Author Archives: BetCrooks

How To Save Big Bucks on Buying Gifts for Birthday Parties

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If you are a parent, you probably are responsible for buying 3-5 birthday presents per year per child for your child’s friends’ birthdays. It’s expensive and time consuming. You can save time and money by buying some of the gifts in advance, specifically during the Thanksgiving to Christmas sales.

Written: 2012
Reviewed: 2023

Buy Presents that Most Children Enjoy

Obviously buying trendy, hot toys in advance is risky. Today’s Squishmallows are yesterday’s Silly Bandz are last century’s Pet Rocks. But it should be the birthday child’s family that provides those last-minute-must-have gifts anyway. If your child is just a friend attending a party, any respectable gift is good enough.

Toys that most children enjoy include the classics like Lego. Lego has the added advantage that it can be reassembled in different ways. In fact, to build some really cool Lego structures and habitats you need a ton of pieces.

Buy Them at Deep Discounts
And guess what? Lego goes on sale, sometimes deeply on sale, for the November and December sales.

A quick scan of the online sales sites for ToysRUs and Walmart shows sets on for 25-40% off regular price. Sometimes even very expensive sets are on 20% off for a few weeks in late October and early November.

Other toys that go on deep discount at this time of year as lures to get you into the store include Barbie dolls. If you have a daughter of a certain age, her friends are probably going to find a Barbie acceptable. You can improve the odds of it being liked by choosing a doll that allows the owner to DO something. For example, there are dolls that come with little dog grooming sets, horses, doctor, astronaut or artist sets. Then even if the child isn’t that keen on the doll, they at least have small toys to use while playing with their favourite stuffed animal.

Keep an eye on ads and flyers for stores that stock a few toys at very low prices to draw traffic. For instance, Canadian Tire often brings in toys and sells them at 30-50% off retail.

Look for Year End Clearances
Also, since you want the toys for the following year, look for year-end clearances from stores that don’t want extra stock sitting around. You can sometimes get good toys for 80% off at stores that don’t stock toys year-round. Canadian Tire, again, often has big sales after December 25. So do smaller Walmart stores.

Think Beyond the Toy Bin
Other good buy ahead and have on hand birthday present ideas include the unexpected:

  • Cool flashlights
  • Super soft beach towels
  • Cozy sleeping bags
  • Compasses
  • MultiTools
  • Real cooking tools

(The compasses and multiTools are particularly good for Spy Kids.)

Many of these items also come on sale for the holiday rush. Put yourself in a child’s mind and flip through the flyers thinking, “what if….”

Then go out and get the coolest gifts for the lowest cost.

Join In
Have you discovered a great holiday bargain that can be bought ahead for later birthdays? What’s your favourite unexpected gift to give or receive? Please share your experiences with a comment.

Is There a 90 Day Holding Period for the High Interest Savings Accounts Offered by BMO InvestorLine?

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When I first started investigating high interest savings account options with BMO InvestorLine I believed that they were sold as mutual funds. That made me wonder: is there a 90 day holding period for the HISAs offered by InvestorLine?

Written: 2012
Reviewed: 2023
Revised: 2023

Mutual Funds Require a Minimum Holding Period of 90 Days…
The Mutual Fund Order Entry screen includes a statement that “All mutual fund orders are subject to BMO InvestorLine Investment Policies and Minimums or third party fund company minimums.” When you read the 2022 Commission and Fee Schedule it clearly states:

“Early Redemption Fee: Exempting Money Market and TBill funds and back load (DSC) funds, an early redemption fee of 1%, subject to a minimum of $43 ($35 for electronic orders) will be charged for funds held for less than 90 days. Switch orders are subject to the same early redemption fee.”

…But Are High Interest Savings Accounts Mutual Funds?
I decided to ask BMO InvestorLine directly to clarify this using their MyLink internal email system. The reply surprised me.

“High Interest Savings accounts are not mutual funds.

“They bear variable interest rates and can be redeemed any time. There is no lock in period like GIC and no need to keep it for 90 days to avoid being charged Early Redemption Fee of $35 for redeeming it like any mutual fund trade.

“We process the trades of these High Interest Savings products through mutual fund trade platform, but they are not mutual funds.

“Unlike mutual funds, they are guaranteed by CDIC up to $100,000.”

(On the High Interest Savings Account page, BMO links to CDIC insurance information.)

I think that they need to update their system to create a new Order Entry screen for these accounts, or they need to update their Investment Policies and Minimums screen to include High Interest Savings Accounts along with Money Market funds and TBill funds as being exempt from a holding period.

High Interest Savings Accounts are Not Subject to a 90-day Minimum Holding Period

So the verdict is that the high interest savings accounts offered by BMO InvestorLine are not subject to a 90-day holding period.

This is good news.

Related Reading

Join In
Have you purchased a high interest savings account from InvestorLine? Has it worked well for you? Please share your experiences with a comment.