A new update on Aeroplan for the five million of us
Canadians who are in the program. It turns out that your points won’t likely
depreciate in value, and you won’t need to have them all cashed out next year.
The re-purchase of Aeroplan was finalized yesterday.
$450 million price and assuming the ($1.9 billion) points liability the (outstanding
points IF they’re all claimed…and less than 70% will be, according to
Consumer Report studies). But Air Canada received $622 million from TD and
another $308 million for future points. CIBC also has a card that gives you
Aeroplan miles, so they kicked in $200 million and another $92 million for
future points. Right now, they’re still negotiating with Amex to continue with
Aeroplan.
So Air Canada paid $450 million and received over
$1.2 billion. As of the purchase date, they got the whole company AND made $772
yesterday. There’ll now be a lot of competition with PC Optimum and Esso Extra points for your business. Those
two are almost immediate gratification points. A month after I signed up for
Esso Extra I had a free carwash already. Aeroplan miles are more dream rewards
for the long term in hoping there’ll be enough points someday way down the road
for a trip to Europe.
Right after last Wednesday’s segment, the Dow
dropped 660 points and this time it wasn’t President Trump’s fault, but ours.
It was started by Apple announcing that iPhone sales were way down. Yesterday,
Samsung announced the same thing with a 22% drop in sales.
In the U.S., as we discussed last year, there are
no more two or three-year locked-in plans with a so-called free phone. You need
to pay for the phone and then get a month-to-month plan. It’s increased
customer satisfaction with carriers a ton and reduces your cell bill by a lot.
No more being locked in for two or three years and having the almost spit on
you when it comes to customer service. However, if you need to buy your phone
and can’t pretend it’s ‘free’ any longer, you’ll shop around more ,and will
keep your old phone an extra year or two. That’s why Apple and Samsung stock
has been way down, due to less sales volume. Apple was a trillion dollar
company last fall – now they’re down 40% in stock values.
It’s also why Apple started discounting the price
of their phones last month! If you can’t pretend it’s ‘free,’ a thousand dollar
phone is quite the shock. You can also now get an Android for under $300 and
apparently the Nokia 7-1 is really inexpensive and a great phone! That trend
will continue with better phones at a much lower price, and the no-contract plans
will come to Canada sometime soon – so don’t be stuck in a new two or three
year contract. And avoid the big marketing starting soon on 5 G phones. It’s a
much faster network – way faster than your home internet. But it’ll be three
years before you’ll actually have the network to use it.
Update from first January segment to try some
simply your life and get rid of 100 things:
I tried the Japanese method of decluttering where
you hold something in your hands and if it doesn’t bring you joy, you throw it
away. So far, I’ve thrown out all vegetables, my Amex bill, the scale and a
mirror!
George Boelcke – Money Tools & Rules book –
yourmoneybook.com
