Here are some ways we can save money if we happen to live close to the US border like here in Vancouver. Groceries and gasoline is still fairly cheap in the States than in Canada so we can time our groceries and gas trips together. That way we can get cheap milk and eggs, plus a discount to fill up our vehicle. Cross border shopping is fun (but some restrictions apply.)
Another way to make good use of the near parity dollar is to buy goods through online merchants like Amazon, Ebay, Newegg, e-hobby businesses, and many others online stores. Online retailers who ship worldwide will often price their goods in USD, and because we are pretty much at parity right now, this is the perfect time to buy toys, gadgets, clothes, dvds, or anything else we’ve had our eyes on. We can even buy collectibles which won’t lose their value over time and just sell it one day when the USD is worth more.
Buying US equity is another strategy. We can take some CAD today, turn it into the equivalent USD, buy some shares of Google for example, and just wait. After some time when the exchange rates move closer to their historical mean, we can sell those shares, convert the cash back into CAD and walk away with a profit, even if the share price didn’t go up. I’d recommend doing this in a TFSA to keep things simple (no need to worry about foreign taxes or capital gains.)
