4056 = . ee aa lai arte c - 7 ae 2 z cn eee NM =| : - " Tncieasing numbeis of Canadians ho _ d ; eh Naturally you want to know ex- ~. getly how safe your money is going to be when you entrust it to a finan- cial institution, especially in view > .of some unpleasant surprises we’ ve pead'about in récent years. "Generally speaking, you can relax “now. The authorities are on the job -- on-your, behalf, but you should definitely satisfy yourself ‘that “you're protected before you hand _. - over hard-earned dollars. . "The Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. (CIDC) is the principal .. protective agency, It insures certain "deposits in member institutions. ~. "That includes all banks and all trust and loan companies. chartered federally. Provincially incor- porated trust and loan companies may apply for CDIC coverage in all _ provinces’ but Quebec, where ~~ provincially incorporated institu- . - tions are covered by the Quebec Deposit Insurance Board. ~~ In all about 125 federally-incor- porated institutions and some 37 in- -corporated in the provinces are CDIC members. ~- Onlydemand =. “deposits covered | 7 » Not all types of deposits are ~. covered. Specifically, only savings "and chequing accounts, moncy or- Timely tax tips _ In order to claim the education * amount for self, you may claim - courses at an institution certified by the Minister of Employment and ~. Immigration even if they are not at - the post-secondary level. However, “they. must furnish a person with, skills for, or improve a person's. -- skills in, an occupation. Most employes cannot claim: travel or other expenses. Travel to and from work is not an allowed deduction. oe ORS If your marital status for 1988 was single, separated, divorced or ' widowed or you were living com- mon-law, you may be able to claim the $5,000 "cquivalent-to-marricd amount” fot one of your depend- ents. ° ders, deposit receipis, guaranteed investment certificates and term deposits are protected and to qualify, deposits must be available on demand or within five years. -There’s no coverage of stocks, bonds, mortgages, mutual funds or foreign deposits. Each insured account is covered 10 a maximum of $60,000 and it's the same for eligible RRSPs and “ RRIFs. But you can increase coverage by spreading your moncy among several accounts, for in- stance $60,000 in your own name, $60,000 more in the name of your spouse, and $60,000 more in both a . joint accountand an RRSP. nS That’s it. If you need more coverage, you'll have to go to... another institution — not another ~~: branch of the same institution be- =~; cause the limits apply to the-entire organization, not to each branch in- dividually, Interest could limit coverage . Remember that the $60,000-per- account limit includes interest, so if accrued interest puts the total over © the top, the excess isn’t covered. You should also be aware that not all RRSPs and RRIFs are covered; insurance only applies to plans registered at insured institutions based on insured instruments. Soan RRSP containing mutual funds isn’t insured because mutual funds are notinsurable. Likewise, RRSPs - bought through a life insurance company aren’t insured because _ life companies themselves aren't eligible for CIDC protection. Exclusions must be shown On this basis, when a CDIC-in- sured institution takes your moncy for anuninsured investment, it must stamp the paperwork with a notice {o say so. But beware — this rule doesn't apply to companics that are only affiliated with an insured firm. You'll appreciate that this can cause potential confusion and misunderstanding becaus¢ such companies quite often have similar _ names and logos as their parent. . | | route; according to Statistics StatsCan report: -the losers in the middle-income _ ~~ would have:had less disposable in- are choosing the independence Canada. They're the self-employed —'one worker in séven for a total _ of 1,6000,000 in 1986, the last year for which figures are available. -"These.are highlights from a new Self-employment is more com- mon among men than women, In Canadians have less — to spend than in 1984 Most Canadian families have less to spend today than. they did in 1984, according to the Institute for. Research on Public Policy. The institute says they’ve ex- perienced an average drop of $310 in disposable income, with most of brackets. : It admits that all families with a gross income of more than $9,010 come without tax reform. But the study. group believes only two ‘groups are better off under the new set-up — the bottom 30 per cent of earners and the top 1 percent-—and Which of your deposits are safe, ‘and which are outin the cold? Other types of institutions such as credit unions, caisses, populaires - -and provincial co-operatives are _ regulated by the provinces. Each province has a corporation provid- . | 1986, 17 per cent ‘ofall male. ‘workers were self-employed,” against only 8 per.cent of women. _ But self-employment is growing faster among women than men. From 1986, self-employed women ‘increased 118 per cent, against an increase of only 39 per cent among men, Ol ‘The incidence of self-employ- ment increases with-age. in 1986, estimates the largest absolute gain ($3,570) was in the top bracket. only 6 per cent of workers aged 15 ‘to 24 were self-employed com- pared with almost half of all -- workers aged 6S andover, = Between 1975 and 1986, the largest gains in self-employment by industry were in business services, fishing and wapping, logging and. | ~ forestry, personal and household services, real estate operators, in- surance agents and wholesale trade. The self-employed work longer hours.than employees. In 1986, 45 per cent of self-employed men © usually worked 50 or more hours a - week, as did 20 per cent of women. Among employees, only. 10 per cent of males and 3 per cent of women worked as long. | @ income tax | @ bookkeeping @® resumes ® word processing - ‘ing deposit or stabilization protec- | res tiontomembers. For more information ‘on provincial deposit insurance and different stabilization funds, contact the government department . “responsible for regulating provincially in- corporated institutions. Or contact the -CDIC directly at Box 2340, Station D, 320 Queen Street West, Ottawa, Onl. KIP SWS Credit cards may all be created equal to the extent that they're all the same size and shape and all made of plastic. But that's about as far as equality, goes because cards are all over the map in interest rates _charged, annual fees, “grace” periods and any number of other differences. , Some 16,000,000 Canadians ‘carry at least one card and their total outstanding balances are well over $5 billion. - Cards fall into four main categories. There are the “bank cards” issued by chartered banks and other financial institutions; retail stores’ cards; those issued by gasoline retailers; and the “travel cards” which the issuers promote ~ primarily to business travellers. No common - ground The casts, terms and conditions "vary greatly among the huge range of cards available, Even cards with common names in one of the two most familiar groups — Visa and Mastercard — differ widely from one institution to another. For instance, annual fees for Visa ‘and Mastercard can range from zero to $12 a year, Not much dif- ference? True, ‘but you need to con- sider that starting point in conjunc- * All service confidential @ secreatrial services | -T REASONABLE | | RATES | J l Bus. Hrs. & a.m. to 4 p.m. ! I | (Calls answered untl 8 p.m.) L. . RELIABLE BUSINESS SERVICES -No. 6: 4554 Lazelle Ave., 635-9043 tion with the interest rate on unpaid balances — from a “low” of about 14 per cent to nearly 19 percent, all calculated daily. One bank has three different rates for different types of Visa transactions. Many — but not alt — bank cards also charge a per- transaction fee up to a monthly maximum. . State of grace Also bear in mind the “grace” period. That's to say consider when the meter startsrunning and intercst - starts to accumulate. Some cards allow a grace period of 21 days from the date of the transaction. Others allow 15 or 21 days, starting from the date of your monthly state- ment, = If you pay the total billed within the grace period, you can avoid in- terest altogether. But if you make, only a partial payment— no matter if it's almost everything owed — you're charged interest on the whole amount from Day One. Store cards up to 28.8% Incontrast, most department store cards have no annual fee. But they levy a whopping 28.8 per cent rate of interest, although not until 30 days after the date the monthly statcmentisissued. “ cardcosts _ vary dramatically — Most gasoline company cards run - up interest (or “delinquency char- ges”) at 24 per cent, starting 25 days after the date of the monthly state- ment. Most calculate interest on a daily basis too, rather than on the ~ month-end balance. The travel cards — American Ex- press, En Route and soon —charge _ hefty annual fees of anywhere up to $45 a year, or more for “prestige” ‘ecards offering VIP facilities and ex- * tended lines of credit. Interest can be anything up 10 30 per cent. Choose card with care So you can see the cost.of using cards of all typesis literally all over ihe map, Yet few people realize how preat — and costly — the dif- ferences between the various cards can be. . It makes good sense-to check care- fully just what you're gétting when you sign up for a card — and how much it’s going to cost, Then con- ~ sider factors like convenience and extra services and decide how — much these features are worth to you. Never assume that the: dif- ference between the costs of dif- ferent cards is too small to worry about because if you do you'll be wrong and can end up paying very much through tle nose, © * (THE MONEY SUPPLEMENT, PAGES * Canadians self-employed _ 7 - om rs . ‘ Topic tednadlineetinieattinhadinitattitentiesiimenmnnte