1) Give us a brief description of what your blog is about.
My blog My Words and Stuff is basically just an outlet for myself and my passions. The first being personal finance and the second is travel. I may touch on some other things here and there but theyre the main two topics right now.
The reason Im posting about personal finance is because Im a firm believer that there is not enough education in schools on this. I came out of high school and had no idea how to do my taxes, which is actually pretty simple, nor did I know much about interest rates, financing and especially investing. I still dont know a lot about certain things but I definitely have the basics down and my blog posts are either explaining those or talking about my experiences learning new investments or money saving techniques. And why travel you may be wondering? Well if Im going to spend money on anything, its travel. I love being able to see new places and learn their history and/or cultures. The world is a massive beautiful place and Im sure going to try to share that with as many people as I can.
2) What is your favorite country you have traveled to and why?
This is a pretty tough question Ive been to maybe a dozen countries but I havent spent nearly enough time in most of them to see everything or even close to the things I want to see. Depending on what mood Im in when you ask me this answer might change.
The one country that Id love to go back to as soon as I could would be Japan. I only spent a few days in Tokyo last year and it was amazing. Theres such a large population that theres so many subcultures and it seems like everything thrives. If youre into electronics theres a district for that, Anime and video games? Theres one for that too! Sports? yup they got em! Whatever you can think of its there in bulk. Even though it’s densely populated Japan still has tons of beautiful natural scenery.
3) What was it like growing up in Canada?
I can’t speak for the rest of Canada, but growing up in an old mining town in Nova Scotia was an incredible learning experience. I didn’t realize it at the time but my home town and the surrounding communities were in a constant state of decline, the economy was shrinking and people were moving away at a pretty fast pace. Every couple of years I’d lose a friend because their family would move west for better jobs. I was considered a “rich kid” because both my parents were fortunate enough to hold steady jobs. As a kid I didn’t really realize the situation of the community. When I finished high school and moved away after 2 years of university I was always amazed at how much more other people had and how entitled some were to have certain things. Now I live in Alberta, probably one of the best off provinces because of its natural resources. I’m always amazed with people here and how much money gets thrown around, especially during an oil boom. I moved to Alberta because of the opportunities available for people and so far it’s been treating me very well.
4) Any tips for someone who wants to buy a rental property?
Do it! It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s a great way to build equity and possible income. I would start with at least a 2-unit place first, if you wanted you could live in one and rent the other, hopefully covering most of your mortgage. Before anything though, do your homework. There are a lot of variables to owning rental properties but lots of people have done it so ask around and find a mentor. I would definitely recommend buying for cash flow as well, which basically means make sure you get more money out of it each month than what your bills cost. That way if it’s vacant for a short while you’re not pouring money into it. Or if there are repairs needed you should have a fund to cover it.
5) What goals do you have for your blog?
I’d just like it to be helpful for some people. Hopefully it’ll teach a few people to pay better attention to their finances. Maybe it’ll inspire some to travel a lot more. And hell if it got so popular that I could make money off it, that wouldn’t be terrible either. For now, I’ll stick with the hope of helping others.