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My spending is getting out of control
January 12, 2024
7:34 am
Max
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I need a credit card with the maximum reward ratio.

My wife is spending like crazy for the kids hockey gear, ordering Vegan local grown grocery, buying local furniture and clothes for the kids.

We went from a couple with around 5-10k annual spending when we were students 10 years ago with frugal life style mainly doing cycling trip to a family with 5 kids which our 4 boys are playing hockey, skiiing and about to start private school.

I need the credit card with the maximum reward %, my tangerine 0.5%/2% does not work anymore.

Any suggestions?

The day you become free is the day you work for fun.

January 12, 2024
7:52 am
Peter
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A possible strategy:

* Category-optimized card such as Amex Cobalt for things like groceries
* One of the Rogers cards (https://www.rogersbank.com/en/compare_cards) for all other spending
* Churn a card or two every year on the side for the sign-up bonus

January 12, 2024
8:41 am
mordko
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Rogers is free and pays 2.5% cash back, if spent on Rogers products. 2% otherwise; across the board.

On a side-note, I wouldn’t classify getting clothes and sports gear for kids as “crazy”.

January 12, 2024
8:48 am
MattS
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Buying used equipment in good condition off Facebook marketplace provides a 50% cash back reward. Alternatively, there’s a Cibc dividend visa that for a $70 annual fee I believe offers 4% cash back on gas and groceries and 1% back on everything else. That may be of interest to you

January 12, 2024
8:58 am
Max
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mordko said
Rogers is free and pays 2.5% cash back, if spent on Rogers products. 2% otherwise; across the board.

On a side-note, I wouldn’t classify getting clothes and sports gear for kids as “crazy”.  

Do you know if I can pay my Fido bills with the cash back from Rogers?
And how is the Rogers cash back returned? Monthly, yearly check? Account balance?

Thanks everyone

The day you become free is the day you work for fun.

January 12, 2024
9:10 am
Max
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Peter said
A possible strategy:

* Category-optimized card such as Amex Cobalt for things like groceries
* One of the Rogers cards (https://www.rogersbank.com/en/compare_cards) for all other spending
* Churn a card or two every year on the side for the sign-up bonus  

Just ordered it

Thanks for the info guys

The day you become free is the day you work for fun.

January 12, 2024
9:11 am
Max
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MattS said
Buying used equipment in good condition off Facebook marketplace provides a 50% cash back reward. Alternatively, there’s a Cibc dividend visa that for a $70 annual fee I believe offers 4% cash back on gas and groceries and 1% back on everything else. That may be of interest to you  

I think this one won’t be advantageous

Haven’t put gas in my car since 2019

The day you become free is the day you work for fun.

January 12, 2024
9:21 am
lifeonanisland
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Ordered the Rogers basic MC last fall to replace Tangerine card. Because you get the bonus cash back rate (3 percent now, not 2.5 percent) on Roger's products, the cash back essentially pays my internet/mobile bills each month. Not insignificant. Max, not sure if it works with Fido, but the rewards are posted into your account right away and you're free to apply them to your purchases when you want (in my case, to my Rogers monthly fees which are autopaid out of my account).

January 12, 2024
9:42 am
Warwick111
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If you buy hockey or other sports equipment from one of the Canadian tire owned stores, you may want to get the Canadian tire credit card, which has no annual fee and you get 4% rewards in Canadian Tire money at the following stores:
Canadian Tire, Sport Chek, Mark’s, L’Équipeur, Party City, Pro Hockey Life, Atmosphere, Sports Rousseau, Hockey Experts, L’Entrepôt du Hockey, and participating Sports Experts stores.

January 12, 2024
10:29 am
Dean
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.
My father used to say; "The Best Cash-Back Program Of All, Is To Fold It In Half And Put It Back In Your Pocket". sf-wink

He also used to say; "We Often End Up Being Our Own Worst Enemies".

Both are good for a chuckle ... and also Food For Thought.

    Dean

sf-cool " Live Long, Healthy ... And Prosper! " sf-cool

January 12, 2024
11:18 am
mmlt
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I feel your pain everytime a credit card bill comes in. I call my wife a shopaholic and I could spend less time on amazon. We have cibc dividend and pc world elite cards.

January 12, 2024
11:28 am
savemoresaveoften
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Max said

Do you know if I can pay my Fido bills with the cash back from Rogers?
And how is the Rogers cash back returned? Monthly, yearly check? Account balance?

Thanks everyone  

yes you can. Rogers is a cash rebate balance that you can redeem anytime you want as long as the rebate balance is at least $10. Think of it as 2% cash on everything you buy, but worth a total of 3% against Rogers/Fido bill.
What you do is charge your fido bill to the Rogers CC, and when u redeem for the Fido bill, you will see your rebate dollar buying power goes up by 50%. So a $30 rebate dollar balance is good to offset a $45 fido bill.

January 13, 2024
4:29 am
Max
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mmlt said
I feel your pain everytime a credit card bill comes in. I call my wife a shopaholic and I could spend less time on amazon. We have cibc dividend and pc world elite cards.  

The amount of box coming for delivery every day is insane. She keeps ordering stuff online.
Credit bills in the 10k every month. She says it’s for the kids but I see half of the stuff thrown away in the garbage can after couple months. What an environs disaster.

At least I will try to recover fine 1-2% from that hyper consumerism.

The day you become free is the day you work for fun.

January 13, 2024
8:30 am
hwyc
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Somehow I picked up many words OP used in thread sentimental. From two of you to a group of seven under management, change is huge. Suppose spending is indeed out of control, then perhaps a choice of card is not the answer OP should be looking for ... with respect to the whole picture.

January 13, 2024
9:37 am
lifeonanisland
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hwyc said
Somehow I picked up many words OP used in thread sentimental. From two of you to a group of seven under management, change is huge. Suppose spending is indeed out of control, then perhaps a choice of card is not the answer OP should be looking for ... with respect to the whole picture.  

I found myself thinking the same thing. I know zero about the OP's life situation, but the posts seem to imply some impulse spending is involved. Amazon and the like have certainly made it is easier for those prone to this. Writing this with some concern and sympathy, and not judgement.

January 13, 2024
10:29 am
Loonie
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If I remember correctly from a few years ago, Max is an orthopedic surgeon. Money per se is not the issue and he is managing to pay these enormous bills.

The issue is wasting money and creating environmental junk. There is a disconnect between him and his wife in terms of values and priorities.

I'm going to jump in here where others fear to tread and suggest that the answer may be in counselling more than in trying to limit the outflow through credit card choices.
None of my business, of course, but unhappy family situations, arguments, and divorce are much more expensive in so many ways than 10k per month, not to mention the impact on children, which has a lifetime effect.
Please find a counsellor/therapist for yourself and your wife to help you navigate this problem. Credit cards won't solve it, and it's not going away on its own. Good luck!

January 13, 2024
11:52 am
Bill
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I agree with latest opinions (except for the counselling part) as from the first post it was clear that Max has bigger issues than which credit card gives him max rewards but that's apparently what he has control over and thus what he asked about, appropriately on a forum like this.

I did have to chuckle a bit though as I recognized some of the issues as ones I've seen in my own grown-up kids and their relationships and families, e.g. that expensive, delivered, vegan locally grown food much of which was later thrown out was immediately familiar to me, loved it. But large families, especially when kids are young, are often in a big kerfuffle much of the time, I've no reason to think Max and his wife can't start by talking together about this, if they feel the need to do so.

January 14, 2024
9:40 am
Max
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Loonie said
If I remember correctly from a few years ago, Max is an orthopedic surgeon. Money per se is not the issue and he is managing to pay these enormous bills.

The issue is wasting money and creating environmental junk. There is a disconnect between him and his wife in terms of values and priorities.

I'm going to jump in here where others fear to tread and suggest that the answer may be in counselling more than in trying to limit the outflow through credit card choices.
None of my business, of course, but unhappy family situations, arguments, and divorce are much more expensive in so many ways than 10k per month, not to mention the impact on children, which has a lifetime effect.
Please find a counsellor/therapist for yourself and your wife to help you navigate this problem. Credit cards won't solve it, and it's not going away on its own. Good luck!  

I just don’t care anymore on what my wife spends. I stopped looking at the credit card statements. I just had to adjust from having monthly statements in the low 1k to now regularly over 10-15k.

However, I went from a salary in the 50k as medial intern to now in the 7 numbers so I can afford that. I am happy going out for a bike ride every evening when the kids are asleep and going to play hockey with them when they are not in a tournament of their own. My wife doesn’t care if I leave for a 2 weeks bike trip with friend twice a year so everything is fine, no divorce on the horizon.

It’s just that I have lived a frugal lifestyle my whole life and now see my wife spending so much money on things that end up in the garbage can after not even 6 months. This hyper consumerism is something I always stayed far away. Buying a used iPhone 6Plus from a colleague and just switched to the iPhone15 Wealthsimple sent me free of charge. Keeping my stuff for over 9-10 years. My wife change every 1-2 years.

Anyway I am happier not looking at the credit card statements but when I have to do so when I had to check for a refund on bike parts I returned. I am always suprised how that spending would be out of control if my salary didn’t 20x from a while ago.

The day you become free is the day you work for fun.

January 14, 2024
10:33 am
Bill
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Most people on here have credit cards with no fees, I'd venture, but maybe with your wife's spending (does the title of the thread need to be changed?sf-wink) it would be worth it to you to look into the more "upscale" fee-based credit cards aimed at big spenders. With the business you provide your bank you might even get a deal or waiver on the fee.

January 14, 2024
8:25 pm
Max
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Bill said
Most people on here have credit cards with no fees, I'd venture, but maybe with your wife's spending (does the title of the thread need to be changed?sf-wink) it would be worth it to you to look into the more "upscale" fee-based credit cards aimed at big spenders. With the business you provide your bank you might even get a deal or waiver on the fee.  

Yeah couple of friends use the Amex but I was never fond of the $600 annual fee. I do not enjoy going in the air canada lounge at the airport. I don’t mind sitting near the gate working on my laptop or reading a book. Always tried to find a 2/3% cash back free card instead of 4% Aeroplan miles for $600 annual fees with all the privileges coming with the card I don’t really care. Insurance on car rentals is a great perk, but concierge service and scotch at the airport lounge doesn’t appeal to me.

The day you become free is the day you work for fun.

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