2008 March | WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com

Dying Intestate with No Living Blood Relatives? Your Estate Goes To The Government

Posted by Preet on Mar 31, 2008 | 4 comments

There are many Canadians who don’t update their will and estate plans on a regular basis or upon significant life changes, but even worse there are those of us who do not have a will at all! I thought I would point out that if you die intestate (without a “last will and testament”), and you have no living blood relatives then your entire estate goes to your provincial government. Suggestion: write a simple holograph will (a will written and signed by you in your own handwriting). It doesn’t require witnesses, but there are some drawbacks if your estate is complex and if you make directions that are not accurate or allowed. You can name me as the...

A Lap Of The Blogs

Posted by Preet on Mar 27, 2008 | 5 comments

If you would like a chance to win a free Money Movie DVD, don’t forget to enter the contest I’m running by entering a comment in the Contest Entry Post. It’s free to enter and your odds are much better than winning the lottery. :) I’m Famous Not really, but I was fortunate to have articles appear or linked to from two of the largest Canadian Blogs in the blogosphere. The Canadian Capitalist hosted a guest article written by yours truly on Charitable Remainder Trusts. Meanwhile, over at the Million Dollar Journey on Monday was this week’s edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance which included a link to my article on the Jim Cramer...

Revocable or Contingent Life Insurance Beneficiary Designations for Charitable Giving

Posted by Preet on Mar 27, 2008 | 0 comments

If you are considering using life insurance to donate to charity but aren’t quite ready to irrevocably assign the policy ownership to charity or irrevocably designate the beneficiary, you have a couple of options: 1. Name the charity as a contingent beneficiary 2. Name the charity as a revocable beneficiary Both options are not final and can be changed at any time (before death!). By naming the charity as a contingent beneficiary (which you can do right now), you are basically providing for the possibility that your first intended beneficiary either pre-deceases you or even dies at the same time (i.e. you both die in the same car accident). In this case, if you had...

Donating Old Life Insurance Policies to Charity Instead of Cancelling Them

Posted by Preet on Mar 26, 2008 | 0 comments

If you’ve read my post on Charitable Gifts of Life Insurance, you’ll know that you can substantially increase your donations to your favourite charities with life insurance policies. However that post dealt with initiating a new policy specifically for charitable giving. It is also possible to donate an existing life insurance policy that was originally purchased for other reasons. As you get older and your assets grow, eventually you might reach a point in life where you are self-insured or otherwise no longer have a need for life insurance. Some people will cancel any existing policies while others will continue paying the premiums since it may be more...

What My Broker Terminal Looks Like

Posted by Preet on Mar 24, 2008 | 3 comments

I thought I would share with you what my broker terminal looks like. The screen below is a direct feed provided by Reuters through their BridgeChannel software. In the morning this is the first thing I load up on my terminal at work to survey where the market is going to open and to survey what’s been happening in the overnight markets, etc. The software is very versatile and can provide more data and types of analyses than you can imagine (I still don’t think I’ve seen every screen). All data is provided in real time. The particular screen shot I took shows a chart on BCE. The drop-down menus on the left can be expanded and can bring up screens such as...

Win a free DVD! Money Movie Giveaway Contest For March is On!

Posted by Preet on Mar 24, 2008 | 25 comments

It’s time for Round 2 of the Money Movie Giveaway on WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com! Our Winner from January selected ‘Boiler Room’ so that is off the list for the remainder of the year, but everyone else will have the opportunity to win one of the five remaining movies from the following list. All you have to do is enter a comment on this post for a free entry! 1. Wall Street2. Boiler Room Selected by January’s Winner3. Casino4. Trading Places5. Glengarry Glen Ross6. Ocean’s Eleven (The original from 1960) Every two months in 2008 WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com is running a Money Movie Giveaway Contest where the winner has their pick of a movie on...

Jim Cramer Controversy Over Bear Stearns…

Posted by Preet on Mar 22, 2008 | 6 comments

If you are a fan of late night television you will have no doubt seen the countless video replays of Jim Cramer (of Mad Money fame) pounding the table that “Bear Stearns is fine” just days before Bear Stearns collapsed. I don’t know the actual figures, but I’m sure there are just as many people who watch Cramer for stock picking advice as there are those who watch him for pure entertainment purposes. Before I get to the controversy, I will point you to a post by Michael James On Money that discusses analyzing Jim Cramer’s picks as an investment strategy. But now on to the controversy. You have probably heard that the U.S. investment bank...