Credit Cards Can Save You Foreign Transaction Fees

No Foreign Currency Fee Credit Card

Most Canadian credit cards charge nasty foreign transaction fees when you shop in a non-Canadian currency. However, with these 4 cards you can save 2.5 percent, as that’s the standard fee other cards charge.

Amazon Canada Rewards Visa Card – A no-annual fee credit card that offers no foreign currency fee as well. Does not have many perks and features, but a good one to keep for foreign travel and online shopping in foreign currency. Issued by Chase Canada. This card will not work in Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria and Libya.

Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Card - Also issued by Chase Canada and will not work in Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria and Libya. This one has a $120 annual fee. A Marriott hotel chain co-branded credit card earns Marriott reward points and comes with other benefits.

Rogers Platinum MasterCard – This one works a little differently. You pay the 2.5 percent foreign transaction fee, but Rogers offers 4 percent cash back on foreign transactions, making it 1.5 percent return in foreign purchases. The annual fee is $29, but waived for the first year. If you pay your Rogers bills by pre-authorized payment, the annual fee is waived each year.

CIBC Air Canada AC Conversion Visa PrePaid Card – Although it’s a prepaid card, it’s marketed as a no-foreign currency transaction fee cards as long as you are transacting in one of the 10 supported currencies it offers. However, when you load foreign currency, it seems to factor this in and charge a foreign currency fee. Still, I like this card because it lets you withdraw from one ATM per month for free in foreign locations in supported currency and it’s safer when you travel, as you are the one to decide how much you want to load.

Tangerine MoneyBack MasterCard – This one charges 1.5 percent foreign transaction fees, instead of 2.5 percent.

How Safe Are Your Cosmetics

Safe and Toxic Cosmetics

How to Check the Toxic Chemicals in Your Cosmetics

Whether you are in Canada or in USA, the cosmetics you are using most likely have a few toxic ingredients in them and they did not require any approval from any authorities to hit the market. Worse yet, Canadian law does not mandate listing all ingredients in your cosmetics and manufacturers can easily hide harmful ingredients. Today, I will list some common toxic ingredients and show you how you can check your cosmetics before using them to ensure you and your family’s safety.

HereAre Some:

DBP/Dibutyl Phthalate - The European Union has banned using this in cosmetics. Potential reproductive, immune system, liver, kidney, and neurotoxin. A hazardous air and water pollutant and harmful to wildlife.

Paraben - Used in many cosmetics. Possible endocrine disruptor and can cause cancer.

BHA and BHT - Used in moisturizers. Possible endocrine disruptor and can cause cancer.

Phthalate - Used in nail products and many cosmetics. Possible endocrine disruptor and can cause cancer. Harmful to wildlife.

DEA/MEA/TEA - Used in moisturizers and shampoos. A respiratory, neurotoxicity, and immunotoxicity hazard. Harmful to wildlife and can cause cancer.

Petrolatum/Petroleum Jelly - The European Union has banned this using in cosmetics. Used in moisturizers, hair products, lipsticks, lip balms, etc. Can cause cancer.

Parfum - Some fragrance ingredients are harmful and can cause asthma, cancer, etc.

The above are only a few to mention. There are so many more harmful ingredients are hidden in our daily cosmetics. To find out more, check the links mentioned below or search online for “toxic or harmful chemicals in cosmetics.”

How to Check How Toxic Your Cosmetics Are

The Environmental Working Group, or EWG, provides a database to check more than 78,000 products on their website here: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/. You will find most of the known brands here and many not-so-known brands that manufacture low toxicity cosmetics. I recently switched from most of the well-known brands to not-so-common brands after finding out that most of the brands I trusted since I was born are actually very toxic.

The David Suzuki Foundation, a Canadian environmental organization, provides helpful publications to detect dirty ingredients in your cosmetics. Here are some links:
12 Ingredients to Avoid in Your Cosmetics and
What’s Inside? That Counts: A Survey of Toxic Ingredients in Our Cosmetics
Natural Skincare Authority provides an A to Z list of toxins here:
The "A" to "Z" Of Toxins in Skin Care

And Don’t Forget

Natural - If you see “Natural” on the level, it does not really mean anything. Only one (or more than one) ingredient has to be derived from a natural source and the rest can be full of toxic ingredients.

Organic - If you see “Organic” on a cosmetic level, 95 percent of the ingredients must be organic and the rest can still be non-organic or toxic ingredients.

Made with Organic Ingredients - If you see “Made with Organic Ingredients” on a cosmetic level, 70 percent of the ingredients must be organic and the rest can still be non-organic or toxic ingredients.
First Punished: Jan 26, 2013 simplepersonaldevelopment.com

Knowledge Is Power; And Also Money

Knowledge Is Power

Turn Knowledge Into Money Making eBook

There are many of us who have a range of talents that render our friends almost speechless with envy. However, try and find, when we try to convert those talents into money that they seem to be in very limited demand. Looking for a job when you have a talent for music should be straightforward – your skills are very clear, and the vacancies should be obvious. It is similar for any talent that can fall under the bracket of “academic” – they can be very desirable talents particularly for those who do not have them. Nevertheless, for those who do they often seem to be frustrating and unproductive, sitting there making no money whatsoever, unless you can win a competition based on your talent.

Many are now coming to the conclusion that if those talents are not going to just go out there and make money by themselves, they will need to be twisted into some shape that makes them lucrative. No one is going to pay you money just for knowing how to do something – unfortunately. However, what you can do is to turn your talent, knowledge or intelligence into book form and sell that book. Once upon a time, in order to write and sell a book, you needed to write to publishing companies with your plan, get it accepted, and then submit your book at various stages for feedback and editing. If it did not conform to what the publishers wanted, then it would not get published. So you could be as intelligent and knowledgeable as you liked, but getting published was next to impossible for many.

With the advent of the e-book, this is no longer such a concern. People with knowledge to distribute can now write a book in Microsoft Word (or any other desktop publishing program) and distribute it themselves. If you are good with web design, or know someone who is, then you can design a website to go along with your book, providing you with a product and the means of advertising it all in one fell swoop. Writing an e-book and publishing it can also be a way in to the still thriving paper-based literary world.

So if you have a certain, specific talent which your friends are always commenting on and expressing envy over, then why not think about writing an e-book. You can send it to your friends without asking them to pay for it – they can even act as a focus group by telling you what they like and what they do not. Setting up an account with PayPal enables people to pay for the book, whereupon you can send the book to them, and hey presto. You are making your talent into money – finally. Instead of getting frustrated with a dormant talent, you will be getting rich from it.
First Published: Mar 13, 2009 EntrepreneurJourney.com

Don't Throw Out Your Credit Cards Yet, First Pick Up Your Phone

Cutting Credit Cards

Yesterday I decided to get rid of two credit cards. These two cards were in my wallet for long and I never used it. As I was calling customer service to close my account, my friend (who was next to me) suggested just to throw out my cards. He said he never bothers to call because it is a waste of time.

Many of us do the same thing. A lot of us don't realize that if you do not call your card company and close your account - your account will remain active and it will appear on your credit reports as a credit. So if you opened accounts here and there years ago just to get10% discount and forgot about it, chances are high that's what making your credit reports lengthy. We don't know how many credit cards we have and all these accounts appear on our credit reports and creditors might not like having too many accounts. So before you throw out your credit card next time, make sure you pick up the phone and call your credit card company to close your account first.
First Published: Mar 29, 2007 ADawnJournal.com

Safe Fish To Eat

Safe Fish You Should Eat

Today, I am not going to write about the benefits of eating fish. Most of us know about it, and if you are not aware, do some research online. I try to eat fish every other week or even more often. However, if you don’t pick the right fish to eat, it may do more harm than good due to its contamination. I am going to present my safe fish list and unsafe fish list chart today to make your life little easier on fish shopping. Keep in mind that there are much more fish than what I have mentioned here. I am just presenting those that I like. If you want more, use the links I provided at the end or search online.

My Top Safe Fish List

1. Anchovy - Omega 3
2. Arctic Char - Omega 3
3. Atlantic mackerel ( Avoid King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel) - Omega 3
4. Haddock
5. Halibut
6. Herring - Omega 3
7. Ocean Perch (Alaska, Pacific. US Pacific, Newfoundland)
8. Pollock (Boston bluefish) - Omega 3
9. Farmed Rainbow Trout (avoid wild trout) - Omega 3  
10. Salmon (eat canned, Chum, Coho, Pink, Wild Pacific, sockeye, Chinook, steelhead salmon. Avoid farmed, Atlantic salmon) - Omega 3
11. Sardines – Omega 3
12. Smelt - Omega 3
13. Snapper
14. Sole (US Pacific English Sole)
15. Tilapia (eat farmed Canada or America Tilapia. Avoid farmed Asia, South America Tilapia)
16. Tuna (eat canned light, yellowfin, bigeye, skipjack, yellowfin, tongol. Avoid white, albacore, bluefin, maguro, toro tuna) - Omega 3 

NB - Omega 3 refers to fish high in Omega 3.

Sources:
http://www.eatrightontario.ca/en/Articles/Food-safety/Get-the-reel-scoop-on-fish-and-mercury.aspx
http://www.toronto.ca/health/fishandmercury/pdf/guide_eat_fish.pdf
http://intraspec.ca/fish.php#.UF6WaI1lSV8

First Published: Nov 19, 2012 simplepersonaldevelopment.com