Fuel is on its way up and I wanted to share my strategies to save on this necessity. Not only will it take the pinch out of the pumps but it’ll get your portfolio going. Vroom vroom!
1. Buy a car that is fuel efficient – this will be more important as fuel breaks $100 a barrel this year. I love cars but I also love my money so I got the most fuel efficient but performance driven car. I have an Audi A5 but with the turbo engine instead of the V6. Not only is it a driver’s car but I get really good fuel economy. That is smart for my pocket book and the environment.
2. Get a fuel cash back card and use it. There are many cards on the market. I use the BMO Mastercard and fill up at Shell getting 1.5% back on my fuel. Then I pay cash when I’m in the US because you save .10 a gallon. That is around $1.50 a fill up or $78 a year.
3. Find a cheap gas station a little out of the way and make a route to hit it once a week to fuel up. In Toronto my place is the Shell on Dupont between Lansdowne and Dufferin. It’s always $0.05 a litre cheaper and I get my cash back when I use my BMO Mastercard. In Silver Lake I use the stations at Melrose and Vermont. They are always $0.10- $0.20 cheaper a gallon than anywhere else in Hollywood.
4. Buy a basket of energy trusts and collect the dividends – not only will you get the stream of income, most of the time monthly, from the royalty or energy trusts you will get all of the upside. I have 30% of my portfolio in oil or gas stocks and as oil increases in price, it will offset the increase in gas prices. Oil is only going up from here until we move to a new resource – and I can’t see that happening for a good 20 or more years.
5. Walk or use transit whenever possible. It’s good for your body and wallet. You want to keep both firm and fully packed, right?!
Love your money by being smart with oil stocks and it’ll love you back with free gas and a pumped up nest egg,
Dave
