Financial Cynicism or Financial Skepticism?

Looking to the Future

First Published Date: Aug 17, 2009

Reading the financial pages of the newspapers – both national and international press – has become something of an endurance sport in the past 18 months. Although there have been serious issues in need of being addressed, there must also be some acknowledgement that at a certain point, bad financial news reaches a level of saturation that makes everyone reading want to bury their head in the sand and shout “no more!”. This presents financial editors with a tricky conundrum. You have to report what’s going on, but when all you seem to be reporting is one hammer blow after another, does a point arrive where the coverage begins to dictate behaviour?

There is now a great deal of cynicism when any politician says that they can see the green shoots of financial recovery. Of course, there tends to be some cynicism when any politician says anything these days. It has become de rigueur to simply disbelieve a politician by dint of their occupation. It would be tempting to assert, although one must accept that statistics do not exist to back this up, that were a prominent politician to stand up and declare that it was sunny outside, 25% of any audience would look out the window for definitive proof before trusting that it actually was. This is how politicians are viewed by the general public in almost every country. It may not be ideal, but that’s how things are.

So it becomes doubly hard for governments to persuade their electorate that financial recovery is on its way, or already here. When a populace will refuse to believe the word of a politician on principle, overcoming cynicism becomes a Herculean task. Is this how it should be? A little bit of skepticism is surely welcome, but at what stage does skepticism become deliberate contrariness? At what point do we say “the media are saying one thing, the government another – I can only trust my own judgement.”? It seems that in this case, there is no time like the present. To clarify that, we appear to be on the cusp of a recovery which may, initially, be accompanied by limited growth or none at all. Waiting for recovery with growth to take off could mean missing the best opportunities. Get on the right bus now, however, and there could be excellent payoffs when your stop comes along.

As much as we like to make our own judgements based on a commendable grasp of the information in front of us, it should be accepted that we live in a world without certainties. No-one ever got rich backing sure things, but the markets are beginning to rise. Investing at this point may be the wisest step, because once the recovery has clicked into top gear it could be too late. It may not work out the way you hoped it would, but the same is true of any investment at any time – unless you are illegally well-connected. Be cautious and suspicious by all means, but don’t let opportunity pass you by.

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 Aug 17, 2009.

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card: Should You Keep It?

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Review

First Published Date : October 14, 2015

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card is a travel rewards credit card that lets you earn Aeroplan miles for everyday purchases that can be used towards Air Canada (and 26 other Star Alliance flights) and various other rewards such as hotels, vacations, car rentals, entertainment, merchandise, and so on offered by Aeroplan.

The Cost

Annual Fee = $120 Additional cards = $50

Minimum annual income required = $60,000 (Or $100,000 household income)

Rewards Points Snapshot

– Earn 1.5 miles for every $1 spent at eligible gas stations, grocery, drugstore, and on eligible aircanada.com purchases, excluding Air Canada vacation packages.

– Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on everything else.

First Time Bonus

A 15,000 miles welcome bonus when you make your first purchase. Another 10,000 miles bonus is usually offered when you spend $1,000 within 3 months (check the TD website for details as TD is always changing these bonus terms and conditions). Also, the annual fee is NOT waived for the first year.

Anniversary Bonus

None.

Features & Benefits

– Complimentary first checked bag when you travel on an Aeroplan reward flight operated by Air Canada.

– Priority check-in and boarding when you travel on an Aeroplan reward flight operated by Air Canada

– Access to Maple Leaf Lounge when you travel on an Aeroplan reward flight operated by Air Canada.

– Access to Visa Infinite 24/7 concierge service.

– Emergency Medical Insurance (15 days<65, 4 days>65 or older, Amount: 1 M/per person).

– Travel Accident Insurance (Up to $500,000 CAD).

– Auto Rental Theft and Collision/Loss Damage Insurance (Amount not provided by TD)

– Trip Cancellation Insurance ($1,000 each, maximum $5,000).

– Trip Interruption Insurance ($5,000 each, maximum $25,000).

– Flight Delay Insurance (After 4 hours, maximum $500 per occurrence).

– Lost and Delayed Luggage (maximum $1,000).

– Extended Warranty Insurance (1 additional year).

– Purchase Security (90 days).

What’s Missing

– Hotel/Motel Burglary Insurance

– Price Protection Insurance

My Take

Although on the surface it looks like the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite is showering you with many Air Canada benefits such as lounge access, priority boarding, free checked baggage, etc., you will not be able to use any of them. Let’s put is this way: You don’t want to use them, as the condition is you have to fly Air Canada and you should avoid Air Canada at any cost when you are flying on Aeroplan miles.

This is because Air Canada charges hefty fuel surcharges on Aeroplan flights and if you are an Aeroplan member your objective should be to not fly Air Canada, as there are other Star Alliance airlines that will not charge you fuel surcharges.

For example, let’s take Turkish Airlines, which is one of the Star Alliance members that does not impose fuel surcharges. If you book a one-way flight from Toronto to Istanbul, your total fees would be about $54. However, if you book the same trip using Air Canada, you will be paying $536 because Air Canada is charging you fuel surcharges.

So what does this mean at the end of the day? The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card basically provides no benefits, except insurance benefits and a Visa Concierge benefit. And even the insurance benefits are flawed, as the Trip Cancellation Insurance is only $1,000, whereas many other travel rewards cards provide $2,000 to $2,500.

Another point worth mentioning is that TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card only provides 1 mile on travel purchases, although it is a travel rewards credit card.

As of this writing, I hold this card. I picked up the TD offer to receive 25,000 bonus Aeroplan miles and the waiving of the first year annual fee. In the future, I am planning to discontinue this card unless I can make TD continually waive the annual fee.

Disclosure: Information provided here may not be accurate and no longer valid. The mentioned card provider is not related to A Dawn Journal and neither monitor this site nor responsible for any inaccurate information. Contact the card company directly for accurate and updated information. A Dawn Journal or my YouTube Channel are not compensated by or affiliated with any credit card companies. All credit card articles are 100% unbiased and honest.

Real Estate in Malaysia

Malaysia Real Estate

First Published Date: Apr 2010

One of the fastest growing and most dynamic countries on Earth is Malaysia. Once thought of as a country that was nothing more than developing, this country is becoming a financial force to be reckoned with. The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is close to some of the most important cities in the world, including Singapore, and the city itself boasts 6.9 million within its region, giving it plenty of opportunities for investment, and as a place to move to.

In fact, many individuals in the Western World are looking at Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur as a place for retirement residential property. The coastal area of Malaysia to the west of the country boasts some excellent coastal resorts and properties that are quite affordable.

In addition, Malaysia is very open for tourists and if you want to visit somewhere beautiful in your very own condo or house, then you should look to this country as a place to own property.

Thankfully, Malaysia makes this very easy thanks to the My Second Home Program (MM2H). This program allows foreigners to own residential property within Malaysia, with a limit of two properties. This program tests an applicant to make sure that only serious buyers come to the country and those who own property through the MM2H program are not allowed to work within Malaysia, but they are more than welcome to take their vacations there. That doesn’t mean you can’t own property and work in Malaysia. To that, all you need is to get a loan from a bank.

In order to put down money on property there are two stages that must be followed. First, three percent of the worth of the property must go with the letter of offer. After this, another seven percent of the purchase price must be presented with when the full sale agreement is signed. Some other benefits to living in Malaysia also include the fact that there is no capital gains tax on property deals as of April 2007. At one point the tax was as high as 30 percent, but it does not exist anymore.

It should also be pointed out that Malaysia has a very benign taxing structure. This means that you do not pay much for taxes when you live in Malaysia. This helps you save more money that you can use to put towards buying a home in Malaysia.

Currently, homes and condos are cheaper in Malaysia than ever before due to the financial meltdown that has been experienced all over the world. As a result, you can save a lot of money by buying in Malaysia right now. You will typically pay more within Kuala Lumpur than you will outside the city. No different than in the United States, Canada or Europe, some homes will be more expensive than others depending on where they are. Make sure you do your research before buying a condo or house within Malaysia to ensure you get what you want, where you want, for the price that you want.

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 Apr 11, 2010.

Meet Canada's New 1.5% Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Card

Tangerine Launches New Money Back Credit Card

First Published Date : October 21, 2015

Tangerine (owned by Scotiabank) has recently announced launching its new no fee cash back credit card for the Canadian market. The new credit card will be available for everyone starting next year, but it’s immediately available to selected Tangerine customers.

This new credit card offers 2 percent cash back on 2 selected categories and 1 percent cash on all other transactions. Tangerine’s new cash back MasterCard is unique in the sense that it gives you the flexibility to pick any two categories out of 10 categories such as grocery, furniture, eating places, hotel-motel, gas, recurring bills, drug store, home improvement, entertainment, and public transportation & parking.

Cash back rewards can be applied towards your credit card balance or deposited into a Tangerine savings account. There is no limit on how much cash back you can earn and the 2 percent categories can be changed every 90 days if you need to.

The Tangerine Money Back Credit Card has 2 other features that make it a good credit card to travel with outside Canada. The foreign transaction fee is only 1.5 percent, while most other Canadian credit card charges 2.5 percent (except the Rogers Bank, Chase Marriott Visa, and Chase Amazon Visa that do not charge any foreign currency fee). Also, the foreign cash advance fee is only a flat $5. Most other banks charge a lot more on foreign cash advances. So while you are travelling, The Tangerine Money Back Credit Card can save you money.

For those who want plain vanilla cash back rewards paying no fee, the Tangerine Money Back Credit Card is something you can look at. The card also offers Purchase Assurance and Extended Warranty insurance with a lifetime maximum of $60,000.

Brand Names Not Worth The Money?

Is Brand Name Losing Its Cool?

First Published Date: Aug 25, 2009

That brand names cost more than own-brand or budget ranges is not news to anyone. That this discrepancy can sometimes be quite marked is no more of a shock to anyone who is paying attention. And yet there still seems to be a thirst for the big names among shoppers. However it seems that in the new world which has been born out of the global financial crisis, the numbers of people voting with their wallets and choosing the cheaper option are increasing. Are we finally coming to terms with the idea that all those brand names amount to very little in terms of tangible quality? Or are people simply deciding to tighten their belts temporarily?

Go to any supermarket today and you will see that people are spending longer in the aisles looking for the extra few cents’ saving than ever before. These same people two years ago may well have instantly picked up the recognisable brand name and dropped it in their trolley without so much as looking. What is going on? Obviously we are in a recession, but this time it feels very different. Almost without noticing, we have suddenly become thrifty. It seems strange to say it, but it has almost become cool to be careful.

It must be said that there are some cases where compromising on quality for the sake of price is less well-advised than in others. We can all think of a few ourselves, but suffice it to say that thrifty shopping can become a false economy when we buy the cheapest line possible and end up throwing it out because it was inedible or made us need to go to the bathroom non-stop for a day. Such a strategy is almost doomed to fail and can sour a person on the whole concept of economising. However, there are cases where dropping from top-of-the-range to mid-range constitutes very little difference.

It is no myth that in blind taste tests we will often see a mid-price item out-performing its more illustrious rivals. Perhaps more often the big name will win out, but this is to be expected. After all, reputations are built over time. The better ingredients cost more, and in cases where the mid price item is more or less copied from the bigger name, they can never get it absolutely right. As a result, the consumer will often pay for the name.

If, however, you are making a concerted effort to leave aside the added expense of buying brand names all the time, it cannot have escaped your attention that sometimes the supposed “lesser brands” can be a bargain. Sometimes too, there is so little difference between the big brand and the little one in terms of taste that it is only social conditioning making us buy the big names. It may not be for everyone, but next time you are at the supermarket throwing in the brands you have always bought, why not go downmarket? You might find that sometimes the bargain buys are very much to your taste.

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 Aug 25, 2009.