Monthly Archives: June 2014

Summer To Do List

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I’m well aware the summer is sacred and should be filled with all things fun and making some dollars as well. Unfortunately there are a few important things that should be added to your summer to do list that really aren’t that fun but definitely necessary. Recently after reading a great blog post about Student Loans by Latisha at Young Finances I realized student loans should be on my to do list ASAP.

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Summer To Do List – The Necessary but Boring Stuff

1. Check in on your student loan totals

Especially as a recent grad this is critical, you need to figure out exactly what you owe and when interest will start accumulating. For some reason the website that I used every year to apply for OSAP is not the same place I use to figure out my total loan due…thanks for the confusion. For all Canadian students, check out the National Student Loans Service Centre, make an account and figure out the total you owe and your loan status. You don’t want any surprises.

2.  Budget

Yup, I went there. I know from my previous summers that as soon as I start bringing in money from my summer job, spending limits go out the window. Make sure you figure out how much you need for the school year..and be realistic, and make sure you put that money away. Also take into account that you may want to travel after graduation, the more in advance you start saving the more money you’re likely to have.

3. Check-in on your bank account

For those that have recently graduated your student bank account may expire/change. When this happens you’re likely going to have fewer monthly debit transactions, and fees! Keep on top of this because you don’t want to lose money on fee’s you could have avoided.

4. Take a Summer Course

If you either want to get ahead or have fallen behind a summer course might be a really good option for you. This means studying, doing homework, midterms and exams, but in the end it’s all for the best.

I’m sure the list could go on, but I don’t want to overwhelm anyone here. Keeping track of things like student loans and your bank accounts will definitely help save you hundreds of dollars in interest or fee’s. It’s not fun but having that not so fun summer to do list is key to financial awesomeness.

Ontario Election 2014 – Get Out and Vote!

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I’m going to apologize in advance for the extremely Ontario skewed blog post today, but there are some big things going on in the province over the next week or so. The Ontario Election 2014 has already started up and the opportunity to vote will be coming on June 12th. I’m going to warn your right now as well, I’m not huge into politics and I’m not going to provide a major educational lesson. Instead this is going to cover a bit of info and really focus on the fact that we should start voting as Gen Y’ers and students.

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Ontario Election 2014

There is actually something pretty important happening in June, aside from the season premiere of Orange is the New Black and Suits. Ontario will have it’s general election on June 12th and there are a lot of us students and Gen Y’ers out there that can either vote for the first time and/or make an impact at the polls.

There have been some pretty awkward moments already so far, especially for Tim Hudak..it’s sad but it may have been when I actually started thinking about the vote.

First the awkward encounter which kicked off his 1 million jobs campaign

Which was then followed by an attempt at a photo op on a TTC subway train

Our Voting Options

But aside from these interesting situations Mr. Hudak has gotten himself in, he is one of many parties/individuals that we can vote for on June 12th.

The “Big 3″

Tim Hudak-Conservatives

Kathleen Wynne-Liberals

Andrea Horwath-NDP

The One’s that Didn’t Go to the Debate

Mike Shreiner-Green Party

And if some alternative groups float your boat you can check them out through wikipedia but whether or not they have a representative in your riding is a different story.

Do Your Research

Before the big day make sure you do your research, and determine what party platform fits your views the best. I recently used the CBC Vote Compass (which is also used to gather market research data FYI) and it allowed me to fill out a survey and determine what party fits my ideals the best. Obviously take the results with a grain of salt, but this is a good way to ID which parties you may want to do more research on and determine your best choice.

Also don’t just check out the websites linked above but really look into news articles that often help to shed some light on the less glossy on goings for these parties and their leaders.

How Will This Impact You

As a student or recent grad make sure to check out different parties stances on education, youth unemployment, possibly entrepreneurship and any effects their policies will have on the industry you hope to work in after school.

#Selfie

I think it happened a week or so ago but I remember thinking it was a joke at first, but then these stories started creeping up everywhere. First it was someone hopping over a fence to take a selfie with a polar bear at the zoo (yup you’re an idiot) oh and then people taking selfies of their ballots at polling stations!!! Holy crap people are you serious. I don’t usually rant on here but I honestly hope we don’t have any issues when Ontario votes. The UK has banned selfies in advance of their upcoming election (I can’t believe they have to). So let’s keep our election selfie free peeps :)

Vote, Vote, Vote!

So I hope you feel slightly more informed about the Ontario Election 2014 and go out and vote, I’ll definitely be doing so. Also I hope this was the least boring political post you’ve ever read.

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