Tag Archives: roundups

Retirement Roundup or Why I Won’t be Free at 55 Unless It’s for Lunch on Friday

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As the RRSP frenzy has calmed for another 10 months, it’s time to consider the second R in that acronym: Retirement. In past posts, I’ve discussed the need to account for your personal rate of inflation when budgeting for retirement and what you need to budget for the long term costs of maintaining a house. I’ve been reading a lot of “Financial Facelifts,” “Family Finance,” and “Monday Makeovers” many of which are about retirement planning. The comments on these personal financial profiles lead me to investigate What Does It Really Cost to Eat for a Month? That will be another important factor in our retirement budgeting.

Then I went clicking through the internet looking for more retirement news. Here’s some of what I found:

Retire Happy gives a simple way to estimate how much CPP you will receive based on how many years you have paid in the maximum annual contribution at http://retirehappy.ca/how-much-will-you-get-from-canada/ . Some of the early comments also make for excellent reading.

Boomer at Boomer and Echo helps you Create a Retirement Income Plan.

Michael James on Money has done the math and determined that for some low-income seniors it’s actually best to collapse an RRSP all in one year rather than take it out slowly through a RIF. Read why at Handling RRSPs and RRIFs for Low-Income Seniors.

Jane at The Money Puzzle passes on some anecdotes about how people reacted in What Can Happen If You Receive an Early Inheritance. For sure some of these people should have made better choices.

The Blunt Bean Counter works the numbers to prove that for almost everyone who can afford to contribute to an RRSP the tax benefits make it worth while in The RRSP Hullabaloo.

Big Cajun Man explains in CPP Splitting a Different Process that pension sharing doesn’t mean the same thing when you’re talking CPP as when you’re talking income taxes and why it matters.

StatsCan reviewed retirement and found some interesting trends including an increase of 2 years in the average age of retirement for workers in 2009 compared with workers in 1998. Check it out to find out what that average age was.

Lunch, anyone?
I won’t be able to retire at 55, but if you do and you want to take me out to lunch, please send me an email!

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Do you have a favourite retirement article? Would you like to give some retirement advice? Please share your views with a comment.

The Dubious Joys of Taxes

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I have some articles on my site about RRSPs but there is more to taxes than deferring them. You can also reduce taxes. The article Optimize your Donations to Charity: Take Advantage of Taxes explains, amongst other things, how you can dodge paying capital gains tax through the judicious use of donations.

For those just starting to complete their tax returns I’d like to remind you that there are two  (2!) free programs available to file your taxes online if you make over $35,000. The first program has been offered in previous years as well. It’s by Bhok It Consulting and is called StudioTax. There’s also a new choice this year: GenuTax Standard. We don’t have all of our T forms yet so I haven’t had a chance to try either yet. I’ll be keeping readers “posted” though.

Here’s a roundup of some other tax-related reading I found, er, not too taxing?

The Blunt Bean Counter wrote why the CRA will likely audit your car expenses and what you’d better have ready when they come calling in The Taxation of Automobiles.

Boomer at Boomer and Echo wrote: What If Your Tax Return Is Reassessed?  which includes a personal experience with challenging the CRA on its interpretation of a taxable benefit. Did she win? Read and find out.

Evelyn Jacks wrote what your doctor will need to state if you are claiming the Family Caregiver Amount in her article New Tax Return Features New Tax Credits  If your doctor is as hard to see as ours, you may want to book that appointment now!

And going Way Back, BigCajunMan wrote of the amazingly high tax breaks he could finagle by so doing that left him wondering: Should I divorce my wife? For those who are worried, he celebrated his Silver wedding anniversary in 2012, so I guess he chose true love over tax credits.

Sara at Timeless Finance wrote: “My Whopping Tax Refund for 2013” which includes a personal tale of how an incompetent company’s tax deduction mistake has actually improved her life.  Call it kismet!

Michael James on Money shares his explanation for how market value assessment property taxes work and why Your Property Taxes May Not be Going Up as Much as You Think.

Clark at Million Dollar Journey wrote about how you can help give back to your community by working as a volunteer completing tax returns for those who cannot manage them. The details in the article Community Volunteer Income Tax Program have inspired at least one new volunteer and are well worth reading.

My Own Advisor updated the changes to payroll taxes like CPP and EI for 2013 in With a New Year Comes New Hits to Your Wallet. For those considering a move to self-employment, the required CPP payments for the self-employed may make you choke a bit.

And lastly, CBC News keeps us in the know with their article Key Dates in the 2013 Tax Calendar, and shares the profiles of 10 Notorious Tax Dodgers. Did you make this list? Ah well, there’s always next year.

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Do you have a favourite tax-related article that I missed mentioning? Please share your recommendations with a comment.