As a teenager, we used to play golf at a course where the green fees were $5 if you teed off before 8 a.m. The three of us would chip in for gas for our old car – you could fill the tank for maybe seven or eight bucks because gas was about 77 cents a gallon. And when we got tickets to see AC/DC play at the Ottawa Civic Centre in 1980, it cost $7 a ticket. You could also get change from a dollar bill when you got a Happy Meal at the Golden Arches.

Today these activities all cost about 10-20 times more than they used to.

What’s a person to do for fun without spending hundreds of dollars? Save with SPP took a look around the Interweb for some ideas.

While camping at a site costs less than a trip to Disney World, The Humbled Homemaker blog suggests an even cheaper alternative – camping in the backyard!

“You can still have the whole experience—s’mores, campfire, sleeping bags and all—for a fraction of the cost. When I was in high school my friend would have `camp-overs.’ We’d stay in her parent’s camper in their driveway, make hot dogs over the fire and stay up really late,” the blog tells us.

Another suggestion – take the family to the zoo! Our daughter and her family do this all the time. “Zoos can provide entertainment for couples and families. Most are either free or reasonably priced and some will allow you to carry in food. If not, pack a lunch and eat in the car,” the blog advises.

A third idea is having a game night at home. “Extremely cost effective, or even free, board games are a great source of entertainment for groups of friends and families with children. We like to incorporate fun and learning with games and most holidays you’ll find us playing cards or fun games like ImagineIf.” Save with SPP remembers family game nights well, playing Monopoly, Careers, Clue, or cards.

Another way to reduce your entertainment costs, suggests the Canadian Budget Binder blog, is to do a little more planning and set a budget for it.

“Once you have determined your overall budget, you must allocate funds to different categories to help manage all your entertainment interests,” the blog advises. “For example, your categories include dining out, movies and streaming, events and activities, travel and vacations, and hobbies and leisure.”

“A set amount allocated to each category will help you track what you did and how much you already spent,” the blog suggests. “If you have an amount set aside for movie tickets and have nothing left, you must wait until the next month for more `movie ticket money.’”

Another approach, the blog recommends, is to look for “low-cost activities” and to use “deals and discounts.” The blog suggests going to “art shows, festivals, famers’ markets and concerts held in your community free of charge for entry.”

As well, make use of parks and trails, the blog states. “You can always explore hiking trails, beaches, or parks for free. Taking a day out of your busy schedule can mean simply taking a day off work, having a picnic in the park, or even catching the sun at the beach,” the blog adds.

The MoneyCrashers blog expands on the idea of looking for bargains. Online coupons can be found at sites like Groupon, and can offer “excellent discounts” on activities, food, or other entertainment.

Watch your physical mailbox for discount coupons on restaurants, including “two for one deals and half off coupons,” the blog notes. Keep an eye on event websites for special discounts and deals, and take note of restaurants offering “kids eat free” deals, the blog suggests.

If you have membership cards that provide you discounts on select items, use them, the blog adds.

Finally, the Tiny Buddha blog provides us with some additional thoughts.

“Have a picnic in the park and ask everyone to make something from scratch,” the blog suggests.

On the dining with friends theme, the blog also suggests having “cookie swap” parties, “hosting dinners with friends,” and having a “food themed” potluck party, where everyone brings something Italian, Thai, Chinese, or whatever the theme is.

Another suggestion is to “have a culture day – visit a museum on a free day, listen to classical music on the way, and watch a classic movie in the evening.”

If there’s a common thread here it is to use your imagination and plan when it comes to entertainment. We’ll add one other suggestion – join a group. Perhaps it’s a book club, an investing club, line dancing classes (or any dancing), yoga, running, or cycling. It’s a great way to learn something new while making new friends.

Did you know that the Saskatchewan Pension Plan is not only for individual members? The plan can be, and is offered by many employers as their company pension plan.

Here’s an interview with Trevor Stein of Stein Corp, a plumbing and electrical firm, that explains the value of offering SPP as a benefit to your employees: Stein Finds Talent with SPP (youtube.com)

Check out SPP today!

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We understand what saving for retirement means. But do people ever take the time to look ahead and imagine what retirement will actually look like?

Save with SPP took a look around the Interweb to see what people are saying about the unknown destination that is the end of work.  Writing in the Retire Happy blog, Wayne Rothe observes that while we are working, “we’ve earned good incomes and we’re used to spending lavishly. We wanted something, we bought it. We’ve lived in lovely houses, driven nice cars, taken great vacations and spoiled our children.”  They haven’t – or have not yet – thought about life after the workforce, he adds. “As a financial planner and a baby boomer, I know the sorry state of retirement expectations and retirement preparedness for many of my generation. I read lots on this topic and boomers have high retirement expectations but are on track to fall far short of their goals.”

OK, goals – but what are those goals?

The Canadian Budget Binder blog notes that when asked what “do you want your retirement lifestyle to look like,” the answer was not top of mind.

“We both blankly stared at each other and said, `I don’t know,’” reports the blog. “We didn’t know but what we did know was that we had to keep socking away money to max out our retirement savings for future reasons.”

“Depending on who you ask their retirement lifestyle might be painted as, resort-type community living (retirement villages), lavish holidays, mini-trips, restaurants, activities and organizations outside of the home,” the blog notes. “Others might be happy living a simple life in an apartment or their home hopefully mortgage free although for many reaching retirement years that’s not even happening.”

The blog sees being debt-free as a key to being able to leave the workforce.

Other ideas, according to the New Retirement blog are to “do the things that keep you happy,” be they little projects around the house or learning something new.

“You can make a difference to your own loved ones or volunteer and change lives in the community,” the blog continues. Other ideas outlined in the blog include travel, becoming an entrepreneur, being able to get away in the winter, gardening, writing, downsizing and being a consultant.

What we found – or more precisely, didn’t find – was an article that lists what the average person wants their retirement to look like. Thinking about this, that’s probably because those of us still working – a very structured thing, where you show up at a set time and do a task for so many hours a week, all for pay – can’t yet see what an open week, month, or year on a calendar might look like.

So the takeaway is that retirement, unlike work, is 100 per cent dependent on you and your own personal want list. No one is going to set out a retirement lifestyle for you, you have to establish your own. So developing a set of retirement goals – things you want to do when work is a memory – is, in a way, as important as the age-old idea of putting away some money to help you do it.

A nice way to save for retirement is through the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. This unique, end-to-end retirement program is open to any Canadian who has registered retirement savings plan room. And if you don’t have a pension plan at work, SPP can help fill that gap.  SPP will invest your savings at a very low cost, and when it is time to tick off boxes on your retirement to-do list, will convert those savings into income, including the possibility of a lifetime monthly annuity. Check out SPP today.

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!

I had the pleasure of attending the 2017 Canadian Personal Finance Conference in Toronto in late November. It was a great opportunity to renew friendships with bloggers and financial writers from across the country. Here’s what some of them have been writing about lately.

Rob Carrick from the Globe and Mail writes about How e-transfers are ousting paper cheques. Isn’t that the truth! Since I started my writing business almost 10 years ago I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of cheques I have written. I use e-transfers almost daily.

On Money We Have, Toronto-based personal finance expert Barry Choi discusses the ins and outs of churning credit cards in Canada. Applying for credit cards to get bonus points and cancelling them soon after can affect your credit score but Choi says, “You could apply for 2-3 credit cards in one month and it probably wouldn’t be a big deal. Just don’t do it every month, and don’t apply for a ton of cards if you plan on getting a mortgage soon. Lenders will wonder why you need access to so much credit.”

Mr. CBB reports on how Mrs. CBB saved their Christmas budget $400 by shopping on line so far. She purchased a toy for a discounted price on Amazon Prime which was reduced by 50% on Black Friday but it would have cost $7.99 to return. Amazon customer service sent her a return label so she could by two new ones (one for a gift) for the same price. She also managed to purchase $600 worth of clothing for just under $200.

Wayne Roth on Retire Happy considers whether you should annuitize your retirement income. He is generally not a fan of annuities but acknowledges that an annuity can be useful for creating a secure source of retirement income. You lose some upside potential but an annuity allows you to eliminate major investment risks and it provides income that you cannot outlive – no matter how long you survive. Risk-adverse people don’t mind missing on those large gains in order to gain protection on the downside.

And finally, on another note, if you are in the Saskatoon area from now until January 7^th, don’t miss the BHP Billiton Enchanted Forest Holiday Light Tour. It is one of Canada’s most spectacular drive-thru Christmas Light Shows and Saskatchewan’s top winter visitor attraction. 2.5km of animated light displays are scattered throughout an urban forest. Proceeds go to Saskatoon City Hospital Foundation and Saskatoon Zoo Foundation.

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

Written by Sheryl Smolkin
	Sheryl Smolkin LLB., LLM is a retired pension lawyer and President of Sheryl Smolkin & Associates Ltd. For over a decade, she has enjoyed a successful encore career as a freelance writer specializing in retirement, employee benefits and workplace issues. Sheryl and her husband Joel are empty-nesters, residing in Toronto with their cockapoo Rufus.

By Sheryl Smolkin

There’s lots of good reading in the blogosphere this week if you get tired of skimming romance novels on the beach or binging on your favourite Netflix series after dark. We’ve just started on the series Sherlock  and Spotlight and Trumbo are two great movies we saw from the comfort of our couch.

In other news, financial maven, television personality and blogger par excellence Gayle Vaz-Oxlade has retired at 57. While we will miss her valuable voice and sense of humour, it is encouraging to see has followed her own personal finance advice and can look forward to time for grandchildren and gardening.

Cheques started arriving in mailboxes across the country and Rob Carrick at the Globe and Mail says high-income families have reason not to like the new Canada Child Benefit, but it’s a win for most everyone else. Here’s how much the benefit will give you.

An interesting post on Canadian Budget binder explains How To Become Financially Secure So You Forget It’s Payday. While there is no magic formula, the checklist includes: start using a budget (no surprise); know where your money is going; understand your bills and how interest works; pay your bills on time and earn extra money if you can.

Cait Flanders sums up what she learned as a result of her two-year shopping ban in Two Years Without Shopping: What I Bought, Donated and Learned to Be True. She explains the rules for each year and details the few necessities she did buy. “For two years, I avoided all mindless and impulse spending decisions. But in a two-year period of time, I also learned you are bound to need some stuff – and that’s ok,” she says. “What I learned from tracking all my purchases this year is that there is a huge difference between talking yourself into thinking you need to buy something and actually needing to buy it.”

On the Financial Independence Hub, Kollin Lore says Millennials can learn from Boomers’ reinvention of retirement. Referring to Jonathan Chevreau’s new book Victory Lap, he says many millennials grew up during the recession and were set back earlier in their careers by student debt, so working past age 65 will be as much a necessity for them as for any other generation. Boomers can teach millennials how to stay motivated and take care of themselves in their senior years

And finally, on Retire Happy, Jim Yih asks: What are your family financial values? He and his wife are very open about money with their children but he suggests that because it’s easier to talk constructively about money from a unified front, a family financial value system might be useful. He shares a helpful series of questions that can help you create one under the headings: spending, debt, saving, income and money management.

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

And before you know it it’s almost the middle of August. I haven’t seen any coloured leaves drifting down…yet. But already the days are getting shorter. This week we feature interesting blogs from top bloggers who kept on writing even when many of us were on vacation.

In GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca, Caroline Cakebread shares 5 ways to tap your home for cash in retirement. They are: sell and rent; sell and downsize; become a landlord; rent out your home  temporarily; and, get a reverse mortgage.

If you are in your 50s and starting to get really serious about planning your retirement, take a look at Rich at any age: In your 50s by David Aston, Romana King and Julie Cazzin on MoneySense. They suggest that you get a ballpark figure of what you will need; max out your savings; and then, pick the right moment.

Are you still agonizing over whether it makes more sense to save in an RRSP or a TFSA? Then take a look at RRSP Myth – Retirement Income Has To Be Lower For RRSP Benefit by Mike Holman on MoneySmart. He gives interesting examples to illustrate that even where income in retirement is a bit higher than in the earning years, RRSPs will likely still save you some taxes or at worst – won’t save you any tax, but won’t cost you anything either.

Mr. CBB gives advice to a couple with $5,000/month of discretionary income on Canadian Budget Binder about buying their first home. He says they should talk to a financial advisor about retirement savings and life insurance; figure out the size of mortgage they can afford on one income; factor in home maintenance costs before they buy; and understand how to be prepared for emergencies.

Dan Bortolotti writes on Canadian Couch Potato about Calculating Your Portfolio’s Rate of Return. Rate of return calculations fall into two general categories: time-weighted and money-weighted. If a portfolio has no cash flows (that is, the investor makes no contributions and no withdrawals), both methods produce identical figures. He says the key point to understand, therefore, is that any differences in reported returns come about as a result of cash inflows and outflows.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

Well it actually reached +1 degree yesterday and I had a “spring” in my step. However its back to -15 plus who knows what wind chill, so I’ve had to downsize my expectations and put on another layer. Even in his new sweater, our cockapoo Rufus says it’s too #’%!@ cold to stay out for long.

By the way, if you’ve never watched the Rick Mercer clip RMR: Seven Day Forecast – YouTube, it’s a “must see” that will warm up your day.

I’ve just discovered Patricia Gass’s blog Let’s talk About Money. If you are close to retirement or already there, you will enjoy her Reflections From The Early Days Of Spending In Retirement, Part 1 and Reflections From The Early Days Of Spending In Retirement, Part 2. She says running out of money in retirement is NOT an option, especially for the “conservative accountant” in her.

On a similar theme, Kira Vermond from the Globe and Mail writes about Personal financial rules that help stop you from spending too much money. Many of us play simple mind tricks on ourselves and create rules to save money, whether at the checkout counter or in our bank account. How about the Costco customer who decides she will forgo a push cart while shopping there so she’s not tempted to overspend? Her rule: If she can’t lift it, she won’t buy it.

Don’t Buy A Pre-Sale Condo. Ever. says Nelson Smith on Financial Uproar. His blog was triggered by story in the Toronto Star this week about local home buyers who put a $40,000 deposit on a condo in 2011 and four years later got their deposit back, but no condo because the developer decided to convert it to a rental building.

Mr. CBB on Canadian Budget Binder writes about a Free Trial Offer that Cost a Woman $232 in Credit Card Charges. It seems that she paid $12.00 U.S. for a couple of bottles of diet pills to help get off her post-baby weight. However, she didn’t read the fine print and she was charged $116 twice on her credit card which pushed it over her $500 credit limit. So don’t believe everything you read unless you read everything, and remember rarely, if ever, is there a free lunch.

And if you are still wondering How the Bank of Canada rate cut will affect consumers, wonder no more. Brighter Life editor Brenda Spiering says its bad news for interest-based savings accounts and GICs. But it’s good news for variable rate mortgages and lines of credit.

As for vacations, with the loonie in the cellar and low fuel prices, Rob Carrick at the Globe and Mail says this is the year for a big road trip in See Canada and save money. I think he is onto something. Beautiful Saskatchewan, here I come….

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

This week we picked up a series of interesting blogs from both bloggers who have previously appeared in this space and several who are new to us .

I was particularly interested in Four reasons you should still take CPP early from Jim Yih at Retire Happy. In his example comparing twins, one who takes CPP early and one who waits until age 65, he calculates the “break even age” as 74.4. Keeping in mind that the earlier years of retirement are when retirees spend the most, he thinks that money in hand now is better than money received later in life.

Eric Ravenscraft’s blog on Lifehacker suggests that you treat savings like a tax so you do it. In other words, have your savings taken off at source by your financial institution so you don’t get a chance to spend the money on something else first.

The Froogal Student’s guest blog Setting goals like the wealthy on the Canadian Budget Binder recommends that you set goals, plan ahead, have career goals and anticipate failure in an interview. While life is far too complex to predict, he says adversity hits everyone. The difference between success and failure lies in preparation.

What I Learned About Money from My Wife by Barry Choi on Money We Have is intended to make it easier for people in relationships to talk about money. For example, Barry likes to put every expense on a credit card to get the points. However he respects his wife’s decision to spend cash wherever possible because she says this approach helps her to control her spending.

Finally, on Our Big Fat Wallet, Dan discusses the pros and cons of prenuptial agreements. While anticipating a possible future divorce may take the shine off your sparkling new ring, the fact is the divorce rate in Canada is about 40%, so it doesn’t hurt to think about how you would deal with your financial affairs in advance if the marriage doesn’t last forever after.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

In our eternal quest to link you to the best in personal finance blogging, once again this week we combed the web looking for great stories that will incent you to watch your nickels and save more for retirement.

On Boomer & Echo, Robb Engen discusses his experience  Breaking Subconscious Money Habits. Something as simple as eating weekend breakfasts at home instead of at Tim Hortons saved his family over $500/year.

Sarah Milton writes on Retire Happy about how Impulsive spending can derail your finances. While it may be tempting to buy something on sale because it’s a bargain, it’s only a bargain if you need the item and will use it within a reasonable period of time.

Automated arrangements where money comes out of your account to pay bills or amounts are regularly charged to your credit card are a great idea until something goes wrong and you don’t catch the error. That’s why Mr. CBB on Canadian Budget Binder says it is essential to review automated bill payments every month. That way you can discover and rectify inadvertent overbilling, duplicate bills or amounts incorrectly charged to your account.

If you really want to decrease the amount of income tax you have to pay, Big Cajun Man, Alan Whitton tries the idea Work Less and Pay Less Tax on for size. He says he’d rather take an extra 10 weeks of vacation off than go down to a four or three day work week, because he probably would have to do the same amount of work in a shorter period of time. Nevertheless, rather than working less, he would be more inclined to try to earn more money, so the tax hike didn’t hurt as much

And finally, Dan on Our Big Fat Wallet discussed what everyone loves to hate – bank fees. In I Hate Bank Fees, So I Bought the Banks he admits being frustrated by all of the bank charges he pays each month. So he decided to buy bank stock. The big 5 Canadian banks have had stellar capital gains and paid great dividends over the last five years.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.