Mobilicity Customers: Time to Run From Rogers

Mobilicity – Now That’s Not Smart

First Published Date: June 29, 2015

Although the government keeps praising the recent Rogers-Mobilicity deal as a big WIN for Canadians, most of the Mobilicity customers would view it otherwise. There is a lot of talk about the “Spectrum” swap to make Wind Mobile nation’s fourth carrier to compete with the big three brothers. But for those 150,000 Mobilicity customers it’s a deal to gobble them up by the same giant they wanted to get rid of in the first place.

The drive behind Rogers buying Mobilicity is not because Rogers’ interest in Mobilicity’s existing clients, but because of the spectrum it can gets hands on. Regardless what the government says, it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that this deal means more control in Rogers’ hand and less competition.

If you need an example of what happens to those great monthly affordable plans after a big company buying a small competitor, you don’t need to look further than Telus buying Public Mobile. The affordable plans Public Mobile used to offer are all gone since the takeover and the same thing is bound to happen with Mobilicity very shortly.

When Mobilicity customers signed up with this small player offering affordable plans (although with a terrible signal), their main intention was to escape from a big brother and save some money. Some of the customers could not even afford to have a plan with a big brother and they had some relief subscribing to a new company which is not a part of the big brothers that have been monopolizing and terrorizing Canadian mobile markets ever since.

So what now? These unfortunate and stranded 150,000 subscribers are back to where they started and will be eaten alive by the same giant they were running away from. The only option that seems to remain open now is to run – again.

Real Estate Hotspot The Adriatic Coast and Montenegro

Adriatic Sea Dream

First Published Date: July 1, 2015

Who does not remember that it was only a couple of years ago when the Adriatic regions of what used to be called Yugoslavia was known for all the wrong reasons. All that we got from the media was generally about bloodshed and what came to be known as ethic cleansing. In a little while the former communist republic began disintegrating and small tribal units were seceding and becoming republics on their own, whether they had international support or not.

Talking about the region today and mentioning places like Montenegro you will elicit a completely new set of feelings, especially from people who are very keen on real estate. Every international investor you know about is jostling for a share of the former hotspot of the bloodbaths of modern Europe because people just discovered the golden coasts that been forgotten for years on end. After the years of war and destruction, reconstruction has begun in earnest and the focal point seems to be the Adriatic coast. There are all manner of developments already taking place and foreign investors are falling over themselves to build up the coastal are and right now it is littered with industrial investments and holiday resorts of the highest standards you can ever imagine.

What seems to have awakened the great interest may be the fact the several celebrities have toured the Adriatic sea coasts of the former Yugoslavia not just as tourists, but they have ended up buying a piece of the cake and you will be in for a surprise if you found who has property in this lovely coast. From film stars to rally champions and all the rest you can mention, the destination is the Adriatic Sea coast and Montenegro is real hot spot currently. You know what follows when famous people invade a place, the prices of property begin sky rocketing and this is what is happening in Montenegro right now. The ordinary Joe will be hard pressed to manage anything at this time. What with prices rising by up to 40% in just one year.

One of the hottest spots in Montenegro where the high and mighty are settling is known as Kotorska Bay, which is a scenic are that has mountains overlooking three sizeable bays and because of space and height limitations, the developments here are not allowed to go more than three storey high. The one thing that has also catapulted the developmental status of this enclave is the recognition by UNESCO to make it a world heritage site. The sandy beaches are always full of people and the cost of property is just not what you would expect of an area with history like this one.

And for those who would love to acquire built up properties, there is no shortage of apartments that have been put up overlooking the sea, where you stay as you enjoy the cool breeze of the evening. All that was lacking due to the bad history that the area went through just a few years ago, moneyed investors and developers are bridging the gap with so much zeal. The good news is that real estate lovers are not letting them down, seizing every available piece of lane or built up apartments.

Asia Will Be 53% of World Economy

China Economy Will Lead the World by 2026

First Published Date: July 2, 2015

A recent report published by the Economist Intelligence Units predicts that in just 10 years China will overtake the US in terms of nominal GDP and will stay there at least until 2050. Also, Asia will account for 53 percent of world economy; it is currently at only 33 percent.

Here are some highlights from the report:

– Mexico and Indonesia will be among the top ten economies by 2050, surpassing Russia and Italy.

– The top ten economies in 2050 will be China, US, India, Indonesia, Japan, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, UK, and France.

– Within the top ten, China, US, and India will hold more wealth than the next five countries combined. This enormous scale of wealth will be nothing like the world has seen before.

– Currently the top ten economies are US, China, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Brazil, Italy, India, and Russia.

– China is almost expected to catch Japan in terms of per capita incomes by 2050.

– Nigeria is projected to triple its labour force, followed by Pakistan, in the next decades.

– Japan, Germany, and Thailand will decline in labour force, dragging down their growth.

The full report can be reviewed here.

How To Save Without It Getting You Down

Save Money Easily

First Published Date: June 3, 2009

Saving money is a necessity – now more than ever. As the world becomes enmeshed in more and longer financial struggles, there is inevitably a knock-on effect on consumers, even if your income remains constant or improves. House prices are falling, and the value of the dollar in your pocket is dropping too. This is no terminal decline, but it is still quite troublesome for any of us. Unless you live in a forest and survive by hunting, gathering and bartering, the global financial crisis will affect you in one way or the other. As much as we are being encouraged to get out there and spend our pay checks, it is entirely understandable that many of us are taking that advice with a pretty huge pinch of salt.

If you have money to spend and there are things that you need, certainly there’s no reason you shouldn’t get out there and help stimulate the economy. That is undeniable, but at the same time there is no reason you should over-extend yourself in doing this kind of patriotic duty. Looking for ways to make a saving is not treason – it is simple common sense. Keeping it simple is the best way of doing this in any case. For example, are you taking advantage of existing discounts and special offers which are relevant to you?

Supermarkets and clothes shops will often have discount cards for students or other concessions. What is wrong with enlisting the student in your household to help you take advantage of these special offers? This can get you a cut of up to 15% on the cost of necessary purchases, making your dollar go further. Additionally, things like gas cards and loyalty programs with set outlets can result in a large saving for you, if you manage them correctly.

Often supermarkets or other outlets will have big discounts on food that has a long shelf-life. Building up a stock of the things you need and will use is always a good idea, and frees up money for the long term – often making a quite pronounced difference in the bottom line on your shopping bills.

Saving money does not need to mean opening a savings account, but it is obvious that the two naturally go hand in hand. One way that you can demonstrate to yourself the advantages of saving is to use your savings account every time you spend less than you had budgeted. No matter how much or how little the difference, if you put that money in the savings account every time it will quickly build up and accrue interest which benefits you.

Now, no-one is about to advise you to re-use old tea bags or anything like that, but there are tons of little things like those mentioned above which can make all the difference in seeing out the recession in better financial shape than might otherwise have been the case. If you do things correctly you can end up with a healthier bank balance and have the necessary spare cash to make you comfortable.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Canadapersonalfinancewebsite.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on June 3, 2009.

Desert Stars - 16 Hours Overnight Bus Continues | Cairo to Aswan

Overnight Bus to Aswan | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 3 (Part 23) 01D20

Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea

After the last stopover, our tour bus kept moving and the highways took us cutting through the desert. This was the first time I experienced skies full of stars in the middle of the desert. 

What I regret about this is that I was not able to take pictures or videos because the bus was in motion. I have never thought that stars can be that bright and skies can be so close to the earth.

It felt like the sky was falling over head and the stars looked like they could be touched by hand. The desert in the middle of nowhere, the pitch black surrounding, the skies, the bright desert stars above us - the whole environment felt like I was on a different planet.

I saw that my other tour mates were sleeping and they missed these unique moments, which they would probably never get another chance in life to observe.

The star-moments didn’t last too long. Very soon our route took us away from the desert and the stars were gone.

A little later, I started to see the sun coming out and the world outside started to unfold in the daylight. We were passing small towns and villages and I started seeing people on the street or outside their homes. The general population in this southern region seemed to be darker and have distinctive features.

We were supposed to go to our hotel first to freshen up, but we were already behind schedule so our tour guide decided to finish sightseeing first and then check in at the hotel.

We were heading to the airport to pick up our other tour mates who flew over, instead of taking the bus.