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Retirement

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.

Expanding Debt
The Expanding Ontario Debt

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?

Read More »RRSP Time and #MoneyStories
Snowy Day

Digging Out, Ransomware, RRSP Time and #MoneyStories

Yes it is that magical time of the year RRSP time, do you need to defer any income this year? Save for your retirement? Stick it to the feds by lowering your income?

RRSP, RESP, RDSP

Lent is Here, Bricked iPhones, Love Day and #MoneyStories

Lent has arrived early this year, and it’s time to take advantage of this opportunity to make positive changes in your life. I hope you had your fill of pancakes on Tuesday night because now it’s time to buckle down. Lent is not just a time for piety, it’s a time to grow and improve, regardless of your religious beliefs. So, let’s get to work and make this Lenten season count!

Valentines Day
An Apropos Sentiment

Have you tried to save some money by getting your iPhone repaired by a 3rd party (not wanting to deal with the “geniuses” at the “Genius Bar” at your local Apple Store)? If you have be prepared, because your phone may brick itself as Apple doesn’t want you to be doing that, they want you to only use their technicians. How can they do this? Error 53 will happen if you have had specific repairs done, and if that happens, you will end up at an Apple Store, hoping they can do a “Lazarus Job” (keeping with our Lenten theme) on your bricked phone.

Love Day is coming this weekend, time for folks to gorge themselves on Chocolate, buy expensive diamonds and of course roses, or not. For me it is a time to remember my parents’ wedding anniversary and to enjoy being with the love of my life. Much like financial planning, if you only show the person you love attention on 1 day, you are not doing it right.

Our new PM (aka Le Dauphin) is now shying away from his bold statements of balancing the federal budget by the time his first term is complete? No big surprise there, given the shape of the economy, the price of oil and such, but yet another bold promise by a candidate becoming like a kitchen cockroach and scurrying away when the stark lights are turned on?

My Writings for Week Ending February 12th

For some reason I had 4 actual posts this week, maybe this means I will be writing more? Maybe.

More Folks Looking for Work in January and there are some more interesting graphs in there about where the jobs seem to be currently, well worth checking that one out.

The Financial Celebration of Lent is here, but even if you are not religious, you could take advantage of this time to try to make some positive changes in your life.

Lotteries are not a Financial Service, and I am calling out Red Flag Deals for categorizing their Lottery Deal as such. C’mon man!

Finally I loaned out my pulpit for a guest post by the folks at ProLiteracyCA, have a read if your child is getting close to University age.

Read More »Lent is Here, Bricked iPhones, Love Day and #MoneyStories
2015 the Year of the RAM

Star Wars, Christmas Money, Shaw gets Wind and #MoneyStories

The world changes today, with the full release of the 7th chapter of the ongoing Star Wars Saga (at least that is what the Media Hype Machine might have you believe). I am old enough to remember going to the Snowden cinema in Montreal to watch the original release (chapter 4) in the ’70s. I like the movies, but I am just not that psyched to want to go to the movie just yet. I’ll wait until January after I have heard all the spoilers online. There is a very festive Star Wars clip at the end of this post too.

Jaba the Hut
Jaba, your cholesterol looks high too!

Have you finished your Christmas shopping frenzy? I am sure I have not, but that is part of the holiday season for me (the Christmas week panic).

Interesting to see that Shaw Communications has bought Wind Mobile (or is proposing to do so), which could mean more competition in the mobile phone industry, which is never a bad thing (in my opinion). Shaw says they won’t be changing Wind’s low-cost plans, and that would be a very good thing, especially if they improve the coverage map, but that remains to be seen.

Scheduling note: since next Friday is the big day, don’t expect to see anything from me, other than my typical Christmas Address, but there will be my traditional end of year festivities.

My Writings for Week Ending December 18th

Our tree is up, but there are still far too many things to do before the big day. I think I may have misunderstood the message on this one on TFSA Transfers. The spirit of Dickens’ Christmas Carol got to me with Financial Hauntings

On the sister site, there was a new security update as well.

Facebook Post of the Week

I posted on my regular feed an old article that Larry MacDonald did in 2008 with me as the subject and now everyone at work is asking me about investing questions? Larry is writing a follow-up in the Globe.

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Financial Literacy

Remembrance, Friday the 13th, Financial Literacy and #MoneyStories

Remembrance Day passed Wednesday, for some it is a solemn day of reflection, for others a day off. As I have mentioned before, I work with former military folks, and I certainly thank them for their service to the country. I was also glad that it didn’t rain on the folks in downtown Ottawa.

It is Friday the 13th today, so for those concerned about bad karma or bad luck, tread carefully and hopefully the day will pass with little or few major catastrophes. For those of you still buoyed by the election results here is something to put things in perspective from MacLean’s Magazine Chart of the day: How much do MPs earn? They don’t include their expense accounts either.

Remember that November is financial literacy month and you should be looking for posts and tweets with the hash tags #FLM2015 and #CountMeInCA on them. There has been some great stuff already posted, so keep watching and see what other useful things you can learn about money and finances.

My Writings for Week Ending November 13th

I did write something this week that is important, and that is about the Disability Tax Credit Certificate, and how to reapply, please make sure you pass this info on to anyone who you think might need advice in that area:

Facebook Post of the Week

Remember that Vanguard really is one of the 800 pound gorillas that the market is going to listen to if they start flexing their collective might in the board room, but how do they represent their ETF shareholders best interests? Interesting quandary.

Read More »Remembrance, Friday the 13th, Financial Literacy and #MoneyStories
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