The Best No Foreign Currency Fee Credit Cards in Canada

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No Foreign Currency Fee Credit Cards

No Foreign Currency Fee Credit Cards

Best No Foreign Transaction Fee Cards

Canadians pay a 2.5 percent foreign transaction fee on most credit cards when they travel, even on high -end annual fee credit cards. Three cards are the exception to this rule. However, there is another option that became available to Canadians recently to avoid the foreign fee.

Here the three cards that let you avoid the foreign currency fee:

Chase Marriott Rewards Visa Card
Amazon Visa card
Rogers Platinum MasterCard

CIBC Air Canada AC Conversion Visa Prepaid Card

A new card called the CIBC Air Canada AC Conversion Visa Prepaid Card offers some unique features that come in handy when you travel. Don’t let this prepaid card steer you away from the various benefits it offers.

You can load a maximum of 10 currencies on this card and as long as you purchase within those currencies in foreign lands, you will not pay any foreign currency fee when you buy. However, when you load foreign currency, it seems to factor this in and charge a foreign currency fee. You can also withdraw cash from ATMs and get no fee for the first withdrawal.

My main reason to like this card is flexibility. I am always uncomfortable browsing the streets in foreign lands with a card that has $20,000 to $30,000 credit limit in my pocket. The AC Conversion Card lets me load any amount I want (minimum $100, max $3,000) and I would have peace of mind knowing that losing my card would be no big deal, as I would only load what I need daily in small amounts when I travel.

I will do an unboxing video of this card on my YouTube channel and possibly write more in the future. And rest assured, just like my all other credit card articles and videos, I do not accept money from credit card companies or provide any affiliated links to make money signing you up like other websites or blogs.

CIBC Air Canada AC Conversion Visa Prepaid Credit Card Unboxing and Brief Review

Entrepreneurship Today - Too Risky, or Just The Right Time?

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Small Business Ideas

As the economic news seems to get worse by the day, it seems that a different company is going bust every time you switch on the news. People are finding work harder to come by, and those who do have jobs are often finding themselves with fewer hours, or missing out on pay rises due to their employer finding it impossible to find the money that is required to keep a business thriving and its employees earning what they thought they would. For employees, there are more and more situations developing where they find themselves coming to work and wondering what bad news will filter through in the morning meeting. And as employees, they are also finding that there is not a whole lot they can do about this, that they just have to accept the latest piece of negative news.

In this climate it seems that it would be a brave individual who decides to up and start their own business. Watching companies go to the wall is going to be enough to turn off a number of potential entrepreneurs, who look at the situation as it is and doubt that they could make their own company work where the established names are failing. If the big companies with decades of experience are unable to keep their heads above water, then what chance does a greenhorn with a dream have? It is perfectly understandable that a number of potentially excellent businessmen and women are keeping their ideas to themselves right now.

It is absolutely the case that fewer businesses start up during a recession. For one thing, there is often a lot of capital required to set up a new business, especially where new premises are involved. For most people, this necessitates borrowing, and we are living in times where borrowing money is getting harder and harder, with banks not wanting to take any kind of risk in the light of a climate that has driven some to their worst operating losses ever. But on the other side of this, if you have made savings of any kind you may well have what the banks are looking for – a deposit. By raising this kind of operating capital, or giving the banks an assurance that you are likely to be careful with your money, you increase your chances of getting a business off to its best start.

Alternatively, the Internet has made it possible to start up a business without having any premises. All you need is your home computer, an idea, and the materials to put it into practice. Even the materials do not need to be expensive, depending on the nature of your business. From a very low start-up cost you could find yourself earning money pretty quickly. Obviously it is no time to be setting up a company selling executive holidays – the take up would be rather low – but if you have an idea to supply a need that has not been diminished by the credit crunch, now could just be the best time to go for it. A narrowed field, and a market that is not far from bottoming out – what are you waiting for?
First Published: May 7, 2009 EntrepreneurJourney.com

Health Risks of Inactivity

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Inactivity Kills Like Cancer

A recent study published in the Lancet shows that inactivity, or lack of exercise, causes as many deaths as smoking across the globe. How many deaths is inactivity causing? The answer is an alarming number of 5.3 million deaths annually.

It is estimated that about one adult in every three are not active enough. Inactivity is causing one death in ten due to diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and so on. The Lancet report also finds that populations in rich countries were less active than poor countries due to various factors. Let’s look at some other numbers:

Inactivity Causes:

Heart Disease = 6%
Type 2 Diabetes = 9%
Breast Cancer = 10%
Colon Cancer = 10%
Premature Deaths = 9%

These numbers are based on data from 2008

It is recommended that you do 2 to 3 hours of exercise per week combining aerobic activity and strength training. A combination of moderate and vigorous activity is recommended. Moderate aerobic exercises include walking the dog, walking to the grocery, swimming, etc. Vigorous aerobic exercises include jogging, running, playing tennis, squash, etc. Strength training exercises are those to work on your major muscle groups such as arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen, back, hips, and legs with the use of weight machines, resistance bands, weight bars, dumbbells, etc. Strength training activities should be done at least twice per week.

First published on Aug 18, 2012 on simplepersonaldevelopment.com

Educational Entrepreneurship

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Has Your Education Paid Off?

Many people who have spent a large amount of time (and money) getting their education are finding that it has not paid off as they would have wished. People with college degrees are, finding with greater frequency that there are not as many companies sitting and waiting for someone with their skills as they hoped or were led to believe.

Often academic achievement – a worthwhile goal in its own right – is found to be of less value when looking for the perfect job than we have been led to believe. In addition, it is at times like this that people with a high level of education canfind themselves wondering why they bothered. For many reasons, this is a great shame. Not least of these reasons is the fact that it can easily trickle down to younger people that education is worthless. It is not.

If you have spent all that time and money getting an education only to find out that it has not gained you the perfect job, there are ways that you can put it to work for you. Maybe a big company does not want to take the chance on you because they simply do not have the vacancies, or it may be that, impressive though your achievement undoubtedly is, it just does not fit into an existing gap in the skills set of the companies in question.

The solution to this problem may lie in taking the bull by the horns and creating your own income stream. The most immediately obvious way to do this is to take a direct approach. The educated can become the educator. Tutoring is something that is used far more than most people realize. Despite what you are finding, the value of education is still held by many to be as high as it ever was. Parents who are despairing over their child’s academic performance are increasingly prepared – even in a shaky economy – to give their children the extra advantage when it comes to schoolwork by employing a personal tutor. And knowledge has a high premium. Many jobs in the private sector simply do not pay as highly as working for yourself, selling something more important than any perishable goods.

Even if your education is not in a field that is so easily transferable – for example, parents will often want to employ a math tutor or a language expert, but are less likely to call for a textile major – you do have a level of knowledge in your chosen field that most people simply cannot call upon. So if a company finds itself in need of someone who can – for example – make a necessary component for an item they are selling, but have no-one in their work force who has that skill, they will often be prepared to pay an outside contractor to show them how. Outsourcing is becoming more and more of a key issue in business. Having an expertise in a certain area can really pay off. It is about seeing how you can make it pay off for you, and if you can do that then you can show the world – and yourself – why you bothered getting that education.

First Published: Feb 28, 2009 on EntrepreneurJourney.com