb meant that saving a penny is the same as making a penny.  The student told me his take on the saying, which amounted to, if you save a penny and invest it, eventually it will earn interest or some return and you will someday have two pennies.  I thought that was a brilliant understanding and it got me thinking about all of the pennies we carelessly let fall on the ground or down our seat cushions.  Watching the Gail Vaz-Oxlade interview yesterday reminded me about the importance of practicing the skill of saving.  Watch the short video and then read further for an exciting special anouncement.

Okay, so the challenge is on!  Get yourself a makeshift piggy bank (or an actual piggy bank) and let's start saving up some money.  I have been doing this for the past few months, and I've noticed that the saving habit is like a muscle - the more you exercise it the stronger it becomes.  I am posting a collective challenge to the Finding North readers out there, to save $1,000,000!  I will be adding tips from time to time, as I come up with them or readers send them to me, and I will also be adding "A Penny Saved... Challenge" page to the website to keep everyone up to date on our progress.

I really like Gail Vaz-Oxlade.  Her "Money Jars" from Til Debt Do Us Part is very clever.  Here she discusses some more common-sense financial tips.  Her point about starting the habit of saving is a great idea.  I started putting all of the loose change from small purchases in a piggy bank and within about four months had over $16 saved up.  That doesn't make me rich of course, but it did create a habit of saving that got me to start looking for other ways to save money as well.  It led me to set up an automatic transfer of about $12 a week from my chequing account into a savings account, which I barely noticed but added up very quickly.

What is a TFSA?  How does it work?  How is it different from a RRSP?  These are all qustions I get on a regular basis, and that should be answered pretty well by this post.  The first video is a little hard to see visually, but if you listen to the explanation and follow along with the pen motions you should be able to get the essential information.  The second video is for those who need a visual representation/analogy and who also like humour in their finance videos.

If you've ever applied for a mortgage or even if you have a credit card, you've likely been solicited for mortgage insurance or credit protection or some other type of program that supposedly protects your family.  In the video below Travis Strain, a Certified Financial Planner from Langley, British Columbia, explains quickly the difference between credit/mortgage life insurance and actual personal life insurance.

If you are curious and want to learn more, watch this 19 minutes investigative report by CBC on mortgage insurance and how it can leave families financially devasted.