By Sheryl Smolkin

By now we have all taken the leap from the old year to the new, but during the transition, some of our favourite bloggers analyzed the year gone by and offered suggestions for the days and months ahead.

In 2014, Mark Seed at My Own Advisor made some financial predictions. In  2014 Financial Predictions Final Update he revisits these predictions as compared to how things actually played out. He forecasted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would finish the year at 16,700 but in fact it rose to 17,823.07. He also suggested that the Canadian Dollar would end the year at $0.90 compared to the US Dollar but by December 31^st it had dropped to $0.86. But he did correctly anticipate dividend increases from Fortis, Telus, Walmart and AT&T.

On Boomer and Echo, Robb Engen asks What Will It Take For You To Save More This Year? He suggests the 52-week money saving challenge that was all the rage in 2014. Save $1 in week one, $2 in week two, $3 in week three, and so on until you have about $1,400 saved by the end of the year. Or, increase the degree of difficulty and try to put away $10 in week one, $20 in week two, $30 in week three, and so on until you’ve saved nearly $14,000.

Adam on Modest Money offers 3 Reasons to Start Small with Online Investing. By starting small you can get comfortable with both your broker and the investment tools offered and also decrease your risk.

Retire Happy blogger Sarah Milton proposes boosting your financial fitness by creating a positive relationship with money, making good money management a habit and cutting yourself some slack.

And finally, as part of the Masters of Money series on Get Smarter about Money, Rob Carrick asks Dividend stocks for retirement income – can you handle it? A well-chosen portfolio of dividend stocks can reasonably be expected to give you a far more generous annual cost of living increase than even an indexed pension, while also delivering solid long-term capital gains. But the bottom line is that they are still equities and if the bottom falls out of the stock market it could take your investment portfolio with it.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

This week we have a mixed bag of posts for your summer reading from the world of the ever-prolific personal finance bloggers we track.

Brighter Life presents a series of both get your health and get your finances in shape tips from other bloggers. One of my favourites is from Jeremy Biberdorf, author of Modest Money. He says too many people think the path to financial freedom is to focus heavily on either frugality or earning more money. The trick is actually to find a healthy balance of both worlds. The more extra income you earn, the fewer sacrifices you have to make in your daily life.

Many of us are card-carrying members of the sandwich generation with responsibility for both elderly parents and young children. On Moneycrashers Michael Lewis discusses six must-have conversations you need to have when caring for elderly parents. If you have to tell a parent that it is time to stop driving or take over the finances of an aging relative, you will appreciate this information.

How much do you really need to retire? $1 million? $2 million? On Retire Happy Donna McCaw says your expectations may be too high.  Only about half of the Boomers polled by Scotiabank are doing any planning and most of that planning is only financial in nature, No one mentioned planning for their lifestyle, healthy living, building social networks outside of work or any of the other aspects this major transition brings.

Boomer & Echo blogger Robb Engen says  Investors Should Embrace Simple Solutions. He refers to a young investor seeking feedback on his investment portfolio. While he has wisely opted for low fees by investing in ETFs, seven funds are too many as it may require a lot of fine-tuning to keep the asset allocation in line with his original strategy.  

And finally, on the Canadian Finance Blog, Tom Drake exposes 5 Lies About Your Credit Report. Did you know that if you paid off your debt to a collection agency rather than paying the original vendor the information stays on your credit report?

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.