RRSP Time and #MoneyStories

Attention! If you were planning on rebalancing your RRSP or any similar account, you only have until the end of Monday to get it done. While there may be exciting articles out there to read, always remember that the RRSP is more than just a savings account. It’s a tax deferral system, which means that you will have to pay taxes on the money you withdraw. But don’t worry, it shouldn’t be more than what you saved by putting money in your RRSP in the first place. Is it worth panicking to try to make a last-minute RRSP deposit if you don’t have a specific need to do so? Absolutely not! You will do better by putting the money in your TFSA (if you have room, for either, for that matter), or paying down debt. So, take action now and make the most of your investments.

The Ontario Government decided that they wanted to have the biggest sub-national jurisdiction Debt in the world ($308 billion), so they continue to run big deficit budgets with big promises. I will be reviewing the alleged extra funding for the Autism programs (with a lot of input from Mrs. C8j, hopefully), $333 million over five years. Why couldn’t they just give me a cut of that? Speaking of huge debts, evidently the World Debt is Rising (according to Bloomberg) but who are we borrowing from then? Mars? Venus? Maybe that is how Pluto ended up being demoted from planet (it owed too much money to the Intergalactic Banks).

Did you realize that Mattel has brought back the Thing Maker as a 3D printer? In case you were wondering what to get me for Easter.

A thought for a Friday:

“Don’t confuse comfort, for happiness”

My Writings for Week Ending February 26th

Another very confusing week of weather here in Ottawa, but luckily my writings didn’t seem as confusing (I hope).

To absolutely no consumer’s surprise Stats Canada published last week the monthly inflation numbers and it showed that healthy food costs a lot more than it did a year ago, and even Gasoline is more expensive too? Given the new taxes the Ontario Government is going to put on booze and smokes, that won’t help these numbers either.

What is a Spousal RRSP? That is a question a few folks have asked me, and I keep thinking about how only 10 years ago it was really the only way to income split (in retirement), but now thanks to Pension Income splitting the Spousal RRSP seems to have disappeared off folks’ savings radar?

RRSPs and More!

You know I am a big lover of all things gratis and or without cost and My Own Advisor pitched one right down the middle with TurboTax Giveaway and More Great Tax Filing Tips. Free tips and free software? What could possibly be bad about that? For those looking for me to be giving away software, no one has contacted me about that this year, maybe I should stop making fun of their software?!? If you are a small business owner, you should also be having a look at the Blunt Bean Counter’s post What Small Business Owners Need to Know – Insurance as a Corporate or Estate Planning Investment Class, this stuff is Gold folks (and would cost you a pretty penny if you had to hire Mark for your business, and he is giving it away for free).

Robb from Boomer and Echo goes a bit contrarian to what most folks saying about saving for your retirement with his piece The Pitfalls of Prioritizing Retirement Savings Above All Else. I think you always need to look at your debt load, because retiring with debt is not retirement, it is a death sentence. Jim Yih at Retire Happy goes a bit contrarian as well with his question Is CPP a good deal? Read it and see if it is (or not).

The Frugal Trader over at Million Dollar Journey writes about a topic I write about a great deal (I even have an entire page dedicated to the RESP ), and gives us an RESP Portfolio Update – February 2016. I saw on Reddit in the Canadian Personal Finance area, someone was going to use TD E-series funds in a TD Mutual Funds RESP account, I tried to warn them of the fun I have had in that area. Maybe I should have aimed him at the Canadian Couch Potato who gives us a few Model Portfolios to work with in these situations? Barry from Money We Have wants you to use those Model Portfolios as he advises Don’t sit on Your Savings – Invest it!

When financial bloggers meet the topic of whether you should own your home or rent comes up a great deal. Michael James takes aim at this exact topic with his piece on Why not Rent? I think if you want to invest your money, and not rely on Real Estate as your main investment scheme, renting can work for you, but you better save that money too. Some bloggers own homes, some rent it is interesting to hear their opinions on them (and you should ask them if you ever meet them face to face).

---

Not Investing in an RRSP?

So Preet shows his financial chops with the following interesting statement (during RRSP season), when you should NOT invest in your RRSP

Starbucks Rewards by Preet

Is there anything to do with money that Preet isn’t smart about? Here he explains how the new rewards system will make it better for folks who spend more at Starbucks (as opposed to those who visit and loiter there with their $2 coffee).

---

2016 Random Thoughts

• January 7th, Market Meltdown, TFSA, WildCard Weekend and #MoneyStories
• January 14th, Cheap Oil, Cheap Dollar, Dead Folk, and #MoneyStories
• January 21st, Loose Money, High Household Debt, Weak Loons and #MoneyStories
• January 29th, Doomsday Clocks, Rogue RRSP Receipts, Cash Crops and #MoneyStories
• February 4th Bouncing Loonies, RRSP Season, Superb Owls and #MoneyStories
• February 12th Lent is Here, Bricked iPhones, Love Day and #MoneyStories
• February 19th Digging Out, Ransomware, RRSP Time and #MoneyStories

My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off color commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)). I am also on reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest , Flipboard, Instagram and other Social Media sites (look for the BigCajunMan userid) as well. If you have social media accounts, don’t forget to vote for my posts (see the nifty dashboard on the bottom of each article, where you can cast your votes).As they say in Quebec, vote early and vote often!