Canadian Capitalist

While there is healthy competition with many players offering high-interest savings accounts at attractive interest rates and features, President’s Choice Financial is pretty much the only game in town if you want a no-fee chequing account. Not for much longer. Nancy Zimmerman, who is a Bank Evangelist at Citizens Bank (and a money coach and [...]

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[This post is part of a group writing project titled "Back to School" on the Personal Finance Network. You may also want to check out Work, Life and School for Graduate Students by Clever Dude, Back To School: Get Your Educational Finances In Order by Four Pillars, Frugally and Happily Back to School 9 Different [...]

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Yesterday’s post elicited a comment from a reader who wondered if it’s worth joining Costco because their prices aren’t always the cheapest and they offer a limited selection of merchandise. We have been Costco members for more than 10 years now and looking into Microsoft Money reports, we have spent more than two-and-a-half times at [...]

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I don’t think it is all that difficult to save money. You can find tons of money saving ideas in books and on the internet but the trick is figuring out which ones work for you. In my opinion, the best saving ideas are those that require a one-time effort and takes advantage of our [...]

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Last week, it was widely reported in the press that Telus was ordered to refund the “network access charge” ($2.95 per month) that was slapped on customers who did not use its long-distance network. The news is a reminder to check your phone bill and see if you are still paying a fee for the [...]

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A survey conducted by Sun Life Financial found that one in five Canadians who have access to a group RRSP in which the employer provides some sort of a match, do not take full advantage of the benefit. A bit of a head-scratcher from the survey: when asked why, 6% said they preferred to invest [...]

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With recent media reports indicating that the Virgin Group is planning to launch banking in Canada, the already crowded high-interest savings accounts marketplace is about to become more so. Here’s a long list of places where you can now park your cash:

E*Trade Cash Optimizer Account: The discount broker offers 4.15% on Canadian dollar and 2.5% [...]

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Qtrade is a bit of a mystery despite being ranked the #1 discount broker in the Globe and Mail survey for two years running. I personally don’t have an account with Qtrade, so I asked Evan, who has been a customer for about one year, if he would be willing to share his experience with [...]

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Both The Toronto Star’s Ellen Roseman (thanks for the mention!) and Financial Post’s Jonathan Chevreau have pointed out that the Canadian Tire’s One-and-Only account has an advantage that I had overlooked: the mortgage can in paid in full at anytime, whereas a conventional mortgage has limited prepayment privileges.
Personally, we have a fixed-rate, 5-year mortgage that [...]

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Canadian Tire has decided to offer more financial services and is now offering mortgages and a combined mortgage, loan, chequing and savings product (similar to Manulife One account) called the One-and-Only account in Ontario, Alberta and BC. The idea behind combined accounts is that by consolidating your debts into one account, you take advantage of [...]

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