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Pitter Patter Tax Time, RESPs are For Rich Folk and #MoneyStories

It’s important to note that your taxes are due this weekend. As one of my new favorite shows, LetterKenny, would say, “Pitter-Patter, time to get at ‘er!” Don’t forget to keep your eyes on the prize, Sky Chief, when it comes to your money. Therefore, you must take immediate action and complete your taxes on time. Remember, procrastination is not an option! I hope you find this advice helpful.

RESP Piggy Bank
RESP’s Are Savings For Your and Your Child’s Future

There is a new report from the Government about the RESP program and who has benefited from this useful savings vehicle (for parents). The Report entitled “Canada Education Savings Program: Summative Evaluation Report“, and the telling statement in the report (about whom uses RESPs) is:

Furthermore, it was estimated that over $400 million in grants (or 49% of all CESP expenditures) were distributed to families with a household income of $90,000 or more in 2013, of which $280 million (or 32% of CESP expenditures) went to families earning $125,000 or more.

I think this is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy (i.e. Rich folk are the ones using the program the most), in that more affluent families are more likely to open accounts, and thus more likely to build up grants from it. Very few lower-income families are even aware, that even if they put no money in, they can still build up savings for their kid’s future post-secondary education. While there are groups like SmartSaver.org that are trying to help get the word out, the Government does a poor job educating parents about the benefits of the program for lower-income Canadians.

There was a planned NCFBA semi-periodic meeting planned this week, but thanks to most un-excellent planning on my part things did not transpire as I had hoped. It is always fun to meet with my fellow Financial Blogging folk, because most of them are very interesting folks (you would be surprised what most of them do for their real jobs). It may have been better that I didn’t go, given my son has a terrible cold (I might have infected some of the finest financial minds).

My Writings for Week Ending April 29th

Another week and more odd news from Stats Canada in terms of prices of things, where we continue to be told that drinking gas might be the cheapest way to live? Good Food Still Is Not Cheap in Canada (Inflation for March), outlines how good food is getting more expensive but thanks to cheap gas and oil, we don’t really notice.

Self-Driving Cars Will Change Things, but not just in terms of technology and such, financially. The insurance world is still analyzing what this new technology is going to do to their bottom line. A well-controlled piece of technology, instead of road-raged humans? That equation should mean lower (if not missing) insurance premiums, shouldn’t it?

A Money Thought

Have more than you show, speak less than you know.

Read More »Pitter Patter Tax Time, RESPs are For Rich Folk and #MoneyStories
costco gas

Self-Driving Cars Will Change Things

Self-driving cars are going to change so many things both in terms of insurance, finances and even parking. It all depends on how it all rolls out.

February 2016

Good Food Still Is Not Cheap in Canada (Inflation for March 2016)

Buying good food is never cheap, but in 2016 prices of those became even more expensive.

More cowbell

Disabilities, Tax Time, The Queen and #MoneyStories

The CBC had an interesting story about a disabled person who had both legs removed, who had to re-file to keep their disability claim (effectively to prove their legs had not grown back). While this sounds horrible, it was most likely an admin error at the CRA, as normally they are pretty good on the disability claim side of things. The CBC however also trumpeted, Delay at CRA hurting disabled Canadians, advocates say, which is sensationalized, but has some ring of truth. The entire disability claim system is complicated and quite daunting for a lot of folks, if you want proof check out my article CRA Child Disability Benefit (How To) and the 160 comments on it from various folks asking for help. The article also talks about the private firms that folks engage to help the process that end up gouging their customers (in my opinion), which I outline in Disability Tax Credit: Please Do It Yourself. No one should be profiting on someone’s disability claim. I also agree with the assertion that the system needs to be made simpler for the average person to make a claim, or there needs to be more help for those folks. The CRA does have a Nurse on call that can help out with disability claims, if you tweet their account (so keep that in mind as well).

Sad to hear we have lost another great musician with the death of Prince this week. Remember folks, your hero age the same way you do. I never saw Prince live, but evidently it was something else.

The Queen at 90
The Queen and 3 generations of her children

Remember that your tax deadline is April 30th, and there is no extension planned by the CRA. You had your chance to have free Turbotax, although I have 5 licenses to give away, and only 3 comments on my giveaway post, who knows?

The Queen turns 90, and continues to work a withering (to me) schedule of events. I have problems getting to work in the morning, and this nonagenarian still works harder? I gotta step up my game, God Save the Queen!

My Writings for the Week Ending April 22nd

Another week where I wasn’t overly motivated to write. I assume this is a short lull, so I continue to find older writings from my archive of over 220 unfinished posts, with A Personal Spending Surplus ? If you have a spending surplus, you should pay off debt, and then once that is done, you should save it, stop lifestyle creep!

A Money Thought

Time is the only limited resource in your financial plan, keep that in mind!

Read More »Disabilities, Tax Time, The Queen and #MoneyStories
Debt Subliminal

A Personal Spending Surplus ?

Are you aiming to have a personal spending surplus, just like the Government? Too bad you can’t just print money the way they do.

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