Have you recently examined your bank account to find that the charges to maintain the account are outrageous? If no, then it is time you sit down and take a good look at your account charges.

You may be surprised to learn that the amount of money you are paying to maintain your current account is not necessary, seeing as you only need a portion of the services you need.

Despite who you bank with, it is not hard to find an account, which suits your needs.

The money you can save from your overpriced, unnecessary account can be put towards a better purpose, such as your savings account. You are likely to save at most $5 – 7, however over a long period of time it will add up, especially if you have gone years of paying for an account that has been unnecessary.

Another bank fee that you may find unnecessary is credit card balance insurance. It is sometimes necessary if you feel your current employment is rocky, however more often than not it is not necessary. It is an unnecessary charge to your credit card, and as such you may want to cancel it. Keep in mind if you have paid out your credit card, or pay it out at the end of each month, it is definitely something you would not need.

These are just two charges you may find that can help lower your costs with your bank and use towards your savings account.

After filing my taxes, I have finally received my tax refund, and it is a decent sum of money.

I have put some thought into what I would want to do with the money and have finally come to a decision. 75% of the money will be used towards my savings and the last 25% I will use to have a bit of fun with it.

I sometimes forget that putting everything you have towards your savings account can cause you to never find the time to enjoy the money you earn.

I plan on enjoying the money I am not using and spoil myself. I have not thought completely thought of what I want to spend the money on, but at this point I am leaning towards purchasing a humidor and purchase a box of cigars to go with it.

Personally, I love having a cigar on a good night, or celebrating an occasion, but I never got around to starting my own collection.

There are plenty of other uses you can do with your tax refund. You can pay down any debts you may have, which in all honesty is the smartest decision you can make, or if you do not have much or any debt, you can put your money towards an investment or savings account.

I may have saved most of my refund, but I am happy that I can actually spend the part of my refund on something for myself.

What are your plans with your tax refund? Comment below, would love to hear what you have in mind to do with the extra money.

For any Canadian on the search for a house right now, the chances of saving money are slowly slipping away if they do not move quickly.

We have recently received notice that the Bank of Canada has no longer any reason to uphold its commitment to keep the overnight rate at the all time low of 0.25%. They could increase the rate as early as June 1st, 2010.

With that said, rates are expected to increase, and in the past few weeks we have already seen banks increase their rates twice. The rate increases are have been around 0.15% – 0.25%.

Now, as I said the chances of saving money are slowly slipping away; the longer you take to purchase a house and lock in a mortgage rate the higher the chance the rates available will end up costing you more once you pay off your home, as they will be higher interest rates available to you.

You may want to consider getting a pre-approved mortgage as soon as possible, which will allow you to lock in a rate for 90 days and from there have plenty of time to find the home of your dreams.

This is only my advice as to how one might want to approach the housing markets in the next few months.

You also have to consider that if the housing market does begin to cool off because of rate increases and other factors, you might be able to purchase a home at a cheaper price, however it is not certain that this will happen. It is a scenario, but what is certain is that rates are going to go up and if you want to save money, lock in a rate today.

On the weekend an opportunity presented itself as to allowing me to purchase an item I have been on wanting for quite some time, however I always felt that the price would hold me back.

The item in question is a MacBook pro, and in all honesty they are among the greatest laptops I have ever used, but I always found them to be extremely expensive and thought that my money could go towards more practical uses.

Back to my story, on the weekend a friend called and explained that he bought a MacBook Pro two weeks ago, and recently acquired another model he actually wanted. He offered to sell me the MacBook Pro slightly cheaper since it was partially used, which made the deal something I had to consider because of the price these great machines usually go for.

Now the dilemma I faced was whether to actually dip into my savings account and make the purchase. Having saved for quite sometime, and met the goals I had made recently, I was not sure whether I wanted to part with the money I spent saving.

What I quickly realized was that not only was the offer great, but by passing up on it I would not even be taking my own advice. Saving without a purpose is somewhat pointless, and it would lead me on the path of not even getting a chance to enjoy my own money.

Without much more delay I made the decision and purchased the MacBook Pro.

It has only been two days since I made the purchase, but I can honestly say that this decision is among the best I have ever made in my life.

The moral here is always purchasing a MacBook Pro (only kidding), it actually is always evaluate your options, and whenever in doubt look at it from the perspective as to what are you really saving for?

You should not be afraid to spend your money, it is what you earned, and in reality if you were able to save in the first place it can always be done again.

In my previous post on money well spent, I explained some of my thoughts on the relationship between money and experiences. Essentially, I feel that while refraining from spending money on frivolous expenses, such as lattes, is the “right” thing to do financially, it isn’t always the best choice. Instead, I argued that certain experiences are worth the money.

Let me take that idea a little bit further. One of the reasons that this whole idea came up was because I have often read about how much money a person can save simply by cutting back on small everyday purchases, like coffee. They say that $4 a day is like $1400/year, and that’s a huge amount of money saved, and that’s true! You can’t argue with the math. Therefore, some financial experts recommend cutting back on certain expenses, like four dollar lattes, in order to save yourself a huge amount of money. And I agree with them.

This might sound like it is in contrast to my previous post, and my previous point, but it is not. While I did advocate certain experiences, I did not encourage certain expenses. The difference comes from the originality and uniqueness of the experience. The reason that the cafe crawl we went on was so good was because a) I had never done it before, b) I had a great time with old friends and new friends, and c) I got a memory I can cherish for years to come. A daily latte cannot, and will not do that.

In fact, I would argue that a four dollar latte on a regular basis would actually cheapen the experience. If I drank coffee every single day, having a coffee is no longer special. Just ask my fiance, who works at a coffee shop. When she first started working, she would drink free coffee (because its free!) until she was sick and couldn’t sleep at night. Now, she’s learned to moderate herself, but there is nothing unique or special about drinking coffee, as it is done on a regular basis.

As soon as a fun, cherished moment becomes routine, it also becomes mundane. If you are buying a coffee out of sheer habit, then stop. It’s not worth the money. Save your money for something unique, an experience, a present, a treat. Not only will you save money, that four dollar latte will become the treat, the present, and the experience. And that’s worth paying for.

There’s an often cited example of personal finance that revolves around the issue of a $4 latte. The typical theory is that if one was to stop buying a daily latte, and instead invest the money, they would be rich. The math and the logic behind that argument is generally hard to refute, but as it is so often with life, the “right” choice is not always the best choice.

While I am in pursuit of financial freedom, I am attempting to rearrange how I think and view money. I have already begun to prioritize, address my ignorance and my fears, and determine for myself what kind of money I want. Along that path I have begun to realize one of the purposes that money serves. For me, money opens up the possibility of experiences.

This issue arose just yesterday as some friends and I went on a cafe crawl across Vancouver. We started at my apartment, where I made breakfast for six people. From there, we went to six different cafes around Vancouver and the North Shore, tasting espresso, taking pictures, and driving around in the drizzling rain. This type of experience is not a cheap one, but I feel as though it is worth the money. Breakfast for six people is not the most efficient way of saving money for a wedding, but it was worth it. It created an experience that I will likely remember and cherish for years to come.

Money in and of itself is worthless. It’s only value is the value that we place on it, in exchange for other things. We give up our time and energy for money. We give up our money for food, a place to sleep, and sometimes, for good experiences. Sometimes an experience is worth the money. Sometimes, a latte is worth four dollars. So sure, if I choose to not buy a $4 latte, I’m four dollars closer to financial freedom, or retirement, or getting out of debt. But when I get there, will I be rich?