Credit Card Jungle was how Mike Hogan described the situation in a Barrons article earlier in the year. Even though there are some good business credit card deals to be found, it is very much a case of Buyer Beware.

If you’re among the two-thirds of credit-card holders who carry an outstanding balance, you might have noticed that your interest rate was hiked recently, or your billing cycle shortened. Failure to navigate card providers’ labyrinthine payment terms successfully can earn you one of several consumer-unfriendly fees.  These aren’t really new gambits. But they are being pursued with such gusto lately that they’ve generated a record number of consumer complaints.

That word jungle conjures up phrases like Nature Red In Tooth And Claw or Survival of the Fittest.  You have got to keep your wits about you, if you wish to stay ahead of those claws.  Hogan was describing the situation in the US but you will find similar discontent with the credit card suppliers in the UK and in Canada.

Consumers are often riled by two key hot button issues in most cases:

1. The way the interest is calculated on their balance owing often creates lots of surprises for consumers
2. The way any money that is paid is then applied to interest-bearing amounts owed is another cause for concern

It all comes down to the small print that is added to credit card contracts and it is not surprising that many feel there are hidden ‘gotchas’ in these contracts.

There is a popular wish for action so it is not surprising that you will find that politicians are now taking up this cause not only in the US but also in the UK and in Canada.

Even if tighter regulations are instituted they will never cover all problem issues. The wise user of credit cards will always do a detailed comparison of what the different credit cards are offering and what may be in the small print.

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Credit Card Jungle

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It used to be ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ was the acceptable message. Money has always had a somewhat tarnished reputation with words like ‘money-grubbing’ setting the tone. It is therefore not surprising to see articles with titles like why women “switch off” over money.

Financial literacy reports continue to tell us that Australian women simply “switch off” when it comes to finance. The Women Understanding Money report found 52% of women find dealing with money stressful and overwhelming, 25% have absolutely no savings for retirement and of the women who do invest, only 5% look at a company’s background information. Is this switch off factor just because we find talking about money boring and unimportant, or is there something else going on?

Even in discussions with high-earning, independently successful women, many women weren’t really tuned in to their own personal finance situation.

Perhaps the reason women don’t tune into their personal finances as much as men do might be because of the different ways of measuring success. Men, from a very young age, compare their salaries and the increasing value of their investment portfolios, and are more likely to spend money on expensive cars as a symbol to the world that they are a success. Conversely women spend so much time worrying about their children, partners and parents, they seldom have time left over to focus on themselves, and their own finances and investments.

There has been a historical exclusion for women in dealing with money in the not-too-distant past. Many women grew up with the expectation that women would rely on men for their financial security.but this is now changing. Women are now much more independent, both socially and financially. If women lack the confidence, the experience or the interest to get involved, then now is the time to change all that.

Women must seek out sound financial information and not hang on to the money myths they may have inherited from Mom, according to MP Dunleavey. Discussions with women make it clear that their mothers are often powerful financial role models. Unfortunately that can be for better or for worse.

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The Women and Money Myth

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Be warned that Online scams abound even on some of the most reputable websites such as Craigslist. Apparently some buyers are more interested in scamming you than in scoring a great deal.

Alan Munro posted an ad on Craigslist to sell a windsurfer board and was asked to email the prospective purchaser an invoice through PayPal. He did so and got an email that seemed to come from PayPal, saying that a remittance had been made. But since the invoice was in U.S. dollars, he was asked to pay the exchange difference before the money was released. Paypal does not send such emails and this was a scam.

Craigslist and other similar services such as Kijiji, suggest some simple rules to avoid getting taken in:

• Ensure that all transactions take place locally with local people you can meet face to face. Go to a public place with many people around, such as a coffee shop.
• Never send or wire money to buyers, which includes mailing cheques or using payment services such as PayPal, BidPay, Western Union or MoneyGram.

Applying just those two simple rules will ensure that you do not get taken in by these ever more prevalent scams.

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Watch Out For Online Scams

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Seniors often may feel the need for someone who can help them in standing up for their rights when dealing with large corporations. Finding who can address your concerns in a satisfactory way becomes increasingly difficult when everyone is trying to push you to their website or insists you navigate their electronic telephone system. Thankfully some corporations take their responsibilities towards their customers seriously and are providing that much needed support.

A recent case with the Royal Bank illustrates what can happen. Seniors are living longer and becoming more educated, and this is forcing bankers to sometimes think outside of the box.

For example, a man in his late 80s went into a branch and asked to take out a five-year mortgage. He was in good physical and mental health, but the bank refused to commit him to a five-year loan that had a penalty for early termination. In this case, getting the senior his rights needed the help of the RBC Ombudsman.

Yes there is such a person: Wendy Knight is the RBC ombudsman. She was able to facilitate a resolution that kept everyone happy.

Banks are a group that is often criticized for poor customer service and the cell phone companies are on the low end of the scale too. Perhaps it is not surprising then that there is a Rogers Ombudsman, who is already making a difference. The company has now appointed its first ombudsman, Donald E. Moffatt. While he is supposed to act as a court of last resort, Moffatt will intervene quickly if he sees an injustice.

As ombudsman, Moffatt says he is independent from Rogers. He has no access to company records and has to ask for authorization from customers to check their files.

To get in touch, you have to go through three earlier steps, then send an email to ombudsman@rci.rogers.com or send a fax to 416-935-3604.

One might hope that the training that customer representatives receive would eliminate the need for an ombudsman. That is clearly not the case yet. Until it is, providing an ombudsman means that you can hopefully get a hearing even if it takes some effort to achieve that.

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Seniors Often Need An Ombudsman

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There are many hazards in dealing with banks and trying to ensure the security of your bank dealings and your money. A new hazard is that a Bogus bank manager may be calling local seniors.

The Niagara Regional Police have issued a warning about two incidents where seniors have been contacted by an individual claiming to be calling from the senior’s financial institution and posing as the branch manager. The caller appears to have sufficient information regarding the senior’s account to appear to be a manager.

Supposedly there is an investigation of an internal theft involving a teller. The senior is requested to withdraw a significant sum of money and meet the ‘bank manager’ away from the financial institution in an effort to catch the dishonest teller.

Once the senior meets the caller and turns over the money, the suspect thanks the senior for their cooperation and leaves the area. Police are warning the public that no financial institution would involve any of their clients in any such type of ’sting operation.’

Remember it is most important to shred all financial information before disposing of it and not release any personal information over the phone or by email unless you have initiated the call and are certain with whom you are dealing.

If some incident like this happens, you are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers. You can leave an anonymous tip or information at the Crime Stoppers toll-free number at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Calls are not electronically recorded or traced, and Crime Stoppers does not subscribe to call display.

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Is That Bank Manager Bogus

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Jack Layton, the leader of the NDP in Canada says that the Country faces a ‘national pension crisis’.

As you can find with a search on Google Insights, this same concern is expressed elsewhere around the world as shown by the following chart for searches on ‘pension crisis’:

Concern about pensions in the UK is several times that here in Canada and in the US pension concerns almost match those in Canada.

In a nutshell, the problem stems from people living longer while the global recession has severely damaged what people and pension funds had put aside for their retirement.

As Jack Layton said:

Fewer than 40% of Canadians have workplace pensions and those who rely on their registered retirement saving plans have seen “billions of those savings vaporize”. He urged the government to inject $700 million into the guaranteed income supplement to help 226,000 seniors living below the poverty line.

It seems quite clear that what was a Simmering pension crisis is now coming to a boil.

Monica Townson has written a succinct analysis of what is wrong and what can be done.  Her nine-page paper, commissioned by the Tommy Douglas Research Institute, contain two clear messages.

• The first is that there is no “magic bullet that will fix everything.” It will take a mix of reforms – some fast-acting, some long-term – to shore up the pension system.
• The second is that Canada has to get moving now.

Townson’s paper is available on the Canada Centre For Policy Alternatives website.

She highlights the weakness in each layer of Canada’s three-tiered retirement income system:

• Old Age Security was designed to keep seniors above the poverty line. One out of every seven unattached older women lives in poverty. It would take an increase in the across-the-board senior allowance or the low-income supplement to rectify this problem.
• The Canada Pension Plan was meant to top up the coverage provided by employers. But 62 per cent of workers have no employee pension. It would take a major expansion of the CPP – financed by another hike in premiums – to provide an adequate pension for all members of the workforce.
• Registered retirement savings plans were created to encourage Canadians to set aside money for their non-working years. Contributions are tax sheltered. But the vast majority of Canadians (69 per cent) don’t contribute.

Seniors have not been putting away savings anywhere else so the result is that millions of Canadians are heading toward retirement with too little to live on for the rest of their lives.

A solution will require that all levels of government work together and the Federal Government must provide the leadership in this if timely solutions to this pension crisis are to be developed.

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The Pension Crisis

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With retirement, your hobby will undoubtedly take a much bigger part of your life. Where do you find the space to do it? If it is golf, perhaps you even need to buy your own golf course. Most of us require a more modest space. In this guest post, Brian A Schmidt, Publisher, PrefabMetalBuildingKits.com offers advice on The Perfect Building for Your Hobby.

Hobbies provide a special diversion from the every day humdrum of life. Young or old we are drawn to hobbies by our interest. Because our interests are so diverse, the number and types of hobbies are diverse as well.

As we grow older, we don’t necessarily become less active. We are active in different ways. We have more time to spend doing the things that we would have liked to do when we were young but were always too busy ‘living life’ or ‘making a living’.

Many of the things we are talking about are considered our hobbies.

We all have hobbies of one type or another. Maybe you collect stamps. Perhaps it’s coins that you collect. Travel is one hobby that many active people (young and old alike) enjoy. Some may simply watch sports on the Flat Screen as a pass-time.

Many of us could benefit from having a hobby building in which to ‘play’. It could be a small twelve foot by sixteen foot hobby building. It could be a large open hobby shop of one thousand, five thousand or ten thousand square feet or even more. Either way, the sooner we get our hobby building, the sooner the real fun can begin.

Imagine having a building in which you could share your fun and expertise with plenty of room to work and to entertain friends and visitors.

Hablon weaving loom

A hobby building can be used for any number of pastimes. Perhaps your special hobby building will be home to more than one of your hobbies. You can enjoy working on your model railroad hobby while your partner works on a weaving loom.

The first thing that may come to mind for a special building is a hobby that involves cars. Hobby car builders, car detailers, car mechanics, car customizers; yes a hobby building is perfect for any car enthusiast (including the collector). But hobby buildings are certainly not just for car enthusiasts.

Quilters for example could benefit by have a building for their hobby with large open spaces and large walls to hang the completed or semi-completed works on. Just think… all of your components could be laid out or readily available virtually at your fingertips.

Scrap-bookers would find that a nicely laid out building with lots of cupboards, drawers, bins and table space would be perfect for their hobby.

Painters through the ages have had their studios. It’s that special place where they could go to be creative and get away from the hustle and bustle of every day life. A specially designed building to suit the artist’s personality would be a boon to any artist. (And a small gallery in part of the building could prove to be lucrative!)

Woodworkers would of course greatly benefit from a building that removes the noise and dust from the home and places them in a special building designed for the intended purpose. Room for all of the equipment and tools and large open spaces for assembly… ah, perfect!

Gardeners too know what a hobby building can do for them. All of those garden tools neatly stored… Potting benches to work on in inclement weather… Winter storage for bulbs and seeds… Perhaps you would even have a little greenhouse attached.

Now here’s something that you may not have thought about. No matter what your hobby is, a purpose built structure can become a meeting place for you and your friends to get together more often; possibly even a drop-in center for other enthusiasts in your hobby. Having friends over and discussing your fascinating hobby can be a great pass-time in itself.

As I mentioned earlier, hobby buildings come in all sizes. But they can come in all shapes and materials as well. Smaller buildings can be wood framed or made from light gauge metal while larger buildings may be wood or steel framed.

Even metal buildings do not have to look like the typical “box building”. In fact there is one pre-engineered steel building that has been built for an amusement park that looks like the Titanic – complete with ice-berg! What look would suit your hobby and personality?

Many of the smaller buildings are available in kit form for the do-it-yourselfer. Anyone that has handyman type skills would be quite capable of assembling these types of hobby buildings.

Pre-fab metal building kits are fast becoming the building material of choice for larger buildings. They can be designed and engineered to have any look you like while being able to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. These buildings are non-combustible as well. Oh yes… they also require much less maintenance than other building types.

Being non-combustible makes metal shop buildings ideal for hobbies that include soldering or welding – car related hobbies, metal artists, stained glass artists and the like.

Because metal buildings don’t rot, twist or crack and are unaffected by insects, there is much less maintenance on these building kits. That means more time for your hobby!

Let’s face it. We have worked hard all of our lives. We deserve to have a special place to enjoy our hobbies; a place where we can expand upon our talents; a place where we can invite our friends – because as you know, “There are no strangers, just friends that we have not yet met.”

Brian A Schmidt is author and publisher of Prefabmetalbuildingkits.com. His home is in a small community in Southwestern Ontario, Canada with his lovely wife Carol. Brian and Carol have three fantastic grown children and four wonderful small grandchildren. As the owner of a small construction company and construction manager for a few companies over the years he has had extensive experience in all sectors of the construction industry. These include commercial metal building kits, industrial buildings, residential buildings and institutional building. Gardening, woodworking in his hobby workshop and cruise vacationing take up his “free” time.

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Building for Your Hobby

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Google can save brains according to a report that Web Surfing Can Save Your Aging Brain. Researchers found that older adults who started browsing the Web experienced improved brain function after only a few days.

Dr. Gary Small, a psychiatry professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of iBrain. said that after just a week of practice searching, there was a much greater extent of activity particularly in the areas of the brain that make decisions, the thinking brain.

Further details of the research can be found in the paper, “Neural activation patterns in older adults following Internet training” by TD Moody, H Gaddipati, GW Small, SY Bookheimer.

In short, for older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function. As people live increasingly long lives, such research findings are of critical importance in ensuring that the quality of life is maintained as much as possible.

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Google For A Healthy Brain

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As the evenings grow darker, many in northern climes would often be thinking about taking a vacation about now.  That is not a choice for many this year after the deep recession we have all undergone.  However for those who have funds, the New York Times suggests that it is high time to head South for hot deals.  If you are looking for a bargain vacation to tide you over until the holidays, then the article suggests you had better act fast.

While the travel industry is still hurting from the fallout, airlines, rental car companies and hotels have all been tweaking their businesses to ride out the downturn and push rates back up. And some of the efforts are working.

Bookings have begun to pick up in cities like New York and Chicago as business travel has begun to stir. That’s putting a damper on the deals that travelers have grown to expect. Meanwhile, the high season is approaching for cold-weather getaways like Hawaii and the Caribbean, which are hoping to make up for the revenue lost in the off-season months.

Nevertheless bargains are still to be found:

Expedia recently reported that air and hotel package prices for major destinations this fall have declined 29 percent compared with last season. And even with the latest round of capacity cuts, airlines continue to roll out aggressive sales. The average flier this fall is going to save about 10 percent compared with last year, said Joe Grus, the so-called fareologist at Bing Travel, the new Microsoft search engine that predicts airfare prices.

Some of the examples quoted in the article sound very promising:

• Mexico – Chain hotels, with lots of rooms to sell, are offering some of the most aggressive deals.
• Scottsdale, Arizona – Sprawling resorts, which were particularly hurt by the slowdown in conferences and meetings, are offering some of the deepest discounts.
• Florida – Florida’s heavy reliance on tourism, combined with a glut of hotel rooms added before the downturn, made it among the most susceptible places to the recession.

If you are one of the lucky ones, then you will need to consider your choices very carefully.  Exploring discount travel opportunities is clearly the first priority.  This may well help you decide which of the possible venues you may visit.  To ensure you have a great time and do not forget your choice, it is important to carefully map out your budget so that your money does not run out before the end of your vacation stay.

However it is quite clear that for those who can afford it, now is the time to be making your vacation choice. The rest of us can only hope that the winter will not be too severe.

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Best Bargain Vacations

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According to the RCMP, several Calgary residents tricked 24 elderly or disabled Americans out of about $3 million over a three-year period by telling them they had won a lottery. This lottery scam targeted U.S. seniors.

Between 2005 and 2008, the victims were contacted by letter or phone and told they had won a lottery or sweepstakes but were required to pay taxes, administration fees or lawyers’ fees before they could collect winnings, which didn’t exist.

One person sent in between $500,000 and $1 million, with the scam collecting about $3 million in total. Some people lost their life savings, and have been ostracized by family or have been forced to remortgage their homes. Others in their 70s had to return to work.

Investigators have arrested four people from Calgary, one from Burnaby, B.C., and one from Toronto. Canada-wide arrest warrants are outstanding for three other suspects who police believe are in the Calgary area.

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Online Lottery Scams Target Seniors

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