Ask Sherry: Recycling and Upcycling Saris, ETFs and Life Insurance

You asked, and I am answering every Friday once I have enough questions!

You can ask any question using the form here.

What are your views on the whole BTID concept? (where you buy term insurance and invest the difference)

I think it’s ridiculous. If you want to invest, invest your money. Why buy term insurance and then invest the difference? If you want to buy life insurance, buy life insurance. And you should only need life insurance if you have dependents who need your income, so if you’re a breadwinner, have a mortgage/debts etc.

I recently came into a ton of my mom’s old silk saris and I am curious if you have any ideas on outfits I could get tailored out of them – like tunics or dresses or other things I’m not even sure of. Do you have any ideas? And – how much do you think it would cost? I live in Ottawa for reference 🙂

You could do lots of things with old silk saris. If you don’t want to make accessories like scarves or things out of them, you could do things like make wrap dresses, tunics, wrap skirts…

Anything that could be done as a wrap, with minimal cutting and so on. I wouldn’t know how much it costs. You’d have to ask around depending on the design and how complicated it is.

You could also mix and match the saris up to do pattern/colour matching to make the yardage longer, or do a dress out of one whole sari, and then use another sari as the trim around the edges, for a belt, etc.

Are you into the YouTube channel ParisianVibe ? I also wanted to ask you, do you follow any Parisian channels or Instagram accounts?

No, I don’t.

Also do you follow any travel blogs?

Nope.

And are you into churning credit cards? Do you do that for rewards? Thanks.

I have only done it once or twice, when the deals were good, like 10% back on everything. I would spend up to the $2000 limit, then close it before I have to pay the annual fee. I do it for the money, but it has to be a good deal, not for things like points or airmiles. I want cash or cash back.

Hi Sherry, is there a reason why do you only buy ETFs from VANGUARD? How does Vanguard compare to comparable ETFs from Blackrock, Horizon, TD, BMO etc?

Read:

• Comparing Canadian banks and institutions
• TD e-series versus Vanguard versus iShares

I haven’t compared the funds with any other ETFs from BlackRock, etc.

I was called a he by an employer and she used the phrase you americans I made a complaint about a few problems in my work environment and reported my boss hr most of talked to her due to certain things I mentioned in the letter … my boss called me sensitive and told me I need to ignore certain things I told her why would I do that…. I’m thinking to myself I’m suppose to come to you for anything problems… what’s my next step what should I do

What do you think you need to do?

Still have a burning question?

You can ask any question using the form here and all of my previous Ask Sherry posts are here.