Here’s how to chop that grocery bill down to size

Inflation is said to be slowing down, but the high cost of groceries is still a hot topic at the golf course and around the table after line dancing class.

Save with SPP decided to scour the Interweb to find out what others are doing to cut their food costs.

At The Penny Hoarder blog, one suggestion is to “create a grocery budget.”

“The first step to saving money on food is to think like a Boy Scout (i.e., “Be Prepared”). Setting up a monthly or weekly grocery budget will help you stay on track and keep your spending in check,” the blog suggests.

We like this one – instead of grumbling that everything on your list costs more, you bring a set amount of money, say $100, and come home with that amount of groceries. Interesting!

Other ideas from this blog are to develop a meal plan – so that you know exactly what you need to buy, item by item – and the classic advice to clip/save/find coupons and make good use of them.

The Daily Hive offers up some additional thoughts.

Skip pre-cut fruit and veggies, the blog advises. “Since there’s an added labour cost to these items, it’s often cheaper to buy the larger item and cut it up yourself, especially if it’s a low-cost product like squash or watermelon,” the blog adds.

A second thought – don’t just plan your meals, plan your snacks too, the blog suggests.

“One top trick to see lower grocery receipts is to plan your meals and snacks for the week,” The Daily Hive reports.

“By crafting each meal ahead of time, you know exactly what to shop for and can avoid unnecessary or impulsive buys,” the blog continues.

A USA Today article via Yahoo! provides a few more ideas.

“Shop your pantry” before going out to buy ingredients for meals – maybe you have some of the things already, the newspaper advises.

“Use your grocery store’s app to carefully plan your shopping trip from the comfort of your own home and check all available coupons. Utilizing your grocery store’s app is one of the best ways to stay on budget and save time when you shop,” the article adds.

Another idea from USA Today is to buy things that are in season. “When purchasing produce, choose produce that’s in-season. Out-of-season produce tends to be more expensive than its in-season counterparts,” the newspaper notes.

The Victoria Times-Colonist provides a few more tips.

One interesting idea is to avoid going to the grocery store altogether. Huh?

“If you tend to wander off your grocery list because every time you go to the store you buy things you don’t need, shopping online and picking up curbside is a good workaround,” the article suggests. This can also save time if you are buying groceries from multiple locations, the article adds.

As well, a sort of further idea to the “grocery budget” plan is to keep your previous grocery bills so that you can “track what you are already spending,” the article reports.

“Start by reviewing how much you have spent on the last few times you’ve gone grocery shopping,” states David Brindley, deputy editor for AARP Bulletin, in the article.

“If you don’t keep receipts from past grocery runs, try looking at your bank account statement and adding up the grocery charges. Once you know how much you spend on groceries, set a goal, for example, staying within a specific budget or reducing your spending,” he adds.

These are all good ideas. If there’s a common theme, it is to spend more consciously on groceries rather than just tossing stuff into the shopping cart and then complaining about the cost.

A couple of things we’ve learned to do to save on shopping is to work with a fairly empty fridge – don’t pile it full to the brim. Why? If you can see everything in your fridge, you won’t buy the same things twice, or throw out stuff that’s been shoved to the back behind something else and has gone “off.”

Having an extra stream of income will also help out your grocery shopping in retirement. If you aren’t covered by a retirement program at your workplace, have a look at the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. With SPP, you decide how much you want to save, and we do the rest – investing your savings over time in a low-cost, professionally managed pooled fund. You can make contributions in many ways – through pre-authorized contributions from your bank account, via online banking (SPP can be set up as a bill), by credit card or by mailing us a cheque.

Get SPP working for you today!

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Some of us may remember, back in the good old days, that when you went to get some gas, a friendly attendant rushed up to your window and got the pump going, while cleaning your windshield and checking the oil.

But that experience has long ago been replaced by self-service gas pumps. Are we heading that same route at the drugstore, dollar store, and grocery store? Save with SPP decided to take a look around.

An analysis by the University of Waterloo lists the “pros” of self-checkout as “saving the time of customers and preventing the checkout from becoming overcrowded.” As well, the report notes, “with the installation of self-checkout technologies, retailers can reduce the number of checkout assistants employed, or they may completely cut the checkout assistants.”

This, the article suggests, helps the company’s bottom line – fewer employees to pay, fewer vacancies to fill by HR, and a greater profit.

On the con side, the article notes that the cost of a four-lane self-checkout system may exceed $125,000. “Most small businesses cannot afford this technology,” the article reports. As well, and this is big, most people don’t like having to use self checkout machines.

The article, citing research from Accenture, found that “77 per cent of U.S. customers prefer interacting with humans than with digital devices in service-related issues.” There’s a lack of personalized service with the machines, particularly noted by “senior people who are used to person-to-person service and are more likely to need personal interaction; they might regard this new method of shopping as a lack of service.”

While the university concludes that maybe there should be more focus on personalized service than switching over to costly machines, it seems that every time you go shopping you see more of these machines in place.

A recent story in The Globe and Mail by Rob Csernyk, a former New Brunswick resident now living in Australia, says self-checkouts are really taking off Down Under.

“While living in New Brunswick, I was used to only half a dozen self-checkouts at the superstore near my apartment. But in Australia, self-checkouts are an outsized part of the grocery landscape. Many locations of Coles and Woolworths outlets – the country’s dominant grocery chains – have double that, if not more,” he writes.

Shopping recently at a Coles, he counted 40 self-checkouts and only two clerks helping, he writes.

But if the goal of self-checkouts is saving on labour costs and reducing long lines at the cash, there have been other unexpected consequences, he notes.

“I’ll let you in on a secret from Australia’s big bet: nobody’s happy. For grocers, self-checkout expansion has wrought more theft and a need to spend even more to combat it. For customers, being treated more like potential thieves rather than paying clients is unpleasant,” his article reports.

He concludes that maybe retailers should consider going back to the good old ways – checkouts that are staffed.

“Making shopping experiences more complex and uncomfortable for all shoppers is a daft way to solve the problems inherent with self-checkouts. It increasingly seems like going back to the tried-and-true cashier is a better solution, not to mention one that involves a lot less capital investment. Anti-theft measures don’t come cheap, and the bad press from customer complaints carries a hefty price tag, too,” he notes.

And the customer’s perspective is very important, reports USA Today.

“They just aggravate me,” Julie Domina says of self-checkout machines, telling USA Today that “if I’m going to be checking myself out, I want to get a discount because that means you’re not paying an employee to check me out.”

Hey – that’s a good point. We recall that when self-serve gas pumps first came out, the gas was cheaper if you pumped it yourself, versus getting someone to do it for you. Maybe that long-forgotten discount concept needs to be revisited for self-checkouts.

The article blames the pandemic for getting us going down the self-checkout road.

“While self-checkout technology has been in supermarkets since the 1980s, usage surged during the pandemic, when retailers were struggling to hire and customers wanted less human interaction. The share of transactions through self-checkout lanes hit 30 per cent in 2021, almost double that from 2018, according to data from the Food Industry Association,” the newspaper reports.

Higher theft rates experienced in recent years have prompted retailers to spend more on security, in addition to the cost of buying self-checkout machines, the article notes. Some of the problem is theft, but some of it is simply due to confusion using the machines, the article adds.

“While some losses may be from people using self-checkout to steal, others are from user errors by customers who weren’t trained to use the machines. Maybe the shopper didn’t notice that an item didn’t scan before bagging it, or keyed in the wrong item when weighing their produce,” the article concludes.

It will be interesting to see how Canadian retailers cope with this new technology going forward. Will we follow the Australian example and gear up on the machines, or will we see the opposite – a move away from self-checkout, perhaps, or making the machines more of a “fast lane” for customers with fewer items. Only time will tell.

Saving for retirement can be a self-service function if you partner up with the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. SPP will carry out the complex job of investing your retirement savings, through a professionally managed, low-cost, pooled fund. When it’s time to retire, your options include getting a monthly annuity payment each month for life, or the flexibility of the Variable Benefit option.

Check out SPP today!

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Boomers will recall what happened where our parents retired. It was literally, in most cases, getting the gold watch at 65 and leaving the workforce entirely for a leisurely life of golf, visiting relatives, the bridge club, and so on.

Turn the clock forward from the 1980s to the present, and it’s a very different story.

According to Statistics Canada, the percentage of Canadians of senior age is growing. In 2020, the agency reports, “18 per cent of the Canadian population were aged 65 and older,” a percentage expected to grow to 24 per cent by the end of the 2030s.

Our older folks “are living longer and healthier than previous generations,” and that’s one reason why more of them than ever are working or volunteering, the article notes. Stats Canada reports that 13.8 per cent of Canadian seniors were working or volunteering in 2020, up from just six per cent 20 years earlier.

Is it just health and vitality that’s keeping older folks working?

A recent H&R Block Canada survey found that 50 per cent of those surveyed planned “to have a side gig when they retire.”

That may be driven by the reality that they can’t afford to fully retire at 65, notes the media release setting out the survey results. “Fifty-two per cent don’t feel they have enough money left at the end of the month to save for their retirement,” the release notes. And only 46 per cent “feel good about their retirement strategy,” the release notes.

“Not so long ago, the traditional vision of retirement was that at around 65 years old, Canadians ‘hung up their hats’ and celebrated the end of full-time employment. Enjoying the steady income of their company/government pension, they were ready to embrace new life ventures in pursuit of the things they never previously had time for,” states Peter Bruno, President of H&R Block Canada, in the release. “What we’re seeing now is that the vision for retirement has evolved dramatically – fuelled by shifts in tax-friendly savings plan options, evolving workforce realities, the gig economy, and the prevailing economic environment.”  

An article in Business Insider suggests the rising cost of living is also a factor.

“Seniors are re-entering the workforce in growing numbers,” the article reports, citing a report from USA Today. “As inflation squeezes them out of retirement, many are taking jobs as cashiers, retail associates, and hosts at local restaurants, among other service industry jobs,” Business Insider reports.

Steve Weeks, 69, says he went back to work at a Florida restaurant because “the extra money is helpful.” The article goes on to say that older workers are seen by many as being “more dependable, displaying higher levels of punctuality, lower absenteeism, and less inclination towards job-hopping.”

There can be other, non-monetary benefits derived from working into your senior years, reports Harvard Health Publishing.

“There’s increasing evidence that the payoff of working past age 65 may go beyond income. Some studies have linked working past retirement with better health and longevity,” the article notes.

“A 2016 study of about 3,000 people, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, suggested that working even one more year beyond retirement age was associated with a nine per cent to 11 per cent lower risk of dying during the 18-year study period, regardless of health,” the article continues.

Another study found that “people who worked past age 65 were about three times more likely to report being in good health and about half as likely to have serious health problems, such as cancer or heart disease,” the article notes. Research has also established a link between working past retirement age and “a reduced risk of dementia and heart attack.”

Most of the folks we know still working at part-time or volunteer jobs cite the benefit of being part of a time, and having a purpose and sense of belonging. You do miss social interaction with workplace friends after you hang up the ID badge.

If you’re a member of the Saskatchewan Pension Plan (SPP), and plan to work beyond age 65, be aware that the plan allows you to start turning savings into income as late as late as age 71. So if you work after turning 65, you can still contribute to your SPP pension nest egg for another six years. It’s another helpful feature of SPP, which has helped deliver retirement security since 1986.

Another great bit of news — SPP members can now make annual contributions equal to their available registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room! There is no longer an annual limit on how much you can contribute to SPP, and as well, there is no limit on how much you can transfer into SPP from your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP). SPP retirement saving is now limitless!

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!

There was a great movie called The Intern a few years ago, where a 70-something guy rejoins the workforce at a start-up tech company. He wows the kids by toting a briefcase to work, and setting up his desk with fancy pen sets and a Rolodex.

It made Save with SPP wonder about things that were once “must haves” that we now see rarely – if ever.

An article in USA Today says technology has done away with the need for phone books, CD or record collections, and “cutting things out of the newspaper.”

Only grandparents, the writer notes, are likely to “find an article they like, snip it out, put it in an envelope, and send that little strip of newsprint to a relative.” Now, news is shared online, we use Internet searches to find service providers, and the majority of people stream their music, the article says.

Insider predicts that in the not-too-distant future, there won’t be print newspapers or magazines from which clippings can be clipped. Paper maps may also soon be a thing of the past, the article suggests. The writers also think “single-use” electronic items, like digital cameras, portable hard drives, and “standalone GPS” systems, will soon be in the “whatever happened to” file.

At the Too Old to Grow Up blog, under the tab “Nostalgia,” we are reminded of the once-cool Betamax videotape systems, encyclopedias, and video rental stores that now seem to recall a bygone era.

The article goes on to recall the days of floppy disks, film cameras, and pay phones. You can still find the odd pay phone, but far less frequently than in days of yore.

The BestLife blog notes that busy signals when you are phoning someone are now a relic of a forgotten era. “Back in the days of landlines, calling somebody and getting a busy signal used to be annoying,” the writers note. “But today, in an age of digital phones, we’d give anything to hear a busy signal.” The signal let you know whoever you were trying to reach was there, but on another call.

Dot-matrix printers used to be the industry standard years ago, but long have been replaced by faster, better inkjet and laser printers, the article notes. Remember when you used to get static on your TV between channels? No longer a thing in the digital age, we are told. Slide projectors, fax machines – gone, and mostly forgotten.

When this aging writer was a journalism student at Carleton in (gulp) the late ‘70s, it was an analog world. There was a room full of typewriters for us to use, and a cramped little phone room with wall-mounted dial phones for us to do the reporting stuff. We took notes in shorthand. If you wanted to get someone to comment on something, it was a bit of an effort – no Internet to search on, yet. A lot of times you were on the phone to operators at governments or big businesses, asking them who might be able to comment on, say, the rising price of gold, or inflation, or other ‘70s things. So much has changed.

One thing that has remained constant over the decades of technological progress is the need to save for retirement. The Saskatchewan Pension Plan has kept up with the times – with My SPP, you can look up your account balance, and see the progress on your savings efforts, online, 24-7. If you are looking to squirrel away a few dollars today for fun in retirement in the long-away future, SPP may be the retirement provider you are looking for. They are celebrating 35 years of operation in 2021.

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!

Canadians cutting back on retirement saving due to the pandemic?

There’s no question that the pandemic, now into its second year, is wreaking havoc on most people’s financial plans.

A report from Benefits Canada, citing research from Ipsos, found that “one quarter of Canadian employees say they’ve needed to cut back or stop contributions to their savings and retirement plans.”

One in 10 of the survey’s respondents say “they have reduced or frozen contributions to their retirement savings,” and 13 per cent “have cut back or stopped” savings for non-retirement purposes, such as vacations, clothing, household items, and “rainy day” savings.

While 70 per cent say they are “confident” about their financial management during what the article calls “tumultuous times,” 59 per cent “are worried about the effect of the pandemic on their savings and retirement plans.” Younger Canadians, the magazine reports, are even more worried – that’s 73 per cent of Gen-Zers and 67 per cent of millennials. Fifty-two per cent of boomers share their worries.

It would be interesting to ask this same group a little more about what their savings plan is, assuming they have one. While those with a workplace pension do have a sort of built-in retirement savings plan – as long as they are working – do those who don’t have some sort of savings budget or automated plan?

An article in USA Today stresses the importance of this kind of planning.

“One of the common misconceptions about achieving financial success is that it requires complexity, sophistication and intricate effort. Sure, you might want to construct a detailed analysis of investment allocations, debt-payback schedules or whatever, but you probably don’t need to,” the article explains.

“Sometimes, just a handful of straightforward guidelines, consistently followed, can do the trick,” USA Today reports.

Citing U.S. research, the story notes that a simple rule of thumb for saving is “save as much as you can,” and to separate saving from spending. You should, the article says, try to set aside between 10 to 30 per cent of your monthly earnings as savings.

(Our late Uncle Joe always said 10 per cent was his rule of thumb – put that away as soon as you get paid, and live off the other 90 per cent.)

That sort of advice is echoed in another of the findings from the research – the need to “pay yourself first.” The article picks up on this theme. “Learn to set aside money as soon as you get paid,” we are advised.

Let’s put it all together. Most of us are worried we’re not saving enough for retirement. But unanswered is the question, are most of us making savings easy through automation and paying ourselves first? The idea of setting aside a percentage of your earnings for savings, and then spending the rest, works even if your earnings are reduced. If 10 per cent is too much, try five per cent, or even 2.5 per cent. You can always ramp it back up again later.

If you don’t have a pension program at work, then you are the person your future self will rely on to set aside retirement savings while you are working. This sounds daunting, but doesn’t need to be. The Saskatchewan Pension Plan allows you to contribute in a number of ways, including pre-authorized payments from your bank account. That way, you are paying your future self first! Check out SPP, celebrating its 35^th anniversary in 2021, today!

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!

We spend much time seeking out great value-adding, life-enhancing things one can do in retirement. But here’s a worried thought – what shouldn’t we be doing in our life after work?

Save with SPP had a look around with a different theme, this time – what not to do!

The USA Today newspaper lists a number of things to not do in your crucial first year of retirement.

A key mistake, the newspaper notes, is “not having a financial or life plan.” David Laster, a U.S. financial author, is quoted in the article as saying “only 42 per cent of workers try to calculate a budget before going into retirement. If you don’t do that, that leaves you vulnerable to some unpleasant surprises in retirement. And it can be painful.”

Other things to watch out for in year one, USA Today adds, are overspending, claiming government benefits too early (you get more the longer you wait) and being too conservative with investments.

At the Yahoo! Finance site, author Gabrielle Olya adds a couple more – ignoring inflation, and not seeking the advice of a financial planner.

“Although the inflation rate seems minimal, it still affects how far your dollar will go,” she writes. “This is especially true for money held in fixed savings accounts, which unlike money in certain investments, will lose value over time.”

Going it alone on finances, she warns, may mean you are “losing out on how to improve (your) financial readiness.”

The Gilbert Guide blog adds a few more, including having too many cars, moving at the wrong time, and getting “sold or scammed on services you don’t need.”

Try to avoid having multiple vehicles, the blog suggests. One will do for most retired couples.

Moving is a very important consideration as well, the blog notes. According to retirement specialist Bill Losey, who is quoted in the article, “many people relocate based on a couple of specific factors, such as low real estate costs or low taxes, then discover that other costs more than eat up their savings.”

Losey goes on to say in the article that if you make an expensive move – then change your mind and move back where you started from – the move is even more costly. Before choosing a retirement move, the blog advises, consider “hidden costs” such as property taxes, sales taxes, grocery costs, and other basics. Staying put may make more sense, the blog advises.

Save with SPP has noted a few other things. If you consider your retirement to be an unending vacation of travel, meals out, expensive hobbies and doing new things, you may run out of money before you run out of ideas. It is perhaps better to think of retirement as being a permanent weekend – you won’t be going into work, sure, but you won’t be jetting to the south of France either. You’ll be shovelling the driveway and trying to get the wretched filters to stay in the range hood after you’ve cleaned them. It’s important to be practical, and enjoy life within your means.

A nice feature for folks who save for retirement via the Saskatchewan Pension Plan is the fact that it offers life annuities when you retire. With an annuity, you get a pre-set payment every month for the rest of your life. You can never run out of money, and SPP allows you to provide for a surviving spouse or beneficiary as well, so you can pay that security forward. Check them out today.

Written by Martin Biefer
	Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock. He and his wife live with their Shelties, Duncan and Phoebe, and cat, Toobins. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22