Use Online Tools to Evaluate Your Power Consumption

Many power suppliers offer online tools to evaluate your power consumption and to help you save money and resources.

Online Questionnaire to Evaluate your Electricity Consumption

For example, Hydro-Quebec’s interactive and personalized web questionnaire “Mieux consommer” can help you evaluate your electricity consumption.

It will only take you a few minutes to answer the questionnaire. They will actually fill in the blanks using your real electricity consumption from what they have on file.

The interactive tool generates a report on your power consumption and will suggest different solutions to quickly reduce your electricity consumption and bill.

Organize Your Tax Documents Throughout The Year

A Single File with All Tax Documents

Instead of running around at the last minute for all your income tax papers,  gather and file all necessary documents as you receive them in a single folder for the current year, for example, identified "2010 Taxes”.

Make Copies and File As You Go

Group receipts in order by category and date. If it’s possible for you and you know copies will be necessary, make them before you file.

For example, place all receipts for medical expenses together and organize originals on the top of the stack and copies on the bottom.

Use Government Agencies’ Online Simulators to Determine What You Need to Save for Retirement

Easy to Use Online Tools

Government agencies now provide online services to simulate and calculate your future retirement income.

These services can be used to help determine what must be save today in order to meet your retirement needs.

For Quebecers, CompuPension online service from the Regie des Rentes du Quebec (RRQ) is particularly well conceived. You can access it here:

http://www.rrq.gouv.qc.ca/en/planification/simulation/Pages/simulation.aspx

For other Canadians, the Canadian Retirement Income Calculator from Service Canada will also help you. Use following link:

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/isp/common/cricinfo.shtml

Use Online Simulator Before You Consult Retirement Planning Salesperson

This service is effective and comprehensive, among other things; you will do the calculations yourself without being forced to meet so-called specialists that do not always

Take Advantage of Group Life Insurance as Much as you Can

The Least Expensive Insurance for Your Entire Family

For most people, group insurance is the least expensive form of life insurance if it’s available to them. Thus you should fully exploit all possibilities it provides.

The majority of group insurance programs offer a basic life insurance. To this mandatory protection, you can add complementary coverage for you, your spouse and even your children; all this at an extremely interesting cost.

Insurance companies can provide group insurance at a very low cost because they are assured of the adhesion of the whole group. Mandatory coverage results in very low cost to you.

Get Out of Debt (Part 4 of 4): Combine Methods Depending on Your Situation

Adapt Each Step to Your Situation to Get Rid of Debt

It’s also possible to combine the highest interest rate method and the lowest balance method (see previous posts) to eliminate your debts.

Depending on your situation, you will decide for each step the liability to be eliminated.  The highest interest rate one or the lowest balance one.

Get Out of Debt (Part 3 of 4): Pay the Lowest Balance First

A More Motivating Method to Eliminate Your Debt

                      

Another alternative similar to the highest interest rate method involves starting with the lowest balance debt.

The fist debt will disappear more quickly and the process is a bit easier to initiate.  This can be a little more motivating for some.

You Pay More Interest

Even though it appears that the lowest balance method gets things done faster, you effectively pay more interest on other debt. In the end, this method is more costly and you will be debt-free later.