If there’s one thing that I dislike, it’s fees. That will be the theme throughout this post. One of the most annoying fees is the foreign transaction fee. When you pay with your credit card in a foreign currency, your credit card will usually charge an additional 2.5% in foreign transaction fees. As …

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While many of us in the FIRE community are vigilant when taking care of our financial lives, we must also be vigilant when taking care of our digital lives. How many online accounts do we own? How many passwords do we reuse? How strong are our passwords? Hackers know that humans can’t remember hundreds of unique …

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I started my financial journey using Quicken. I purchased TurboTax on Amazon to file my taxes that year and saw an offer for a discount on both. I jumped on the offer and used Quicken to create a budget, categorize, and track my spending. In 2007, Mint.com launched as a free financial …

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When I started working almost 2 decades ago, I used Quicken to create a budget, categorize, and track my spending. As my salary increased, I stopped tracking my spending. I’m naturally frugal and am conscious of my spending habits. Instead of tracking categories, I had an overall spending bucket that fluctuated …

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Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful holiday full of joy. I certainly had a restful break and met up with friends and family. The first order of business in the new year is to reduce annoying foreign exchange (FX) fees. I currently have a Rogers Platinum Mastercard, which Rogers Bank is phasing out. The card …

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I mentioned in a previous post that I purchased a new Android smartphone. Google made it very easy to transfer apps and data between two Pixel phones. I’ve also seen it work flawlessly between two non-Pixel Android phones. After transferring apps and data between phones, I spent a few hours today logging into …

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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. We’re all familiar with the Big 5 Banks in Canada. They operate brick-and-mortar branches and offer a ton of benefits and services. You can interact with bank tellers, withdraw cash, take out a mortgage or loan, get a bank draft, get a safety deposit box, etc. For …

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I’ve been following Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung on their blog, Millenial Revolution, for a while now. In 2019, they published a book called Quit Like a Millionaire. During the Christmas weekend, I devoured it. The book is very personal, drawing from Kristy’s life growing up in poverty. It uses these …

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While I work in the tech industry, I’m not a stereotypical tech enthusiast who purchases the latest and greatest devices. I’m not a trailblazer. I tend to purchase devices that I think are high quality that will last for a long time. I held out on buying a smartphone for the longest time. Back in the day, …

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In 2022, the Canadian government announced the creation of a new tax-free savings account to help potential home buyers save for their first home, called the First Home Savings Account, or the FHSA. When it was first announced, I wasn’t interested as I wasn’t eligible. But now that we’re in the first …

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