Canadian Personal Finance Blog

When I was growing up in Montreal I had my bicycle stolen straight out of my family’s garage, and I remember my Dad giving me some money to go get a new one. It was traumatic for me, since I had never had anything of my own stolen, and suddenly my bicycle (my only means of transport) was taken, it was quite upsetting.

From that day onward I closed any garage I was associated with and became a Nazi about locking doors and such, because I was worried about people taking my stuff.  I got insurance and worried about my stuff getting taken, so I was very careful with my stuff. I write this because there was a posting on a local board that I read about a bicycle being stolen from someone’s garage, and it brought back to me, and made me wonder what some people are thinking in my neighbourhood.

I go off to work and it seems like my neighbours leave their garages open all day long, how trusting can you get? I realize no one is going to run off with my snow blower (although anything is possible), but the bicycles in my garage aren’t cheap, and worse still, the door into my garage from my house is rarely locked, so thus it is an open door to my house.

Do I have enough home insurance? I really am not sure, I think I can replace my house, and I can replace many items in it, but I hope not to have to find out. I have been meaning to do a home inventory of the major items, so at least I would have a guess what might need replacing, but it is something that you procrastinate about because you don’t think it will happen to you.

Am I being paranoid? I invite my readers to comment on this, but I am always worried that someone might be wanting to take my stuff, and I take action to stop that.

RIP George Carlin

Way off topic, but still I must mention the passing of George Carlin. He was an influence on me growing up, I must have worn out my copy of “Class Clown” and his mistrust of “the system” in general still pervades my belief system. I did manage to see him live in the late 90’s in Vegas and I am saddened that he is no longer with us.

Happy St. Jean Baptiste Day

A mes amis Quebecois,  I wish you a joyeux Fete National and hope there are many choruses sung of Gens du Pays sung. Vive Le Quebec!

Yup, glad to see that Quebec politics continues to be the most entertaining Theatersport in Canada. I am impressed that mes freres et soeurs Quebecois have caused the rest of Canada to go, “Why did they do that?”, again. Never try to understand Quebec politics, unless you want to end up in a rubber room, in a jacket that allows easy access to your kidneys! Bravo mes amis!

On the personal finance side of things, here is a good case study for you. For many years I have been a member of Aeroplan, Air Canada’s points per mile frequent flyer system (I am not endorsing this product, per say, I simply am giving you information). I have been doing a lot of driving lately, and figured I was going to have to rent a car to get to my daughter’s provincial championships (so I could leave my wife our van, since she has to drive my other kids around). I was lamenting how much it was going to cost, when a smart friend asked, “Don’t you have points somewhere?”. I thought and didn’t really take in what I was told, and kind of blew this friend off.

I went home that night and checked on the Aeroplan web site, and sure enough, yes I can use my miles to rent a car for the weekend. Now at the end of it, it costs me about the price of a round trip ticket from Ottawa to Toronto to do it (in points), however, given Aeroplan’s new “use them or lose them policy” of aging points (they last 2 years now?), using these points is a good thing, and all I have to pay for now is the gasoline for the weekend (and I am renting a Yaris, so that shouldn’t be as much as if I’d used my van).

Using points systems is a good thing, but remember that it is only an asset when you USE the points. –C8j

Yes, the sounds of Gilles Vigneault ring in my ears, as my Quebecois brethren go the polls in one of the hardest to call elections in years. What effects will this have on Canada’s economy? Really can’t tell, but instability internally to any nation causes interesting ripples in the economy. Sometimes it is opportunity, like how Rene Levesque was voted Man of the Year, by the Toronto board of Trade one year, sometimes it is other things. We shall see, but as with any Quebecois politics, it is going to be hard to explain!

According to Stats Canada, Canadians are less lazy these days, but still not as productive as our American friends. What is more interesting is that our productivity has dropped since 2000, but the number of hours we Canadians work has gone up, way up! So we are working harder, but not smarter? Why aren’t we as good as our U.S. cousins? That’s rhetorical, I think this is a numbers game, and it reflects data, but means little about the “working hearts” of Canadians, I think we are a hard working group of folk (but we might value our free time a little less now, which is troubling). Remember work Smarter, not Harder!

I was trying to figure out what the family could do while on vacation next week and I looked around at a few places to see how much this might cost, and saw the following:

• At La Ronde (a Six Flags associated amusement park in Montreal), if I and my 3 daughters went for the day, this would cost around $140 with parking included (3 adults one kid under 12). If my wife comes kick another $35 (not including food and such). So about $175.00 for a day (I am not ragging on La Ronde, we have been there and the kids like going there, I am just using them as an example).
  • If I buy a season pass I can then go to Darian Lake’s six flags park, and that would cost about: $400, I figure, but I could be wrong. The family passport doesn’t fit my family any more, oh well.
  • There are also discounts available if you buy your tickets earlier, but not much.
• Paramount Canada’s Wonderland would cost you around $290 for the day (not including food, parking, etc.,).
  • A set of season passes would cost around $390.00
• Marineland in Niagara is going to cost us somewhere around $220.00 (parking is free, but food is not).
  • The one nice thing about Marineland is for an extra $25.00, you now have season passes (which is nice).

What does this really mean? Man it’s expensive to go to a theme park these days, holy cow!!! Now that I have this information, I need to confab with the family and see whether this is the choice, or whether we look for a nice beach and spend the day there, or go to a movie, or many other family things that are a little cheaper.

Why is it I end up spending so much on vacations, that I start out thinking are frugal? –C8j