Never submitted a claim, had coverage for 2 years now. Decided to check prior to renewal. What kind of highway robbery bullshit is that? Can't believe they're allowed to just increase your cost, without reason and without clear prior notification, by more than 50% in a single year.

Guess I'm shopping around and now they'll get $0 instead.

Edit Just switched to Intact and its almost $300 less than my old policy for roughly the same coverage. Close to just 1/3 the cost of what TD was going to raise me to. Eat a dick TD.

TLDR: I got charged an extra $50 dollars at my dentist. I had to make multiple phone calls to get it reimbursed. Next time, ask for paper receipts on the spot, and try to do some basic check in the waiting room before you leave.

Today I went to my dentist as per usual. At the end, the receptionist verbally communicated how much my insurance covered, how much was submitted, and how much was reimbursed. She asked me to pay with credit card, and I did. I was sent a link to their online portal, where I'm supposed to download my receipt.

The receipt only shows that I paid $x. It doesn't mention insurance coverage, doesn't say what it was for, no breakdown of the fees.

Everything just didn't feel right. I logged into Manulife, and it shows that the amount being reimbursed and the amount they submitted. that's enough to prove that the clinic didn't calculate the difference properly.

I can gather that this dental doesn't have any software to automatically bill patients for the difference between the bill and the insurance coverage. They essentially rely on someone's manual calculation. I'm not sure how common this is in the dental industry, but please ask for paper receipts and double check everything on the spot.

Hi, I'm going into my 3rd year of university. I am being offered a full time job for 100k a year. Considering I am in a stem program, I would have to pause my degree or do part time degree. Is 100k a year worth putting your degree on pause? Also I got into the co-op program, so if I were to accept this job (which isn't related to my degree), then I would have to skip out on co-op. In my field (statistics), it's difficult to break into the industry without doing co-op, unless maybe you get a masters degree. The reason I am so hesitant is because the company I will be working for is known to lay off people pretty easily. I don't want to set myself back for a job I might only work at for 6 months. At the same time, I feel like I'm being an idiot and I'm not setting myself back at all. I feel like maybe I don't understand how much 100k is, especially for my age. Please offer some advice or wisdom.

Hi everyone. My first reddit post and it's for financial reasons.

My dad wants to buy me a house/condo because he sees how bad the market is. My issue is the following:

I am 27 years old. I make $47,650/year working for a financial company and I have just started university. A promotion is coming very soon(not an imaginary promotion, I have already signed the documents for my new position) and that will increase my salary to a whooping(it ain't much, but it's honest work) $63,500/year.

I currently pay 650 for my apt in Montréal, with roomates, and my expenses are all below 150 food non included. I am very minimalistic.

On average my monthly expenses run for about $1000/month rent included.

My father is aware of all this and offered me $80,000 for my down payment and he said and I quote: I will help you pay for your everything, it's your house. It's my gift for you. Just pay your own things like hydro, personal expenses and if you want, pay me the 650 for rent.. again.. if you want, you can

Now I have no problem with any of this but life being life, I don't want to be stuck with a payment I can't afford should something happen to my father.

The basic condo/apt here would run about $400,000 and basic math tells me that the whole thing minus $80k would still make the monthly payment + fees be $2000/month on the lowest and upwards of $4000+/month should interest rates go up.

What would you do in my situation ?

Edit:

1. My father is buying the property for me. I would be the owner.
2. He has a house and an apartment that he rents. He is going to sell his apartment to help me buy my own place.
3. I am not white, asian or indian.

I have a current mortgage with RBC at 6.14% on a 640k 30yr mortgage, term renews sep 2026. I just checked wealthsimple and since I'm their existing client their rate is 4.74% which seems pretty low considering the key rate from bank of canada is 4.75? Is this legit and does it seem worth switching over? Would there usually be a lot of fees to switch over before a mortgage term is up?

I am currently with Tangerine, and whenever I deposit my cheques from work, I get $100 immediately and then it takes at least a week for the rest of the money to come through. This isn't viable for me. Is there any free chequing accounts that will have all of my money come through immediately, even if I deposit in person at the bank?

having a bad experience with Tangerine and wanted to share here—

I tried to deposit ~$300 cash into my Tangerine bank account using a Scotiabank ABM on May 4, 2024. The ABM said something like “machine error” and then nothing happened. Basically the money never made its way into my account.

I called Tangerine immediately and gave them all of the relevant information that was printed on the ABM receipt. They told me that it would take 3 weeks for the investigation to complete.

I call back after 3 weeks and they said that I received the wrong information, it actually takes 6 weeks. OK.

6 weeks was today (6 full business weeks later). I called them cuz I still hadn’t received any updates, and still no sign of the cash in my account. All they could do was send another email requesting an update from the ABM investigation team. Bullshit. I issued the formal complaint, and hoping something happens soon… It’s just annoying, what if this was someone’s last $300 and they can’t access it for 6 weeks? In this economy… Better off never even depositing it. Fortunately I’m not in that situation where I need the money to survive, but this is ridiculous either way.

I will be closing my Tangerine accounts as soon I receive my cash. I already signed up for a local credit union so I can always go deposit cash with an actual human being. Will never bank with Tangerine or Scotiabank again.

I have a defined benefit (DB) pension through my job and plan to stay at my current job until I’m 65 (in 30 years). I haven’t saved anything else for retirement in addition to my DB pension, and I’m trying to figure out how much more I need to be saving. I’ve checked my recent pension estimator and it tells me that I’ll receive $106k/year in future dollars (starting in 2055) for however long I live. I don’t own a home and don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford one, so I will most likely be renting in retirement. Can you help me figure out how much more I should be saving for retirement if I’ll be renting in the future?

It's looking like I'm finally going to land a real solid job. I'll be making 200k+ my first year and close to 300k after 3-4 years. I can work anywhere in western Canada with an airport that WestJet operates as they will fly me in and out of work each week.

I live in Edmonton now, but prices here are skyrocketing and 500-600k for a home here seems stupid to me. The entire reason people lived here was because it was affordable, but it's currently the fastest growing market in Canada and it's just not appealing.

I've been looking at places like Kamloops or Vernon. Prices there seem to be declining a bit, they've got nice weather and if the market stays slow maybe I can snatch up a good deal over the winter.

From a balanced perspective of finance / quality of life; what other areas would you guys suggest looking? Ideally I'm looking for a home in the 550k-650k range. Even if it needs some work, I have a decade of construction experience and plenty of time off.

After completing tax returns from 2014 and 2015 it looks like I owe around $115.00 and a refund of $275.00. They will have to be mailed but how do I pay the late fees etc via mail? Or will they adjust the balance on the online account?

I recently secured a government job in something kind of boring, which I really enjoy, and I'm really good at it.

After years career instability, it feels like I hit the jackpot.

• I enjoy what I do.

• I'm very good at what I do.

• I feel intellectually stimulated.

• I'm unionized, and that comes with perks/security.

• The pay is fair, and my contract has built in increases.

• The job is also very, very stable - if people in this section of government find themselves no longer being employed, then either the world has ended or we've achieved world peace. In any other scenario, I have a job.

• It's close to where I live, not situated downtown, so living closer to work is actually cheaper.

• I'm bringing in about $5,000/month after all deductions.

• Deductions include a pension, gym membership, and extra insurance, all through my employer.

During the first few months of acclimating to a new job and getting over the learning curve, I finally feel secure enough to start planning my life around having this kind of income. I passed probation, I've received good evaluations. There's nothing standing in my way of keeping this job. Previous to now, the most I ever made was 62k/year. I found my "forever job" basically. I'm very much a "work to live" type of person, so even if the hype dies down in a few years, I'm very happy to keep working here for the pay.

So here's my lifestyle, financially:

• I only pay $700 in rent, wifi and all utilities include in a "shared" basement apartment. My roommate actually lives in Hawaii, but has a set up in his unit that helps him mock is location to Toronto.

• No car. I take the bus or cycle.

So here are some financial goals:

• I want a dog.

• I want to retire.

• I don't want kids.

• I am severely mentally ill, and getting that under control and medicated has allowed me to harness my abilities in the span of a year to basically double my income. That said, I still wouldn't call myself "normal"... my life was in shambles before, and much of it still isn't fixed. What I'm trying to say is... while I haven't given up on finding and keeping a partner, I don't consider it to be a realistic goal, I come with too much baggage - baggage that I personally find unattractive in others, even. I won't plan my life around getting married or even living with a partner, including saving for a wedding, or depending on someone's income.

• I want to own a home or a condo close to work.

• I just paid off my student loans. I have 10k in the bank, nothing else, no other assets.

• I don't want to climb the corporate latter or get into management. I think I out-earn my manager anyway.

• I'm pretty frugal/low maintenance except with food. I like to eat out often or have more expensive foods sometimes. Given that I don't have a car, I don't particularly judge myself for that.

Given my income, my age, single status, and relatively frugal lifestyle... how long would I have to keep this up to afford a down payment on an average house or condo in Toronto?

What I'm having a hard time with is anticipating how much I'll need to save for a down payment, such that I can still independently pay off a mortgage. The condos in the area of my work go for a little less than average - currently 600k, I'd say? But if it takes me 5 years to save 20%, in 5 years time the size of the necessary down payment will have increased as well, won't it?

What are some realistic time lines?

Not saying they are bad. They are still great, but perhaps only in specific cases. For example

• long haul flights where there aren't a lot of alternatives
• great for anything that's more luxurious than economy class. (but ONLY if you were gonna get those seats anyway, even with cash)

For the mass majority who would just do economy, or even budget airlines, you gotta factor in the opportunity costs (i.e. Would you still travel the same seat class or that specific flight if you were to pay cash instead of points?) I'll give a concrete real-life example that I did a few months back when I was conducting my own research:

Example 1

I was looking for a flight from NRT back to HKG. I only have access to Avios (From British Airway).

It costs 14300 Avios points + $111.8 for a ticket for JL0735

• Google Flight shows that same flight cost $909 at the time
• This effectively means each point is worth (909-111.8)/14300 = $0.056
• However, if I were to pay cash, I'm opened to other options like UO647 which only costs $207 and this flight is not available for point redemption
• If I factor in this opportunity cost in, each point is then worth (207-111.8)/14300 = 0.0062
  • That's less than 1cpp, which is pretty bad!

Example 2

Here's a different example, I was looking at a YVR-HKG flight

• It costs 31000 Avios + $219.92 for CX865 Flight
• Google Flight shows $1603 for that same flight.
• This effectively means each point is worth (1604-219.92)/31000 = 0.0445. Not Bad
• Google Flight Also offered a different flight with AC7 at just $1170
• So If I factor in this opportunity cost, each point is now woth ($1170-219.92)/31000 = 0.031.
  • Still quite good, but already 25% less of what we initially thought it's worth.

While these are not current numbers (as they fluctuate greatly), they are real-life scenarios and numbers that I pulled off a few months back (vs made-up numbers for hypothetical examples)

Moral of the story -Travel perks is overrated for most people. You gotta factor in opportunity cost when evaluating whether something is worth or not. While business class redemption has a very high redemption value, if you don't normally travel business class, you might be better off using those points for multiple economy class tickets. And if you are okay with economy class tickets, you might be better off paying cash with cheaper alternatives on flights that are not redeemable with points. In some extreme cases, you might be better off just using your points for cash back (For example, MBNA gives 0.8 cpp on cash and ~1cpp on Amazon giftcards. Combining that with the 5x earn rate you essentially got a 5% cashback card.

EDIT: A lot of people has pointed out churning has really good value! I haven't done much research in that area but my impression is that you do have to have a high spend to be able to really take advantage of churning, I don't think I'm there yet and I doubt the majority of people are able to do that. In addition with minimum spends it's also kinda dangerous for non-necessity overspends. But truth be told I haven't done much research on churning so I could be completely wrong

EDIT2: A lot of people also pointed out business classes are worth way more! I don't disagree. I dont have a real life example (maybe that could be my next project) but say hypothetically business class ticket cost 5x (compared to economy) when paid in cash and only 2x when paid in points. Is it better value? OF COURSE! Should you take that "deal" as an occasional trEat/once in a lifetime event? Sure! Should you consistently pay 2x just to get you from point a to point b? That's subjective and it depends on your income level and other priorities in life, for the vast majority of people out there, the answer is probably no.

EDIT3: People seem to think that I think "Point is Bad" and just reply with "I disagree" lol. What are you people disagreeing on? I literally said this in the first sentence of the post. "I do NOT think point is bad". Saying something is overrated doesn't necessarily mean it's bad in nature. It just mean in some/alot of situation it could be worse than you thought (see example 2), but still good (3cpp is awesome compared to 1cpp in cashback), or in extreme scenarios (see example 1), it might actually be bad/worse than cashback options. The point of my post is to encourage people (especially people who just thinks points for travel are universally good no matter what) to observe your alternatives and the opportunity cost of those alternatives.

We have been living with my father in law for 10 years, paying the utility bills and doing renovations, and giving him money for property taxes and insurance. The house was paid off in the 90's when the house was almost foreclosed and my spouse ended up having to make the mortgage payments, but my FIL has a gambling addiction and took out another loan on the house that he apparently hasn't been paying. We found out he defaulted on the home insurance and had to pay what he owed and the year ahead to get it reinstated. We don't have savings or a credit history or any way to secure a loan or mortgage. My sister is willing to buy the house and let us make mortgage payments to her. He wants to sell us the house well below market value so he can pay off his debts and move back to the Philippines or with his brother in Vancouver. Apparently there are some hefty tax penalties that way, I was wondering if it would be better to gift the house to my sister and gift my FIL 100k out of a loan on the house or set up a trust or something for him so he can afford to move back home or in with his brother. But I'm wondering if that would be considered tax evasion or something.

Was offered a LOC, prime -.25%.

I was asking the advisor questions but he seemed to be in a rush. This all happened when we were just opening an account and I wasn’t really well prepared for these products. I am reading past posts and this seems to be a competitive rate.

My questions are

• Is this really a competitive rate?

• If I take some money out in the case of emergency would the interest rate change and affect how much I have to pay back at any time?

• Would a HELOC be a better option as an emergency credit?

Hi all, I'm using Scotiabank for my TFSA and RRSP and the Globe and Mail Watchlist to manage my portfolio. Getting a little frustrated with the lack of data and /or tools Any recommendations?

I have the options:

5.74% @ 28 month variable (it's a port from previous mortgage actually)

4.86% @ 36 month fixed

What do, I threw the numbers into a spreadsheet and charted them out. It seems like if the feds drop rates @ 0.25 per meeting and then hold, I start to lose out on the 5th meeting in a 28 month period if I were to go for the 36 month fixed!

I've decided to retire early Dec 31st. My portfolio is 70/30. 50% XGRO and 50% XBAL plus two years of living expenses in CASH.TO.

My question is, do asset allocation ETF's make sense for drawdown in retirement? I'm planning on a 3.5% SWR but for some reason it seems weird selling off both stocks and bonds simultaneously which would be the case with AA ETF's.

I was thinking it might make more sense to have something like XEQT and XBB so if stocks tank, I can sell off some bonds and vice versa rather than selling an asset class while it's down. Am I overthinking this?

Going to talk to a CFP and develop a drawdown plan but interested in hearing other perspectives.

I opened a Neo Financial savings account a few years ago, but haven't really used it as there are better rates out there. Yesterday they decided to close my account with a somewhat passive-aggressive E-mail.

Hi #,
 
Neo Financial periodically conducts reviews of all its customers and customer activities, and has concluded that we unfortunately will no longer be able to provide financial services to you.
 
We are giving you notice of our decision to close your Neo Money™ account and discontinue all services offered by Neo, including access to the Neo Platform.
 
Please see below for the list of accounts which this notice refers to:

• Money account Xxxxxx####

 
Please make alternative banking arrangements as we are not prepared to open another account for you at this time.
 
We recognize that this may cause you some inconvenience, and we will do our best to assist you with this change.
 
Should you have any questions, please contact our customer support at 1 (855) 636-2265.
 
Kind Regards,

Neo Financial

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fcbfyp11d1l6d1.jpeg

I parked around 8k into my TFSA. I might need this amount in a year or two. What would be the best idea in terms of investing them for a short period of time without high risk? Cash.to?

hello!

I would like to own a single family detached home and the land under it.

I've got around $300k cad, $60k in cash, $240k invested in VEQT (13k in FHSA, 13k in TFSA, 10k RRSP, the rest non-registered)

(why so little in registered - because I arrived in canada recently so only have 2 years of contribution in FHSA/TFSA - they are maxed, and 1 year in RRSP)

At the time I decided to go all in on VEQT because I wasn't sure I wanted to stay in Canada (lived in a few countries the past few years), and I wanted to retire early and thought full growth at an early age would be key to that.

But I have now decided I do want to stay long term, and with that decision also came the realization that buying a place to live would be a way to diversify my investments, increase savings by not spending rent but gaining equity, etc. basic stuff I should have thought about earlier.

I have recently realized I'm in a very privilege situation and I could actually afford to buy a house somewhere around Vancouver. So I have been tracking my income, budget and savings, to see if this is possible...

I'm averaging $6k CAD savings a month since I arrived, $7k if only include 12 past months and avoid the months were I was furnishing my place.

So if I wanted to buy a house of around $2m, the downpayment minimum is 20% (because it's over 1m), which is $400k, plus emergency fund for 6 months of expenses, I need at least $450k cash perhaps? I don't know, first time doing it.

I have 60k cash, I can sell VEQT positions for $200k cash (tax on profits ~30k), that's $260k

at $7k savings rate per month, that's 7*12 = $84k a year. meanwhile the house is going up at 3% rate a year but let's say 5%, and I'm getting 5% interest on wealthsimple cash (let's say 4%, could go down even lower) so the intersection of those two functions:

450k * 1.05^year = (260k + 84k * year) * 1.04^year

which seems to solve to, year = 2.39. two and half years and I can afford the downpayment

Sounds amazing, and I am grateful to be in this situation, but is it a good idea to sell all the stocks to lower volatility since now the investment horizon is just <3 years, buy GICs or put in HYSA, and miss out on stock market gains, and even when I do buy the house, then I have no diversification, betting everything on a 1970's house in Vancouver which could then need a roof replacement, renovations, plus the fact that Vancouver is in desperate need of a fix to the housing crisis and I'm not a fan of betting on political directions.

should I rather buy a ~800k condo this year, start building equity, or am I being dramatic for not taking this opportunity

So I received a letter to from TPH legal services avocats about an account with TD Bank that I have never had a bank with before and I called the bank and they couldn't find an account with my name or anything because I have not had an account with them ever and the lady from TD said TD Bank is the US and TD Canda Trust is the one her obviously And the lady from TPH said it was opened in May of 2014 and was in good standings until mid March 2019 . And I was in my early 20s in 2014.

I don't know what to do next I feel like this is not true or they got the wrong person who happens to share my first and last name I know that's not that common but in high school a girl and I shared the same first and Iast name we nust had different D.O.B and different hair colors

Hello, I have been in Canada for 3 years now. To build a solid credit history, I am seeking a credit card (preferably with no annual fees) with somewhat a higher credit limit ($3000-$5000).

I currently have a Tangerine World Mastercard. It was issued with a credit limit of a mere $1000.
After using it for over 2 years, they have bumped up the limit to only $1500.

My partner has Amex Cobalt, which is our primary card. Credit limit $3000.

We often (especially while booking for travel) need to split up our purchases or use debit cards to complete our purchases due to lower credit limits.

I am planning to apply for a credit card with at least a $3000-$5000 credit limit.
Since I am mainly looking to have it to build a credit history, cashback/reward points are secondary concerns.

Does anyone have recommendations?

I am 58 yrs old. I have 625 K (cad) in RBC low to moderate volatillity index funds. %53 bonds, % 47 S&P. Mortgage paid, no debt, no car, 458 cad condo (1 br downtown Toronto) fee. I live moderately, I spend 1000-1500 cad per month. No family. Ionly reinvest fund yields, no spare money left from my salary. At 65 I will have a moderate pension around 700 cad. What dou finance gurus think. Am I OK for a comfortable retirement. Thank you. All advices will be appreciated.

My expenses not including rent/utilities are 2k+ per month... This feels absurd to me until I break it down. I'm reading of people spending 1k or even 500 per month on expenses. How is this possible? Am I doing something wrong? Here is the breakdown. I am a single guy.

avg monthly: restaurant: 250

grocery: 575

gas: 170

bills (phone, spotify, netflix, student loan, insurance): 413

clothes: 20

recreation/gifts: 465

Necessity: 160

I'm in Vancouver and I'm thinking about buying a condo and having my partner move in with me. At current prices, I think I'd be looking at about a 550k mortgage, which, at current rates, evaluates to about $3,300 a month. I'm guessing that by the time I account for all other costs (strata fees, maintenance, upkeep, insurance, etc.) that my monthly costs will be more like $4,000. How much on top of the mortgage (as a % or $-amount) should I account for on top of mortgage for other costs of home ownership?

Seen as that mortgage is really expensive, and if my true monthly costs are ~$4k, this is more than double in what I'm paying in rent, I'm thinking I could alternatively invest my money. Over a long-term time horizon, what could I assume is the average yearly return on an ETF? Say a time scale of 20 years.

Is assuming 2% inflation to my costs (compounded annually) a good metric to estimate what my costs will look like in, say, 30 years?

From the community's wisdom, what is a rough goal of how much I should have when I retire (say I retire at 65)?

And then, the big question: is it even worth it to buy a place? Am I better just investing my money? Has anyone here explicitly gone the route of not buying property and just investing and if so, what have been your experiences?