One of my goals this year is to maximize my rewards points. For years I have been a loyal Air Miles collector. I have always shopped at Safeway, filled up the car at Shell, and for one time purchases I generally went out of my way to purchase at an Air Miles sponsored business.
I have the Air Miles credit card from American Express, which rewards me with 1 Air Mile for every $15 spent. I even downloaded the Air Miles Toolbar, which gives* gave me 5 Air Miles for every 50 internet searches (up to a maximum of 30 reward miles per month).
Redeem Air Miles For Products
Unlike most people however, I don’t redeem Air Miles rewards to cash in for flights. I redeem Air Miles rewards for products like $20 gas gift certificates from Shell. For 175 Air Miles you can purchase a $20 gas certificate. So far this year I have earned over 1750 Air Miles rewards and redeemed them for 10 gas gift certificates ($200).
Are the Shell gift cards considered the best Air Miles rewards as far as return on your money spent? I’m sure there are other products that probably pay at a much better ratio than the gas certificates, but I like the feeling of subsidizing that expense and putting a little bit of money back in my wallet each month.
When I redeem Air Miles, it’s a great enhancement to my overall rewards points strategy that I use along with my favorite rewards credit card, the MBNA Smart Cash MasterCard.
There are lots of other rewards besides Air Miles travel that you can redeem Air Miles for on their website. From magazine subscriptions, restaurant gift certificates, movie packages, electronics, and appliances, there are some great items to choose from. Besides, I never liked having to pay all of the fees & taxes that go along with redeeming your points for flights…not to mention the blackout dates that limit your travel options.
Do you like to redeem Air Miles rewards for products or save up and redeem them for flights? Do you prefer the Air Miles program over Aeroplan miles?
*Updated September 23rd, 2011
The opportunity to earn reward miles with online search though the AIR MILES Toolbar is no longer available as of June 30, 2011. During the 30 months in which this innovative earning opportunity was available to our Collectors, the online search market has changed substantially to the point where AIR MILES can no longer offer this option to our Collectors. Please be reminded that the Toolbar will still ensure you never miss an opportunity to earn reward miles at our 100+ online stores.
Should you keep all your accounts, loans and investments at one financial institution, or spread them around? When I worked for a bank, when I had a new customer referral – for a mortgage, say – the goal was to transfer in all of their financial accounts. The reasoning behind this was that it would be more difficult to leave the bank once everything was set in place, and it’s true.
Whenever I have a complaint about my service and I vow to move all my accounts elsewhere, I think of the pain it will be to research a new bank, open and transfer all my accounts, perhaps they will hold all my deposits until they get to know me, I’ll have to learn a whole new system, aiy, aiy aiy! I guess I’ll stay put.
So, we know the bank is trying to keep you as a customer indefinitely, but what are the advantages to you to have all your finances in one place?
- When you go on-line, all your accounts are there, on one page, giving you a quick overview of all your balances.
- Links to investments and loans show holdings and recent activity and you can download them to accounting software like QuickBooks or Microsoft Money easily.
- Transferring funds between accounts is quick and simple.
- Past banking statements can be accessed on-line for the past two years or more.
- By consolidating similar accounts, you can often save money on fees. For example, a direct trading RRSP account charges an annual fee of $100 for balances under $25,000 and trading fees are reduced for balances over $100,000. So, if you’re paying fees on spread out small accounts, this could work for you.
- You may get to know a financial advisor at your branch who knows you well enough to recommend new products that will fit your financial plan.
- It can be a good bargaining tool to get a better interest rate – e.g. higher for GICs and lower for loans and mortgages – or other perks.
I personally keep most of my accounts with one financial institution with a couple of exceptions where I get a better deal elsewhere. But, I’m always open to offers and negotiation.
Do you have accounts at multiple banks, or are you loyal to just one?
I am hooked on dividend growth investing. For those of you who are not familiar with this strategy, dividend growth investing is pretty simple; when they are value priced, purchase shares in companies that have a long history of paying increasing dividends.
You’ll need to do three things to be really successful at this strategy.
3 Tips To Get The Most Out Of Dividend Growth Investing
1. Purchase shares at really attractive valuations – meaning you buy stocks when they’re on sale, like after a bear market (March 2009 being a prime example). There are a few ways to evaluate when a stock is a “good buy”.
You can use a low P/E Ratio, the Graham Approach, a Value Ratio, or simply look at High Dividend Yield, to name a few. Check out Stingy Investor for the most up-to-date listing of these methods.
2. Have the discipline to wait for share valuations to become attractive before you purchase them – this means that you could potentially hold your cash for years waiting for the right opportunity.
3. Have the patience to allow your dividend income to grow over time – you are not going to start off making $50,000/year in dividend income, but over time with a dividend growth investing strategy your growing dividends will compound and you could be earning that kind of investment income in retirement.
Tom Connolly, of the Connolly Report is the guru on dividend growth investing. The matter-of-fact way of describing his methods are priceless, and the entire website is just a gem to read. Here’s a quote from Tom on the dividend growth strategy:
When they are value priced, I buy common shares of companies with a good record of dividend growth and hold them for the rising income. In 2008 our dividend income rose in spite of the turmoil by 9.9%. Did your income rise by 10% last year. Our income will be up again in 2010 too.
Our retirement plan is working. It’s not the value of the capital that’s so important, it’s the income it generates…tax advantaged income…secure income. Dividend reductions from good dividend growers are rare events.
Also, check out Lowell Miller’s The Single Best Investment, and Stephen Jarislowsky’s The Investment Zoo. Both of these books highlight dividend growth stocks as a great way to build your investment portfolio and give you growing dividend income in retirement.
The dividend investor website is terrific for researching a company’s dividend paying history, and it looks like they have recently updated their data history. They were only showing dividend growth investing history as far back as 2000, but now it looks like it goes back to at least 1990.
The stock market can be wildly unpredictable, but dividend growth investing can be remarkably stable. Fortis (FTS) has increased its dividend for 37 consecutive years. If you bought FTS in 2005, you would now be earning 18% yield on cost from those shares.
Is it any wonder why I want to replace my employment income with dividend income in retirement?