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Thread: financially dumb
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Thu, Mar 4th, 2010, 06:48 PM #16
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Sat, Mar 6th, 2010, 11:29 PM #17
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Gail Vaz-Oxlade is amazing. If you watch a few episodes of Til Debt Do Us Part you will see recurring advice which is very helpful!
The things which I would recommend are:
1) Pay yourself first- get money transferred directly out of your account towards RRSPs and savings on pay day...even if you start with the minimum amounts. Take advantage of any work benefits for pensions, stocks, or RRSP's where they match you up to a certain amount- it's such a great investment!
2) Write down every dollar you spend as soon as you get home and tally each category at the end of the month. It's amazing how easy it is to cut down on spending when you know you have to account for it and can see how easy the totals can grow. I've been doing this for years and actually look forward to my monthly tallies. My husband just made me an excel spreadsheet which works great!
3) Consolidate your debt or pay down your highest interest debts first. Use cash if you get out of control with credit or debit. It's a lot harder handing over "real" money than a card.
4) Visit Smart Canucks daily to be a smart shopper...saving money on the basics goes a long way to saving up for future goals!
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Tue, Mar 9th, 2010, 01:22 PM #18
Oh yeah! There's nothing quite a good smack down from Gail!!! Love her Debt program!!! I have learned so much from her. I find that programs like that, including the Suze Orman Show really help me to stay on the straight and narrow when it comes to finances!!!
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Tue, Mar 9th, 2010, 02:01 PM #19
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You can also check out daveramsey.com. He has a plan of "baby steps" that you can work on to get yourself out of debt and start saving. I love his plan because he also figures in "emergency funds" for those unexpected things that come up!
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Thu, Apr 1st, 2010, 08:09 AM #20
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On the subject of home energy audits and rebates for doing renovations that save energy , looks like that program got axed. If you already booked it you're OK, but if you didn't, you're too late:
http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/p...lify-grant.cfm
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1519455/
Z
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Fri, Apr 2nd, 2010, 10:10 AM #21
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I love Gail!!
One piece of advice with RRSP's though...if your spouse should happen to pass away before you do, they are not transferable to your children. My dad is single and made that mistake, now he will has to take his RRSP's out and invest in something else so he has a way for money to come to me should anything happen to him since children aren't allowed to be named beneficiaries on RRSP's... Just a thought..
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Fri, Apr 2nd, 2010, 02:43 PM #22
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RRSP account's (or RRIF's after 71yrs age), are all transferable to spouse, with no tax implications. Means, if one spouse passes away the, the entire proceeds are transfered to the surviving spouse without any tax bill. However, on the death of surviving spouse, all the Registered account proceeds passes through the ESTATE. Which means, all the proceeds becomes the income for the estate, & estate pays the income tax.
This is precisely because-
1. RRSP contribution receives the tax deduction.
2. RRSP or RRIF the account grows without paying any taxes.
3. RRSP or RRIF withdrawal - Taxes are paid every year on the amount of money actually withdrawn.
In reality, the amount in the RRSP or RRIF account had never paid taxes. That is why CRA, collects its tax money. After the tax bill is paid, all the trust of the money goes to the beneficiary (who-so-ever they happen to be).
In fact most of the cases we see, the Estate gets pushed in the highest tax rate, & the RRSP/RRIF accounts gets taxed at 46.41%.
But this happens only after the survivor spouse's death.
Hope this clarifies - in planning for estate rollover.
ASH
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Sat, Apr 3rd, 2010, 08:39 AM #23
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Thu, Apr 29th, 2010, 01:12 PM #24
My two cents on the subject. Note that this is my opinion only. I have my own tolerances for risk and abhorrence for debt that may be entirely different than yours.
You have three different layers of financial savings to make:
1) An emergency supply of money. You should have at least three months worth of expenses saved up in readily available cash. Credit card or line of credit limits do not count. If you don't have this available, then you should not be investing in anything else.
2) Pay off your debts - and don't add more. Chances are that the interest that you pay on your debts (which is generally not tax deductible) is far greater than the income that you can get on most of your investments (which is generally taxable). Thus to pay $1 in interest, you have to earn $1.35 or so - closer to $2.00 if you are higher income. Pay off the highest interest rate balances first.
3) Save for the future. Start looking into TFSA, RRSP, GIC and whatever. The only time that I would put this ahead of step #2 is if your employer has a match on your RRSP contributions.
That's my logic in a nutshell. The flip side of the coin is also to reduce spending as much as you can. You don't need to spend like Paris Hilton (oh, how the mere sight of that woman makes me cringe) to have a happy life. In many cases, you may actually enjoy life more with fewer financial obligations.
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Tue, May 25th, 2010, 12:38 AM #25
what's everyone fav financial apps for their mobile devices?
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Tue, May 25th, 2010, 11:05 AM #26
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Wed, May 26th, 2010, 03:42 PM #27
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Bloomberg, CNBC RT, CNN Money, Globe & Mail Business, NYTimes, iTWS, & couple more
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