Canadian Capitalist

We purchase our home, auto and life insurance policies from the same agent and we have been clients for about eight years now. Over the years, I’ve obtained quotes from the competition a few times and found that our agent’s rates are always within a $100 of the best available rate. This year the renewal [...]

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Every so often a business will fail to live up to your expectations for customer service. When that happens to you, you may want to write a complaint letter pointing out why you think you’ve been unfairly treated. A good business will take action to correct any problem and may even offer you a coupon [...]

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Tired of paying $46.95 every month, I’ve been shopping around for a high-speed internet service that is cheaper than the one we currently have and of comparable quality. A few of my friends have signed up with National Capital Freenet (NCF) (a non-profit organization that offers high-speed internet for $30 per month with the purchase [...]

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It is amazing how competitive the online high interest savings account marketplace has become. The Financial Post reported the other day that even mighty Wal-Mart is planning to enter the crowded field. Here’s a long list of places where you can now park your cash:

ING Direct: The pioneer in online savings account no longer offers [...]

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As you can imagine, we are very careful about spending money. We clip coupons from the Sunday paper, buy necessities in bulk when they are on sale, brown bag our lunches, find ways to save on recurring expenses and avoid a daily latte habit. Sounds great, right? But then, I go out and buy a [...]

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Many of the big banks are now offering chequing accounts with unlimited banking transactions for one “low” monthly fee ranging from $9.95 (for the Scotia One Account) to $12.95 (for the CIBC Unlimited Chequing Account). Typically, these accounts do not require a minimum monthly balance and a few even offer free personalized cheques.
Consumers who are [...]

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I noticed an interesting post on Hedonic Adjustment about how much of his pre-tax income he saves and spends on taxes, mortgage and other items. About six months ago, I went through a similar exercise, computing our household savings rate as a percentage of net income. Here is the breakdown using gross income and last [...]

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I recently replaced our 17-year-old furnace with a new mid-efficiency furnace bought from Costco, of all places. The old furnace was a low-efficiency model (it had a pilot light) and was probably on its last legs (the salesman said the average lifespan of a gas furnace is about 20 years).
It is difficult to say if [...]

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Why do we get the urge to spend money? Why are most of us on a hedonic treadmill, endlessly upgrading stuff with “better” stuff? Is it because credit is so easily available? Are credit cards, which makes it oh-so-easy to spend money that we don’t have, to blame, as we argued sometime back?
I am convinced [...]

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Check out Frugal Canadian’s post about a new savings account from PC Financial called Interest Plus savings account that just might give ING Direct a run for its money. In recent years, ING Direct has become more like one of the big banks, offering an interest rate that is no longer the highest among its [...]

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