Investing and Personal Finance
There is a lot of retirement angst going around. How much money do I need to retire? How do I manage my investments so I don’t screw up my retirement? Can you increase CPP so I don’t have to worry about it? Don’t worry about achieving the perfect retirement scenario Too many people (helped by [...]
{ 34 comments }
 |
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs.  |
Before you hire a financial advisor, it is important to do some research and make sure the advisor is who they say they are. Did they really complete their CFP? Are they licensed in your province? Have there been disciplinary action against them in the past? Just because a potential financial advisor wears a nice [...]
{ 4 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
This question of TFSA or RRSP for your retirement funds is a tough one, because there are a lot of variables to consider. To make things worse, some of these variables are unknown, which means you have to make assumptions about future events which might not be all that accurate. I’ve put together some very [...]
{ 22 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
One of the important aspects of the tax-free savings account (TFSA) is estate planning. Much has been written about TFSA contribution and withdrawal rules, but with the TFSA, you have the ability to decide who gets the money in the account if you die. If you have a TFSA, take a few minutes to figure [...]
{ 13 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
TD Waterhouse is owned by the TD bank (Toronto Dominion Canada Trust). Overall impressions Of all the bank-owned brokerages, this is the one where I’ve heard the most favourable comments from users. Like all the other bank-owned brokerages, this one also charges very high fees. You only get a break on trading commissions if you [...]
{ 10 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
Scotia iTrade announced that they have just joined the US$ RRSP party. They are a bit late considering that Questrade was the first brokerage to offer a US$ RRSP three years ago and RBC Direct and Qtrade have also offered a US$ RRSP account for some time. With friends like this, who needs enemies? Anonymous [...]
{ 12 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
Some of you might be familiar with locked-in RRSP or RRIF accounts, otherwise known as LIRAs, LIFs, LRIFs, PRIFs and probably a few other choice names as well. These are basically RRSP or RRIF accounts that are locked-in so that the owners can’t get access to the money until retirement age. Even in retirement, the [...]
{ 20 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
One common question regarding the TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account), is How old does someone have to be to open a TFSA account? Given that this is Canada, the answer is not as straight forward as you might think. Basically, you have to reach the age of majority in order to enter into a financial [...]
{ 6 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
Here are the RRSP contribution limits: The year indicated is the tax year. Year Contribution Limit 2010 $22,000 2011 $22,450 2012 $22,450 plus inflation index amount As you can see, the maximum RRSP contribution limit for the 2010 tax year is $22,000. There are other factors in calculating the limit, so read on! Some rules [...]
{ 13 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
A while back I wrote about a TFSA transfer strategy which I came up with called the TFSA December Strategy. If you own an investment account and want to transfer it to a new financial institution, typically your current brokerage or bank will charge a transfer fee. If you want to transfer a TFSA account, [...]
{ 3 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
Apparently most investors are using their TFSAs for safe instruments such as GICs and high interest savings account, even though they are eligible for equities, such as stocks and bonds. I’ve seen a couple of instances where the name “Tax Free Savings Account” was blamed because it contains the word “savings” which apparently is confusing. [...]
{ 15 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
There are many things you should consider when choosing a financial advisor. One of the items is their academic training. Would you rather be advised by someone with the minimum amount of qualifications or someone who has made the effort to take extra financial planning courses? Unfortunately, in Canada it is possible to become a [...]
{ 18 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
I had someone ask me recently what a “cash account” was. They were under the impression that it was a temporary holding account for doing RRSP transfers between financial institutions, which is not the case. A “cash” or “non-registered” account is an account that is not tax-sheltered in any way. Any kind of income or [...]
{ 4 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
CIBC Investor’s Edge is owned by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), which is not too hard to figure out from the name. Overall impressions Investor’s Edge is pretty typical for the big bank-owned discount brokerage in that the trading fees are sky high unless you are an active trader. They recently made a [...]
{ 7 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
Financial advisors come in different shapes, sizes and compensation methods. Some will charge you directly for their advice, while some appear to be offering a free service since you never see any fees. Rest assured, nobody works for free. It’s important to learn the different styles of compensation, so you can make an informed decision [...]
{ 0 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
Canadian Online Discount Stock Brokerage Comparison This comparison is intended to show in one place, all the important information that someone who is looking for a discount brokerage would want to know – trading commissions, account fees etc. There are also links to more detailed individual brokerage reviews. Of course, all this information is available [...]
{ 55 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
One common complaint when it comes to mutual fund fees, is a general hatred for DSC (Deferred Sales Charge) load mutual funds. While I understand that nobody likes paying fees, I also think that this fund load is misunderstood and can be beneficial for smaller investors who invest through an advisor. What are DSC fees [...]
{ 14 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
This week, we are taking a look at Scotia i-Trade discount brokerage. This brokerage, is of course owned by Scotia Bank, one of the big five Canadian banks. Scotia started iTrade and then bought E-trade and amalgamated it into the iTrade brokerage. Trade Freedom brokerage has also been purchased and will be merged into iTrade [...]
{ 51 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
I recently heard about Optimize.ca from one of Rob Carrick’s newsletters. The service launched earlier this month and promises to help Canadians save money on their investments, savings accounts and credit cards. All this and it doesn’t charge any fees. They will make money from online advertisers and presumably the recommended brokers that appear if [...]
{ 15 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
If you own stocks, mutual funds or ETFs that pay a dividend, you will have to consider what to do with the dividends. Reinvesting in the same investment that produced the dividend is probably the most common strategy. But is it the best? The basic options for dividends are: Reinvest the dividends in the same [...]
{ 28 comments }
|
The RESP Book: The Simple Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans Everything you need to know about RESPs. |
