Wednesday, 23 April 2008

Quick post towards the end of Apr08

I haven't been keeping up with one of my goals for 2008, that is to post at least articles per week on this blog. There are many things to talk about, like the inflation rate has just hit 4% today, the level of mortgage stress is at a record high and how the fixing our interest rate is working out for us.

Things on the family front and work front have been extremely busy. My wife is about half way through carrying our second child, and project deadlines are looming at work!

Hopefully, I will get back to regular posting sooner than later. However, if any one wishes to do any guest posts, drop me an email via tehn.yit.chin@gmail.com

Tuesday, 8 April 2008

CoPF #147 - Q1 financial advice edition

Carnival of Personal Finance #147 is up at MoneyNing. Many great articles, some of the ones that caught my eye were...

  • Wide Open Wallet - The pawn shop are thriving. This article gave a scary thought of pawning items that are financed. I guess when folks are desperate, crazy things are done to get money.
  • You might as well burning $5! - The $37 Latte. This a great article on keep track of you finances.
  • On Financial Success - Can we afford college? A good range of tips on how to go about getting a university/college fund ready for your kids.

My recent article on you are only worth at market value was also included. Many thanks to MonyNing. Happy reading!

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Friday, 4 April 2008

Did Earth Hour 2008 really work?

Well, Earth Hour 2008 came and went last weekend. I even wrote an article about it. Unfortunately, I was not able to participate in it as our 2 year old was caught the croup a few days previously and needed some attention.

How did it go for you? Even though I was not able to participate in it, it has made me more aware of the my usage of electricity. This also goes for the other resources such as water, gas and food. So Earth Hour wasn't just one hour for me, it is going to be an effort for me to apply it to my day-to-day living.

The one thing that got me beat is the amount of energy used to increased the profile of the event, to create the infrastructure to support the event and to celebrate the event.

Earth Hour's blog has figures quoting a reduction of 264MWatts in Toronto, Canada but it hosted huge public music/party for the event. It also has figures about Bangkok, Thailand saving 73.34MWatts.

I can't help but think that if we all just stayed at home and turned off the lights, it would have been an even more significant savings. A cynical person would think that many people got into the spirit of Earth Hour because it is the in-thing to do for the environment. Think about it, imagine the public music event in Toronto, what kind of infrastructure is necessary to support it, and the energy consumption of that infrastructure.

Am I just a bit too cynical about this type of events?

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Tuesday, 1 April 2008

CoPF #146 - Online Broker Tip edition

The 146th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance is up over at Stock Trading To Go. I was fortunate enough for my post on revisiting my superannuation to be included among the many fine articles.

A selection of the articles are:

These are only a small selection of the many articles being hosted. Go and check them out.

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