My November/December Reading List

by Jack on November 10, 2008

I went to the bookstore the other day because I was tired of reading RSS Feeds and websites and decided that books needed to be a bigger part of my life again. Not just textbooks, because god knows I have enough of those to read, but book books. I know this isn’t the most budget friendly or environmentally friendly (all of them are printed on recycled paper though!) or community friendly (admittedly, I went to Chapters because of a promotion they were having, instead of a local bookstore) - BUT, I needed some thought provoking concrete books and so I went and got them.

My personal sins aside, let me tell you about this month’s selection. It has very much the business focus that I always try to keep with my life, but also this month features a very strong academic and green focus as well. I’m really excited to get started reading them all, and plan on devoting an hour or so before bed to get them done. Since I am a capitalist pig, I’m going to post my reading list with handy amazon links, because A: they make it very easy to do so and B: I can make money this way. So, there is my honesty clause - I hope you find an interest in one of the books I’m posting and let me know what you think of it!

The Lost Massey Lectures: Recovered Classics from Five Great Thinkers

Why I bought it: Since quitting (most) video games, I decided that times when I’m not busy with school or out socializing could be better spent expanding learning, reading, and consuming even more information. I chose this particular book for the Canadian content, as it was CBC Radio who first aired these lectures, but also to gain some perspective from these 5 classical thinkers and idealists; Martin Luther King Jr., John Kenneth Galbraith, Jane Jacobs, Eric W. Kierans and Paul Goodman. I’m most looking forward to reading the Galbraith section - if you are unsure of who any of these people are, than your education has undoubtedly failed you (kidding) - a quick Google search should fix that.

Age Of Turbulence

Why I bought it: An obvious choice for these difficult financial times. This is Alan Greenspan’s personal account of stories from the modern financial world. It even includes a new chapter on the current credit crisis, detailing how he might have been wrong. This man use to run the global economy, he must have some worthwhile lessons for me to learn.

The Numerati - Stephen Baker

Why I bought it: I was told that this was quite an interesting piece to read as it describes how our modern lives can be modeled and predicted by numbers, a good pick up if you enjoy the sort of geek culture that I tend to frequent. Described as a must read for “anyone who wants to understand life and business in the Google Age” by Chris Anderson (Editor of Wired) - I see it as being a little feel good story for me to read, that will help me embrace my inner geek, business degree and love of web development/coding.

Stupid to the Last Drop: How Alberta Is Bringing Environmental Armageddon to Canada (And Doesn’t Seem to Care)

Why I bought it: With a title that appeals to my environmental and philanthropical side - and a shiny sticker that said “Winner of the National Business Book Award”, this was a shoein for this month’s list. Not only will it provide juicy conversation pieces for social gatherings (Hey, how do you feel about the current oil cris- Oh hang on, its my turn at beer pong), I also figured that it was an important issue to be knowledgeable on, and that it might come in handy for a future blog post or university paper. I care about the environment, and knowledge is power, so technically, the green movement is about to get that much more powerful?

Brain Fuel: 199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life

Why I bought it: Because I’m a geek, and I needed something that I could pick up at anytime of the day and get a little mental stimulus from. I don’t have a better reason than that.

Monday Morning Choices: 12 Powerful Ways to Go from Everyday to Extraordinary

Why I bought it: I actually didn’t buy this one, it was given to me by my Dad in the summer (oops) and I haven’t read it yet. He is a smart man, and has done enough in his business career for me to have a lot to work towards, so I take his advice when ever I can and call him often. If you haven’t talked to your Dad in a while, you should call him right now.

The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need

Why I bought it: The marquee title in the Green category, this book is more for personal interest in the area of sustainable living, something which I hope to bring to my home(s), my university campus, and into future business endeavors. Building on the background I already have can’t hurt, and there are a few chapters, i.e “The Economics of Sustainability” which I am particularly interested in.

That wraps it up for my reading list for these next few weeks. If you have anything you think is worth reading, Twitter me, or email more - do something. Feel free to let me know what you thought of any of these books if you have already read them - I enjoy discussion, but for some reason people are afraid to comment, so no discussion can exist.

ARE YOU AFRAID OF COMMENTING?

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Exciting List of things I did for the blog today

by Jack on November 5, 2008

I installed a great new feature on the blog this morning which I feel deserves special mention.

Intense Debate is a great, fairly new, blog commenting system that I recieved a Beta invite for last night! I was only too happy to install it this morning because of the great feedback I have heard about it. It has a built in avatar system, web admin panel, tons of editing and syncing features and much more. Just about everything you could ask for. Here’s what they have to say about their product:

IntenseDebate is a comment system that enhances and encourages discussion on your blog or website.

  • Comment Threading Threaded comments organize the dialogue and make voicing your opinion a cinch.
  • Reply-By-Email Reply-By-Email lets you respond to and moderate comments with ease even if you’re on the go.
  • Importing/Exporting Our comment importers and exporters make bringing your comments with you a piece of cake.

Naturally, the next few weeks will be a period of testing to see if it improves life around the blog, but I have high hopes.

Next, I submitted Bizstudent to 9rules round 8 of submissions! While I probably have no chance whatsoever of making the cut, its something I wanted to do anyways. They often offer great tips, so I hope to continue to improve the blog and become apart of that great community one day. If you need to know more, their blog is a good place to start.

Lastly, Congratulations to President-Elect Obama and his mighty fine crew o’ democrats - it was a very passionate election and a decisive victory for him. He seems like a bright man, I like some of the economic policy he has lined up, and even though I live in Canada, I feel he will have a great impact here as well (Maybe he can teach Charisma to our politicians). I also upgraded to the latest version of Wordpress - CRISIS AVERTED.

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Weekend Update

by Jack on November 3, 2008

My own version of SNL’s weekend update - with much less satire and sarcasm. I just wanted to take a moment this morning and spread some community love for a few  blog posts gave me something good to read either earlier this morning or over the weekend.

  • Put your savings on steroids - A great post by J.D of Get Rich Slowly - All about CD’s (GIC’s if you live in Canada like me) which basically are long term high yield savings accounts. The longer you leave your money with the bank, the better the return is for you - for a better explanation, head over and read the article.
  • 3 Alternatives to promoting your blogs homepage that convert first time readers to loyal ones - I’m always trying to improve the image of Bizstudent, and am not ashamed to say that I need help doing it. I always go to Darren (Problogger) for help in these matters and this post is just one of the many he posts daily.
  • Tyler Cruz is running his 5th Affiliate Marketing Challenge - While this is not an official blog post promoting the contest, it is still a calling for all those marketer’s out there who haven’t entered. Since I read Tyler’s Blog pretty regularly, I decided to toss this little plug in there for him. I don;t know much about affiliate marketing, but I might have to enter this contest to build a little knowledge and have a chance to win one of the prizes which total $11,000.
  • How to earn more money than an MBA Graduate - This is a blog which I added to my reader fairly recently, and I have been impressed with the author so far. Ben Bleikamp is a freelance/entrepreneur who’s ideals I find fascinating and similar to mine. I’m still not sure if I want to do my MBA after my undergraduate, but at least I will have this advice to go on whether I do or don’t.
  • Mankiw/Galbraith, Diverging Economic Opinions - A fascinating read from Monday morning; Greg Mankiw disects the NY Times article in which James Galbraith (Radical/Un-mainstream economist) further denounces mainstream economic theory (what I am learning in univeristy, at this very moment). It is shocking to read, because I am paying for an education which covers many of these subjects, and I trust the professors who are teaching me to be experts. Now this guy comes out and denounces everything I have learned so far, from opportunity costs to marginal rates of substituion?
  • Yesthat.com - Jon’s newest site, one that focuses on start-ups. I enjoy Jon’s work and I enjoy reading about start-ups, so this was a natural choice. I’m looking to become a more active commenter on Yesthat, and contribute a little more to the community there.

That’s all for the Weekend Update - I’m actually in the Yesthat Chatroom right now, getting to know some of the good folks over there, you should stop in and chat if you have a moment.

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Monday Morning Outlook

by Jack on November 3, 2008

Market's Still skeptical

Market's still skeptical this morning.

It didn’t start out as a great Monday for me, and the market had much of the same start - but got better as the morning went on. I had more than enough hours of good sleep last night, but still woke up in Monday morning zombie mode. I quickly pulled myself together, read some emails, sent some emails, read my feeds, read twitter, major news sites, upgraded wordpress, and now am feeling a little more accomplished.

In this post, I want to highlight some of the things going on in the world on this day before election day (U.S) that I am reading about this morning.

In the markets:

  • U.S Stocks move modestly higher in hesitant action - NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks on Monday climbed after swinging up and down in hesitant early trading as investors digested data showing a decline in U.S. manufacturing activity during October and as the race for the White House nears the finish line.
  • Biotech lifts Nasdaq; Dow and S&P500 Flat - NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq rose on Monday as investors snapped up biotechnology shares following broker upgrades on Biogen’s (BIIB.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) stock, but the Dow and the S&P 500 were little changed on concerns that the economic downturn might be deepening.

In Canada:

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A blog that I should have been reading long ago.

by Jack on October 30, 2008

I can remember fondly back to my first year of university - because it was only 3 years ago - and enrolling myself in all those wonderful first year courses with 500-600 people in each class. It was intimidating at times, and what we were learning seemed trivial. One course in particular, ECO1102, which is code for First Year Microeconomics, is one that I struggled with. I’ll rephrase to “struggled with to “slacked off”, because, in reality, I don’t struggle with any of my courses, I just slack off in them. I find this to be very true. Most of my downfall came from not putting in the effort into my courses.

Back to the relevance of ECO1102 (Microeconomics) - My professor, one David Gray, was an excitingly ecentric professor, who’s lectures were as entertaining as they were informative (Still one of my favorite professors to the day). He boasts an impressive educational resume which he told us about on the first day:

  • Ph.D., Economics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1990
  • M.A., Economics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1986
  • B.A., Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, 1981

Needless to say, he is still teaching, and apparently loves economics. This is still background information here people, I assure you I am getting to the point, consider this a little more information and insight into my personal life. Okay, here comes the point:

Prof. David Gray began to tell us about this expensive textbook I had just purchased. A fancy looking Thompson publication with a yellow and Black cover titled “Principles of Microeconomics” - I was giddy because this was my first university textbook, but also already dreading the immense build of said textbook. One of the authors, one Greg Mankiw was mentioned, and an impressive list of credentials was read off, with the words Harvard, Princeton and MIT thrown into the mix somewhere. It had my attention for the 5 minutes it was talked about, and then, I just forgot about the whole thing.

Fast forward 2 years - I like to think that I am becoming a better student now, and have tried to take a more indepth interest in my coursework. I also have a semi-succesful business blog which I like to write articles for. Meanwhile, this really has nothing to do with how I found this blog which I now love.

So, I was sitting in my 2nd year Microeconomics class (Yes, I enjoyed it enough the first time around to take it again, and yes, I am in 3rd year taking some 2nd year courses - this is a direct consequence of me screwing around in first year, and part of second year) on my laptop, and the professor used a term which I felt I needed to look up on the internet for further clarification - I googled the term, I think it was the Substitution Effect and one of the first results was this blog - Greg Mankiw’s blog. We’ll, I knew I recognized the name, so I decided to browse through it (yeah, in the middle of class, shoot me) and instantly became interested. His blog is filled with AMAZING (I don’t use the term lightly) advice for students in this field, as well as healthy, insightful, economic literature for you to digest almost daily.

That, ladies and gentleman, is the story of how it took me 3 years to find this one blog, make a complete turn around as a student, start a blog, and renew my interest in business and economics.

I think I’m going to go back and read that first year textbook again, just to make sure I got it all the first time.

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Tax Tips for Canadian Students

by Jack on October 29, 2008

I was reading one of the magazines which I have taken an interest lately, Money Sense, which is a Canadian publication that targets the average homeowner/student and they had a great article featured about how students and parents of student can save a lot on education by filling properly and using the benefits to the fullest. Since many of you may have missed this article, I think it would be helpful to share these tips with everyone, so if you know a university student, be sure to pass this along to them!

  • Tip #1- File a tax return even if you didn’t earn enough to pay income tax. This will guarantee that you recieve the $350 GST rebate at the very least and that you recieve a refund of any taxes you may have paid through payroll deductions with your employer.

    Jack’s Thoughts - I can’t argue with this at all, a great piece of advice. If you are looking to become more proactive in taking care of your taxes, HR Block has the best options for students I have seen. They will prepare your return for $29.95 and provide you with great tips for staying tax healthy throughout the year. I believe they also offer classes where you can learn how to prepare and file your own return - HR Block Link

  • Tip #2 - You can claim $400 a month for each month you attended college or university full time ($265 a month for part-time students). You can also receive a tax credit of $65 for textbooks ($20 a month for part-time students).

    Jack’s Thought’s: Alright, so basically, the government is giving you a tiny part of the money you pay to go to school back. Take it where you can get it. With textbooks averaging $500 a semester, and tuition in Ontario the highest in Canada, you should take the help where ever you can. This is really a no-brainer to claim these amounts.

  • Tip #3 - You can claim any tuition fees over $100 as a tax credit. Eligible fees include any mandatory amounts charged by the school.

    Jack’s Thought’s: A tax credit is basically the government recognizing that you have made a partial payment towards taxes that you owe - So instead of paying tuition, and full taxes - file a return so that your tuition counts towards what you would owe. It should save you money in the long run.

Closing Notes

  • I found all these tips very helpful because I’m a fulltime post-secondary student myself. I’ve been filing a return since I was 16, and each year I try to learn a little more so that I can save more.
  • I really recommend that you take an interest in your own tax return, because it will help you understand your personal finances just that much more. Don’t skimp when it comes to this task either, if you aren’t absolutely sure how to do it yourself, then have it done by a professional, it is 100% worth it.
  • I hope that at least one of you out there did find it helpful though, and can save a little dough in this crazy economic downturn!

Original Article: Money Sense (October 2008)

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What’s new around the blog

by Jack on October 15, 2008

I just wanted to make a short post this morning detailing some of the new features I have added to the blog in order to improve the overall user experience!

The Theme

I’ll start off with this new theme - It’s called Thesis (affiliate link!) and it was designed by Chris Pearson of Pearsonified. I like the theme because of its simple layout, the ability to customize and the neat sidebars. It’s all very well coded and even includes an amazing coded customization menu for the layout. I think that the best part about the theme is that I didn’t have to do any of the coding, just a few design tweaks here and there, it was easy to do!

WSJ Widget - A pretty cool addition, if not my favorite. It displays the latest financial news from the Wall Street Journal so you can see the markets going to hell in a handcart in real time, while reading the blog! Isn’t that useful?

Business Resources - This is an idea that I really like, and I feel that it has extreme potential to grow into something much bigger! For now, the business resources section is going to be like a compendium of resources that I use in all aspects of my life, but mostly business and blogging. Right now, it isn’t too filled out, but I am always adding new sites as I go along. If anyone has any sites they think should be on the list, then by all means, please contact me and let me know! If I really like it, I may even review it!

Advertising Space - I wasn’t too keen to offer any advertising space on the blog, but I decided to leave a few spaces open for it. The current 125×125 placeholders look kinda tacky right now, so I might replace them with some affiliate links. They are however available for rent, and prices are negotiable. Other advertising is available as well, and we can talk and work something out.

Banner - How cool is the banner? It’s cool right? I think it suits the blog very well, because of course the theme here is money.

Those are the major features of the new blog outline, and I think it’s pretty complete with them. Again, if you have any suggestions, you know where to go to tell me.

Now that you have had the full tour, I think that it would be good for you to subscribe to our feed so as not to miss any future updates! If you don’t use RSS or travel a great deal, you can even do it by email - Subscribe to BizStudent by Email.

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Not another comeback post…

by Jack on October 15, 2008

I know, people are probably getting tired of these kinds of posts - I am getting tired of them myself. I must have tried to relaunch this blog at least 6 or 7 times, and each time, I write the first post and fail to keep up with posting.

I make more promises than a crooked politician, and each post starts off as I am writing it now.

I’m not going to say it will be different this time, because even I won’t believe myself.

I looked all over the internet and on all the pro blogging digs on how to write the perfect opening/launching post for a blog, but decided that I needed to write it myself.

So, here it goes!

What do I want BizStudent to be about?

I’m going to write this in point form, because I haven’t thought about it before hand, just jotting it down as it comes to my head:

  • Student Finance/Personal Finance - I’m a student, a business student, and I have horrible, horrible money management skills. I want to change that, and share this experience with my readers. I have been subscribed to an amazing money management blog for the longest time - Get Rich Slowly - and although it’s been in my feed for ages, I didn’t start seriously reading it unil recently. J.D is a brilliant writer, and even inspired me to download and organize my bank statements into Quicken so that I can track how much money I waste. I spent $121.10 at SUBWAY of all places this month - needless to say, I think I need help.
  • The Market/Top Financial Issues - My roommate and I often watch CNBC for hours at a time. We are absolutely fascinated by how the market works, and the proceedings that go on, especially in this day and age where we are in a wee bit of an economic downturn. I also enjoy watching Jim Cramer’s Mad Money, although I cant say I have actually followed any of his advice yet. I’d like to post every once in a while and profile a stock that I’ve been following or a piece of news regarding the market that I feel is important to share.
  • Young Entrepreneurs/Other Blogs - This is an obvious one. I love reading about investing, venture capital and start-ups, so I want to try and feature an up and coming start-up every once in a while. It probably wont be breaking news like Tech Crunch, or Giga Om or Venture Beat, but I think that I can take a piece and put a good spin on it. Young entrepreneurs, such as myself, are a great area of interest. It’s great to see people trying to achieve something meaningful and make a name for themselves so early in life, and obviously free press/networking is something everyone can use.
  • Miscellaneous Ramblings - I’m a little gadget and tech obsessed, and I tend to ramble about my life, but I’m going to try and keep that out of my posts because I really want this blog to be business focused

This is really just a brief outline of things that I wanted Bizstudent to be about. It was surprisingly easy to write, I really did just put everything down that came into my mind, and it worked. So, I’m going to end this post on that note. No promotional tactics yet, we’ll start on that tomorrrow. I’m excited because I feel like I have so much to write about!

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