It doesn’t take kids long to recognize the power of plastic. My oldest daughter is barely six, but if my wife or I try to use the “I have no money…” line to get out of buying another toy or treat, she’s likely to say, “Well, use your credit card.” The point being, she gets how to use them, she just doesn’t really understand how they work. But, sooner or later (much later, I hope), she’ll be applying for her own credit card. And, like all of us, long before that she should have a solid understanding of their uses, abuses, and the implications of both.

Should you give your kids a credit card? And, if so, when?

Prepaid Can Payoff

Obviously, my kids are much too young to even consider it. But when is it appropriate to hand over a card to a child? Believe it or not, it’s not unheard of for teens or even tweens to be packing plastic in their wallets. Rather than hand their kids cash for their allowance or birthday money, parents will load the currency onto a card.

It gives the kids an early lesson in managing “virtual” money, has the advantage of being much more flexible than a single-store gift card since they can use it anywhere credit cards are accepted, and even provides a degree of security since the card can be cancelled if it’s lost or stolen. The downside is that these cards come with myriad built-in fees that can quickly chip away at the balance. Then again, maybe there are lessons to be learned there too.

Student Credit Cards

Eventually though, your kids will want and need to graduate to a “real” credit card. During the summer break after my first year of university, I flew out to B.C. to meet some friends. Needing a car to get around, I popped into the nearest discount car rental agency. Unfortunately, they required a credit card – or $300 cash – as a deposit. Lacking the former, I handed over a big chunk of my intended spending money to get my hands on a set of keys. Once I was back home, I applied for the first student card I could find, beginning the lifelong process of building a credit score.

Student credit cards are a great start for many reasons. You can usually find one with no annual fee, they tend to charge moderate interest rates on balances (15 to 20 percent), and they have relatively low credit limits, so you can’t get it too much debt-trouble.

Perhaps, most importantly, they’re relatively easy to qualify for, even if you don’t have much (or anything) in the way of credit history. The fact you’re attending college or university is often enough for you to qualify. (The banks are hoping you’ll stick with them when you graduate to that high-paying corporate gig.)

Co-sign, With Caution

If you want your high-school aged kids to start learning life in the cashless world, you’ll likely have to co-sign on a card with them. While it does give you a great opportunity to show your kids how much you trust them, you will want to closely monitor the account, and minimize the credit limit so you don’t end up on the hook for months’ worth of future allowances.

Regardless of what age and what type of card you help your kid start off with, set them up with a solid understanding of how powerful – and dangerous – a credit card can be if used improperly. Then, when they do make the inevitable beginner’s mistakes – like forgetting to make a monthly payment – help them learn the lesson from it, so they’re better equipped for life.

You do all your research on the best brands and models, you comparison shop and find the best deals, you get to the store and find exactly what you’re looking for at exactly the price you expected and then, the seemingly friendly salesperson hits you with the big question: “Would you like to purchase warranty protection?”

Of course, you’re going to say no. (Read on, and you’ll know exactly why you should say no.) But, much like a six-year-old told she can’t have cookies right before dinner, “no” just doesn’t seem to be an acceptable answer.

So the sales person plys you with a shopping list of items not covered by the manufacturers warranty that this golden ticket – at a platinum price – does, offering you up a little folder with all the details. But you just want to get home and play with your new toy. So you’re not going to carefully read all the fine print (and it’s almost all fine print) to figure out what this piece of paper covers and, more importantly, what it excludes.

Only a sucker buys the in-store extended warranty at the checkout counter. Don’t be a sucker.

You don’t need it and, if you do, it probably won’t be valid

Almost everything you buy comes with some sort of warranty covering manufacturing defects. Granted, it may only provide coverage for a month or a year, but if you really did get the lemon built by the Friday afternoon shift at the factory, odds are it’s not going to work the minute you open the box.

Typically, that generous “three-year” plan likely only kicks in after the coverage by the manufacturer expires and, short of a really big ticket item, how many of us are going to remember two-and-a-half year’s later that we paid an extra $100 for an extended warranty.

I’ll never forgot the time I popped into a nearby electronics store looking for a cheap pair of old-school headphones so my daughter didn’t have to use ill-fitting ear buds. They were on sale for less than $8. The salesman offered me a three-year warranty for $5. Yep, a warranty that cost two-thirds the product price. I didn’t even have to look at the proffered form to know that no matter how soon this-disposable-by-design headset eventually did break, there’d be some sort of rider (“Cannot be used by six-year-old girls to watch portable DVD players”) that voided by coverage.

It’s overpriced

Even when you do need repairs, watchdog consumer advocacy magazine Consumer Reports found that, “When breakdowns occur within the extended-warranty period, the average cost of repairing the appliance is not much more than the average price paid for the warranty.” In other words, pay for the warranty upfront and you’re guaranteed to pay about as much as you may have to pay if the item happens to break down.

And here’s the dirty little secret that the store’s not going to tell you: The margins on extended warranties are WAY higher (50 percent or more) than the profits they’re earning on the product itself.

You can find better

Even if you’re really worried about something breaking down the proverbial day after your manufacturer’s warranty expires, there are better options. If you purchased the item using a credit card, chances are you probably already have coverage. (Read the fine print on your cardholder’s agreement.)

If not, consider third-party extended warranties. One popular option is a company called SquareTrade, which offers warranties on everything from cellphones to appliances. They claim to provide comparable coverage to retail warranties for as much as 60 percent less in fees, and significantly lower deductibles on claims.

But, just like you did before you walked into the store, do your homework on the warranty company – how much it’ll cost, what it’ll cover, what is excluded, and how easy or difficult it is to make a claim – before you sign on the dotted line.

It’s a classic hectic January shopping moment: you’re at the checkout, about to drop a pile on some last-minute deals, and the cashier asks if you’d like to sign up for the store’s credit card.

The application process won’t take but a minute and better still you can get an even better deal on your purchase. Maybe a percentage discount, or a don’t-pay-for-x-number of days thing.

Why not? Because there are some serious problems with store credit cards. They offer a sneaky way to reduce your credit rating, get yourself into debt and entice you to shop more.

Here a run down of the downsides:

High interest rates

These cards have rates in the 25% to 30% range. Your regular credit card should be lower than that! So if you leave a balance on your purchases it could take months or even years to pay it off, as that interest keeps building when you have a balance.

Your credit score

The more credit you have to your name, the higher your debt load, and the worse your credit score. This is particularly a problem if you get pulled into signing up for several in-store cards with high limits. This can compromise your chances of getting loans, even if your balance is at zero.

Managing your debt

When you have numerous cards — plus a car loan and a mortgage, for instance — your debt is all over the place and is much harder to manage. You may focus your efforts on paying down your main card and think all is well. Then, bam! You get that store credit card bill in the mail and there’s money owed there too.

Buying more

When you have a store card, you’re tempted to dash out to that store more often and make use of the promotions, points and bonuses offered through your card. Those promotions are great: but there’s a big chance they encourage you to shop more, get stuff you don’t need, and even purchase items at higher prices than you would pay elsewhere.

Initial deals

When you sign up for a store card, you often get 10% or 20% off your initial purchase. That’s great. But what if you’re just making a small purchase that day and head back to buy a couch or all your kids’ spring clothes a few weeks later? You’ll likely throw away that great initial deal if you sign on for a card on the spur of the moment.

Making store credit cards work for you

So, how to make the most out of those store credit cards?

• Only sign on for a card for a company you truly use. Gas cards, home reno store cards if you are doing a lot of fixing up, come to mind. Get one of these cards, two max, and leave it at that.
• Know the points and rewards systems on the few cards you have and truly take advantage of them. If there’s a cardholders discount day, hold off on purchases until that day. Keep track of and redeem your points.
• Read your bill statements every month and make sure your credit limit is low, your interest rate is being fairy charged and you’re not falling prey to any find print you missed reading when you got the card.
• Fully pay off these cards each and every month. If you can’t do that, get rid of the card or consolidate your debt with a loan or line of credit.

Store credit cards are like any other form of credit. They can be great by allowing you access to the stuff you want and need, often at a discount. But they have their perils — so buyers beware.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that one piece of advice we constantly try to hammer home is that you should pay off your credit card balance in full every month to avoid the high interest rates you’d otherwise be charged.

But the unfortunate reality is that sometimes we just don’t have the funds available to cover large unexpected costs – like a car that won’t move or a toilet that’s flowing in the wrong direction, both of which recently happened to me in the same week.

The next piece of advice is to set up a line of credit so you have some funds available to pay your bills at a much lower interest rate than the rates credit cards charge.
But if you don’t have a home or other large asset to back a secure line of credit, and your credit rating has too many red flags (from all those bills you’ve been late in paying), you might not qualify for a line of credit.

If that’s the situation you’re in, then forget about cash back or air miles programs. You should focus on getting yourself a credit card that will charge you the lowest amount of interest if and when you do need to carry a balance. Here are some of the best low rate credit cards in the market.

American Express Air Miles Credit Card

The American Express Air Miles credit card is a no-fee card that offers the lowest rate out there, 2.99 percent, though that’s only for the first 12 months. After that it jumps to 19.99 percent. Still, it’s a great option for someone who anticipates cash flow issues for a year – say when you’re planning a major renovation, or going on maternity leave.

And if you’re already collecting Air Miles, it’s a great way to grow your account, with a bonus of 150 miles when you make your first purchase, and earn additional miles for every $15 to $20 spent using the card. It also includes travel accident insurance and extended warranty coverage on purchases.

Capital One SmartLine Platinum MasterCard

The Capital One SmartLine Platinum MasterCard is another no-fee card with a very favourable rate of only 5.99 percent. For the first three years, it also comes with a “balance transfer” rate of 5.99 percent, effectively making it a fixed-rate line of credit. The card includes travel and rental car insurance, and extended warranties on purchases, but you do need to have an excellent credit rating and minimum household income of $40,000 to qualify.

Scotiabank Momentum No-Fee Visa

The Scotiabank Momentum No-Fee Visa is a no-fee card with an interest rate of 7.99 percent – albeit for the first six months only, after which it jumps to 19.99 percent. The big bonus with this one is that you earn up to 1 percent cash back on your purchases, helping you build a nest egg to pay down debt. Like the Amex Air Miles card, this is a good short-term option for temporary monetary shortages. It also includes discount car rentals at Avis.

MBNA Gold MasterCard Fixed 9.99 APR

When you’re self-employed (like a freelance writer and blogger), or work in a seasonal industry like farming or fisheries, your income can come in fits and starts. But your daily expenses tend to stay the same. So if you anticipate periods where you just won’t have money available to pay off your credit card bills for the long-term, it’s worth looking at the MBNA Gold MasterCard with a fixed 9.99 percent interest rate – about half of what most cards charge. It’s higher than the Captial One SmartCard, but you only need to show a household income of $35,000 and carry a good credit rating to qualify. There’s no annual fee and it includes purchase protection and extended warranty coverage.

MBNA Platinum Plus MasterCard

And here’s a bonus card to consider, the MBNA Platium Plus MasterCard. While the interest rate on new purchases is up there at 17.99 percent, the really enticing part is that there is no interest (as in zero percent) on balance transfer for the first 10 months. So if you have fallen behind on your payments on other cards, sign up for this free card and you’ll earn yourself a 10-month grace period to start paying off the debt. At the end of that, if you’re still in the hole take another look at one of the low interest credit cards above.

RateSupermarket.ca Shows Credit Card Shoppers How to Save Hundreds This Holiday Season

TORONTO, November 24, 2011… RateSupermarket.ca, Canada’ s go-to-website to compare and save money on credit cards, mortgage rates, and savings accounts, is challenging consumers to rethink their credit card strategy this holiday season. Credit cards aren’t just for spending money, but for saving money as well.

A recent poll from CIBC suggests only 31% of Canadians plan to use their credit card for holiday shopping this season. According to RateSupermarket.ca, that number should be higher.

“It’s very easy to spend money on your credit card and rack up a larger bill than intended,” says Kelvin Mangaroo, president of the rate comparison site. “But, if you can stick to a budget and pay off your credit card balance on time, then yes, consumers should be putting more of their Christmas purchases on plastic.”

Why? The rewards. Particularly cash back rewards. Not only are cash reward programs easier to determine how much you’re really getting back (because we ALL know the value of $1 vs. 700 points), but cash can be spent on whatever YOU want… in other words you aren’t limited to a rewards catalogue.

Based on average Canadian household spending patterns from Statistics Canada, a typical household can save $562* in the first year by using a cash back credit card for their purchases. Over 5 years, that savings jumps to $2,382*.

Get even smarter with your cash back and you can turn your $2,382 in savings into even more. Pay off your mortgage faster with lump sum payments and save yourself an extra $685** in interest. Or put that cash in a high interest savings account and bank an extra $153***.

A new toaster or a movie voucher can’t do that.

All the reasons why Cash is King are laid out in this handy infographic:

http://www.ratesupermarket.ca/blog/cash-back-rewards-credit-cards-infographic/

“With the holiday season right around the corner, consumers will likely go over their normal average monthly spend. I say, be smart when you spend, use a cash back credit card and start racking up the savings,” says Mangaroo.

* Refer to infographic for calculation details: http://www.ratesupermarket.ca/blog/cash-is-king-infographic/#INFO
**Annual cash back was put towards annual lump sum payments on $250,000 mortgage, amortized over 25 years at a rate of 3.52% (the average best 5 year fixed rate from Sept 2010 to August 2011 as seen on RateSupermarket.ca.)
*** Annual cash back was put into a savings account with a 2.00% interest rate.

About RateSupermarket.ca (http://www.ratesupermarket.ca)
RateSupermarket.ca is the largest impartial rate comparison service for personal finance products in Canada. Founded in May of 2008, their easy to use comparison engines provide much needed transparency into the Canadian financial market and allow visitors to quickly find the best rates. Over 1.5M Canadians have turned to RateSupermarket.ca to save money on their mortgage, insurance, credit cards and GICs.

Yesterday, Melanie told you about some of her top issues with Canada.  Now, let’s show this country a little more love and celebrate the great things about Canada and its financial checks and balances.

While we might have an international reputation for being too gosh-darn polite, bordering on bland, this middle-of-the-roadness sure bodes well for us in the practical ins and outs of life.

Here’s a list of what’s awesome about Canada.

Our Banks

Yes, they make gobs of money and yes often they take advantage of us with high user fees and too many lines of credit. But overall our banks are a model of stability in this very unstable financial world. Unlike US banks, ours never got into the high-risk mortgage business. (Thanks to new rules, they’re even tougher about mortgages: goodbye 35-year loans!).

Meanwhile, we have just a handful of large lending institutions. Unlike in the US where there’s a different bank on every corner, and some of the little ones have been known to tank. You join a bank here, you know it’s not going anywhere.

Our Home-Buying Incentives

For those of us who want to buy a home for the first time, Canada is right behind you on it. You can get the $5,000 First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit — a nice bonus the year you buy your first home. Tax rules also help you get there: under the Home Buyers’ Plan, you can borrow up to $25,000 on your RRSPs a year to finance a down payment. Then there’s the existence of the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.  This group provides both great info to homebuyers and, critically, offers affordable mortgage insurance for those with less than the 20 per cent down payment required to buy their first home.

Our Health Care System

Say what you like about private health care and having to wait for months for tests or surgeries. In the US, if you don’t have really great health coverage through an employer and you get a serious disease, it can lead to financial ruin for you and your family. Here, we get the odd story of people who are denied drug coverage and the meds they need, but generally speaking our system takes care of us no matter what challenges our bodies throw our way. As well, you can claim medical expense on your taxes to alleviate costs when you do have medical bills.

Our Credit Card Rules

Our government has a history of keeping tabs on loan scams and they’re constantly responding with new rules to limit them. In particular, they’ve been targeting the credit card industry and making sure you’re not getting ripped off by your card company. New rules introduced in 2010 mean credit card bills in Canada must be clearer, that new purchases get a 21-day interest grace period and your company can’t up your interest rate without telling you in advance.

Our Stability

The upshot of everything great about Canada is that financial life here changes little. Too dull for you? Better to be here than in Greece! Our dollar moves, but is essentially one amazingly stable currency. Our bank rates move cautiously. From one day to the next, we know our system is working and our economy, while not perfect, is still humming along.

This is a fine place to live, save and thrive.

Way back when I was in university, I once flew out to Vancouver to meet some friends who were working there on a summer job. Needing a car to get around, I popped by the nearest rental agency. That’s when I found out I would need a credit card or $300 for a security deposit. Lacking the former, I had to deplete a good chunk of my holiday savings for the deposit, teaching me an early lesson in the value of having good credit.

As soon as I got back home I signed up for the first student credit card I could get my hands on, and have worked ever since to build – and maintain – my credit score. Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way.

Start Early

Obviously, you’re not going to get your six-year-old a credit card. And even a teen who has worked steady summer jobs will have a hard time qualifying for a card without a parent co-signing. (Prepaid credit cards won’t help your credit history.) But once you get to college or university, the banks will be clambering to sign you up relatively hassle-free in anticipation of all those school-related expenses and extra-curricular spending, not to mention your potential future earnings.

So start there. But don’t stop there. Once you graduate and start earning a steady income, shop around for other cards to take advantage of lower interest rates or rewards like air miles and cash-back incentives. Get a car loan and pay it off. Set up a line of credit so you have access to emergency funds. Then take the big step and apply for a mortgage….

Pay Your Bills On Time, Always

The best way to blow your credit rating is to miss bill payments. Your credit report (see Check Please below) will list any payments that were 30, 60, or 90 days late. Anything more than the rare accidentally forgotten payment and your report will quickly fill with the proverbial red flags that make you a bad credit risk. If money happens to be particularly tight one month, at least make all your minimum payments. And rather than pay the 20 to 30 percent interest rate credit card companies charge, use your line of credit to pay off those bills.

You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing

When it comes time to negotiate a mortgage, having too many credit cards can actually backfire, even if they’re all paid up in full. The problem is that the financial institutions will view your various credit limits as liabilities when calculating how much they’re willing to lend you. The way they see it, if you have a Visa with a $10,000 credit limit, a $5,000 MasterCard and a handful of gas station and retail cards with $500 or $1,000 limits, then you could end up owing other companies twenty grand.

A mortgage broker can advise you on all the steps, like closing superfluous accounts, you should take before submitting your loan application.

Check Please

Everyone makes mistakes. Unfortunately, credit agencies are somewhat notorious for making lots of them, potentially impacting your ability to get credit when you need it. The two ratings agencies in Canada, Equifax and TransUnion, are both required to provide consumers with a free copy of their report by mail. But that can take a few weeks, and requires you to send confidential info (like your social insurance number) through the post. The easier option is to pay the $15 fee online and get your report instantly. However you get it, read through the report carefully and contact the credit reporting company immediately if you notice any errors.

You always think of fraud as something that happens to someone else and not you. But that’s not true. Canadians lost $53.8 million from mass-marketing fraud in 2010.

Much of that money is lost when a fraudster gets hold of your credit card information, debit card PIN or gets access to your bank account.

With the holiday season right around the corner, these plastic cards will be out on show more often then at other times during the year.  Here’s what you need to know.

How do they do it?

With the help of technology, these guys use various tricks to get a hold of your private information, and then spend your money.

Fraudsters can be located in your own home town, or halfway around the world. Some are seasoned scam artists who do this for a living. Others are folks who want to make a quick buck and often succeed even though they barely know what they’re doing. All a scam artist needs today is a computer and some twisted ideas to exploit weakness.

Familiar scams include advance-free fraud, where an email from a foreign country asks you to give a little money to pay for, say, lawyer fees to release a huge sum of money, which they claim will be shared. You never see your money again, and your bank account can get cleaned out.

Also popular these days are emails that tell you your computer has a virus, and you need to click on a link or call a 1-800 number to fix the problem. You give up some personal information, and it’s used to purchase things on your credit card or empty your bank account.

The scams change constantly as fraudsters come up with new ideas to stay ahead of the law and consumer awareness. So, no point in keeping track. Better instead to use some safe practices that will hold you in good standing.

Safe Practices

• Only do online transactions with a secured, verified site. Spend a moment on the site checking around for things like the Better Business Bureau logo and other verification seals. Click on these links to be sure they work. If you’re on a site for an online-only retailer you’ve never heard of before, do a quick search of the site’s name and make sure no one on the Net has reported any scams from this company.

• Never follow a link. Be it from an email or another site, always retype the url of your bank, PayPal or other site to be sure you’re going to the real site. Fraudsters often create fake sites that look very real.

• Read carefully. Spelling mistakes and other quirky details often give away a fake site or fraudulent email.

• Never give away your private information (i.e. social insurance number, bank account details, full address, etc). Only give out this information to someone you have called personally, and that organization is someone you trust like your bank or a familiar retailer. Always question why they need the information they’re asking for as well.

• Deal with a stolen wallet. Along with cancelling credit cards and getting new pins for debit cards after a theft, don’t forget the other things in your wallet. A Social Insurance Number can be used to get a loan, a video store membership card can be used to rack up movie rentals you’ll have to pay for. Generally speaking, keep your wallet light and leave things like birth certificates at home, where they’re safer.

• Report all fraud. Tell your bank or credit card company right away when something seems amiss: you may not have to pay for those iffy transactions. As well, report what has happened to Canadian credit bureaus TransUnion and Equifax, as they can place a fraud alert on your file. That will stop any fraudster who tries to increase your credit limits, get new cards or do other things to keep taking money from you.

Sorry, but fraud can happen to you. Being constantly wary in public and online, particularly during the busy holiday season, will help you avoid most ripoffs and keep your credit card and bank account safe from crime.

Over the weekend, I found myself staring gloomily at the pile of paperwork on my desk, worrying about impending deadlines and wondering where all my time had gone. How many of us have found ourselves wishing for a few extra hours or an eighth day in the week, just so we could catch up on all the things we’d like to do. Where does the time go?

According to an article in Time magazine (how ironic is that?), we don’t have less leisure time than we did 40 years ago – we actually have more. In fact, when the numbers are added up, we get an extra 45 minutes per day in leisure time. So why does it feel like we have less time? And what are we doing with that extra time?

The same article provides statistics on how the average American divides their time in a 24-hour day. The report showed data for both men and women, married and single. The article was published in 2006, so some of these numbers might be a little skewed, particularly those that deal with Internet and telephone use. On average, Americans spend:

• 7-14 minutes on phone calls, emails and mail
• 13-15 minutes on caring for non-household members
• 16-21 minutes on religious and/or civic duties
• 17-45 minutes caring for family
• 7-51 minutes on educational activities
• 38-58 minutes purchasing goods and services
• 68-84 minutes eating and drinking
• 80-136 minutes on household activities
• 180-266 minutes on work-related tasks
• 144-208 minutes watching TV
• 9 hours and 15 minutes (approximately) on sleep and personal care

Notice just how much time Americans spend watching television as compared to the time spent at work. I can only imagine that statistics for Canada are very similar. Next time you wonder where all the time went, think about how much you spend in front of your flat-screen TV.

Top 10 things we do with our time

According to Akorra.com, besides the time we invest in our careers, here are the top 10 things we do with our time.

10. Watching TV

No surprise here – Canadians love their television. I mean, what better way to relax after a long day at work than throw your feet up on the coffee table and settle into an hour or two of quality (or not so quality) programming.

9. Eating

All that work means the body demands fuel – and more fuel – in the form of food. Although, food service has gotten faster and many of us eat on the go, we still devote quite a bit of time to the act of eating.

8. Bathroom time

Believe it or not, we spend an awful lot of time in the bathroom, whether it’s for showering, freshening up or that other thing. Makes you wonder why we don’t spend more time making the bathroom a little more comfortable.

7. Communicating

The world of communication has changed. Most of us have cell phones that we use regularly to communicate with one another – whether it’s through text, online chat, social media or by actually (gasp!) talking to one another. With all this communication going on, maybe it’s time to reevaluate what we’re actually saying. Just how much time do we waste “communicating” with one another, by saying nothing at all?

6. Surfing the Internet

I remember the day I discovered the Internet. It wasn’t that long ago, really. Many of us spend aimless hours surfing the Internet, searching for… what is it we’re looking for? Honestly, some days I sit at my desk and although I feel like I’ve been working hard, I realize I’ve been doing nothing but wasting time. Next time you wonder where the time went, consider shutting the computer off for a week.

5. Reading

This one surprised me. I would have thought that more people spent time watching TV than reading, but when we consider the amount of reading done on the Internet or on our phones, reading’s place on this list becomes a little less surprising.

4. Wishing

Despite increased freedom and opportunity, we still spend a remarkable amount of time wishing for something better. Perhaps we should take the time to be thankful for what we do have, rather than wasting it wishing for something better.

3. Sex

According to the article found on Akorra.com, we spend a lot of time thinking, planning and hoping for sex – but not nearly as much time actually performing it. That’s a whole lot of time spent on something we’re not actually doing. Interesting.

2. Traveling

Whether we’re traveling for vacation or just getting ourselves from point A to B, we spend a lot of time en route. When you consider that this is the #2 thing that we spend our time doing, it’s a wonder that we even want to travel anywhere on our vacations. Perhaps we should just relax and spend some time at home.

1. Sleeping

Exhausted from all of the other things we do, we spend a good third of our lives in bed sleeping. I wouldn’t recommend giving up sleep to try to make time for other things. Sleep is necessary, making it possible to enjoy what leisure time you do find.

 If only I had more time, I’d…

How many times have you caught yourself saying this? On our daily to-do list, we often prioritize items by what needs to be done versus what can wait until later. Quite often the things like opening and closing accounts, looking into savings plans and looking for better credit card rates all get put on the back burner. They should be tackled first, though, since they will likely put you in a better position, financially speaking. Make a list of the things you’ve been meaning to do and add one to your list each week with the promise that it will indeed get crossed off.

Some items to include on this list might be:

• Make sure you’re savings are working hard for you, consider a TFSA or a GIC
• Compare credit card rates and rewards to see if there is a better option available
• Clock your mortgage renewal date so you have ample time to consider your options
• Plan for your retirement by looking into RRSPs
• Make sure your bank accounts are up to date and that you’re not being charged for unnecessary services

Melanie
Writer for RateSupermarket.ca