my cheap vacation... and the trade that paid for it 5x over

As many of you know, last week I was on a nice little vacation with my girlfriend, Miranda.
We spent six nights in Canada, three in Toronto, and three in Montreal. Overall, it was a badass trip including a mini-trip to Niagara Falls, long train rides through the country, exceptional views of the city in Toronto, and an interesting look into the unique, historic culture of Montreal.

And through all of that, one of the very best parts was how much I actually had to spend for us to take this vacation.

This post is going to have a few recommendations for making your travel a little bit easier and cheaper, as well as a little bonus insight into my best trade to date... that happened to be placed while sitting by the pool on the top floor at the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal.

origin

August, 2012. Beginning of my second year at Texas State University. I was (and still am..) studying for a Bachelor's in Business Administration, majoring in Finance. I didn't know much about the markets at the time and grants from the state were paying for my school, so I took about $5,000 of student loans and started playing around penny stocks and small cap junk stocks.. because WHAT COULD GO WRONG?! Well, nothing went wrong. In fact, things went more perfectly than I could've ever imagined.

In just a couple months I turned that roughly $5,000 into almost $15,000. I was having $500-$2,000 days pretty regularly (see $5,000 in single day above) ^ ^ ^. I made enough money for the time being. So, I got out for a while. Spent a little money on some new computers, a couple trips with the girlfriend, and lots of booze at our local bars. 

I decided I probably needed a job around May 2013, so I could get a little experience in the finance industry (banking is close enough?). I got hired as a teller at Wells Fargo inside of a Wal-Mart in May. When I was a teller, all I could think about was trading. I made a few trades at work.. I had graduated from penny stock trading to trading volatile, low-float, small cap stocks, but it was pretty difficult to do while dealing with lines of customers. So, I stopped again.

guide to your credit score

Your credit score.

There are 5 factors that make up a credit score.

35% - Payment History

30% - Credit Utilization

15% - Length of Credit History

10% - Types of Credit

10% - New Credit

100% = your credit score

Let's get started.

Most important: Payment History

Payment history is essentially how good you are at making payments to your credit cards, loans, lines of credit, mortgages, etc., on time. Missing even one payment can be a big slip up on your credit report and negatively affect your credit score.

Best practices.

If you are a forgetful person, set all of your payments to recurring minimum or full payments. This will allow you to go worry free month to month knowing that all of your bills will be paid. The only downside to taking this route is the fact that you might not always have enough money in your bank account to cover your payment, which will lead to overdrafts and overdraft fees.

If you are NOT a forgetful person and you check your balances and accounts daily or weekly, pay them manually. You will always know what is going on in your accounts and never have to worry about overdrafting.

In order to boost your credit score the most, pay your payment right after you get your snail-mail or online statement. If you pay before the statement date, it will look like you didn't use your card that month. And if you pay late, well that's just bad. Creditors and lenders want to see that you are using your credit each month and using it responsibly.