Tag: cheapskate

clear glass jar with silver coins

CAA Cheapskate

RobHLeave a comment

I’ve been a CAA member for a while (actually, it was my spouse who first signed up and I’ve been on the family plan ever since). Most people think of CAA as someone you can call if you have a car breakdown12, and that’s certainly a good bit of insurance, but they also have other good deals that maybe you were not aware of. I found these by navigating to my local site (CAA North and East Ontario).

Discounted Gas at Shell

Including your CAA membership number at Shell stations reduces the price of fuel by 3¢ a litre. That’s really easy to do if you use the Shell app on your phone, since you can link it right there.

Deals on Rogers services (wireless, internet)

I just discovered this myself while researching this article. There’s more-than-decent deals on wireless services (not as good as Fizz mobile, my cheapskate provider of choice) but $35/month for 85G of data and Canada-wide unlimited talk and text is a nice offer. There’s also offers that give you good deals on home internet and television services. Paired with my Rogers Red credit card, things are even better!

Deals on Insurance

I found cheap contents insurance for my parents’ retirement home unit through CAA. They were fast and efficient at getting it all set up. You can check it out at https://caaneo.ca/insurance/property-insurance/tenant-insurance/.

Deals on … Museums?

For the Ottawa crowd, CAA offers 25% discounts on the Ingenium museums. These include the very kid-friendly Science and Technology museum, the Agriculture Museum and the Aviation and Space museum. I didn’t know that either: https://caaneo.ca/rewards/partners/ingenium/.

If you’re already spending on a CAA membership, you might as well maximize your return on that investment. What’s your best CAA discount? Let me know at comments@moneyengineer.ca!

  1. Although patience is a good idea. Supply of CAA tow trucks seems to outstrip demand! ↩︎
  2. They also offer bike breakdown service: https://caaneo.ca/automotive/bike-assist/ ↩︎
self check out area in warehouse store

Saving money on flights with Costco

RobHLeave a comment

Costco is often thought as the place to get ridiculously sized jars of mustard or toilet paper on the cheap. Both of these things are still true. But one easy travel hack that is offered to Costco members can easily pay for the cost of a membership1 in short order, and that is their gift card offer for flights on Porter Airlines and Air Canada.

For $449.99, you can buy a gift card on either airline that is worth $500 in flight credit. My math says that’s an instant $50 (and one cent) off without hardly trying.

And you don’t even have to fight for a parking spot at your local warehouse — both of these gift cards can be purchased entirely online, with an e-gift card arriving in your inbox (in my experience) within minutes2.

There are a few things to watch out for, though:

  • They are not refundable; on the plus side, they don’t expire, either
  • You can only buy four Air Canada gift cards every 2 weeks3
  • You can only buy 5 Porter cards at a time
  • You can only use two methods of payment for any one Air Canada reservation. This effectively means either (a) you can only use one gift card for your reservation or (b) you can use two gift cards, but then the total cost of your reservation needs to be below $1000
  • Air Canada gift cards are not valid at the airport, but Porter cards are.
  • If you use a Porter card at the airport, then the value of the gift card has to be greater than whatever it is you’re trying to buy. You can’t split payment between a gift card and a credit card.
  1. Basic membership is $65 annually and gets you two memberships for people at the same address ↩︎
  2. Product notes claim up to 24 hours for delivery, but I’ve not experienced that myself ↩︎
  3. “while supplies last” is also added to the text on the web. I don’t think these e-gift cards take up much warehouse space, but I could be wrong…. ↩︎

Top Five Money Engineer posts of 2025

RobHLeave a comment

The Money Engineer launched in January 2025 and according to the WordPress stats, I made 144 posts last year. What were the most viewed posts of 2025?

5th-ranked post of 2025: ZGRO versus ZGRO.T

ZGRO versus ZGRO.T: what’s the difference?

I got wind of ZGRO.T through Reddit, specifically r/CanadianInvestor. ZGRO and ZGRO.T are both all-in-one asset allocation ETFs from BMO, but with vastly different yield characteristics. I was confused, but in the end, decided that ZGRO.T was probably not a bad pick for use in a RRIF account as it might save you the hassle of selling shares. Their TOTAL returns (assuming all dividends are invested) are effectively identical.

4th-ranked post of 2025: Spousal RRIF Attribution Rules

Caution! Spousal RRSP/RRIF Attribution Rules

I think I was first warned about this nuance of spousal RRSPs/RRIFs by my DIY neighbour (thanks, Steve) and is the main reason I’m only drawing RRIF minimum for the next two years1. I think most of the visits to this article were search-driven. Either that, or people came to admire what might be my favourite article thumbnail2 I’ve posted thus far.

3rd-ranked post of 2025: Norbert’s Gambit with Questrade

Questrade Example: Exchanging USD/CAD with Norbert’s Gambit

As someone who holds more USD-denominated assets than might be wise, I do very much appreciate the existence of a cheapskate way of converting between USD and CAD assets. I think I first learned about this trick via The Loonie Doctor’s blog. The #3 blog entry explains how it works if Questrade is your broker. I would also recommend https://moneyengineer.ca/2025/08/21/tracking-norberts-gambit-costs-with-questrade/ for a very clear picture of what it actually costs (in time and fees) to execute the Gambit: in three of four instances, the time delay of executing the gambit has worked in my favor as the FX rate has drifted a bit to my advantage.

2nd-ranked post of 2025: TD versus iShares all-in-ones

TD versus iShares: XEQT/XGRO/XBAL versus TEQT/TGRO/TBAL

I’m a fan of all-in-ones (and am a little sad https://moneyengineer.ca/2025/01/21/why-you-can-fire-your-advisor-asset-allocation-etfs/ didn’t crack the top five last year). I am genuinely puzzled why people seem to get so wound up about which family of all-in-ones to choose3. I examined TD’s only because their cost to own is a bit cheaper than iShares (who I use primarily), and I’m a cheapskate. (I studied the cost of owning an all-in-one here.) Anyway, in the end, the biggest difference is visible in TGRO versus XGRO because TGRO, unlike any other GRO ETF, uses 10% bond allocation and not 20%. This gooses its return a bit, at the cost of additional volatility. Otherwise, it’s a case of tomato/tomahto. Pick one, or pick them all, it doesn’t matter much.

Top ranked post of 2025: Mini-Review of Optiml.ca

Mini-Review: Optiml.ca

This was, as the title implied, a quick review of a made-in-Canada tool to help craft a retirement plan. And again, my DIY neighbour gave me a heads-up about it4. It got a lot of interest, probably because the kind folks at Optiml linked to my review from their website ;-). I was impressed by the completeness of the tool during my test drive, and it seems like a good and fairly priced way for a DIYer to do some validation of their retirement plan. Having validation of my plan was one of the ways I knew I could retire.

Looking forward to seeing what the 2026 list might look like! Got a topic or question? Send it along to comments@moneyengineer.ca, or comment below!

  1. RRIF minimum withdrawals are never subject to spousal attribution ↩︎
  2. Courtesy Pexels free photos, built into WordPress’ editor. ↩︎
  3. iShares, TD, BMO, Vanguard, Global X…. ↩︎
  4. Thinking he should write his own blog, maybe. ↩︎

Roaming: Is your provider ripping you off?

RobH1 Comment

I’ve been using cell phones1 since their early days2, and the one thing I hate more than bank fees is carrier fees. In bygone days, every US vacation we took involved a trip to the ATT or T-Mobile shop for a cheap travel SIM. All this to say it’s been ingrained in me to make unusual communications preparations in advance of travel.

Back in my working days3 I had a company-reimbursed cell phone plan4 with Rogers. My job involved travel now and again, usually to the USA. And I usually made use of Rogers’ “Roam Like Home” feature. When this feature was first introduced, it was pretty innovative; before it existed, you normally had to contact the carrier to temporarily add roaming to your plan, which was a hassle. The idea behind Roam Like Home was attractive. It was automatic, it allowed you to use your phone in exactly the same way (no need to keep track of your “roaming minutes” or “roaming data usage”)5. And, at launch, it was a reasonably priced, at $5/day for US roaming. As most of my travel was of the day or two variety, this seemed like a perfect fit for the business traveler.

But surprise, surprise, Rogers got greedy. As a shareholder6, I approve, but as a user, their now $12/day charge is nothing short of robbery.

And that’s when I discovered the world of travel eSIMs. An eSIM allows you to install a 2nd, virtual SIM card in your phone so you can benefit from MUCH cheaper roaming rates. I’ve been a long time user of Airalo for my travel eSIMs. And a quick look at the prices will show you why. The $12 Rogers charges me daily would pay for two weeks of typical US travel using Airalo.

Like all things, there’s no free lunch here. A few warnings that may make eSIMs not for you:

  • Your phone has to support eSIM technology. Most phones purchased in the last 5 years do. But do check.
  • The very cheapest eSIMs don’t support voice calling or SMS. Just data7. So if talking on your phone is important, then make sure your eSIM supports voice8. With the plethora of apps that allow texting and voice (WhatsApp, Messenger, Signal, Facetime) and the prevalence of free apps like TextNow, my world hardly ever needs voice or SMS, at least not with friend groups. YMMV.
  • Setting up an eSIM can be a little intimidating the first time; the instructions are clear enough, but you do have to mess around a bit in settings menus you may not be very familiar with

I’ve used Airalo successfully on multiple US trips, in Europe (Germany, Switzerland), and in Asia (Hong Kong, Thailand). Never had a problem.

Airalo isn’t the only one out there, it’s just the only one I’ve personally used. Their focus is more on short-term travel needs with plans as short as 7 days. An alternative provider my trusted neighbour Steven swears by is eskimo. Their focus is on bulk, so if you frequently travel to the same place, it may be a better choice for you.

If you want to give Airalo a spin, mentioning my referral code will get you $4.50: ROB1033.

  1. AKA mobile phone, smart phone, handy ↩︎
  2. And in my very first use of same, the first words I uttered, with no small amount of delight, from a bag phone (remember those?) were “Guess where I’m calling from?” ↩︎
  3. Which ended last month, just to be clear. ↩︎
  4. My current provider now that I’m paying the bills is Fizz, Videotron’s low-cost carrier. So far, so good. My referrer code on Fizz is INSWI, in case you want to get some free cash 🙂 ↩︎
  5. It was not uncommon in those days to hear a tale of woe involving a roaming charge of several hundred dollars charged to a less-attentive traveler. ↩︎
  6. I own Rogers via XGRO since it’s part of the S&P/TSX 60 ↩︎
  7. Be very careful, Apple iOS users. The Messages app is either SMS or a data service, depending on the colour of your bubbles. Blue bubbles — it’s a data service, green bubbles means it’s an SMS. ↩︎
  8. But again, careful. An eSIM with voice comes with its own phone number. That’s fine if you’re the one making calls, but not if you’re the one expecting to be reachable on your usual phone number. An answered inbound call is roaming, I’m afraid. ↩︎