Personal Finance

The Universal Child Care Benefit, or UCCB, is a $100 taxable monthly payment to help with the cost of raising children under six years old. This can be a great way to receive a little extra cash each month, and since you are entitled to it, it can be worth it to take advantage. Who is Eligible for the UCCB? To be eligible for the Universal Child Care Benefit, you must be the primary care giver of a child under the age of six and a resident of Canada. If you already receive the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) then you are automatically set to receive the UCCB. “Primary caregiver” means that you: Supervise the child’s daily activities. Take care of the child’s daily needs (including medical needs). Arrange for child care when necessary. Note that if the child is maintained by a welfare agency (legally, physically, or financially) you can’t claim to be the primary caregiver. A primary caregiver can be mother or father, or a grandparent, or a legal guardian. It’s worth noting that “child care” choices you are entitled to make include staying at home, so you don’t have to use day care services in order to qualify for the UCCB. Applying for the UCCB The Canadian government recommends that you apply for the UCCB as soon as possible after your child is born. Since you are eligible up until the child is six years old, the earlier you apply, the better. If you weren’t a resident of Canada, though, you have to wait until you are a resident to apply. Also, if a child comes to live with you, you can begin to receive the UCCB. You use the Canada child benefits application to apply for the UCCB. You have to have applied for the CCTB in order to receive your child care benefit. You can manage your account online. If you have signed consent for the Automated Benefits Application at the birth of your child, don’t re-apply. This can cause problems with processing. You are likely to hear back within 80 days. How is the UCCB Taxed? The $100 you receive each month is taxable; this means that you will have to pay taxes on your benefit. However, even when paying taxes, it would still be worth it to accept the benefit. The income is taxed to the lower-income spouse. This can be a slight advantage if the lower-income spouse is the one staying home to care for the child. Since there is no need to send your child to day care, you not only save money on child care, but the money is not taxed if it’s the spouse’s only source of income. Realize, though, that it will reduce the spousal amount involved, increasing the taxes of the working spouse. Still, though, the taxes on $100 still aren’t that high, and it can still be worth it. Even though $100 is not a huge payment, it might be nice to cover the occasional babysitter when the parents want a night out. The Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) Explained appeared first on Canadian Finance Blog. Related Posts: The Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) Explained How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Child? Average Tax Rate Explained

I subscribe to the promotional emails of hundreds of companies so you don't have to. I sift through 1,000 deal-touting emails every week. Most are worthless. But some offer valuable coupons, promo codes, sales and freebies -- which I collect and organize.Note: Expiration dates are in brackets and special instructions are in parentheses.HomeLaundry detergent: $1.50 off Clorox 2 Stain Fighter and Color Booster (print first) [expiration unknown].Office and schoolFiles and folders: 20 percent off select Pendaflex styles at Amazon.com [expiration unknown].Personal careBath & Body Works: Men's and women's body care items from the Signature Collection are buy-three-get-two-free in stores and online [expiration unknown]. These items include shower gel, body lotion, fragrance, shave cream and more.Excedrin: $2 off a 100-count or larger product (print first) [expiration unknown].Men's deodorant: $1 off 1.7-ounce or larger sizes of Degree at Target stores (print first) [expiration unknown].Origins: Free full-size GinZing eye cream - a $30 value - with the purchase of two skincare products online (use code ZING) [expiration unknown].Tech"Lincoln": Up to 40 percent off the DVD and Blu-ray at Amazon.com [expiration unknown].iPhones: $50 off an iPhone 5 or 4S at RadioShack [expiration unknown]. The 4S models do not require a contract.iPhone 5 case: 80 percent off the rooCase Hybrid at Amazon.com [expiration unknown]. Instead of $30, it's $6. It comes in six styles and even more colors, but not all are as steeply discounted.Clothing, shoes and accessoriesDelia's (juniors and young women's): Tank tops and tees are $10 each when you buy two online [expiration unknown]. Shipping is free with no minimum (use code WEEKEND) [5/20].The Limited (women's): $15 off a $30 purchase in stores (print first) and online (use code 468) [5/22].

Recently I wrote a post called "Beware false economies," which included examples of frugality that could actually cost someone money, health or reputation. A reader said those examples confirmed that "people believe 'frugal' or living within or below one's means equals doing without."My immediate reply: "Good point! Just as some people believe that dieting or exercise must be unpleasant if it's to be effective."After some reflection I believe it's more than the "no pain, no gain" mentality. The attitude many people have is more one of crime and punishment:Read 12 remaining paragraphs on MoneyTalksNews.com.

Over the last two weeks I’ve purchased six round trip plane tickets. It’s insane. Between baby showers and weddings, we knew we’d be dropping some serious coin on flights this summer. But dang, $1,600 disappeared from our bank account faster than a Twinkie at fat camp. Fortunately being not broke is pretty awesome. It allows you the ability to take advantage of incredible deals when they pop up. It gives you peace-of-mind in the event of an “Oh $#@!” emergency. And it gives you the freedom to experience things you may have otherwise missed out on like weddings and graduations. There really is nothing else to be said besides… Financial freedom rocks my face off. Don’t be discouraged if you aren’t there yet. Stay the course. Work hard. Focus on the end goal. You didn’t get in debt overnight, and you probably wont get out if it overnight. Patience and perseverance is the name of this game. Being not broke is awesome. I hope you are either right there with me, or plan to join me soon. On a scale of broke to loaded where do you fall? Has your financial freedom allowed you to take advantage of any incredible deals or opportunities lately!?

I got a huge response to my previous post about dealing with critics. They come in all shapes and sizes, and the most formidable critics never attack head-on. Instead, they say things like “Are you sure about that?” or “I’m just worried about you…” So I wanted to go into more depth to go beyond just “handling” critics — and go into the deeper area of building a POSITIVE support system. This week, I’m giving a live presentation on How to Overcome Critics and Build a Powerful Support System this Wednesday night. You’ll learn: The subtle ways critics cut people down Unconventional ways to handle critics (beyond just ignoring them) How to build a positive support system of people who WANT to help you and hold you accountable This event is online and free: Wednesday, 5/22, at 9:00pm Eastern This is invite-only. To pre-register and save you spot, click here: http://live.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/ And, to the 5,000 people who live in Siberia, or have kids, or have a dog with a runny nose: This is live. There will be no transcript or recording. Again, for the illiterate people who are not reading this and will email me anyway — I said sorry but no, I will not record this. TO ATTEND: Register for the webinar here: http://live.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/ -Ramit P.S. Once you register, leave a comment and share: A subtle way that someone close to you gave you unsolicited, negative feedback What it would mean to have a POSITIVE support system around you, who would constantly hold you accountable, support you, and wouldn’t let you fail. New presentation: How to overcome critics & build a powerful support system is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

One of my favorite places to visit is Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City, Iowa. It’s an independent bookstore with a wonderful atmosphere and I truly love the opportunities I get to browse through the books there. The problem is that when I go into a retailer without a specific purchase in mind but with an intent to buy something, I’ll usually end up buying something on the spur of the moment – or two or three things. The last time I was in that store, for example, I wound up buying three books. When I walked in there, I didn’t actually have a title in mind that I wanted to buy. Instead, I was influenced by the store itself when I made those purchases. (Thankfully, I had budgeted for this. I was anticipating some “spontaneous buying” on that day, so I budgeted that much cash in my wallet for just that purpose.) Shopping costs you money. Shopping without a very specific purpose really costs you money. If you want to save money on every single situation where you’re opening your wallet for an item, there’s a very simple rule to follow. Make your buying decision before you ever enter the store. If you’re buying food, make a grocery list with as much detail as possible before you go there. Use the store flyer to make your grocery list so that it accounts for the sales. That way, you’re making as few decisions as possible when you’re actually in the store. If you’re buying a car, do your homework on car models before you ever go on the lot. Know what features you want. Use websites to figure out what cars they have on the lot and research those models. Again, that way, you’re not making decisions while on the lot. If you’re buying a book at Amazon.com, know what book you’re shopping for before you ever go on the site. Don’t use a shopping site as a recommendation tool – instead, only go there when the only decision left to make is whether to click the “Add to cart” button. Why should you do things this way? Whenever you allow yourself to make decisions on the retailer’s home turf, you’re allowing that retailer to add extra information to your decision-making process. That information that they give you is going to be engineered almost entirely to convince you to buy the item that the retailer wants you to buy, which is usually the one that makes them the most money. For example, if you go to an electronics store with the vague notion that you want to buy a camera, you’re going to be inundated with options. You’ll be facing a ton of information without context and, to some extent, without reliability. Are these features you really care about? Are you able to actually evaluate things like image quality or battery life or reliability? Unfortunately, no, you’re not. Instead, you’re going to get information about the features that the store wants you to know about. A salesman will probably “help” you, in that the “help” mostly involves convincing you to buy now rather than later. Walking into a retailer or visiting a retail website without your decision already made means that you are going to be basing your decision on a set of information that the retailer gives to you. This is usually not the same set of information that will help you actually make the best purchase. If you base the decision-making process on the information provided by the retailer, you’re using a subset of information that’s not going to push you toward the best option for you. I use one of two options whenever I visit a store of any kind. One, I have a very specific item or list of items that I want and have already decided on. I’ve already researched the items in advance and made up my mind what I want to buy before I ever set foot in the store. That way, when I’m in the store, I am not making decisions, thus the decision-making process isn&

Success in personal finance is really a matter of the mind. It’s about having the awareness to see all of the choices you’re making and having the fortitude to consistently make good choices in terms of your money. One of the big challenges, particularly for people first starting out, is to see the connection between frugality and wealth. Frugality as a sustained and natural habit leads directly to wealth, but that path is sometimes hard to see. So, let’s walk through this, step by step. Let’s look at three pretty typical frugal changes a person might make. First, you make the choice to eat one more meal at home per week. You replace a $10 meal eaten at a restaurant with a $2 meal prepared at home and you stick with that forever – let’s say, fifty weeks a year. This is a pretty big change. Second, you replace all of the light bulbs in your home with energy efficient ones over the next month or so. You have 30 light sockets in your home, the average socket is on for four hours a day, and you’ve switched from 75 watt bulbs to 15 watt bulbs, saving you 60 watts. This is also a reasonably big change. Third, you join a free ultimate Frisbee league in your town that’s sponsored by the parks and recreation association, which eats up two weeknights with free activities. On those nights, you would have been staying at home with 10 light bulbs on and watching television for two hours, but instead you walk to the park after turning all of that stuff off. This is a pretty small change, but we want one of those for comparison’s sake. The first step is to calculate what you actually save per month and per year by these changes. With the choice to eat a meal at home each week, you’re saving $8 per week over 50 weeks, which adds up to $400 per year. Per month, you simply divide that by twelve, giving you $33.33 per month. With the choice to replace your light bulbs in a typical usage situation, we know that energy companies charge $0.12 per kilowatt hour on average. You’re saving sixty watts times thirty sockets times four hours, giving you 7,200 watt-hours per day in energy savings, or 7.2 kilowatt hours. At $0.12 per kilowatt hour, that’s a daily savings of $0.864, which adds up to $26.28 per month and $315.36 per year. With the free ultimate Frisbee league, you’re turning off your lights, your television, and your cable box for two additional hours per day. Let’s say your television uses 80 watts, your cable box uses 45 watts, and your light bulbs are using fifteen watts each, as described above. That’s 140 watts, times two hours, times twice a week, times 50 weeks a year, giving you 28,000 watts per year. At a rate of $0.12 per kilowatt hour, that adds up to $3.36 per year, or $0.28 per month. So, with just these three changes, we save $59.89 per month – or $718.68 annually. If you’re astute enough, you can put that $718.68 into an investment account each year so that it will earn a 7% return each year. You start doing this at age 25. At age 65, you have $81,100.66. Yes, switching light bulbs, eating one meal at home a week, and finding a free outside activity to do a couple nights a week – if you take the savings from these things and invest it – will eventually save you over $80,000. There are two big tricks to really making this work. First, find frugal tactics that are actually sustainable in your life. For me, these are either one-off things such as changing light bulbs or things that I try out and find that they integrate smoothly into my life. If something is a hassle or produces results I don’t like, I abandon that idea and shrug it off as something I tried that just didn’t work out. Second, figure out what they’re saving you over your previous choices and save that difference. If you find you made a shift that saves you $5 a month but it’s completely sustainable, then have

It may seem shocking after just a few short years from the greatest market panic of our lifetime but major stock market indices are hitting new highs almost on a daily basis these days. Are you thinking of adding to your investment portfolio? Are mutual funds part of your strategy? FutureAdvisor helped me put together this simple infographic listing a few key points you’ll want to remember about mutual fund selection by digging deep into their 401k database. Take a look below: It’s hard to argue with the data when low fees correlate so strongly with high returns across so many different asset classes. Next time you look for a mutual fund, make sure to put fees amongst the very top of your priority list. Remember, the less Wall Street charges you, the more you keep! This article originally appeared on MoneyNing.com. Let us know what you think (or read what others thought) here. Related posts: Is It Time to Sell Your Mutual Fund? Mutual Fund Investing Is Not Rocket Science The Impact of Costs on Mutual Fund Returns

On Friday, May 17, 2013, the naked call I sold on my company stock expired worthless. So I pocketed a small profit for selling the call. Normally, I only sell covered calls. However, I had already sold a covered call when my company stock suddenly advanced significantly. I decided to take a chance and sell an uncovered (naked) call since I didn't think the stock would go much higher. Actually, the stock did advance four cents past the strike price before pulling back about 7%. The risk with a naked call is theoretically unlimited losses if the stock should rise significantly. I say "theoretically" since no stock I've ever owned has shot up over 70% in a short time. Still, I was sweating a little this week, since my company stock advanced within 2.5% of the strike price on Wednesday. However, the price of my company stock stopped advancing after Wednesday and I ended profiting from a the small premium when selling the call. So even with a couple days of anxiety, the trade worked out as planned. For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment. This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor. Copyright © 2013 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

This reader story is from a longtime GRS reader Sumitha, who blogs at afineparent.com. Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how. I said goodbye to a promising career with a six-figure salary last month. I have dreamed about this moment for over two years. Still, when it was time, I spent several days wrestling with acute anxiety and insomnia. This has, by far, been one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. Get Rich Slowly reader stories about quitting (here, here, here and here) provided me with immense insight into making a life-changing decision like this. The hundreds of comments on those articles gave me different perspectives to ponder. Together, they helped me work things out for myself. I want to give back, in some sense, by sharing my story. Background My husband and I came to the U.S. for higher education, and when we graduated, we joined tech companies as software engineers. Our jobs paid well, and as financially sensible DINKs, we paid off our loans quickly, started saving diligently and bought a home with 20 percent down payment. Life was good — for a while, anyway. Then the 2008 financial crisis hit. I was expecting a baby at the time, and the worry that I would lose my job while I was pregnant drove me to work long hours all the way to my due date. I left on my maternity leave praying I would still have a job when I got back. I did, but the stress of working in an uncertain environment on a high-profile project while raising a baby started to take its toll. Things hit rock bottom around my daughter’s second birthday. For the first time, I remember thinking I really want to quit. I didn’t know what I would do after I quit — I just didn’t want to go on like this for the next 20 to 30 years. Then, I pulled myself back together and carried on. The breaking point A few months after that, however, my husband had a major health issue. It was the kind where you sit nervously outside an emergency room and question everything — from the quality of your life, to the kind of work you do, to the kind of person you’ve become, all the way to the existence of God. It was the last straw on the camel’s back. When the storm passed, I realized I had a choice – pull myself back together (again!) and continue like before, or treat this as a defining moment and build a new life. I chose the latter. Financial planning Part of the change was to move out of the high-stress tech job. It took me around two years from then to finally be ready — financially and emotionally. Here’s what I did: First step: mortgage From the time the layoff rumors had started we had been saving money like squirrels on steroids. Also, right from the beginning, we had been paying off the mortgage at an accelerated pace. So the first big change was to finish off that mortgage. Second step: savings My first “plan” was to keep working and save diligently until we had enough. But, both my husband and I are financial paranoids, and one fine day, it dawned on me : We’d never have enough. So I set a rule for myself: when I had enough savings to pay myself a salary that covers my average monthly expenses plus a small buffer, for the period of a year, preferably two, I would quit. These savings were after the 401(k), emergency fund, HSA, and vacations. I knew it would take me at least a couple of years to get there. What’s next? After my husband’s emergency room episode, I went through a period of intense introspection. I didn’t like what I saw. Somewhere along the way, I had let the stress of my life turn me into an impatient and snappy cynic. And the person who got the brunt of it was my little 2-year-old daughter. I wanted to do something about it, but change was proving hard. One day in a desperate attempt, I indulged myself by