Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for the ‘Bills’ Category

You know you have made a good start in  your secure clean up of your old Financial Records!

I attempted this weekend to find the desktop that my computer sits on and the floor in the room I do most of our personal finance work (and mostly where I write this hallowed piece of literature). Most of this clutter is old bills and old financial statements (although some of the clutter is pictures and other things that I am not sure what to do with), so I started using my shredder to dispose of these old records (NEVER throw out old bills as they can easily be used for identity theft).

I view as “old” anything before 2006 mostly (except for anything to do with my taxes which I keep forever right now). I shredded old check books from old bank accounts (closed ones), old hydro bills, bank statements, etc., and it felt very satisfying.

The shredder did an excellent job until it stopped and I noticed a flashing light on the top (a flashing RED light) which I had never looked at, and in fact I had “overheated” my shredder and it needed to cool off before I did any more work with it. This gave me a feeling of elation knowing that I have disposed of that much financial stuff.

I guess I could try to either buy a bigger shredder or find a place that does secure shredding, so that I don’t burn out my shredder.

Anybody else have any interesting shredder stories? No ties in the shredder stories please.

I’ve mentioned this before, but the concept of keeping paper copies of your bills is becoming a more and more antiquated idea (in my opinion).

Keep That Paper?

It used to be that you kept your tax returns (hard copy) (and receipts!!) for 10 years (I think that might be less), and you kept your credit card bills for about 3 years and other bills for at least a year as well (if anyone wishes to correct me please feel free). This was in case problems arose or there was a disagreement about a specific bill.

The problem I have now is that I never print out my tax return, because I e-file my return. I do “print” out a copy using Adobe Acrobat, which I can look at (it looks like a regular form), and I do keep my receipts in hard copy, but I never print out my tax return. What happens if I get audited? I guess I print out my return, and find all my receipts, and off I go to see Mr. or Mrs. CRA.

Electronic Copies Take Up Less Space

I now scan all bills that arrive in the mail, so I keep an electronic record of it, but I typically shred the paper bill after it is paid. Some of my bills don’t even arrive in a paper copy anymore (my Bell bill and other bills are offering this option as well). I simply save a copy of the e-bill on my computer (and make sure I make a back up of them as well).

Less storage is needed for the paper, but are these electronic copies “legal”? I think they are, they are simply images of an original, but when would you need a bill for legal reasons? I guess if you are disputing a bill you would. Anyone have any examples of this I’d love to hear about them.

The Paper Less Society?

Are we truly in the paper-less society finally? The paper less society was a term coined in the mid-80’s as computers became more prevalent and there was an idea that Paper copies of things would become a thing of the past and all records would be kept “electronically”. Are we finally living in this utopian ideal of no need for paper records? Not really, but hopefully there is less paper being used for bills and financial tracking.

I have found two new guilty pleasure shows on TV, one is 16 and Pregnant on MTV (that one I can’t even talk about right now, I’ll save that for a separate rant) the other is “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant” where women explain how they can go 9 months carry a child and then claim they never knew they were pregnant. The stories are quite “far fetched” in my books, but I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt that some of them may actually be true.

What does this have to do with Personal Finance, you may ask? Do you know someone who told you, “I didn’t know I was that far in debt?”, I know a few (and I am pretty sure I have met others who just wouldn’t admit to it).

How Did I get This Far Into Debt?

That is the second question after someone asks once they figure out they are “going under” from their debt load, and the question in this case is the answer. If you are asking that question, but you know  you are in deep financial debt, your question answers itself since you had no idea what was going on in your finances.

Finances need to be watched and monitored (at least read my articles on Quarterly Personal Finance Statements), or you are asking for trouble. If any of the following statements resonate with you, it’s time to look at your personal finance story:

1. I don’t know how much I spend on:
   1. Entertaining and Vacations
   2. Eating out
   3. My car
2. I never read my monthly statements on my bank accounts or my investments
3. I don’t know what day my credit card (or any other bill) is due
4. I eat out a lot because I don’t have time to cook at home
5. I use my credit card to pay for everything

There are about 300 more statements like this I can make but let’s keep this list short, if you are not keeping track of your finances or you don’t care, you are going to be asking, “How did I get this far in debt?“, very soon (if not right now). It does not take long to figure out where you stand if you are honest and you have all the pertinent information, if you don’t have it, go get it.

Can someone get pregnant and not know it until the deliver, I am skeptical about that. Can someone get into debt and not realize how bad it is, until it is too late? That I am sure happens more often than anyone would want to admit.

Maybe I have stumbled across the next great TV Show Concept? Don’t think so, Gail Vaz-Oxlade and others already have this topic covered.

More Canadians Buying on Internet

In Canada we enjoy our Internet shopping to the tune of $12.8 Billion and 61% more purchases for products and services than in 2005 according to Stats Canada. An interesting statistic is that the average price for each transaction was $183.00 which seems astronomical to me, but since delivery is usually a major cost in Internet purchases (unless you are buying a product or service that can be downloaded), I suppose this isn’t as strange as I think it is?

I spend a fair amount on the Internet for services and software, and I do buy the occasional “do-dad” on E-bay but I don’t think I have spent $183 on any purchase in the last little while, maybe I need to buy a fur coat to help compensate for this lack of spending?

Oil Companies Care About Environment?

Another article from Stats Canada had me a bit confused as well, evidently the industry that spends the most on Environmental Protection is the Oil/Natural Gas business? The stat that had me floored was:

In 2006, $4 of every $100 invested by oil and gas extraction went to environmental protection

So 4 cents out of every dollar spent goes to environment protection? Wow, that must mean they must be making one heck of a mess? I really don’t know what to make of that number but it is very interesting that is for sure.

Interesting to see the continued decline of Petro Canada, given the roller coaster ride of income they have had this year, I wonder if the amount spent of Environmental Protection might change?

Live Now, Pay More Later

With the credit crunch it seems consumer credit companies are squeezing their clients even more, and will increase their late fee penalties, in response to the alleged credit crunch. Does this mean that some of the store credit cards that were already charging close to 50% usury fees on their credit vehicles are heading even higher? Goodness, maybe Loan Sharks will get back into business, and create competition? (someone please tell me what the correct font is for sarcasm). I really wonder what the rates will be for the Usury Pay Day Loan Businesses?

Last year, we bought a shredder because I kept taking stuff to shred to work, and felt I had enough stuff that appears in my house that I do not want to leave my house in the garbage where anyone might look at it, and I also enjoying destroying things.

What kind of things do I enjoy running through my shredder?

• Most of the credit cards I have keep sending me “cheques” that I can use to make cash withdrawals and get charge 20% interest from the moment the cheque is cashed. These things have on them my credit card number on it, and thus if someone got a hold of it in tact, I would be in very deep trouble. They shred very nicely.
• Credit Cards that I do not use, I have a bunch of credit cards that I do not use, that I am going to cancel, but I have already shredded them. They shred very nicely indeed.
• I also shred many old financial documents that I don’t need to keep, don’t want to burn and don’t want to leave out in my garbage either.
• Canceled cheques and the like as well.
• Old pay stubs.

I put my shredder in the same class as my safety deposit box as being something important in my Financial Planning, an important aspect of safety and security in finances.

New Housing Prices Still Rising

Just not as fast, and it’s acceleration is dropping. This means if you are buying a new house and you waited from last year it is going to cost more, it’s just not getting as expensive, as quickly.

Year-over-year growth in new housing prices slowed for a second consecutive month in March. This deceleration continues a downward trend that started in September 2006, due mainly to the softening market in Alberta.

Contractors’ selling prices rose 6.1% between March 2007 and March 2008, a slightly slower pace than the 6.2% year-over-year increase posted in February 2008.
(…)
Elsewhere in Ontario, contractors’ selling prices were 4.5% higher in Toronto and 3.1% higher in Ottawa–Gatineau compared with March 2007.

Personal Finance Update

So my attempts at stopping my spending at work begins anew. No spending over the last few days and that is a good beginning. De-Crapification continues as well, with more crap to go very soon.