|
Roite. Looks like I have more reading to do. That's very helpful though thank you. I'll be following all of not most of that advice. For what it's worth I think my mutual fund in oz did about 26% over the last year, but I guess a lot of funds did very well one way or another (and ignoring the less optimal early 2020 period)?
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 07:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 22:54 |
|
|
Outrail posted:For what it's worth I think my mutual fund in oz did about 26% over the last year, but I guess a lot of funds did very well one way or another (and ignoring the less optimal early 2020 period)? It's been a good year for global stocks overall, yep. The trick, if it's an actively-managed fund, is to keep doing well year after year, and that is pretty tough to manage.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 08:14
|
|
|
pokeyman posted:It's been a good year for global stocks overall, yep. The trick, if it's an actively-managed fund, is to keep doing well year after year, and that is pretty tough to manage. Yep, it was averaging about 8% 10yr average last time I checked which is decent I think.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 15:02
|
|
|
Outrail posted:Yep, it was averaging about 8% 10yr average last time I checked which is decent I think. Not for the management fees (and maybe sales fees front or backloaded) you were paying, with ETFs you get basically the same index return and pay a small fraction of the MER.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 17:03
|
|
|
pokeyman posted:That's fantastic! I know exactly what you mean by not wanting this to sound like a humblebrag, there's very few people in real life at whom I'd feel comfortable blurting out "I've used all my registered account room!". This thread is a great place to do that. Thank you! Hearing this gives me such a sense of relief. You hit the nail on the head, as there's basically no one in my life I can chew financial grit with, so I've been flying blind with a combination of various online resources and advice. quote:That's not enough emergency fund for me personally, but I'm pretty sure there's people in this thread who hold less and intend to rely on lines of credit or similar to handle the unexpected. If it worries you, maybe pause the RRSP contributions and bulk it up. If it doesn't worry you, maybe it's fine! Just think about how you might handle money surprises. Big unexpected car repair the same week as your sibling hits you up for a loan and you just can't say no, and the washing machine ate itself last week so the new one's already on the credit card? Try to get creative. The plan doesn't have to be "I pay for everything, immediately, from my emergency fund" but it's good to think about it. I hadn't considered the idea of using a line of credit as my emergency fund. If my income is stable, I don't suppose it's a bad idea because I'd likely be able to pay it off. Still, debt to pay debt is scary and all those emergencies you listed are things that I hadn't considered either. I'd basically only been thinking "what if I lost my job". Thank you for the eye-opening discussion points. quote:And it's entirely up to you how you organize things. No harm with an undifferentiated pile if you're keeping it straight in your head. I keep my emergency fund at a different bank than my everyday account so it's generally out of mind, but that also makes me less likely to use it for its stated purpose, so it's a tradeoff. That's reassuring to hear. I don't want to over complicating things so I want to have as few accounts of money as possible. I'm not really at risk of splurge spending thousands of dollars, so I should be okay. quote:I would. (Though I don't have a DB pension.) Great! I'm so used to the habit of saving now that it feels satisfying and I'm enjoying it while I have registered funds to save into. quote:What's the rate on the car loan? And given the choice between less mortgage and more savings, I think you can't lose. Maybe fiddle with a mortgage calculator and see how much debt you can shave off with extra payments, see how that feels? I don't know if this is normal or whatever, but the car is financed at 1% so everything is all baked in, and I'm in no rush to pay it off unless I want to get approved for a(nother) mortgage or something. quote:Once you're out of registered space and you're ok with your debt situation, an unregistered account is the obvious next step. Honestly, off the top of my head, it doesn't sound necessary on top of a pension and a fully invested TFSA+RRSP. But the only way to make a good guess is to figure out what you'll spend in retirement and whether your pension + registered savings will allow for that spending. Okay, I probably will need to buckle down and hash out what my retirement will look like. Do you have any advice on how to approach it? I assume/plan to have no debts in retirement, so is all that's left is just necessities and... hobbies/travelling/whatever? It's so weird for me to conceptualize, since most of my income right now goes towards paying housing costs, so I don't really have a good estimate on how much I would spend if I didn't have those costs. quote:I would say you are not contributing too much, but I'm a saver with fairly inexpensive hobbies and no dependents. If you're depriving yourself or your family (and think about that personally, don't try to compare yourself to friends, coworkers, or some vague sense average/typical Canadian) then maybe it is too much. It's a really hard question to answer. All I can really offer is I don’t think it's too little. Okay, duly noted. I do think I am a bit too stingy, and that's something I want to work on. I hope to at least keep stable enough for a year until I max out my registered funds, and then I can have a liquid fund as large as I'd like for my purposes. Thank you so much for the time to reply, it's super appreciated!
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 17:44
|
|
|
quote:Still, debt to pay debt is scary I think of it like using LOC to give me flexibility to determine the timing of liquidating my assets. For example, if there were an emergency and my investments were up, I could sell them. If they were down, I could choose to use the LOC until the investments were up. I could also choose to sell the bond portion of my portfolio. There is the risk that everything could be down for a period longer than my LOC could sustain me, but I take on that risk in exchange for having money in market longer. The longer I have money in market, the less chance there is that I would be down at the time I needed to sell.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 18:46
|
|
|
RuBisCO posted:I hadn't considered the idea of using a line of credit as my emergency fund. If my income is stable, I don't suppose it's a bad idea because I'd likely be able to pay it off. Still, debt to pay debt is scary and all those emergencies you listed are things that I hadn't considered either. I'd basically only been thinking "what if I lost my job". Thank you for the eye-opening discussion points. And I don't mean to say your emergency fund needs to be able to handle seventeen unlikely events all happening at once. But thinking for a minute about "what if" helps establish what you need to feel reasonably secure. Plus you'll almost certainly change your behaviour as things do happen (my eating out budget goes to $0 the second I unexpectedly lose my job, until I figure stuff out), X months' expenses is a rule of thumb. quote:I don't know if this is normal or whatever, but the car is financed at 1% so everything is all baked in, and I'm in no rush to pay it off unless I want to get approved for a(nother) mortgage or something. I'm in the same situation. Just wanted to make sure you weren't sitting on an 8% car loan or something. quote:Okay, I probably will need to buckle down and hash out what my retirement will look like. Do you have any advice on how to approach it? I don't, really. Been procrastinating on it myself. When I get around to it, my first step will be to accurately record what I'm spending now, for at least a year. (This isn't a budget, just a ledger.) That almost certainly won't be what I'm spending in retirement, but as a first approximation it's fine. Put in some guesses for rate of return and you can solve for required portfolio size. From there, you can make it as complicated as you like. And there's a ton of guesswork, because nobody knows what inflation, returns, taxes, etc. will be in the future. But you can try different scenarios and see what they look like.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 19:09
|
|
|
VelociBacon posted:Not for the management fees (and maybe sales fees front or backloaded) you were paying, with ETFs you get basically the same index return and pay a small fraction of the MER. Management fees were 0.25% (plus other poo poo came out to less than1% I think). Or I'm misremembering and I got bigly ripped off. Neither would surprise me.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 19:15
|
|
|
RuBisCO posted:I don't really know how much to save for retirement. I have no idea what income I'd need because it's so far off into the future and I don't know what an inflation is. I hope to get at least one more promotion in my career that would put my pension in retirement at ~70k annually. Thoughts/answers off the top of my dome: With an super-secure DB-paying position, I'm thinking you're a government employee union? If so, you can likely get away with 2-3 mos of cash on hand for emergencies if you have access to secured and/or unsecured credit. I do something similar and have been able to take low four figure surprises in stride. Setting aside idiosyncrasies, there are two ways to approach investing with a DB pension imo - either playing it safe because you don't need to accept the risk to meet needs, or being super risky because without it you're still able to meet needs. If you need to bridge time between retirement and collecting a pension, that is a good use for RRSP funds since it's all taxed as income. If the annuity is immediate and you're married, look into whether or not it can be split with a spouse right off the bat. That would allow you to draw down to keep both of you in preferential brackets over a longer horizon, though After maxing out registered funds (using a spousal RRSP because my spouse graduated into the GFC and hasn't recovered  , also RESPs once we had kids) I pay into an unregistered account. XGRO and/or VXC all day every day keeps transactions simple, even though it's probably not optimized, because it saves me time and is easy enough for family to figure out when I'm away from home, and my eventual death. Some months I save more than expected if no expenses/QOL opportunities arise, sometimes it's less because I decide to buy something or an unplanned expense arises. Mortgage vs savings is another one where the mathematical answer might not be what you go with depending on risk tolerance, psychology, etc. If you email me (username at gmail) I can send you a spreadsheet I use to calculate the opportunity cost of extra payments. I don't own but when I was looking to buy, considered the impact of extra savings vs extra payments. The good news is that if you're at a point in life where you're looking at optimization, you're probably going to have a comfortable life. Not feeling guilty about spending is another your-mileage-will-vary question. You don't have to #yolo everything to enjoy your money, but spending more on hobbies or something else you like makes life more enjoyable. I impulse bought a 3d printer last week, for instance, and a bunch of camping stuff a couple years ago. The 1k or so it cost isn't going to be the difference between wet or dry cat food in retirement and I get to do cool stuff now while I'm still able and willing. If you're being responsible with your money there's no reason not to enjoy it. If you have follow-on Q's let me know.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 22:38
|
|
|
Guest2553 posted:Thoughts/answers off the top of my dome: You're correct, I work for the government. I haven't looked much into the bridge benefit stuff but if my RRSP has some utility, that'd be really rad. Sent you an email!
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2021 02:51
|
|
|
This is a third-biweekly paycheque month for me, so I decided to double-check my contribution room, and boy am I glad I decided to check all of my transactions, because it turns out CRA does not have a large deposit I made towards the end of 2019. I just assumed they had all of 2019 and were only missing 2020 from their records. Even with a planned additional contribution, I wouldn't have been over, but boy am I close. Not bragging, by the way, but warning. All it took was a giving up a year and a half of my life to a pandemic and having to move back in with my parents to save up. But at least I got it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 30, 2021 18:03
|
|
|
alright, mortgage renewal time is upon me. [TELL] me about using a mortgage broker
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 16:42
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:alright, mortgage renewal time is upon me. [TELL] me about using a mortgage broker eh, nm, I don't think they make sense given my situation is very straight forward. Looking like its coming down to between Tangerine and ATB for best rates, with some sketchy looking CanWise Financial offering absurdly low fixed rates that look sus as hell.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 18:42
|
|
|
Canwise is legit but you get next to no customer support with them. Pivo in the Toronto thread used them recently.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 18:53
|
|
|
Cold on a Cob posted:Canwise is legit but you get next to no customer support with them. Pivo in the Toronto thread used them recently. Thanks for the clarification and confirmation of their legitimacy. I expect next to nothing from Tangerine either. Has the thread heard of Citadel Mortgages? They are offering a 5-year fixed for less than 2%
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 19:45
|
|
|
We're going with CMLS right now and are getting 2% for a five year fixed uninsured.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 20:29
|
|
|
Thanks! unrelated question: does anyone use Borrowell to check on their credit report? I found Transunion a pain in the rear end frankly
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 23:50
|
|
|
I use credit karma.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2021 00:01
|
|
|
I use both Borrowell and Credit Karma to cover both Transunion and Equifax. Yes thanks Cob, I did use Canwise. They were fine. Like I said my guy replied crazy fast and was on the ball. He did mess up the date on one document and took him about 30min to correct. No real issues. The low advertised rate on Ratehub really did exist and I did qualify except for one catch, they didn’t accept my 30 day close. And I don’t mean “my” 30 day like they evaluated my deal and found me lacking, it was just overall a condition on the rate for everyone. IIRC they wanted 60+. They still got me a much lower rate than I was able to find myself and it was smooth sailing the entire time. Like I said YMMV because it is a volume brokerage they don’t work on commission but my experience was good. You don’t have to work with them exclusively or anything. Pivo fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Jul 6, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2021 00:07
|
|
|
Coincidentally, I've spoken with Butler, Citadel and Edison over the last few days and with CIBC, where I have a few accounts. Butler has had the lowest rates for me. 1.15 on a variable, and 2.09 on fixed. Both 5y on 25y amortization. First broker I spoke with was great, but he's since left. Second one has been fine as well. Currently they're my top pick. They did cost someone I know money though, by not getting the rate locked after sitting on the paperwork for 2 weeks and then the lender (TD) changed their rules so that they'd need to bring 50-100k more downpayment to get that rate. Haven't gotten solid numbers from Citadel yet, but the guy seemed the most knowledgeable. I don't think he's selling the lowest rates, but seems to want to find the right product for you. Would consider working with. I called Edison because of the 1.79 rate they had on Rates.ca/ratespy.ca. They have it coded wrong, since it's not available for uninsured mortgages. Rates they gave me were pretty far above Butler. This seems to be the Canadian arm of Quicken Loans/Rocket Mortgage from the US. Overall, my least favourite. For CIBC I spoke with my existing "advisor", which was fine. Claims they're willing to waive some fees, and go back to the underwriters to negotiate down the rate. Initial number before underwriting was 1.28 for variable, so not the greatest. It's readvanceable and available on a 30y amortization for that price though, so it's a maybe, if I can beat them up on price a bit more. Edit: large hands posted:We're going with CMLS right now and are getting 2% for a five year fixed uninsured. Are you in Quebec? Their rate sheet wasn't amazing otherwise. Can match Butler with their max buydown on fixed, but not close on variable. spoof fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Jul 6, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2021 00:52
|
|
|
spoof posted:
BC. we're getting 2.04% which I believe was an incentive rate for putting 30% down on a 25 year amortization. I don't actually see it on the sheet there.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2021 01:21
|
|
|
I think it was Credit karma (owned by Transunion IIRC) that was such a pain to deal with--mostly because they were asking questions about, say, where I got my SIN and I was like "which one" (not even trying to be cute) and they didn't like that much. Transunion was also less than helpful after one of those massive hacks. I'll give it another go though, perhaps it has smoothed out Thanks for the broker follow up! Very helpful. Is it worth it to talk to multiple brokers though? CIBC badly hosed up my first renewal and getting decent rates from them last time around was a huge pain in the dick. They aren't the same company they used to be--they used to be genuinely helpful but in the past 10 years or so have gone from seeing themselves as a service provider to a cash harvester. Not even considering them this time. Definitely considering a fixed 5 year, as rate hikes appear inevitable over the next few years. Not sure how inflation will affect this, since normally there is an inverse relationship but interest cannot go lower. (edit: wait I'm being stupid, with higher inflation comes higher rates, its been a while since the 70s) Shockingly we seem to have knocked several years off the full amortization from plowing RRSP-driven tax refunds into prepays on the mortgage  Not sure where we got that bit of financial advice but its sure nice to be looking at the end of this cash cow sooner than later
Bilirubin fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Jul 6, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2021 01:40
|
|
|
I'm a US citizen that recently became a Canadian permanent resident and am planning to move permanently within the next 12 months. I understand my taxes/finances are going to become very complex, so I need to find an accountant who understands the ins and outs of both country's systems. Does anyone have experience with this that could guide me in the right direction for finding one? What to look for, what to avoid, etc.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2021 01:10
|
|
|
Congrats on escaping form the nightmare country! I'm pretty much in the same boat and all the quotes I got for US taxes were were hella expensive. I don't have any assets in the US so I just do my own taxes and keep redoing the forms until it says I owe $0. It's probably wrong, but I don't earn any money in the US and pay more tax in Canada than I would in the US, so if I get audited I know I won't owe anything. It's probably extremely stupid and I'm sure I'll get stung eventually, but it's worked for a few years now. The alternative is paying hundreds of dollars every year for no reason besides a country I have nothing to do with and get no benefits from wanting pointless information. 
Outrail fucked around with this message at 07:46 on Jul 10, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2021 07:41
|
|
|
Honestly unless you are making more than $150,000 Canadian you are better just doing them yourself. Form 2555 is your friend. Comment is void f you have like lots of cross border property or earnings or whatever, and if you earn more then  and you can afford a cross border tax accountant. I know of one in Calgary but am not sure if he is retired now or notIf living and earning in Canada you should really owe nothing to the US because of tax treaties.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2021 23:39
|
|
|
The one gotcha is the the TFSA, though, right? I’ve only seen this in similar discussions online, so please consult a more authoritative source, but basically do some more research if you’re investing your earnings.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2021 07:28
|
|
|
yippee cahier posted:The one gotcha is the the TFSA, though, right? I’ve only seen this in similar discussions online, so please consult a more authoritative source, but basically do some more research if you’re investing your earnings. The only tax-advantaged account the IRS views as legitimate is the RRSP. Everything else requires mountains of paperwork.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2021 16:47
|
|
|
Yeah, based on what I've read the only thing I could really touch is an RRSP, so I'm worried about how badly the USA is going to kneecap my ability to retire. That's why I feel I should speak to a professional who can guide me around all the potential pitfalls, since I don't want to make any big mistakes with my financial future. Would a financial advisor be more appropriate than an accountant for this?
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2021 17:46
|
|
|
Hello, I have a question about what to do with my emergency fund. I currently have it sitting in a "high" interest savings account getting 0.1% per month at TD. The benefit is it's easily accessible but it's pretty frustrating having it sit there doing nothing. I'm trying to find alternatives like a cashable GIC but the ROI on everything seems pathetic. The other option I am considering is apply for a line of credit to have ready in an emergency and use the cash currently on hand to top up my RRSP investments. TFSA is already maxed. Are there any other ways to go?
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2021 09:15
|
|
|
DrBox posted:Hello, You could try a high(er) interest savings account with an online bank. Comparisons HERE! I've been quite happy with EQBank, which admittedly is a bit of a thread favourite. Ask around for a referral link and you can get a free 2x 
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2021 09:25
|
|
|
Nofeed posted:You could try a high(er) interest savings account with an online bank. Comparisons HERE! Those rates are much better. My only concern is if I'm in an emergency is it easy to access or move funds around if I have my emergency fund at a different bank than everything else. I guess in the end it's one more card or login to have. I'll think about that one, thanks.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2021 09:31
|
|
|
Seconding EQ. You can e-Transfer up to $3k/day $10k/week $20k/month or $30k per transfer that'll take 2-3 days to clear.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2021 14:16
|
|
|
I keep 25% of my emergency fund in my chequing account and the rest in my TFSA holding VGRO. That way I have instant access to some of my money, the rest gains a lot better than 1.25%, and I don't have to fart around with extra accounts or worse, shuffling things around chasing temporary bonus interest. I consider the lack of interest on the "dead" 25% a hedge for the rest, though doing this means my banking fees are waived so that's nice. This does obviously carry more risk though. LOC is a poor substitute for an emergency fund. The interest rate and limit can change at any time without notice, and your bank can convert it into a loan that can only be repaid (read about this happening to someone once when they wanted to just use it in a temporary manner for example). If the LOC is jointly held you can lose access if your spouse dies. The entire point of an emergency fund is to not have to depend on credit in an emergency. I'd be less worried about using a HELOC over an unsecured LOC but I still think if at all possible it's better to use savings instead.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2021 14:18
|
|
|
Cold on a Cob posted:I keep 25% of my emergency fund in my chequing account and the rest in my TFSA holding VGRO. That way I have instant access to some of my money, the rest gains a lot better than 1.25%, and I don't have to fart around with extra accounts or worse, shuffling things around chasing temporary bonus interest. I consider the lack of interest on the "dead" 25% a hedge for the rest, though doing this means my banking fees are waived so that's nice. This does obviously carry more risk though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2021 14:40
|
|
|
DrBox posted:Hello, As someone with no mortgage payment, no kids, and no other debt,, I have effectively zero emergency fund. I have a line of credit that I use in case of an emergency. The way I look at it is, every year without an emergency I'm losing ~6% gains with high interest savings vs an index fund. Catastrophic losses on the market are few and far between, and even if I had an emergency in the middle of a steep downtown, the chances are my gains will have already offset that. Being down 20% and having to take out a few thousand isn't going to be the end of the world. My monthly expenses are around $2000 living large. I know many people don't feel comfortable in that situation, but that's up to you.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2021 17:39
|
|
|
Tsyni posted:As someone with no mortgage payment, no kids, and no other debt,, I have effectively zero emergency fund. I have a line of credit that I use in case of an emergency. The way I look at it is, every year without an emergency I'm losing ~6% gains with high interest savings vs an index fund. Catastrophic losses on the market are few and far between, and even if I had an emergency in the middle of a steep downtown, the chances are my gains will have already offset that. Being down 20% and having to take out a few thousand isn't going to be the end of the world. This is what I do as well. 10 years ago I made the decision to not have an emergency fund. Over that time my investments have over doubled in value. Even if I needed to liquidate for an emergency AND my investments were down 50%, I am still ahead by not having a separate emergency fund.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2021 18:50
|
|
|
I came across this recent blog post that reiterates the blogger's advice to invest your emergency fund. I'm not there yet, but I think I've figured out my sticking point. I have it in my head that I won't sell anything until I'm done accumulating savings. Maybe that's useful for keeping me on the "buy and hold and don't look at it" train, but it's unhelpful (and probably unrealistic) in a hypothetical "oh poo poo I lost my job and also surprise big expense" situation. 1.25% is close enough to inflation that I'm not worried about it for now. In the meantime, I should get it through my head that selling stocks to put food on the table isn't the end of the world.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2021 19:42
|
|
|
Tsyni posted:As someone with no mortgage payment, no kids, and no other debt,, I have effectively zero emergency fund. I have a line of credit that I use in case of an emergency. The way I look at it is, every year without an emergency I'm losing ~6% gains with high interest savings vs an index fund. Catastrophic losses on the market are few and far between, and even if I had an emergency in the middle of a steep downtown, the chances are my gains will have already offset that. Being down 20% and having to take out a few thousand isn't going to be the end of the world. I do this too. Get a high limit on your CC and access to a LOC and you can use both in emergencies and withdraw from your TFSA for emergencies before interest accrues on either.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2021 02:09
|
|
|
Well this may just be confirmation bias but I appreciate people validating my plan. Time to top up that RRSP! As long as I have 10k liquid I can't imagine too many possibilities where I couldn't get by on LOC or credit card until i free up funds from my TFSA. I had in my mind the worse case happening to a family member a few years ago where she needed emergency surgery on vacation in Mexico and the hospital wouldn't admit her without putting up a huge sum as collateral while waiting for travelers Insurance to get worked out, so it ended up being a few scared people spreading out a bunch of money on a few credit cards just to get the process started.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2021 05:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 22:54 |
|
|
Yeah that seems good. Speaking of keeping some accessible I forgot to mention I also keep a decent chunk of physical cash around as an emergency can also take the form of “can’t access or use any bank or credit cards”. I do this when travelling too. Not a lot because I usually rely on my CC when I travel and my partner and I have cards with multiple banks just in case, but enough to get a cab, buy food, maybe buy a burner phone etc.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2021 12:14
|
|