Is Your Job More Secure, Or Less?

Canadians Feel They Have More Job Security Than Before

First Published Date: Sep 9, 2009

Nearly half of Canada’s current workforce feels more secure in their roles than they did one year ago, according to findings released this week. Although this does not technically constitute a majority, the numbers are in favour of the proposition that Canadians feel they have more job security than before, with 38 percent feeling that they were less secure compared to 46% who feel more secure. It is a sign that people are still divided on the subject of the economy and employment, but that optimism is continuing to creep upward in the light of positive noises at home and abroad. As we wait to see how the recovery continues, it would be chutzpah to suggest that the findings of the recent Harris-Decima poll proved that we were out of the woods, but good news is good news.

The positive feeling is more pronounced among people working in the public sector, of whom 53% said they felt more secure in their employment compared to 42% who felt more secure in the private sector. This is natural, as the companies which are going bankrupt and the plants and offices which are being closed down tend to be private sector entities. With a national unemployment rate of 8.6% expected to rise in the weeks to come, private sector workers still nurse understandable doubts that their jobs are safe. However, the prevailing opinion is that most companies with substantive cuts to make have already made the bulk of those cuts and have now downsized to a reasonable level.

Of the 1,009 people surveyed, some 33% said that they felt job security was the top perk in a job – nearly exactly a third of the group. Almost as many (31%) said that work/life balance was the most important thing in any job. Taking these two groups together it could be said that almost two-thirds of the Canadians surveyed felt that comfort and confidence played a big part in their reasons for doing their job. With 15% citing a secure pension and 12% a generous salary, those feeling that remuneration was the important part of a job was just over a quarter. Whether everyone responding was being entirely honest with the researcher and themselves is a question for another day, however it would appear that a sense of uncertainty in the last couple of years has caused people to reassess priorities.

Other interesting results to emerge from the survey had much to do with the divisions between public and private sector workers. When asked whether government workers were overpaid, 64% of the private sector said they were while only 39% of public sector workers agreed. The reasons for this strength of feeling among the private sector may well be that they resent their taxes being spent on workers who they very much (83%) feel do an excessive amount of “paper pushing”. 72% of public sector workers agreed that their jobs involved a lot of administrative work, but did not feel in such great numbers that it should mean they have to take a pay cut.

Two Common Rewards the American Express Gold Rewards Card Is Not Giving You

What’s The Amex Gold Rewards Card Missing?

First Published Date: November 15, 2015

Although the American Express Gold Rewards Card is a premium travel rewards card with a hefty $150 annual fee, it’s missing two common benefits that are a must for a travel rewards card. Most other premium travel credit cards that have an annual fee of $99 to $120 will provide you these important benefits.

These two benefits are:

– Trip Cancellation Insurance and

– Concierge Service

You should not go on a trip without these two, as they will be lifesavers in case you have to cancel your trip or require assistance before or during with concierge service help.

Trip Cancellation Insurance reimburses you in case a trip has to be cancelled due to covered causes like illness, death, and much more. Concierge Service is like having your own personal assistant and can help you in various scenarios in your own country or foreign lands where you don’t know anyone.

Features like these (and many others like those discussed here) aren’t provided by the American Express Gold Rewards Card, but you will find these features in many other travel rewards credit cards that have a lower annual fee than Amex gold.

Before making your rewards credit cards selections, do thorough research and visit the A Dawn Journal Credit Card Section for more tips. Here are some articles you can start with.

Credit Card Travel Emergency Hacks You Were Not Aware Of

How Your Credit Cards Can Help in a Travel Emergency

First Published Date : June 25, 2016

When you are travelling, if you run into unexpected troubles or in the event of emergency, travel credit cards can help you in foreign lands 24/7 and help is only a phone call away. You can even make free collect calls from foreign countries. Today, I will go over some of these free services that travel credit cards come with that can be lifesavers if you run into troubles.

You Lost Your Luggage – You can go through the traditional system in place and file a complaint that usually ends up with you making endless calls or spending a lot of time talking to the airline counter OR you can just call the concierge service provided by your credit cards and they will take care of the rest. Better yet, you may be eligible to receive coverage for expenses that incur due to lost luggage if your card provides lost luggage insurance.

You Are Stranded at Airport – A call to your concierge can sort things out for you and you may be eligible to receive coverage for costs such as hotel, transportation, food, and others if your card provides Flight Delay insurance.

You Need Medical Help – If you need medical assistance in foreign lands, travel credit cards can offer referrals to doctors, hospitals, consultation, medical transportation to the nearest facility or to your home country, transport your family from home to you, air-transport you from a foreign country to your home country if required, provide payments for all these costs and much more. Just make sure your travel credit cards come with a solid medical travel insurance from a reputable insurance provider.

You Need Legal Assistance – If you run into legal problems in foreign countries such as involved in car accidents, detained by local authorities, and so on, your travel credit cards can arrange to seek help from lawyers, embassies or consulates, assist with bail bond and so on.

You Lost Everything – You lost your passport, travel documents, cash and are stranded in the middle of nowhere? Relax and take a deep breath. Your travel credit cards can arrange and provide emergency cash, card replacement, assist with replacement travel documents, tickets, visa, immigration, customs, and much more.

What I mentioned above and possibly more can be covered by your travel credit cards. The art is to pick the best travel credit cards that meet your needs and make sure the concierge and insurance benefits are provided by reputable providers with adequate coverage. A Dawn Journal has lots of credit card articles that are unbiased and without any affiliations to any credit cards, unlike most other sites (meaning I do not collect any commissions for referring or providing links to credit card companies). And also keep an open for my next book Credit Card Hacks: What Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You to Know.

CI Financial & TD Bank Are Slow to Realize ETF Potential

BMO’s Farsighted ETF Vision

First Published Date: November 19, 2015

Canada’s second largest publicly-traded fund company CI Financial likes to see itself as an industry pioneer that consistently anticipates and responds to the changing needs of the marketplace. Remember the CI Pacific fund, Segregated Funds, and Sector Funds concepts that CI revolutionized? However, CI missed the boat on ETF funds, as did TD Bank, because they finally realized that the ETF arena is where money will be pouring in for the next several decades, and where another player BMO is already reaping benefits from its farsighted vision that made BMO enter the ETF arena in 2009.

CI enters the ETF arena by acquiring First Asset Investment Management, which has $3 billion in assets under management and $1.6 billion of that is in active ETFs. BMO’s ETF assets under management are already staying high at nearly $24 billion, making it Canada’s second largest ETF provider after iShares.

And TD? It will be entering the ETF arena as the 3rd bank player (after BMO and RBC) in early 2016. TD hasn’t revealed much detail yet about its ETFs, but it was widely expected that, like CI, TD would have had no choice but to enter the ETF marketplace. However, the difference between CI and TD is that TD already attempted to enter the ETF marketplace in the past (in 2001), but failed to keep up its pace due to unexpected low trading volumes.

Things have changed since then. The Canadian ETF sector has come a long way and is currently sitting with $87 billion under management with 12 players. The growth potential of ETF industry cannot be ignored anymore and CI and TD made the right delayed call to enter the marketplace. Here is a simple example of how BMO rapidly increased its AUM by acting ahead of everyone else.

BMO ETF AUM (Asset Under Management)

2009 – Start

2010 September – $1 billion

2011 April – $2 billion

2011 September – $3 billion

2012 January – $4 billion

2012 March – $5 billion

2012 August – $7 billion

2013 March – $10 billion

2015 November – Nearly 24 billion

So what does it mean to have more players for Canadian investors? More competition, wider selections, more choices, broader distribution channels, and yes, lower costs. As the ETF sector is maturing and going through tremendous growth in Canada, expect to see more players putting their feet in in the days to come.

Real Estate In Phuket

Buying Property in Phuket

First Published Date : May 8, 2010

One of the most beautiful regions of Thailand is Phuket. Sitting on Phuket Island, the third largest island in Thailand, the capital city of the Phuket Province is Phuket City, with 75,000 inhabitants. This region is highly sought after for real estate investment and for vacation homes for the simple fact that it lies close to the equator, giving an average temperature of 32C/90F, while only going down to an average low of 24C/75F. While the region is dry from December to March, it can be very wet in the monsoon time of year from April to November.

When you are looking to buy property within Phuket, you should look along the Hat Patong, which is the most-developed beach on the island. Situated in a three-kilometer long-bay, you can enjoy windsurfing, sailing, swimming or just sun-tanning during the day, while taking in the restaurants and thriving nightlife at night.

Phuket is currently going through a real estate boom with a great deal of development going on in the area of condos, homes for retired individuals, rental homes and luxury housing. With over 4,000,000 people visiting the island each year as part of their vacation, there are many who want to have a home they can go to while on this beautiful island.

If you are thinking of moving to Phuket, you should first be commended for deciding to live somewhere this beautiful. Choosing a place, whether it is a condo, villa, or house, will depend greatly on what you are looking for. If you want to live in a remote area, you can look in the Rawai area or the Naiharn area. However, if you want to be close to golf courses, hospitals, shopping areas and urban centers, then the Kathu area of the island is a good idea.

When people talk about the benefits that come from living in the Phuket province, or in Phuket City, it often revolves around the traditions, food and local life of this amazing area.

When you are looking for condos, villas, or homes within Phuket, there are some things to consider, including:

1.    Make sure you choose a reputable real estate company. This is true if you are buying over the phone, or from your current country. You want to make sure the company you go through is going to make sure that you get a home you not only want, but that you can afford as well.

2.    If you need to, get some legal advice on how to buy a home in Phuket.

3.    Do as much research as you can into Phuket because you want to live in an area that is conducive to your lifestyle. If you are young, you may want to be in an urban area where there is a night life. If you are looking for some place quiet, then a villa in a remote village may be a better choice. If you have children, a villa on a cliff may not be a good idea because of the dangers presented by the cliff.

The time is now to buy in Phuket. The financial crisis has made many luxury homes affordable on the island and they are starting to be snapped up by foreigners. In the past few years alone, the number of condos has doubled on the island and all these islands are also selling quickly. Most of the people interested in buying homes in Phuket are from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Scandinavia, so don’t let them snap up your home on Phuket Island.

This is a beautiful island that is quickly becoming the go-to destination for many individuals in the Western World who are tired of the snow, cold and day-to-day grind.

Now, it should be noted that under Thailand’s laws, it is forbidden for a foreigner to own land within the Kingdom of Thailand. Now, you are allowed to buy a condo under your own name if the condo is a freehold title. If the condo is not a freehold title, then you can lease it for 30 years, with an extension of 30 years on top of that.

If you want to get cheap property within Phuket, you can look at two places; auction and banks. If you are planning to buy a property at auction, you need to get research done on the title before you do. You need to have a friend based in Thai ask the right sorts of questions for you if you do this and you need to be able to move quickly as someone else may take your property from you. Most newspapers within Phuket will have auction notices so all you need is someone in Phuket to let you know about possible properties. Let them know what you want to spend and what you are looking for and your Thai friend can make things much easier for you when you are shopping for a home in Phuket. Buying through auction can save you a lot of money but again make sure you research the property and have a lawyer ensure there are no problems with the property and to ensure that the title is completely free and clear.

If you decide to go through a bank, look for property that has gone through repossession. Banks will sell at a discount because they do not want to go to auction, where they will lose more money. You can find many properties through banks on the internet in Phuket, which have gone through foreclosure. Although, if you can’t read Thai, you may have some trouble so a Thai friend again comes in handy. Having a Thai friend can also aid you in seeing the hoe and because banks will often hold special open houses when your Thai friend can check out the home for you.