Category: Personal Finance

With the tax deadline of April 30th fast approaching, many Canadians are scrambling to file their taxes on time. If you’re one of the thousands of Canadians with a balance owning this year, did you know you can pay your taxes and earn reward points? That’s right, with an online payment platform called Plastiq you get the best of both worlds – you can rack up a lot of points and pay the taxman conveniently online via credit card. For self-employed individuals and those with large tax balances owing this can be a great way to earn points – as long as you pay off your balance in full and avoid costly interest.

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According to a leading market study conducted by Ipsos Reid, eleven percent of Canadians (roughly one in ten) say that they don’t discuss financial problems with their spouse. In the same study, a significant portion of married Canadians (and Canadians in common-low relationships) indicated that they have relationship issues that directly stem from money problems.

Financial considerations influence nearly every aspect of our everyday lives — from where and how we work, to where we take our vacations, what we eat, and even how far we pursue our educations. That’s why it’s important to openly discuss money with not only your spouse, but also your children.

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Generation X and Y have financial expectations they aren’t supporting with their actions, according to a recent report by BMO Wealth Institute. Other studies have been hinting at this problem for awhile, but now we have the figures that show why – and how – consumers in these groups will have to change their ways if they want to fulfill their dreams of homeownership, funding their children’s college educations and living comfortably in the retirement years.

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The year 2013 offered several alarming reminders of how easy identity theft can be. Two national chain stores, Target and luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, saw their credit card networks suffer significant data breaches during the holiday season. The breaches affected 110 million Target customers and 1.1 million Neiman Marcus customers, all of whom had their information – including credit card numbers, PIN numbers, addresses, phone numbers and names – stolen.

Javelin Strategy, a consulting and research firm focused on the payments and financial services industries, reports that one out of every three data breach victims becomes a victim of identity fraud, up from one in four in 2012. The same report indicates that in 2013, there were 500,000 more identity fraud victims than during the previous year.

These latest big brand security breaches are important reminders that it is not always possible to keep your information safe from thieves. However, there are a number of measures you can take to make it more difficult for high tech criminals to steal your personal information.

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