Trying for Freedom 55 ... in 10 years

[mind_business]

PA, thanks for all your suggestions. Your posts / progress have been very inspiring since I started reading CMF. I'll have to check out the library to see if I can download books onto my iPad.

FC, you're lucky if you were able to get things under control in your 30's. This will give you a significant advantage when generating savings. Thanks for your interesting comments.

[Plugging Along]

Sorry if I missed it. Who are you backing with?

I think you're doing fine and will be interested to see how your journey unfolds.

[mind_business]

PA, I'm banking with RBC. They've been alright over the years, and this Bank Manager seems to want to work with me. I just hope he gets back to me first, before I have to call him back. That would annoy me. For branches, customer service must be priority #1.

[Plugging Along]

Good luck and keep a firm stance on no fees. We moved to td, with the exception of the mortgage, and have been really happy.

[uptoolate]

Good luck with them. The Bank Manager definitely should be able to help you out. It is sad to see the days of personalized service disappearing. I do agree with you about dealing with a bricks and mortar bank. At least there one has the chance to have a relationship with people face-to-face. That said, managers have less and less autonomy these days and even if they waive fees, they will often have to go in and do it every 3 months to yearly depending on the account. Definitely don't give up as eventually you will probably win out, especially if you have been a good customer for a long time. It never hurts to gently remind them of this, regardless of the size of your accounts. It's not the manager's money after all and I bet the banks themselves still like to give the impression that are serving their customers.

I might also suggest that you get the managers e-mail and use it rather than phone. E-mail leaves a reminder for them. If the manager is ultimately able to fix things then a thank you e-mail and even a quick snail mail note to the bank can help to ensure that you get more help in the future.

Good luck. Hope it all works out.

[mind_business]

Well so far I'm unimpressed. Here's my progress so far:

- Thursday morning 8:30am, left a voice message with the Branch Manager to give me a call back. I outlined the issue on the message so he could do a bit of research into how much business we do with their bank before calling me back. I noted that his voice message indicated he will return calls within 2 hours. He starts work at 9:30, so I woud have assumed I would get a call back by 11:30.

- Received a call back from him at 2pm. I re-stated my request. He of course tried to suggest I down-grade my account to their lowest serviced account (ie: only 15 debits free). I reminded him to review my account activity to help him make the appropriate suggestions. I of course told him I would not accept a downgrade. I also reminded him of all the revenue I'm providing their bank (I have a Credit Card with them, TFSA's - $2500 per month, use their discount brokerage account, bank account, etc). He indicated that he'll come up with something to make things right for the time I had a mortgage and still was paying a bank fee that should have been waived. He also mentioned that he would see what he could do to 'reduce' our current bank fees going forward. I told him that's fine, but that I'm still looking for a $0 banking fee and had other options available to me. He promised to give me a call the next day with his offer.

- Friday: No return phone call, no message left. Hmmm.

- Saturday: researching different options. Not sure I like ING simply because I like the option of dealing with a physical bank location once in a while. Their ATM finder suggests 3 Credit Union locations in the city. Not enough, or convenient. I might have to look at only the traditional banks.

Well he phoned back today. Explained yesterday was busy due to being understaffed. In the end, he's going to give me 6 months of no-fee banking, keeping my current type of account. I was OK with this in the short term as it gives me a bit more time to review my options ... which I will. In the long term, I will not pay $15 per month for banking.

With the amount of revenue they're already making off us, I refuse to pay a fee basically giving them access to my money and my business. He did mention that he would like me to phone him before the 6 months is over to let him know if I am leaning towards going with a different bank. Sounds like he would be willing to keep working with me. I see this as a good sign, however I don't want to have these negotiations every 6 months. I need to find a long term solution.

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Keep in mind that I still want to have my money with a physical bank, not one where I have to travel to Toronto to go into the bank.

[Spudd]

TD waives the fees if you keep a minimum balance. For the top of the line account the minimum balance is $5000, but there are some lower ones with lower minimum balances. I did the math on the interest I'd lose by having the money in TD vs ING and decided it was worth it. With the $5000 level (select service) you also get a free safety deposit box and some other features.

[londoncalling]

Londoncalling, do you have a diary or blog started. Since our situation is so similar, I wouldn't mind following your progress.

10-15 years of reno is daunting. If all goes to plan, I should have ours completed in about 3 years. We've typically spent about $3-5000 per year on home renos over the last few years. Prior to that, we were spending around $1-2000 per year.

No diary or blog as of yet. My wife and I haven't really made a strict budget. For the time being we use the pay yourself first method for reconciling debt and building retirement savings. I have been doing a net worth statement for myself for over a year. That seems to be enough to nudge me in the right direction for the time being. We currently put about $5k into renos a year and will continue to do so for quite awhile. Our house was built in the 50s had only one owner prior to us and had probably not seen any money since the late 70s early 80s. We easily have enough in our emergency fund to replace the furnace if need be which would be the only major thing to replace out of necessity. The rest we will plug away at over time. Both our jobs are quite secure but there is always the possibility. As a result we are adding to our emergency fund each month and have lots of available credit which we hope to never touch. If I feel inspired this year I may start a spending journal. I am certain it would help to see it to find ways to tweak our financial path. I am glad I stumbled across this board as it has helped me to focus my attention on what is really important about finance. Look forward to following your journey. Others' success is an inspiration. Heck I may even call my bank next week

Cheers!

[uptoolate]

Good work on getting your bank fees waived. I would agree with you that he is very likely to waive them again when the 6 months is up. As I mentioned above, managers have much less autonomy than in years gone by and it is likely that he has to go in and reset it at 6 month intervals if you are under whatever the software set minimum balance is for no fees. It's the hassle of changing banks vs the annoyance of having to send them a reminder. My experience with TD has been the same. I do not keep the minimum balance so I have to remind them now and then. If I or the manager forgets then they will credit me the charge and reset it again. It is sometimes the same for my Visa card when the annual fee comes up.

I might have missed it but I didn't see any great suggestions about the dreaded cable bill. It says you are in SW Ontario and if you happen to be near Windsor you may decide that you could do with an HDTV antenna depending on your TV. You can check the web to see what stations you could get from where you are and ask some locals on line what you would need. Usually you will be limited to the 6 major networks plus TVO, PBS and a couple of other channels but once you make the initial outlay it is free forever. Costco had HD antennas for $120 in the States last time I looked but you can get them here in Canada as well. Just depends on how much TV you watch and what you watch. If you are in good reception area the picture you will get will be better than cable and you won't have to put up with the cable company hijacking things like the Super Bowl. I agree with the local library as a resource. They even have Blu-Rays now and the basic DVD selection is usually quite good.

Good work with the bank. Power to the people! Happy New Year!

[mind_business]

Previous Update - Dec 15, 2011.

Assets:
- $ 280,000 House [will update once every 6 months]
- $ 41,282 RRSP(s) [was $ 39,545]
- $ 6,453 TSFA (mine) [was $ 4,937]
- $ 6,453 TSFA (Wife’s) [was $ 4,937]
- $ 5,154 Investments Non-RRSP [was $ 4,764]
- $ 3,331 Cash [was $ 8,190]

- $ 212,220 DB Pension Value [will update once every 6 months]
$ 554,893 Total [was $ 555,594]

Liabilities:
- $ 259 Credit Card [was $ 3,425]