Hub Blogs

Hub Blogs contains fresh contributions written by Financial Independence Hub staff or contributors that have not appeared elsewhere first, or have been modified or customized for the Hub by the original blogger. In contrast, Top Blogs shows links to the best external financial blogs around the world.

Court decision on sold data access means more transparency for home buyers and sellers

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By Penelope Graham, Zoocasa

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

A seven-year legal battle between the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) and Canada’s Competition Tribunal has come to an end, ushering in a new era for Toronto real estate data access.

On August 23rd the Supreme Court of Canada stated it would not hear an appeal from TREB to keep past sold real estate data private, following rulings from both the Tribunal and the Federal Court of Appeal that required it be made available online.

This means TREB’s online brokerage members, such as Zoocasa, are now allowed to display the historical data for individual real estate listings to site users with password-protected accounts. This information includes a home’s original listing price and sale price, its 10-year sales history, and whether it has ever had a terminated listing. Previously, clients could only receive this information once they were under contract with a real estate agent, who could provide it to them over the phone, by fax, or in person.

The move is being widely hailed as a victory, both for those who work in the real estate industry and for prospective buyers and sellers’; but how will it change today’s real estate market?

A boon for Buyers

Perhaps the biggest benefit for buyers will be the improved transparency around home prices. While having access to the data is unlikely to prevent bidding wars, it will mean shoppers will have a better idea of what condos and houses for sale are truly worth before they put in an offer.

It will also decrease price lowballing, a strategy in which sellers list their homes for a much lower amount than they expect to receive. This piques the interest of buyers looking for a great deal, often leading to multiple-offer situations and hyper-inflated prices. It’s an especially common tactic in hot markets, such as on the Toronto or Vancouver MLS, and a constant source of frustration for buyers trying to find homes that are actually within their budgets.

Now, buyers will be able to see what comparable homes are selling for in the same neighbourhood, and whether their desired listing has been priced accurately.

Greater strategy for Sellers

This doesn’t mean sellers will receive the short end of the stick: they’ll now have more information than ever to inform their decision to list. Continue Reading…

How investing makes it easier to achieve Financial Independence

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By Gary Bordeaux

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

If you are looking for a way to secure your financial future, learning how to invest your money can help accomplish that goal. There are a variety of investment vehicles that can be tailored to fit your needs, timeline, and risk tolerance.

Let’s take a look at some of the specific reasons how investing helps a person obtain financial independence (aka “Findependence”).

Make money both today and tomorrow

If you are interested in generating a steady income from your investment portfolio, you can buy dividend stocks or a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust). You make money today by receiving a dividend payment every month or quarter. You make money in the future by holding the security as it appreciates in value. When it reaches what you feel is the height of its value, feel free to sell it and lock in a profit. It is also possible to hold stocks in a trust that can benefit children, grandchildren or other beneficiaries after you pass on.

Obtain returns greater than the Rate of Inflation

Thanks to inflation, a dollar that you hold in your hand today will be worth the equivalent of 98 cents a year from now. This is because the price of goods will increase by an average of 2 per cent per year. In some cases, inflation can reach 4 per cent or greater in a given 12-month period.

As a general rule, stocks will appreciate by about 7 per cent per year, and that amount is higher if a stock offers a dividend. What this means is that you are increasing your net worth above what it takes to keep up with cost-of-living increases. Over a period of years or decades, you could accrue tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars that can be used to enhance your lifestyle.

Improve your chances of owning a home

Let’s say that you are looking to buy your first house. You could decide to buy a single-family unit with a monthly mortgage of $1,000 that you are responsible for paying on your own. However, another option is to buy a duplex that you can both live in and derive income from. At the very least, having a tenant living in the other half of your home will decrease the monthly mortgage payment.

The money that you save can then be used to improve the home or make other investments. If you make improvements to a property that is used for rental purposes, it may be possible to write off the amount of those repairs on a state or federal tax return. Continue Reading…

5 financial fitness tips to help becoming #RetireReady

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By Jenny Diplock

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

As any personal trainer will tell you, a new fitness routine starts with a personalized plan and a target goal. And to improve performance, you need to train: especially in the off-season. Taking a similar approach to your retirement contribution goals can help you feel confident you’re #RetireReady.

In fact, according to a recent survey from TD, 79 per cent of working Canadians agree that reviewing their retirement contribution goals outside of RSP season is a good idea.

But even with these good intentions, the data shows just 40 per cent of working Canadians contribute regularly to their registered Retirement Savings Plans (RSPs) through pre-authorized contributions, 20 per cent don’t contribute to retirement savings at all, and nearly a third of working Canadians feel stressed out during the February RSP season.

When it comes to saving for retirement, contributing to your RSP once a year is like running a marathon without the right training. Because you’re not in the habit of saving, trying to come up with one large contribution amount just before the annual RSP deadline can be harder than contributing smaller and more manageable amounts throughout the year, potentially putting additional pressure on the rest of your finances.

To help improve your retirement readiness year-round: Continue Reading…

How to make money online for your business marketing

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By Kristen Pearson

(Sponsored Content) 

When you think of something like business marketing, it’s important to consider that it’s not just limited to making people attracted to certain aspects of your business. Given the scope and kinds of business marketing you can pull off, you are actually more than capable of utilizing your business appeal and tap into your potential audience to make means to earn more money for your business outside your products and services. When you read the article below, consider trying to apply these methods to your overall business strategy, and you might find out some new way of creating passive income for your various needs.

It’s important to understand, however, that while there are a lot of ways you can make passive income — in both through your personal endeavors and through marketing itself — you shouldn’t forget to maintain these income streams’ performance. In fact, some of these passive income ideas can actually boost your marketing efforts as well, making it quite the stone that hits the proverbial two birds. This can be very helpful if you’re stuck in a bind and want to use your resources efficiently, as the methods can not just get you potential sales and boost your marketing, but even earn you additional income.

Tips on making money online

With the above in mind, it may be important to consider as early as now that business marketing does hold a lot of potential to attract people to your business. However, did you know you can make passive income out of it? That’s right, try to review the journalreview.org passive income methods below and see if you can actually apply this to your business:

Make your blog suitable for outreach 

Blogger outreach is one of the most relied-upon methods of gaining traction with your audience, though it can be challenging using this to earn passive income as blogging is really more of an investment. When you make a blog, don’t just focus on your rankings and your keywords, but rather to write content relevant enough for your audience across a long period of time. This not only encourages other bloggers to source you, but you can build yourself a reputation of publishing relevant content in your blog. Give it time, and other blogs will want to guest post in your blog – and that’s when you can start charging them on piggybacking on your rankings. And if this is a competitor or someone in a niche, you’re likely going to get samples and other benefits to review as well.

Maximize content releases by making them on sale

Blogging is free: most of the time, anyway. However, if you want to provide more technical and more precise knowledge to your audiences, you always have an option to make them exclusive content. Provide your more relevant information through ebooks and other releases that your fans will want to buy from you, all the while proving to them you provide relevant content through your blog. You’d be surprised how well ebooks and other exclusive content can sale if you get them out there enough.

Encourage fans and audiences to take up an online course

If you know you and the members of your team are experienced enough in your field, you can actually offer a course to help others jumpstart a career in your niche. You can gather your meeting data and your notes in order to create lectures subscribers and loyal customers can avail for a certain fee. This not only puts you in a position to spread learning, but being able to actually teach what you know puts you in a position of relevance. What better way to establish authority than to do things that make you appear like one? Continue Reading…

Getting the best bang for your buck with everyday purchases

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By Sia Hasan

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

You work hard for your money, so it makes sense that you would want to stretch your dollar as far as possible. If you are like many other hard working adults, you may splurge here and there on a cup of coffee or a matinee movie. However, most of your take-home pay may go toward everyday or typical purchases. These may include food, gas, clothes and more.

It may seem challenging to stretch your dollar in these essential areas, but rest assured that there are several strategies you can employ to get the most bang for your buck. Before you make another purchase on regular or everyday items, consider how these tips can benefit you.

Choose your payment method carefully

The primary payment methods for standard purchases are cash or credit cards. Cash may be in the form of hard currency, checks or a debit card. Many people believe that paying with cash or a cash alternative is a smart option because it helps you avoid taking on expensive debt. It is true that debt can cost you money.

However, if you use credit cards responsibly, a credit card may be a better payment option. Consider that you can make all your regular purchases with a credit card, and you can pay the full balance off each month. Therefore, no interest is accrued, and there is not a cost for using the credit card. You may enjoy the benefit of bolstering your credit score with responsible use of your credit card. Keep in mind that higher credit scores may qualify you for a lower rate on a mortgage, a car loan, insurance rates and more. Therefore, this payment method can yield tremendous savings over time.

Take advantage of Credit Card Rewards

When you make purchases with credit cards regularly, you may also enjoy the additional benefit of earning rewards points. You can begin by searching for a good credit card for average credit and comparing rewards programs or opting into the rewards program on an existing account. Pay attention to the fine print as you compare programs. Some credit card rewards programs, for example, limit the points that you can earn within a specified period of time. Other programs require you to use the points within a certain period of time. These rewards may essentially give you cash back on your purchases, or the points may be redeemed for other items with financial value.

Shop around

Even when you take these steps to stretch your dollar, there may be other ways to save as well. Shopping around is easier to do than ever because of the Internet. Continue Reading…