The exact details from the web site are as follows:

Extended Warranty Insurance & Purchase Protection

Pay with your BMO MasterCard and save the cost of purchasing optional extended warranty insurance on your next purchase.
Extended Warranty Insurance and Purchase Protection doubles the original manufacturer’s warranty period up to a maximum of one additional year². It also insures most items against or damage for 90 days from the date of purchase.

Call 1-877-704-0341 (toll-free in Canada & U.S.) or 519-741-0782 (call collect from outside Canada & U.S.) to find out more. Download Insurance Certificate (PDF) for full coverage details.

It certainly isn’t an extra few years or anything like that, but pretty awesome if you ask me.. and much better than that stupid Future Shop extended warranty.

How about other features on the card?

Zero Dollar Liability

Know you are protected should the unexpected happen. You will not be liable for most cases of unauthorized purchases made in person, over the phone or online. If your card is used without your authorization, you will not be liable if: you did not knowingly contribute to the unauthorized use; you used reasonable care to keep your card safe from loss, theft or misuse; you kept your PIN confidential and separate from your card; you notify us by telephone within 24 hours if you learn of the loss, theft or misuse of your card, or if you know or suspect that someone else knows your PIN; there has not been more than one unauthorized use of your card in the last 12 months, and your account is in good standing. If you don’t meet these criteria, you will be liable for all charges incurred in connection with the unauthorized use.

So are you still worried about buying that whatever online? Now having said that – I’ve gone through this process and I can tell you that it’s a pain in the ass and takes awhile to get the money back, but still – in my case it was $450 or so that was unauthorized.. refunded with not a lot of questions asked.

A few more:

Help on the Road

BMO pay-as-you-go RoadAssist is a Dominion Automobile Association (DAA) roadside service available 24/7 on almost any road in Canada and the U.S. You’re one phone call away from towing, jump-starts, fuel delivery or whatever emergency service you may need. All charges are conveniently billed to your BMO MasterCard. Call 1-866-731-4998 for more information.

Lost or Stolen Card Replacement and Emergency Funds

When travelling outside of Canada, if your card is lost or stolen, you can get a replacement card or up to $1,000 in emergency funds usually within two business days. Simply visit a financial institution that honours MasterCard, designated card-replacement centres and cash-advance locations ³.

Nice features to have, that’s for sure. For some reason or another I thought that my card also provided some sort of health insurance as well but maybe that’s done with something else. Looks like if I go on that golfing trip to the US I may have to purchase that NC short term health insurance which I thought I may already have been covered for. Perhaps that’s with my home insurance.. it sure would be nice to know eh?

When it actually comes to Pet Insurance there are MANY choices to choose from. I went with PC Financial (who knew they did Pet Insurance eh?) and the process was easy and super fast. I chose the ‘Value Plan’ just to get something for them in case of an accident or common illness which it covers. That said, I may up the coverage soon as the value plan offers a ‘lifetime’ cap on coverage.. which isn’t great if one of my hounds get seriously ill for the rest of their life – but on the other hand it’s only $13 a month (per dog). That’s really reasonable as far as I’m concerned, but that said.. I may opt for the larger package soon as soon as Hunter’s all fixed up just to ensure that they’re properly covered for anything going ahead.

Another thing that I may do soon is call my own Insurance company (I presently use Cooke) to find out if they offer Pet Insurance .. and I may do some looking/shopping around to make sure that my current rates are the best ones available. Hell if even I was to save something small like $25 a month.. that’s both pets insurance costs!

I’ll keep you posted.

• save 10% of your paychecks, and do it automatically (so you don’t have to do anything)
• growth + saving + time = wealthy (don’t try to get rich overnight or in a year.. it takes time for compounding to work)
• pay yourself first – this one is actuallysimilar to the first bullet, but it’s just pointed out often that it’s important to save first.. pay bills after (odd.. but true)
• pay off debts and stop carrying a balance with your credit card

Anyhow I’m sure there are more that I’m missing, but those are the main themes I see throughout the books. I just finished two books, the first being Pay It Down!: Debt-Free on $10 a Day by Jean Chatzky and truthfully I thought the book was pretty boring. It really didn’t really advise on what to DO with what you’re saving and spent a lot of time talking about credit collections and how to avoid them. Also how to prioritize which bills get paid first, etc. Again, it was an easy read.. but you can pretty much guess from the front page what most of the book is going to be like. “Save $10 a day – Invest it.. be rich”.. yes yes.. we know. The second book which I just finished reading today was called The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich by David Bach. I can tell that I liked this one, as I read it a lot quicker than the previous book. It read a lot like The Wealthy Barber in terms of easy to follow and how it was structured.

Truthfully I enjoyed this book, I think that it’s a lot more relevant (likely a lot newer) to todays society as we tend to utilize things like online banking, bill paying, automatic deposits, etc. Without going too much into it, David writes to also save 10% of your gross salary, and automatically put it into an RRSP. Once there, put it in mutual funds, or something that will generally gain 10% a year. I most enjoyed the automatic part about this book as I find it relevant. You see, as it stands right now I take 10% of my paycheck and it goes into my work stock. They are also nice enough to match a certain percentage, so right there, I’m already gaining the percentage that they give me (even though their contribution is taxed). But, the book I found very relevant to me.. since I already have an automatic savings or deposit system going, I could just concentrate on the parts of the book in which it tells you where to put it and what to do with it.

Certainly an enjoyable read and again, but I’d have to say that it still ranks below ‘the Wealthy Barber’ in terms of my favorites.

The Chicago Tribune says that when 17-year-old Brianna Rice was diagnosed with celiac disease in February — she had insurance. Her insurance company, however, has rescinded that coverage because her parents allegdly lied on her application — by neglecting to mention her troubling medical history of dizziness, elevated cholesterol levels, ongoing fatigue and a persistent cough.

The girl’s father says that these symptoms were cherry-picked from various doctor visits.

Dale Rice said the insurance company cherry-picked from various doctors’ visits, and that none of his daughter’s health problems were ongoing. He attributed the dizziness to dehydration, the fatigue to his daughter staying up late surfing the Web, the elevated cholesterol to an inaccurate test, and said the cough is now gone.

The rescission has left the family with over $20,000 in unpaid medical bills racked up when they thought they had coverage. The next step for them is bankruptcy.

We are livid,” said Dale Rice, who, along with his wife, is out of work. “When a private insurer gets legitimate claims and seeks to find excuses not to pay them, they are clearly demonstrating morally and ethically bankrupt behavior.”

The company, American Community Mutual Insurance, (advertising slogan:”People who care. Policies that protect”) disagrees.

“The coverage you applied for would not have been issued for Brianna if we had known this medical history at the time of application,” said a letter announcing the rescission. The insurance company is within the law, and the practice of rescinding coverage on individuals who were obviously not intentionally attempting to defraud the company by leaving out relevant medical history is standard, if sleazy.

Firm cancels health insurance coverage for girl, 17, after celiac disease diagnosis [Chicago Tribune]

Well, in the book.. it tells me basically that if I don’t have any dependents.. take out mortgage insurance.. and that will be enough for me. It really is a matter of your own personal circumstances as there are MANY MANY different living situations now.

The way I look at it, if I were to suddenly kick the bucket.. I would like to know that my mortgage is paid off, I mean.. really.. whomever is living in my house at the time (Liz and the beagles and my roommate!) can basically keep on going the way they are.. But really, other than that, I really don’t need much.. funeral costs perhaps?

Luckily for me, my folks purchased a simple $10,000 life insurance policy WAYY back when I was born which costs me the princely sum of about $8.19 a month and pays me dividends every so often as well. I really don’t know much about it, and I really have to make it a priority once I get some time. Cuz like I say, everyone is different… if I had kids and a wife whom didn’t work, I would have to have a lot more life insurance to make sure that life went on just as I would hope it would if I were to die. Yes, it sounds morbid.. and yes, I’m extremely young to worry about things like this, blah blah blah.. Uh huh.. right. If I know once thing, it’s that it’s never too early to learn ANYTHING.. and the more I know about these things, the better prepared I will be.

The other thing is, with all of the banks, and even online sites offering affordable health insurance nowadays, why not make yourself informed?

I will be doing just that in the near future.. so stay tuned for a post on my life/health etc.. insurance requirements and needs.. Hmm.. that should start a lively discussion.