What’s your motto? Live like a pauper and graduate a princess or prince? You may think the goal of graduating without student debt is lofty to say the least. It’s not easy but a challenge worth accepting. Just like any other budget, if it doesn’t balance (that is to say that expenses are greater than […]

One more week of summer means a last scramble to get organized for back to school. Now that you’re on your own, are you looking after yourself? It’s easy to work through the checklist of registering for courses, gathering supplies and packing your bags but have you taken the opportunity to work through the dollars […]

Dear Piggy Bank, I’m an elementary school teacher and as June draws to a close I battle with two feelings. I can’t wait for the break after another busy year but I also feel guilty that I haven’t set aside the money. I know that I’ll have a big credit card bill by September. I […]

The first question always seem to be ‘How much?’ and if they’re not asking it, you probably are. The amount can be determined with a couple considerations: What do you expect them to do for the allowance? What can they reasonably buy with the money? Will you place any restrictions on what they can spend […]

I’m not sure where she got the idea from but she’s been asking for an allowance. Thinking back to the days of when I got an allowance I very clearly recollect 25 cents and 50 cents. The reason I remember is because 25 cents bought either a bag of chips or a chocolate bar but […]

Our two kids have taken an interest in money lately. Not so much the big dollars but they have spent time categorizing different coin denominations and moving their piggy bank stash from one container to another. The different values of the penny, nickel, dime, quarter, loonie and toonie are lost on our 3.5 year old […]

After Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) season there is a lull. RSP’s are in the news a lot early in the new year because of the deadline to invest to deduct against past years! Sixty days after January 1st to be precise. 2011 Tax Time – You’ve probably started received most of your tax information in […]

It seems that there’s a lot more in and out transactions to keep on top of in a family situation. More people = more responsibilities and keeping track of them all on a month to month basis is no easy feat! What about planning for the future? Does it often get put off until next […]

It’s Financial Literacy Week so I began thinking about how I learned about money. I can think of a couple things I learned from my Mom: Keep track of the hours you work – especially if you are paid hourly (it is easy to have a conversation about a discrepancy with your pay check if […]

When I wrote Dear Piggy Bank’s business plan, I included two volunteer workshops each calendar year. The objective was to contribute to the financial literacy ‘tree of learning’. A couple weeks ago, I spent a couple hours at a YMCA Child Care Center that was designed, built and implemented to serve a community that faces […]