Tag Archives: RRSPs

Try to do a dry-run on your taxes today before RRSP contribution deadline passes

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Wealthy Nest EggBy Jonathan Chevreau

As every red-blooded Canadian investor surely must know by now, today is the last day to make an RRSP contribution for the 2014 tax year.

As I wrote for Motley Fool Canada/MSN Money in two pieces in February (one on RRSPs, the other on the looming tax-filing deadline), today (or better yet the weekend just passed) would be a good time to at least do a preliminary dry run on your taxes.

Why? If you’re a salaried employee, you should by now have received your T-4 slip, which means if you enter the slip into your tax program, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how much tax you’ve already paid and how much you may yet need to pay.

T-4s are here; time to stop procrastinating

Sure, the filing deadline isn’t until Thursday, April 30th, roughly two months from now. But if you wait even until tomorrow, it will be too late to check out your past RRSP contributions Continue Reading…

Taking a long-term view of your finances

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Robb Engen, Boomer & Echo

By Robb Engen, Boomer & Echo

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

I like to keep tabs on my finances for both the short and long term. A monthly spending summary is great for keeping track of where your paycheque goes, and an annual forecast works well for spotting trends and opportunities for your money.

 

But it’s also nice to gaze into the future. I want to know what my finances will look like in 20+ years so I use a spreadsheet to take a 50,000-foot view of my long-term finances.

Long-term financial outlook Continue Reading…

TFSAs benefit everyone, not just the so-called “rich”

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Canadian Tax-Free Savings Account concept word cloud

By Jonathan Chevreau

No surprise that the Broadbent Institute — a newish left-leaning think tank that counterbalances the rightish Fraser Institute — has concluded in its report Double Trouble that only the “rich” would benefit from the promised doubling of annual contribution limits for Tax-free Savings Accounts (TFSAs.)

You can read the Financial Post’s front page story by Garry Marr (aka @DustyWallet on Twitter) here and the Globe’s version here.

I was particularly interested in the CBC website’s coverage, and especially the almost 900 reader comments that have been piling on. For instance, one reader said:

What was the big surprise here? you need money to make it?

Or this:

The government doesn’t lose anything. The NDP lose votes. The TFSA is one of the few programs the average guy and gal can use. The NDP should be all over the TFSA and tell Canadians how they would make it better faster. This is really bad electioneering on their part. The NDP should be trying to convince the public TFSA were their idea.

Continue Reading…

5 reasons you could ignore the March 2nd RRSP deadline in favour of TFSAs

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Ermos Erotocritou, CFP

By Ermos Erotocritou, CFP

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

With the deadline for Registered Retirement Savings Plans quickly approaching, thousands of Canadians will be getting out their cheque books to make their annual RRSP contributions. While saving for the future is always a good thing, the choice between RRSP or the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is not that simple.

Too many Canadians blindly make RRSP contributions without knowing if they will be better off in the future by making a TFSA contribution instead. Future RRSP withdrawals count as income and could increase your marginal tax rate whereas TFSA withdrawals do not count as income.

Here are five reasons why you should consider investing in your TFSA instead of your RRSP: Continue Reading…

The Growing Power of the TFSA

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Canadian Tax-Free Savings Account concept word cloud

By Jonathan Chevreau

The Financial Post has just published an online version of my piece, entitled The Rising Power of the TFSA. Are RRSPs even relevant any more? Click on the link to read the full article.

In a nutshell, of course RRSPs are still relevant for most of us, and we’d hate to discourage people from topping up their RRSPs before the imminent Mar. 2nd deadline this year. My point really is that while there are certain people who should not RRSP if they have only enough money to fund a Tax-Free Saving Account, it’s not quite the same in reverse.

I really can’t think of a reason why anyone age 18 or over, anyone approaching advanced old age, and the rest of us between those extremes, shouldn’t max out their TFSAs. It’s the gift that keeps on giving — tax-free income, that is. (An aside for any American readers: Canada’s TFSA is the equivalent of the Roth IRA).

patmckeoughWe have run several pieces on TFSAs here at the Hub, the most recent one being a joint collaboration between myself and TSI Network.ca’s Patrick McKeough. (TSI is one of his flagship newsletters, The Successful Investor).

In the piece 5 low-risk investments for your TFSA, Continue Reading…