The Federal Budget this week (April 2015) had a lot of election freebies for everyone, and I’ve already given my two cents on it. But, the RRIF allowance changes by the Tories as part of their election platform is a fascinating choice. The opposition is branding it as the Tories trying to please the wealthy retirees who don’t want to pay taxes. However, to me, it’s evident that the government is taking into account that people are living longer and, thus, adjusting its calculations accordingly. The best part of this is the increased TFSA room for seniors. If they save some of their money and are frugal, they can grow it in their TFSA and avoid double taxation. This means no taxes on their RRIF withdrawals and on the growth of their leftover funds withdrawn.
Evidently, the Student Loan and Bursary amounts may increase, given parents’ income will not be as big a factor for students? This may help me a little, but I am skeptical until I see the results. I am getting a lot of my info from my daughter, who keeps sending me updates (yes she is still at school).
The Ontario Government announced their budget on Thursday, with little new spending, and a pledge to have a balanced budget. The balancing will be done by freezing spending, and hoping for $10B increase in tax revenue? Maybe they need to do a bit of job creation, to make sure those taxes will increase? At least it is not the typical trick that Dalton McGinty used to pull (i.e. a nasty cutting budget in the first year of a term and anything that would be unpopular, and then nicer budgets later in the term).
My Writings for Week Ending April 24th
With the Senators making it to Friday, we shall see whether the clock strikes midnight on this Cinderella story (and cause Mark from My Own Advisor, to be very unhappy):
- Stats Canada continues to put out confusing CPI numbers, which seem to suggest everything is fine, but not if you look a little closer, which I outline in Expensive Food in Canada in March .
- Wonder what the federal budget have in store for you? I don’t know, but in Budget 2015 What’s In It For Me, outlines the things, I like in the budget.
- Given the tax deadline is coming soon, I had a little fun with my accountant friends with How to Find a Tax Preparer.
- Senators, Retiring Rich and #BestMoneyStories
This Week’s Finest Financial
Mark from the Blunt Bean Counter brings his own interpretation of the budget with Federal Budget 2015. The Canadian Couch Potato takes a tighter scope view on the budget with How Budget 2015 Will Affect Investors.
Barry from Money We Have, points out that We’re Terrible at Buying Things, but I disagree, we are terrible at not buying things. Mark from 2nd Career Search takes aim at Advisors in the US with A Luxury Cruise on FInancial Advice, pointing out the shortcomings of the U.S. system. Michael James pointed me to an entertaining Open Letter to Rogers by Mrs. January (it is a little NSFW due to language). Ellen Roseman strongly suggests Don’t Be Fooled by Pitch to Change your water heater.
In the business of blogging, Google keeps changing rules about things, and their latest is if you don’t have a Mobile Friendly theme, your page rank will plummet (luckily I have been mobile friendly for a few years), but Million Dollar Journey is now Mobile Friendly too. Our friends at LSM insurance a good list of the Top 50 Canadian Personal Finance Sites and somehow I am on that list as well? Wow.
Michael James asks a question that might start a feud with Mark from My Own Advisor, Do Dividend Haters Exist ? Don’t want to spoil it for you, but I think there are Interest Haters out there. Mark from My Own Advisor thumbs his nose at those Dividend Haters with his March 2015 Dividend Investing Update . Dividends seems to be the Topic du Jour with Robb Engen writing about Why Living Off the Dividends no longer Appeals to Him, must be Dividend week out there.
Breaking Your Mortgage Penalties
Preet makes a comeback with a great whiteboard talk on the Globe and Mail about the varying costs of breaking your mortgage:
Twitter Fun
This a photo of John Young, a friend and distant relative, who ran the Boston Marathon, and John is a Little Person, see the Facebook fun, for more info
My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off colour commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)).
TFSA increase is really awesome. The conservative made a great move that will accelerate my financial independence. Well done PC!
Nice try, but Mark and I get along very well 🙂 Thanks for the mention.
Agitator is my middle name
Thanks for the mention, Alan! The Alberta budget was not well received and many think the NDP have a real shot at unseating the PCs here. The fences and lawns are decidedly orange around these parts. We’ll see if that translates into votes.
An NDP government in Alberta, next thing you’ll say is the NDP will take Quebec federally… wait… hmmm…
