When Margaret and James married in 2005, it was a second marriage for both of them. They had no children, so when they did their financial planning, their wills were clear that 100% of their estates would go to the other. Believing this was sufficient protection, they built a life and continued to grow their wealth.
As some provinces head into a second COVID-19 lockdown, some people are asking the question: Why bother investing for the long term? For many, especially Millennials, the task of building financial wealth and security looks increasingly hopeless. Even the most prudent small business owners were caught short during the lock down in the spring and many are now facing the prospect of permanently closing their companies.
The following are relatively common mistakes that Canadians make annually when contributing to their Registered Retirement Savings Plans.
1. Reporting RRSP contributions based on a calendar year.
While your taxes are based on a calendar year, the reporting of your RRSP contributions extends 60 days into the New Year. Imagine, for RRSP purposes, that you have your own fiscal year that begins in early March or 60 days after January 1. RRSP receipts for the first 60 days of 2020 should be reported on your 2019 income tax return.
In my last email, I was blunt about the tough quarter we had to end 2018. It was a significant pull back and not a fun way to end the year. Today, I'm excited to report that we had a fantastic start to 2019! Starting in the last week of December, we witnessed an extremely good turn around. Both Canadian and US Stock Markets appreciated throughout January at a rapid pace. This spectacular run offset much of the losses of 2018 so it was a very welcome start to the new year. To take a deeper look at the numbers, the Toronto Stock Exchange was at a level of 13,780 on Dec. 24, 2018.
Introduced in 1957, the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) is an incentive program to entice the Canadian population to save for retirement. In order to get the most from this type of savings vehicle, it is essential to plan future investments and avoid panicking to meet deadlines or taking action without fully understanding the long-term effects.
Let’s take a look at some of the most practical investment strategies to get the most from a savings scheme like the RRSP:
We hope that everyone had a good time over the Holidays. We enjoyed a couple of weeks out of the office with the girls. For the most part, we stayed close to home (as it was dreadfully cold) but we did get out to Drumheller for a night to check out the museum again. The girls always enjoy their time there and the museum has some new displays which are fantastic.
With the lifetime contribution room of a TFSA now at $52,000 for most people, TFSAs are now a serious portfolio and investment planning alternative to making RRSP contributions. So which is better you ask? Well, it depends…
If you are a Canadian with significant assets and savings then maximizing your TFSA makes sense as a retirement income planning strategy. The income from it during your retirement years is non-taxable and will not trigger any Old Age Security clawback which starts at $74,780 in 2017.
Since its inception several decades ago, the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) has become the most widely used retirement savings vehicle in Canada. In order to get the most from an RRSP, it is essential to plan ahead for future investments to avoid panicked deadline decisions or taking action without fully understanding the long-term impact.
In this article we examine a number of different RRSP savings strategies:
Let us discuss a scenario that faces a high number of retirees and soon-to-be-retirees all over the country. You have spent years saving for your retirement and you have made smart decisions about using the power of RRSPs to accumulate a significant nest egg.
But now you’re unsure about how best to get income from your investment portfolio as your retirement day comes ever closer. In terms of your RRSP investments, as a decision must be made before the last day of the year during which the account holder turns 71.
For years, you have been anticipating that last day at work. When it finally arrives, will it live up to your expectations?
Retirement looks different in everyone’s imagination. For some, it means never wearing a tie again – for any reason. For others, it means traveling the world in designer clothes while attending fancy social events or elaborate musical performances. Some might envision it as a poolside chair with a cold glass of lemonade that never runs out.
While the lemonade may be in unlimited supply, your attention span is not. What happens if you get bored?
