How to Pick the Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards in Canada

Choosing the Best Canadian Travel Rewards Credit Cards

First Published Date : November 5, 2015

Last week I talked about How to Pick Rewards Credit Cards. Today, I will go into further detail for those who are interested in picking travel credit cards.

Before I start, I would like to clarify that this is NOT an article about any particular travel credit cards to pick. I cannot tell you what frequent-flier credit cards, hotel credit cards, proprietary credit cards, or hybrid rewards credit cards you should be using. It’s up to you to decide what cards suit your needs and lifestyle. However, I do have resources in the A Dawn Journal credit card section that you can use to come up with the best options. And don’t just use one site or one top credit card rating article to research. Spend a good amount of time and use various sites before making your decisions.

What I am going to discuss today is what features and options you need to be aware of before committing to any travel rewards cards. It might look simple on the surface, but there many things you need to be aware of and credit card companies will not provide you this information in black and white, unless you know what to look for and how to look for it.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards for Initial Sign-Up Bonuses

When you want travel credit cards solely for the hefty initial sign-up bonuses for free flights, free hotel nights, and so on, you don’t need to worry about what features the cards are missing because it’s likely you will cancel these cards in a year before the annual fee kicks in. Don’t forget to meet all the requirements for free flights or nights; usually certain amounts have to be spent in 3 months.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards for Ongoing Benefits

If you are holding on to travel credit cards for the benefits they are providing year after year and not using them for daily transactions, you don’t need to worry about missing any features because you use these cards for only one benefit.

Example: I don’t mind keeping the Marriott Rewards Visa Card and paying the $120 annual fee (although I don’t charge anything on this) because this card gives me a free night at Marriott every year, which I value more than $120. Another example: I don’t use my WestJet World Elite MasterCard, but I don’t mind paying the $99 annual fee because it gives me a companion flight (and free checked baggage) anywhere in Canada and the US for $100 every year, which I value at about $500 to $700.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards for Daily Transactions

Regardless of what kinds of travel cards you use, make sure you are getting maximum returns on each dollar and never settle for any credit cards that only give you 1 point (1% return) per dollar. For example, some credit cards will give you 4 points (or 4% return) on grocery, gas, and pharmacy purchases, but will only give you 1 point on all other purchases, including travel. Example: Scotiabank Gold American Express Card.

So what you can do is use one credit card for grocery shopping and another credit card (that gives you more than 1 point) on everything else. Example: BMO World Elite MasterCard gives 2 points on everything. If you do not want more than one card for daily transactions, pick one card that provides 2 (or more) points for everything. So avoid any cards that offer only one point for daily uses.

Also, make sure the cards you are picking for day-to-day needs give you a hefty sign-up bonus as well.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards for Travel Purchases

You have to be extra careful when you are using credit cards to buy plane tickets or hotels, as your trip should have full insurance coverage. Here is my list of coverage that I must have for my trip and I will only use a credit card that provides all these.

– Emergency Medical Insurance

– Travel Accident Insurance

– Trip Cancellation Insurance

– Trip Interruption Insurance

– Flight Delay Insurance

– Lost Luggage

– Hotel/Motel Burglary

– Auto Rental Theft and Collision/Loss Damage Insurance

I don’t mind if I don’t have Lost Luggage and Hotel/Motel Burglary insurance, but everything else is a must for my trip.

Another thing you need to be aware of is your card’s insurance provider. Stick to a credit card where the insurance provider is a reputable one and there are not many complaints when it comes to obtaining insurance benefits. Lots of credit cards offer a full suite of insurances, but the providers make it very difficult to claim and collect benefits when the time comes to do so. I discussed more on this here.

Travel Rewards Cards that Come With Personal Assistant

Do not settle for a travel credit card that does not provide you concierge service. Visa Infinite cards come with Visa’s own concierge service. Other cards usually provide concierge service through a third party or the card company’s own concierge service team.

Concierge service is a free service that is like having your own personal assistant at your disposal 24/7. Concierge service can do basically anything you can think of that you might need help with. Some of them are:

– finding and booking air, hotel, cruise, and restaurant reservations

– finding that hard-to-find concert ticket

– research for you something you need to find out

– help you when you are lost or in trouble in a foreign country

– sending flowers to someone on your behalf

– and much more

I use concierge service vigorously. In the last 6 months I used them to make me a list of all hotels with rates facing ocean in Myrtle Beach, providing me with a report on Las Vegas (what to see + do), and I even called them when I was in Niagara Falls to find me the closest movie theatre. The point is that this is a unique feature your credit card offers and you should take advantage of it.

Currently 3 of my credit cards offer concierge services from 3 different providers. However, Visa’s concierge is very reputable and possibly the best on earth. This is simply their wide coverage across the globe and they know how to deal with a situation in any country. I would not mind paying a $120 annual fee on one credit card just to have Visa concierge, if I don’t use that card for anything else.

How About Annual Fees

If you are looking for all the benefits and features a credit card offers, the fees are indispensable. A no-fee card is not going to offer you anything we talked about so far. So the way you approach fees is that you need to make sure your benefits surpass the total of all the fees you are paying.

My total spending on fees from all credit cards comes to about $700 – $800 annually. However, my benefits exceed well beyond $800. So this $800 is not actually a spending, but it’s an investment that provides me more returns.

Last Word

Before making your selections on your travel credit cards, spend time researching all the features and benefits. It’s likely you will not find everything you need in one card. But the good thing is you can have as many cards as you like. And there is nothing wrong with paying fees on premium credit cards as long as you can justify the fees for the features, services, and benefits you are receiving from your cards.

Bonus Tip – Same banks have several travel rewards credit cards providing different types of rewards. If you are on good terms with your banks, they will gladly transfer your account from one type to another type without hesitation. This serves you both ways because you don’t need to apply for the other credit card you want from your bank (which saves you one hard credit check) and still can get the sign-up bonus. I always have had success doing this with my banks. You have a better chance if you ask your bank after 2-3 years of using one card. If you ask them every year, there is a good chance they will decline

A Record Number Of Canadians Now Own Their Own Homes

A Nation of Homeowners – Canada

First Published Date : June 23, 2009

In the middle of a worldwide recession, would it surprise you to hear that a record number of Canadians now own their own homes? It would surprise just about anyone, surely? But that is the conclusion from a report by the Bank of Nova Scotia, details of which were reported this week. The caveat to this is that the figures refer to households that owned their own home in 2006 (with the belief that the number increased yet further in 2007) and that the full figures for 2008 will not be known for a couple of years. What is indisputable, however, is that there has been a significant increase in ownership compared with the same figures a decade earlier.

The Scotiabank report states that in 2006  a record high 68.4% of Canadian households were owned by the householder, and that there was reason to believe that the percentage increased in 2007. This was in comparison with figures for 1996 that showed a total of 63.6% of householders owning their own homes. How the figures will be effected by the recession still remains to be seen, as the compilation of the figures from a wide range of sources in a wide range of different jurisdictions takes time. It may well be that there has been some fall-off in the last couple of years as people have sought to cash in the capital locked up in their house and begun renting. However, there is little likelihood that this will have taken the numbers beneath those set a decade ago.

Reasons for this rise in the figures must include the fact that “baby boomers” now make up almost the entirety of the 45-64 age group which is considered the prime house-buying section of society. With the birth numbers having been so elevated in the last 60 years, and the improvements in medical science that have been seen in the intervening period, there are now more people than ever who are ready, willing and financially able to buy a house. Aside from this, however, the numbers have increased for those in other demographics buying houses. this can be put down in large part to the desire for owning assets for the purpose of having something to subsidize a pension. People are saving for their retirement earlier and earlier these days, and using more methods than ever before.

In addition to the headline story of the report, there was also some interesting data to be found in that 9% of Canadian households now own a second property, typically used for the purposes of a holiday, compared to 7% in 1999. How this will have been affected by individuals cashing in on their properties in order to ride out the current recession remains to be seen, and certainly it is unlikely that the numbers will rise as quickly over the next few years. Nonetheless, the changing trend towards home ownership seems to suggest that those who rent their homes will stay in the minority for some time yet.

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 23, 2009.

Heading to The Temples of Philae | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 3 (Part 27) 02D20

Philae Temple – The Temple of Isis at Philae | Aswan

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

We reached a small dock from where we would take a boat to reach the Philae Temple. The dock area had lots of stores selling ornaments, miniature pyramids, temples, statues of Egyptian gods, and much more. Some sellers were on the side of the street displaying their wares on the street.

I liked the whole mini port-like environment there. There were lots of boats docked there, but we headed to our designated boat arranged by the tour company.

These boats are open-air boats with only a shade on top. The engine was nothing fancy. It would accommodate about 15-20 people.

It would take about 15 minutes to reach the island. I saw many other boats passing by filled with tourists. The scenarios along the shore were very pleasant. I saw the shorelines full of rocks and some of them were shaped like small hills.

As we approached the Philae temples on Agilkia Island, the columns and intact walls appeared to rise up out of the water among the large rocks.

I was still contemplating how they moved the whole temples from one island to another (see my previous post).

The dock here was another small one, but looked different because of the surrounding waters. We started to offload from the boat and walked a little bit uphill to reach the entrance of the temples.

2015 Kiplinger's 10 Best States to Retire

Delaware is The Best State to Retire

First Published Date: July 16, 2015

Personal finance magazine Kiplinger recently looked at factors such as affordability, economic health, crime rates and tax laws, etc. among all 50 American states, including the District of Columbia, and rated the top best states to retire in America. Here are the best 10 states:

1. Delaware

2. Florida

3. West Virginia

4. Pennsylvania

5. South Dakota

6. Arizona

7. Hawaii

8. Iowa

9. Kansas

10. Wyoming

Those states that are economically healthy and affordable, along with low crime rates, are favoured by the rankings. If you recall my 2015 America’s Best Places for Retirement by Bankrate, the top ten places were very different than this rating. For example, Delaware and Hawaii were absent and 3 cities from Arizona were among the top. The full Kiplinger report can be viewed here.

Canada Cottage Country Real Estate – Part Two

Cottage Country Canada – Part 2

First Published Date: Jan 16, 2009

Some of the hottest and most sought-after real estate properties in Canada at the moment, both residential and commercial, are in the region just north and east of Toronto, Ontario, in what is known as cottage country or ‘the Muskokas’ to the locals. While summertime traffic can often make the trip there a brutal one, it’s well worth it once you get there to enjoy everything the region has to offer.

The area is teeming with freshwater lakes, woodlands, wildlife, hiking trails, scenic cliffs, and quaint little towns. It’s no wonder that so many people are seeking property there. It’s a virtual playground all year round and a decent sized waterfront home or cottage can often fetch well over a million dollars. The area has started attracting the who’s who of North American society and many financiers, athletes, and film actors now own or rent property there.

While many Canadian entertainers and sports stars have known about the place for years, it appears Hollywood types have finally been let in on the secret and it’s not uncommon to run into Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Martin Short, Tom Hanks or many others on the streets or at the local stores as they own cottages in the region.

A real estate boom hit the area about 10 years ago and many of the smaller lakeside cottages in the Muskoka’s  were bought up and then torn down, only to be replaced, by larger, luxury homes. However, while the area is definitely seen as a paradise by many, there are still quite a few real estate deals to be found on homes, cottages, and properties.

Lakefront lots are obviously at a premium, but there are so many of them, they can still be bought and built on quite easily. The region is also home to hundreds of private islands and thousands of kilometres of shoreline with many properties being pretty secluded. 

The regions of Haliburton, Collingwood, Huntsville, and Peterborough are also ideal for those who are looking to retire or to invest in some property. These towns are almost as popular in the middle of the winter as they are in the summer and there’s an endless supply of visitors looking to rent accommodations on a weekly basis. You can easily cover your mortgage by renting out your property.  The properties in these areas are typically less than in the Muskoka’s, but the locality is just as nice.

Some people have sold their homes in cottage country by necessity instead of choice though, as property taxes continuously seem to rise in Ontario. But there definitely wasn’t a shortage of buyers and that’s why country living is now more high-end than ever before.

There are many real estate agents in and around cottage country who can help you if you’re interested in residential and/or commercial properties in the area. There are also many websites that feature most available real estate properties. These will give you a good idea of the types of homes that are available and the price range that they come in.

It is believed the average price of a lake house in the Muskoka region was about $225,000, about 15 years ago, and according to the Muskoka and Halliburton Association of Realtors, that price is now closer to $1 million. However, there are still some hidden gems and prime real estate still available for considerably less.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the realestateexpedition.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 Jan 16, 2009.