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Wouldn't it just be the daily rate the institution uses? I'd probably go under a few bucks just to make sure I didn't over-contribute to be safe.
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Dec 19, 2013 21:46
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Slightly related... Any of you folks ever use a credit card extended warranty perk? I am not a believer in paying for extended warranties, HOWEVER I have had real lovely luck with dishwashers. I made an exception last time and it paid for itself. I'm going to buy a new one today and the wife and I were probably going to get a warranty, but then I thought about the CC protections. Decent alternative?
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Dec 31, 2013 16:39
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So what are your plans with the tfsa this year? I am seriously looking at being uncharacteristically lopsided for me at least and putting it all in Amazon.
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Jan 2, 2014 23:25
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tuyop posted:I'm just going to take $5500 to a casino and play poker. Same thing, really, but I'll have to pay taxes on my returns! Don't get me wrong, I know a single equity by definition is pretty much the epitome of gambling, but I have very little in individual equities and if I'm going to gamble, I'll do it in the TFSA. I've been meaning too since well, last year.  Edit: The rest of my portfolio is quite diversified. RRSPs this year will be mostly index funds across the board with about 25% cash, which is already heavily weighted in my RRSP and LIRA. With a couple of small exceptions ($<1K) the equities I do hold are financial industry. slidebite fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 00:40
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Fair point, and this probably goes without saying, but not all equities are equal. Equating poker with, say, a Canadian Bank stock is only a fair comparison in the sense that it is possible you will lose some money on a bank stock in the long run. However, you will almost certainly lose all of it in poker. That said, I am not foolish and have all my eggs in 1 basket and I'd certainly never invest anything in an equity I couldn't afford to lose. Anyhow, forget about Amazon chat, what basic strategies do most employ with the TFSA? Basically mirror other accounts or do you diverge to more/less risk? slidebite fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 01:31
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Lexicon posted:I think individual equities in a TFSA is a spectacularly bad idea. Loss of principle => no capital loss and you lose the contribution room forever. That has a pretty large opportunity cost. Flipside, no taxes whatsoever on gains. I think the chances of gains over losses on "good" (loaded term I know) mitigate the loss side, but that's my opinion. TFSA in my opinion, although admittedly idealistic, is looking at the upside. I don't have all ups completely in my portfolio, but they certainly outnumber the downs, all things being equal I'd prefer to take the tax free gains than worry about capital losses, no question. Do you differ? e: So do most of you mirror your TFSA to reflect your risk in other accounts? For the most part, I do but I am thinking to go out on a limb a little (lot) more myself. slidebite fucked around with this message at 10:06 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 08:49
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Lexicon posted:It's not just capital losses you need to worry about though. If you put $X of RIM into your TFSA in 2011, and the stock plummets, you've lost the opportunity to write off against your gains and you've lost that TFSA room forever. That just magnifies greatly the already substantial loss of $X itself - you no longer are entitled to $X worth of tax free growth over the next 40 odd years. I think your RIM example is a little extreme, but I see what you're saying and it makes sense. Since I am maxed in my sheltered accounts, I think I will do what you're suggesting and actually put the safer index in the TFSA and the equities in my soon-to-be-opened non-reg account, so I might as well do it there.
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Jan 5, 2014 19:13
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I saw that this morning eating breakfast. A couple of things that caught my eye:quote:“I know it’s our fault we got into it, but it’s ridiculous. It’s like rich people getting rich off the poor,” said Hauser. “It’s a way to loan-shark, legally.” quote:That left them locked into the full term of the original 25 per cent loan — a total of seven years. quote:She said the payments eat up one-quarter of her take-home pay. My best guess is they're paying almost $500/month on a 4 year old dodge. I agree that 25% from a mainstream bank is borderline predatory, but really, why on Earth people think buying a $22K car a year or two after you declared bankruptcy is a good idea is just  I have no sympathy for them, but the bank should never have made the loan in the first place. That's Avco or Rent-to-own bullshit right there.
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Jan 6, 2014 19:03
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FrozenVent posted:Can anyone in BC tell me if it's like in Quebec, where the dealer is required by law to show you the page in the contract where it says in big loving bold letter "THIS IS HOW MUCH THE CAR IS THIS IS HOW MUCH THE INTEREST IS THIS IS HOW MUCH YOU'RE GOING TO PAY TOTAL OVER THE COURSE OF THE LOAN DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS ARE YOU REALLY REALLY SURE BECAUSE HERE'S HOW MUCH INTEREST YOU ARE GOING TO PAY DO YOU GET IT OK PLEASE SIGN HERE AND INITIAL HERE ON THIS VERY PAGE."?  ARROW LOOK HERE but it is plainly visible and not hidden. Shows basically price for car, extras (bullshit doc fees, whatever), taxes, finance term, rate, and total sum at the end of the day, even including total of interest paid.Double e: Sounds more like the people "trusted" the dealer/salesperson that they could refinance in a year or two. Why anyone would trust a car dealer, especially for anything supposedly to the consumers benefit financially is unbelievable. slidebite fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 19:12
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Overal strategy question. Without getting into $$ numbers, I think I might want to bump up my foreign holdings. I am roughly 50% Canadian equity funds 15% Foreign equity funds (US and ROW) 35% Bond funds/GICs. Small smattering in individual equities, probably <5% (in the wiggle room of the plus/minus above, majority of which are big dividend companies held in the funds as well) Thoughts or generalizations? e: I am going to be moving my various funds to Vanguard as the loads come off. slidebite fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 06:28
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If it is a TD branch (and not an investment house) they may be limited or not willing to give you a broad range of funds and may try to steer you to one over another which may have very high fees compared to funds mentioned in the OP.
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Jan 7, 2014 07:43
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Lexicon posted:Seems high in Canadian equity to me. We have a small, poorly-diversified set of companies viewed from an international perspective. Also, from a hedging point of view - you're already highly-exposed to Canadian economic risk by virtue of living here (and being employed here) etc. I favour a somewhat light weighting in Canadian equities for this reason. Yeah, I agree it's too heavily weighted to  and need to move money off shore. It's done pretty well for me, all things being equal, but you can only go so far with financial, utility and resource stocks.I'm going to actually crunch my numbers and get real % to know what I'm dealing with. I also need to compare my funds to an equiv Vanguard so I can start switching so I'll be looking at fund components pretty closely, probably this weekend.
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Jan 7, 2014 21:17
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Poloz is coming outright saying it is becoming more likely that rates will begin creeping up this summer. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/long-term-rates-may-rise-soon-stephen-poloz-says-1.2487313 Will GIC rates possibly be effected before an official announcement or is it pretty lockstep with official policy?
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Jan 7, 2014 21:31
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kolider posted:I've been reading through the thread all morning and learned quite a bit from you guys. $42K is not insignificant so don't feel like you need to use the word "only"  You are doing basically what I'm doing, except I'm going to be moving my advisor "recommended" funds into similar Vanguard funds, other than some potential diversification. I am checking first on the load/DSC Discharge Service Charge of selling the fund or # of fund units. Make sure you have a handle on that first or else you might get whacked with a hefty penalty of moving it early. It might make more sense just to let it sit for another year or three until the penalties come off or lower to a more palatable amount. I am personally a big fan of the TFSA and max it out every year, and if I had to choose between the two I'd do the TFSA first, followed by the RRSP unless there is some benefit to do otherwise, like employer matched contributions, etc. Be careful though, you probably just can't sell RRSPs off and move the funds out of the RRSP to a TFSA. Others here are probably more knowledgeable for certain than me, but I'm 90%+ sure you can't. You might also want to consider moving from Edward Jones to a more hands on/self serve house, like TD-Waterhouse, RBC Direct or Questrade. The fees for buying/selling stocks and ETFs will almost certainly be far lower that way. e: There are probably people here who disagree with me on the TFSA vs RRSP preference, so take my opinion with a grain of salt as others will certainly chime in with their take.
slidebite fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Jan 8, 2014 |
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Jan 8, 2014 19:46
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Lexicon posted:Oh - and you can't just withdraw your RRSP and walk it over to a new institution, or you'll incur massive withdrawal fees. Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I'm not familiar with a fee to leave an institution, only the fees which are bundled with the funds.
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Jan 8, 2014 20:04
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Oh sure, I'm aware of transfer forms and if you take the cash out of the RRSP accounts the massive penalties, it just sounded like from Lexicon that there is a massive fee just to leave one institution for another which I wasn't really aware of. I might have misunderstood though. $150 "fee" (boy, these guys love there fees) while lovely, is not that a big of deal at the end of the day I guess.
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Jan 8, 2014 20:12
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Kal Torak posted:It's a drop in the bucket if you are paying 2.34% MER on 42K every year. I guess that's why I love their stock and funds with them 
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Jan 8, 2014 20:24
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It is unfortunate, although in some small way to might be slowly turning with institutions line ING and PC:F (div of CIBC) for everyday banking and the self-serve/low cost brokerages. While I am still have much to learn myself about self directing, I am somewhat jaded by people when I mention RRSPs and TFSA to co-workers and friends and begin to think of a lot of these fees as a stupid tax. Their eyes glaze over and they just say "they let their guy handle it." When I tell them "I was just like that a year or so ago, it's really not that hard to get a working handle on it" they just tell me it confuses them and they have time to spare. Then I say "Look, take 1 hour and read up a bit. If nothing else take a quick look at the Couch Potato website" they say they don't have the time and/or some other bullshit excuse.  This is probably a significant portion of your life savings for most people. Your god drat LIFE SAVINGS. You're telling me you can't take 1 hour to even get the most basic handle on something? Really?  The sad part is these are genuinely intelligent people that are somehow convinced its some sort of voodoo bullshit and they'd need to do something which is the equivalent of going to school for 4 years just to get a handle on it.
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Jan 8, 2014 21:00
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 GROUND FLOOR http://ca.news.yahoo.com/medical-marijuana-producer-could-soon-tsx-134540689.html quote:A group of Ottawa technology executives has made a bid to take prospective medical marijuana producer Tweed Inc. public.
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Jan 8, 2014 21:20
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I am glad you're doing that and I will certainly do something like this.
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Jan 8, 2014 22:09
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Not aware of a bonus or anything special at sign up, but the PC World Black MC is a bit of a step up from the standard PC MC which gives you points at about 2x the standard rate. http://www.pcfinancial.ca/english/credit-card/pc-mastercard-world It's my day-day card, and since I periodically shop at a Loblaws stores, I can get a decent chunk off my bill. MBNA smart cash used to be a great card, but I understand they changed it.
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Jan 9, 2014 17:01
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Crell posted:Great, that clears up a bunch of stuff.  savings myself. Short term rates are so lovely right now, the only way you're going to make some cash is to take a real risk.PC:F interest first account is 1.35%, while lovely, is better than pretty much any short term GIC you'd be able to get. Of course you're paying tax on that interest though out of a sheltered account, so YMMV. That's where I keep our liquid cash savings. http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/mkt/bankaccounts/interestplussavingsaccount-en.html slidebite fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Jan 10, 2014 |
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Jan 9, 2014 20:35
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I asked Mrs. Slidebite, part engineer, part accountant, all number guru. Generally speaking yes, it would be. As for dealing with it, it would depend how it is reimbursed to you. If it's just on your stub with your paycheck, it's probably properly taxed already so you don't need to do anything. If you just get reimbursed separate from your normal pay (say you get a separate expense cheque), you should likely be reporting it as "additional income" on your T1. Note: If it's required for you to have a cellphone for your job, you might be able to claim the expense if your employer will do a T2200. Alternatively, if you have a higher end cell plan because of work you might be able to expense the difference in plans. Or, you could alternatively play dumb and not do anything which is probably what 90% of the population would do.  If you want to dig in this and get the specific part of the tax code, she offered to look it up for me tomorrow. slidebite fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Jan 10, 2014 |
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Jan 10, 2014 06:03
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Revenue Canada has been making rumblings of company issued cell phones to be a mandatory taxable benefit since they're becoming a very common perk. I wouldn't be surprised if they start running with that in the coming years.
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Jan 10, 2014 06:20
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I agree  I have a company issued Galaxy and I'd rather not have one. Part of the job in this day and age though. I admit, I'd be lying if I said it was 100% company and 0% personal though. I am pretty sure I know what your coworkers are going to say they do
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Jan 10, 2014 06:30
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OK, I'm pretty much in like flynt. I think I'll move it all over to RBCDI. Need to talk it over with the Mrs, but that sounds pretty good. What's their investing tools/interface like?
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Jan 14, 2014 22:03
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Current government? I don't see it. Trudeau gets in next year? 50/50... actually, probably less. NDP all bets are off as nobody knows. I'm not saying this as an I  Harper, because I don't, just the rhetoric and best guess and totally out of my rear end.Lexicon posted:This is a fascinating concept: Management Expense Ratio per Quarter-century (MERQ): http://www.michaeljamesonmoney.com/2012/02/merq-is-too-extreme-to-be-believable.html I really need to read that, make sure I understand it and share it. slidebite fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Jan 17, 2014 |
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Jan 17, 2014 06:30
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That is good, thanks for the link. I do recall him saying on CBC that reducing the GST was a terrible move (albeit he isn't alone) and he'd likely bump it back. Point probably stands to the question though about income tax rates
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Jan 17, 2014 07:22
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Lexicon posted:To be clear, I'm talking about the situation in 30 odd years... Well after Harper, Mulcair etc have had their day in the sun. I see. I don't see how anyone could answer that in a long term sense but it is an interesting question. BUT if I had to put money on it, consumption taxes will rise before those rates appreciably increase.
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Jan 17, 2014 17:31
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Lexicon posted:Well yeah. We're all 'reasoning under incomplete information' here. Sorry, I didn't mean to state the obvious but it is an interesting thought exercise. I do think that consumption taxes in general will be the way to go. People will make all sorts of noise (myself included) but at the end of the day, it's probably the fairest way to do it. Also, speaking as a 40 year old guy, out of all my friends and co-workers that are close to my age, the ones that don't have kids probably outnumbers those that do at around 5:1 so I think it could be a big problem.
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Jan 17, 2014 20:17
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tuyop posted:I don't understand how a tax-sheltered account limited to $5500/year is especially useful for the wealthy. Even if you only make $31 000 net, saving $460/month, or ~18% of your income, is probably doable in most cost-of-living areas if a person is motivated and educated.
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Jan 18, 2014 02:57
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Completely anecdotal, but I was very much in debt for many years, along with most other people I know. I don't know a single person that wouldn't say they were completely at fault themselves for not controlling their spending.
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Jan 19, 2014 04:09
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What's the skinny on indexed GICs? I must admit at first I thought they sounded pretty good. Guaranteed principal but far better upside, but the more I've been reading about them the less appealing they sound. Hidden fees, lovely interest tax rates, nebulous track record and performance which is certainly giving pause. http://www.investingforme.com/index-linked-gic http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products/gic/marketsmart-suite.html Anyone here checked into them before?
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Jan 22, 2014 01:48
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Thanks for confirming my thoughts.
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Jan 22, 2014 15:16
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Yeah, I think this was pretty expected for the past couple weeks. Still, as someone that goes across a lot and buys a fair amount online I still grimace at the though of 10% being gone in a relatively short while. What can you do? Hedge it's going lower and buy more US$$ based funds now? The consensus seems to be it'll probably bottom around 88-ish in the coming months, although the last 2 weeks has been an express ride hasn't it. I think the biggest concern (and one I'm definitely addressing) is the exposure to Canadian markets and its upcoming performance. I am heavily weighted on the Canadian side and as I move investment firms I'm taking the opportunity to spread that out. I'll probably be leaning on you folks here for critique and recommendations in the coming while Speaking of, I know it was mentioned earlier that RBC Direct has the flat $9.95 trade now, but they are also offering 20 free trades on new accounts. http://www.rbcdirectinvesting.com/services/offer/index.html?Offercode=20W17&ProspectID=51CA845E0A634A15AABD9E6F236EAEAB I also discovered when chatting with an RBC branch manager yesterday, you can set up a Direct Investing account at your local RBC branch and they'll handle all the paperwork if you want.
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Jan 22, 2014 17:47
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Hindsight is always fantastic in the world of investing. I do agree though that Canada isn't all doom and gloom. I agree that financial sectors should still be strong (my heaviest allocation) but resources will probably start seeing some benefits of the low dollar in the coming months too. That said, I do think I need some more diversification, and not just to the US.
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Jan 23, 2014 06:19
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Related to CC chat, I've had a Capital One and MBNA Mastercards that I never use, but they're my my oldest cards so I keep them open. 2000 and 2001 were the open dates. My typical "go-to" cards are PC-MC (2005), RBC Visa (2004) and Amex (2007). I would like to turf the MBNA and Cap One but haven't yet because of talk of it hurting your credit score. Rough ideas of how much that would hurt my fico? I'm not planing on applying for credit anytime soon so practically it's probably not a big deal but I don't want to keep them forever just "because" unless it's a good idea.
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Jan 28, 2014 18:02
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FrozenVent posted:Your credit score is not a video game high score, there's no sense in min / maxing it. Close the cards. That said the point is taken and I will cancel them. It's not like I should keep them for perpetuity if I never plan to use them. For interests sakes, I will see if I can get my credit score now and check again in 6 months to see what the difference is. Anyone know of any deals/codes for FICO score power?
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Jan 28, 2014 20:52
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Keep in mind fees might be an issue, especially if he just recently bought them on low load.
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Jan 30, 2014 18:50
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melon cat posted:If you think you'll need access to the money within a year (or within "relatively short notice" as you said), avoid GICs altogether. Pop the money into a regular 'ole high interest savings account (the rates are similar), or if you really, really want to to- put it into your TFSA Savings Deposit. The interest rate would be very similar to that of a GIC, and the money would (usually) be accessible within 24 business hours. Mrs. Slidebite and I have our emergency account + not insignificant extra sitting in one until I get off my fat rear end and open up our RBC Direct accounts. *=Far less than 24hrs. You need to transfer it to another account for withdrawal, but I've done it at 10PM online and had it at 7AM the next day. slidebite fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 03:03
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