I just found the easiest way ever to save $23.72 per month. All it takes is cancelling Netflix NFLX-Q.
We signed up for Netflix in June 2011 and have been steady subscribers since then. Highlights along the way include Formula 1: Drive to Survive, Tour de France: Unchained, The Last Dance, Mindhunter, Call My Agent and The Last Kingdom. Also, the odd Seinfeld rerun.
Over the years, we signed up for other streaming services in addition to Netflix. A lesson we’ve learned is that more feels like less with streaming. The more channels you watch, the greater the sense that each is running out of great content.
Now, we have a new approach to streaming. We’re going to subscribe to a select few services and then shuffle the deck once we’ve watched what interests us. It’s called churning and it’s growing in popularity as a way to lower costs and maximize value in streaming. In the U.S. market, 5.5 per cent of premium streaming subs were cancelled last December.
Churning is a smart response to the proliferation of streaming services in recent years. It makes little sense to subscribe to them all because of the expense and limited number of worthwhile shows on each channel. Instead, you drain the best content on a couple of services and move on to the next.
Netflix is hip to churning. As I was unsubscribing, I was offered the option of a one-month pause. I was also shown a message saying I could restart our account within 10 months and retain all our old settings.
I put a note in my calendar to consider doing this in early 2025.
Life in cottage country
Globe reporter Salmaan Farooqui is writing about the state of cottage country since the pandemic, remote working, interest rate increases, and now a change in capital gains taxes have changed life these regions. Are you considering moving as a result of changing taxes or to get back into an office? Is selling difficult at this time? Are you in the city and looking to move to cottage country because of the current market?
If you have a story to tell about life in cottage country today, Salmaan wants to hear it. Reach out to him at sfarooqui@globeandmail.com.
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Rob’s personal finance reading list
Concerts, trucks and tacos
A list of things that used to be affordable for the masses, but now cost too much for many people to enjoy.
Capital gains, common sense
Tax and financial planning experts on how to sort through the decision of whether to sell an asset ahead of the June 25 introduction of new taxation rules for capital gains.
Price check in the EV aisle
Competition among producers of electric vehicles is heating up, and some players are expected to fall away. As I read this, EV buyers should expect keener price competition and be cautious about buying from smaller companies that may not last.
How to save and invest as a renter
Yes, mortgages are a forced savings tool that helps homeowners build wealth through home equity. But renters can build comparable assets if they invest diligently and use tax-sheltered accounts as much as possible.
Ask Rob
Q: For seniors who own a cottage as well as a home what is the new capital gains tax change implications?
A: Here’s a column I just wrote on this topic.
Do you have a question for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can't answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length and clarity.
Tools and guides
All about credit card chargebacks, where a client requests the reversal of a charge on a credit card. You might request a chargeback in the case of fraud or goods that were not delivered.
In the social sphere
Social Media: Financial resources for parents expecting a baby.
Watch: Jessica Moorhouse on some financial spring cleaning she’s doing.
Money-Free Zone: New Brunswick’s Jon McKiel has a new album called Hex and it offers some of the freshest, most original music I’ve heard in a while. There are bits of everything here – electronica, dreamy lo-fi soul and jangly guitars. A nice entry into the album is Concrete Sea, a cover of a Terry Jacks song. Jacks had a moment in the 1970s with a couple of big hits, including Where Evil Goes with The Poppy Family. I can remember hearing that song played while riding the Polar Express at the CNE – Canadian National Exhibition – in Toronto when I was a kid.
More PF from the Globe
- Some interest rates for investors have risen lately – here’s how to take advantage
- How to calculate a capital gain on your cottage or investment property – and very likely save money on taxes
- If we’re angry about high prices, why do we let the investment industry get off easy?
- Loblaw’s façade of benevolence has fully cracked
Rob Carrick