Financial Crooks

The other day (in 2014) I realized one of my children needed boots again to cope with the long trudge to school in the pouring rain. (Yes, some kids DO still have to walk to school. They have rotten parents, from what I’m told.) The last pair were Cougars which had lasted well and had fit comfortably. So while we were at “the Mall” we looked at Sears to see what they had this time. Unfortunately, it appears Sears no longer stocks Cougars (especially since now, in 2017 Sears is bankrupt). So when we were home, I went online to find out who sells Cougars. The result was that I ended up successfully using Great Canadian Rebates again and saving 5% off my purchase price from SoftMoc.

Who Sells Cougars In Canada?

I quickly discovered that SoftMoc sells Cougar boots in Canada. The only downside was that the boots we wanted to buy are not carried at the SoftMoc stores. Instead they have to be ordered online.

Always Check the Online Return Policy Before Buying

Children’s feet don’t stay the same size from year to year which makes it tricky to buy footwear without trying it on. So I was uneasy about ordering boots online from SoftMoc.

When I checked the details of their Return Policy, however, I calmed down. I could return boots ordered online that didn’t fit to any store location for a full refund.

Always Check the Details for Free Shipping Before Buying Online Too

The other qualm was the infamous shipping fees. Fortunately, SoftMoc offers free shipping to most of southern Canada on reasonably priced goods.

As a bonus, I could also get the order delivered to my nearest SoftMoc store. That meant I wouldn’t have to worry about being available when the courier arrived with the order. (Our workplaces do NOT like to receive personal mail or parcels.) It also meant that if the boots didn’t fit, they could be “returned” immediately at the store with no delay or dispute that they had been worn or damaged.

At that point, I nearly hit the Buy button. But then I thought: I wonder if I can get a discount or cash back on these?

Never Buy Online Before You Check If Great Canadian Rebates Has a Cash-back Reward for Your Order

So I signed in to my Great Canadian Rebates account.

Sure enough, they deal with SoftMoc! In fact, at that time they were offering a 5% rebate on any online purchases made there. All I had to do was start shopping by selecting SoftMoc from the drop-down list of stores under the Merchant heading at the top of the page.

UPDATE: Unfortunately in November 2017, SoftMoc doesn’t currently have a relationship with Great Canadian Rebates. Keep checking though as things often change.

(If you’d like to join Great Canadian Rebates, please consider using my referral link. https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/Register/171462/
You’ll be enrolled the same as if you join any other way, but I will get a reward if you shop using their website. It won’t cost you anything and it would be greatly appreciated by me. Thanks to some other kind readers who joined this way, one of my children got the new Vet Volunteers book for free using my rewards.)

So I went to the SoftMoc website from the link on my Great Canadian Rebates page (after signing in) and placed my order.

The order was shipped, as promised within one business day.

I received a phone call from the SoftMoc store telling me my order was in even before I received the confirmation emails that my order had shipped.

We went to the store after school and to my amazement, the boots fit.

That was almost too easy. (I’m sure any parent who has driven their child from store to store desperately trying to find foot wear that fits, and that the child can stand the colours of, will agree this was a major win.)

How Would I Rate the SoftMoc Online Shopping Experience

For my test, the entire process went very well. I will shop from their website again in the future.

Did I Get My Money from Great Canadian Rebates?

Well, I will. They have a policy of paying out after 45 days. This avoids (most) problems with people returning goods after they have paid out the cash back reward.

I can see the correct amount is waiting in my GCR account. I have received other payments correctly.

Will I Use Great Canadian Rebates Again?

Yes.

I have used them in the past and it works. For one extra step for online shopping, I have often saved 2-5% off my bill. Given that my savings account (except for the promotional rate money at Tangerine and PC Financial) is usually only earning 1.3%, this seems like a good saving.

In fact, I just signed in to Great Canadian Rebates and used their link to go to Walmart.ca to buy some Hallowe’en handouts, laundry soap, and cornstarch. All of these were on sale and the bonus is that I won’t have to waste any gasoline driving to buy them in person. Plus they have a promotional reward rate of 4% this week (mid-October 2014.)

UPDATE: In July 2016, Walmart is not a store I can shop at through Great Canadian Rebates but I’m hoping they will return again in the future.

If You Want to Sign Up for Great Canadian Rebates

I wrote an earlier article about how to sign up for Great Canadian Rebates. Whether you choose to use my link and also earn me some rewards is up to you. (Thank you if you do, though!) Even if you don’t, though, consider using this method to save a bit of money on a purchase. If you receive your rebates as amazon.ca certificates you can get paid quickly.

The link that lets you join and gives me a bonus is:
https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/Register/171462/
then click on the Not a Member Join Up Here link at the top right side of the screen.

Otherwise, just type the greatcanadianrebates address in your browser to get there with no connection to me.

NOTE: I am never told who used my link, so I won’t be able to thank you personally. They want to keep your identity 100% private.

Related Reading

Join In
Do you shop through any websites that give you a rebate or reward in addition to that offered by the store itself? Please share your insights with a comment.

Most people invest in the stock market to make money. I invest in it very reluctantly because I am afraid to lose money. However with fixed income investments returning very low returns recently, I have put some money into individual stocks most of which I purchased in 2011 and 2012. I picked stocks based on some professional advice which are considered “defensive.” They don’t have much potential to grow but they are expected to not drop as much during a correction as the overall market. Now in fall 2014 we’re experiencing our first real market correction since my purchases so I thought it was time to check how my defensive stocks are doing during this down turn.

Why Would I Invest in Defensive Stocks Instead of a Broad Market Index?

I actually do have money invested in some “buy the entire stock market” index ETFs. Most of that money is invested through corporate defined contribution pension plans.

I have savings, too, though, which are not necessarily intended for my retirement or even for the long term. With luck, they will stay invested for more than 7 years but if our lives take any unexpected turns they may be needed before then.

This portfolio is NOT intended to produce the same gains as, say, the TSX S&P ETF XIC. By trying to reduce losses I have agreed that I will NOT get the huge positive capital gains that an index like XIC can achieve. My goal is to get a slightly better return than GICs from dividends while not expecting to get much, if any, capital gain but hopefully to also experience little if any capital loss. (Obviously, I’ll experience a large capital loss if there is a major market collapse and I sell my stocks.)

This is NOT a portfolio for someone looking to end up with the most toys before they die. It is my personal choice because I am extremely risk averse but I’m also finding GIC returns unacceptably low at this time.

Yes, I know dividend stocks capital values may plummet as interest rates rise. I will have to accept whatever yield I chose when I bought the stock as potentially my maximum lifetime yield (unless there are dividend increases.) I may not ever be able to sell my dividend stocks to recover my capital. It’s like a type of annuity, though, where I might be able to retrieve some of my capital if I give up the income stream.

Anyway, as I said at the outset, I’m just curious whether they are behaving “defensively” during this market slump or not.

A Review of Some Defensive Stocks Performance During a Market Slump

This is a partial list of some of the defensive stocks I have invested in. For those who are interested, no, it does not actually only show the ones that are faring well: the others are faring the same or better. I’m just not sure whether I would be breaking any rules if I shared the entire portfolio online, so I’m not.

This chart compares prices at the close on October 14, 2014 versus on September 3 2014 when TSX was in the 15 600 range.

Company and Symbol	Price at the close on 2014 10 14	Price at the close on 2014 09 03	Percentage change
Bell BCE	47.74	45.27	up 5.5%
Bank of Nova Scotia BNS	67.22	66.30	up 1.4%
Canadian Utilities CU	38.75	39.59	down 2.1%
Enbridge ENB	48.63	55.20	down 11.9% (more than the market)
Fortis FTS	34.57	33.95	up 1.8%
KBro Linen KBL	39.76	39.55	up 0.5%

Those changes don’t mean much, though without a comparison to how the TSX is doing. So I took a look at both the TSX composite and an ETF, XIC.

Company and Symbol	Price at the close on 2014 10 14	Price at the close on 2014 09 03	Percentage change
TSX	14 036.68	15 657.60	down 10.4%

If I had invested $1000 in each stock on September 3 2014, the portfolio would now be worth $5951, which is about a 0.8 % loss. (Not including dividends and distributions)

If I had invested $6000 in XIC on September 3 2014, the portfolio would now be worth $5365 which is about a 10.6% loss. (not including dividends and distributions)

The Outcome of the Defensive Portfolio

So the portfolio is doing its job of making me happy by not losing as quickly as the TSX.

And the steady stream of dividend income has been significantly higher than what I could get from investing in GICs. (Please note that I have not replaced my GIC investing with this portfolio: I have a portion in these stocks and a larger portion in GICs for security.)

Do I Recommend Defensive Stock Picking for Others?

No.

I’m not a financial planner, a financial analyst, or a financial advisor.

I’m just a taxpayer who is writing about what we do with our money. For us, this is a reasonable way to invest. For others, it may be the worst thing they could do short of trying to skydive without a parachute.

You must find your own best investing plan. You may want to talk to a real professional for ideas: Internet websites like this one are only supposed to give you glimpses into other people’s money matters from which you can glean ideas to analyze and (usually) discard as inapplicable.