Hello all,
I'm still kicking over here. How are you all? I've been spending most of my time on TikTok and Instagram, mostly to keep me from feeling the deep and unsettling boredom and doom that months and months and months of a pandemic has brought forward. Not even posting... just mindlessly scrolling because I want something to distract me from the anxiety.
Anyway, I wanted to come on and mention a website that helps with Canadian RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) stuff. (No, I am NOT getting paid for this and I don't benefit at all if you click through - you're a strong, independent Reader - I'm not gonna tell you what to do).
This has ALWAYS intimidated me. Anything investing. Anything taxes. I even get scared filling in the blanks in the automated online tax program we use every year. But I started talking to the Hubs and I realized that I know JACK SHIT about the right way to save up for later on, and I've always felt too intimated and stupid to look into it or get official financial advice.
Toss in a pandemic, and I'm not going ANYWHERE or INTO ANYONE'S OFFICE to ask questions.
This site lets you put in your income, how many soul/energy sucking tiny humans children you have, spouse income and CRB (not CERB!) info to tell you how much money it makes sense to deposit in your RRSP. You need your tax notice of assessment ("NOA") from last year that tells you how much "room" (aka how much you can make it rain, aka the actual MAXIMUM number of dollars the ol' government will LET you put in that RRSP) this year.
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| Screen shot of the RRSP Calculator (Source) |
It's actually pretty cool because after using the little calculator on the site, I realized that at a certain point, it doesn't make sense to put money over a CERTAIN amount in there because the benefit to me drops off. The Hubs was faster/better at understanding and explaining it to me, but it was neat to see it laid out, and in chart form. You know me, easily distracted by colours and/or shiny things.
I always thought investment stuff was only for rich people, but an RRSP is something that anyone can start, and if you can figure your shit out, the government will actually cut you some tax breaks.
Anyway, hope it helps. Life is pretty depressing right now. We still have to file our damn taxes. I hate taxes, but little tools that one make it suck a little less certainly don't hurt.
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RSP are a great deal, if you can take advantage of them. Part of the trick is to put the tax refund they generate back into the RSP. The calculations around the TFSA are a bit more complicated, and a bit more long term. You don't get a tax refund, but you keep everything you take out. Hope it all goes well for you!
ReplyDeleteHeya Keith! So nice to see you here. Blogger keeps deleting my reply.
ReplyDeleteI haven't even done anything with the TFSA yet. I switched over to an investing TFSA but have been too scared to choose anything since the pandemic started. So it's literally sitting there doing nothing for me. Pretty silly.