u/pseudomoniae

(note: cross posted from the other Canada personal finance sub).

I noticed this hasn't been cross posted here but I figure this is the place to discuss: https://macleans.ca/longforms/the-great-generational-rip-off/

Seems bleak, but also a pretty well done in terms of reviewing the current situation that faces Canadians from the perspective of assets outpacing inflation and the growing costs of the Canadian welfare state.

Mostly pretty modest proposals at the end, but still a good read.

I lean towards thinking few of the suggested impactful reforms will be politically palatable.

Looking around the world, I think the most likely policies suggested here that we might enact would be wealth taxes, increased taxation of investments and increased eligibility ages for retirement benefits. I could also see the GIS payout increasing.

I highly doubt that broader OAS reform or changes to the principal residence exemption will happen in the next decade.

Thoughts?

New to this sub. I'm investigating the viability of paying taxes and rent with a premium aeroplan credit card to earn points and SQC.

From what I understand Chexy is an aeroplan partner, so should produce both 1 point per $1 and 1 SQC per 5 points as an aeroplan partner when spent on an aeroplan premium card (VIP).

The card itself (i.e. aeroplan VIP) should also bring in 1.25 points per $1 and 1 SQC per 5 points.

So the net should be 2.25 points per $1, minus 1.75 in fees or a 0.5 net assuming a very low 1.0 cpp on aeroplan points.

Max on SQC is $125k spend for 25k SQC for each of CC spend and partner spend, which if manufactured in the above manner with taxes and rent could get many people pretty close to 50k status.

Has anyone tried manufacturing the above spend to net basically net up to 250k points and 50k status at the cost of about $2000?

Value of 250k points is easily $3k at minimum and with the use of selective flight purchases or e-upgrades earned from 50k status could be considerably more.

I suppose a business spend with the Amex Aeroplan business reserve card works just as well as a personal VIP card for this procedure.

Has anyone tried this?

Hi All,
Receiving our first companion voucher shortly. I saw prior posts on this indicating issues with using the voucher to apply to a booking with children included as companions.

We are a family and so clearly we will use this to fly with kids (it's for up to 3 companions, I only have 1 spouse!)

Are there any updates from people who have successfully booked companion vouchers with kids?

Does it work now with online bookings? Do you need to call in to make the booking with kids for the voucher to be applied?

Also, we are a family of 5, so I assume my spouse has to book separately and then merge the bookings after?

Thanks!

Hi all,
We enjoy flying with porter. We have their BMO credit card which provides great value for us.

I am trying to see if purchasing costco gift cards at a 10% discount will pair well with the use of our remaining points, or if gift cards can only be reimbursed on cash purchases.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Usually we book on cash + points, and so my ideal situation would be to book a cash+points flight and then use porter gift cards to pay for some of the cash cost.

Clearly if gift cards can only be used for cash only transactions then I'll have to wait on this idea until after we've used up the bulk of our points.

TIA