Blog written by Kathy Waite (Click the teal title text for the full blogs)
Do you have a company pension? If so read on its probably in one of these?
Some times automatic is good , saving automatically each month for example, having an investment that runs on a preset algorithm may not be. Your situation is unique you deserve a custom solution.
Want to know how this impacts on your future plans? Contact me for a review .
A parent : The government claims the new Canada Child Benefit will pay nine of 10 families more than they receive under existing programs. The new child benefit starts in July and applies to people with kids under 18. Benefits are tax free, which means no surprises when filing your taxes.Its likely families making over $ 150,000 will see a decrease in benefits
Try this calculator
http://www.budget.gc.ca/2016/tool-outil/ccb-ace-en.html
Both the children’s fitness and arts tax credits are headed to extinction. Eligible expenses will be cut in half for 2016 and eliminated for 2017. The fitness credit is now worth up to $150 on expenses of as much as $1,000, while the arts credit is worth up to $75 on expenses of up to $500.
An increase in child disability benefits
“To recognize the additional costs of caring for a child with a severe disability,” Budget 2016 will continue the Child Disability Benefit but add an additional amount of up to $2,730 for each child who is eligible for the Disability Tax Credit.
The elimination of income splitting for couples with kids
Income splitting for couples with children under age 18 will be eliminated.
While not referenced in the Budget document this is in direct reference to the prior Conservative government’s introduction of the Family Tax Credit, which allowed couples to income split and save up to $2,000 in taxes each year.
An investment in childcare
The Liberals want to invest $500 million to establish a National Framework on Early Learning and Child Care, starting in 2017 ($100 million of this is earmarked for Indigenous child care and early learning on reserve). This will facilitate how provinces address childcare needs.
A student or parent helping to pay college or university: The education tax credit and textbook tax credit are being eliminated as of Jan. 1, 2017. The education credit is worth 15 per cent of $400 for each month a student is enrolled in school full-time, while the textbook credit is set at 15 per cent of $65 per month.
A recent graduate: No student will have to repay money borrowed under the Canada Student Loan program until he or she is earning at least $25,000 per year. Acknowledging the trouble young people are having finding well paying work?
An investor: The government is cracking down on corporate class mutual funds, which allow people to switch money between funds in the same corporate structure without incurring a taxable gain. This switching will no longer be tax-free after September of this year. Good news! labour-sponsored venture capital funds have been revitalized through the return of a 15-per-cent federal tax credit on purchases of these investments. These funds provide a way for small companies to get financing, but they have produced weak results for investors in many cases.
A low-income single senior: Payments under the Guaranteed Income Supplement top-up benefit will rise by as much as $947 per year. This measure will affect 900,000 single seniors, a group that is at particular risk of living in poverty.
Someone who is looking ahead to retirement: The age of eligibility of for Old Age Security will remain at 65 and not gradually increase to 67 by 2029.
Part of a senior couple that is living apart: If the couple is living apart for reasons beyond its control, say because one partner requires long-term care, then additional GIS benefits may be available, depending on income.
A teacher: A new tax credit will, starting this year, help cover out-of-pocket costs for school supplies at a rate of 15 per cent on expenses of up to $1,000. Early childhood educators are also covered.
Average working person: A reduction in the middle-income tax bracket
As previously announced, Budget 2016 confirmed that the middle class income tax bracket would be cut from 22% to 20.5%, starting this year. That means if your taxable income is between $45,282 and $90,563, you’ll pay less tax.
According to Budget 2016, nearly nine million Canadians will benefit from this tax cut, which took effect Jan. 1, 2016.
The Liberals also made good on their promise to introduce a new 33% tax bracket for people who earn more than $200,000 each year.
Net Worth Management is the art of making the most of what you have.
Wondering what home improvement will cost you this spring? Take a look at our info-graph for ball-park costs.
Kathy Was featured in Canadian Family Magazine's April issue
"Teach your children about money, and help them understand how to save, spend and donate"
"House rich and cash poor isn't much fun!"
CPI Indices rise more across Prairies
The Regina consumer price index rose by 2.4% last year while the Canadian index only rose 1.5% from January 2013 to Jan 2014 as measured by the All-items consumer price index. (Saskatchewan Bureau of Statistics)
Saskatchewan posted an average increase of 2.3% beaten by Manitoba and Alberta with 2.6% and 2.7%, and underscored by BC with no change.
This goes in line with what most consumers are feeling across Saskatchewan as the pennies do not seem to stretch as far.(Click the image for larger version)
Check us out on: 
(Click image for larger version) Data is based on Total Return Indices in respective markets
Things to do with your RRSP Refund!
- Put it on your mortgage – lower debt would allow you to fast track your early retirement plan.
- Pay off credit card debt – saves more interest than you can likely make by investing.
- Start a rainy day fund – life has a habit of surprising us.
- Put it in your children’s RESP – receive an extra 20% grant on it (30% in Saskatchewan). That’s a very good return on investment.
- Reinvest it in your RRSP – supercharge your RRSP by getting the deduction for next year.
- Do some essential home maintenance – you have been putting off because of the expense but now you have the cash. Your home is your biggest asset, look after it
- Sick of your job? – Start an escape fund, plan your own business and this will help fund the start up.
- Donate it to charity – that’s a tax deduction!
- Put in in the TFSA
- Keep it non registered and explore – do something riskier than you usually would with it and learn about investments.
- OR be really naughty and treat yourself…..who says we always have to be sensible. Live a little!
Check us out on:
Check out this video to understand what a Fee Only Financial Planners is.
Eureka works on a annual subscription/retainer with NO commissions & NO sales/selling. For more on what fee only financial planning his visit our fee only page here
Check us out on:
Kathy Waite was featured in Wealth Professional Magazine this month!
Click image for larger version
Check us out on:
Kathy was featured in a financial post article, "How to break up with your Advisor"
Some excerpts from the article are below.
Other things to do with that cash
RRSPs are not always the right thing to do. Sure they have benefits, you can Google RRSP’s and find 1000’s of articles on why you should be using them, but what are your other options?
Everyone’s situation is different for an unbiased perspective on your unique situation look up at fee-only financial planner.
Check us out on:
On Tuesday the federal budget was announced.
Essentially a balanced budget this year, with a projected surplus of $6.4B next year. A surplus will bode well for the conservative government in 2015 in time for the next election.
Here are a few points you should know:
Spending & Programs:
- $1.6B to research and innovation – will benefit universities.
- $500m to auto sector – mainly Ontario.
- $305m to rural broadband.
- Money to infrastructure (Eastern Canada).
- $100-million a year for interest free loans for trades.
- $391.5m to Parks (not much in the next 2 years, lots more after 3 years).
- More funding for food safety.
- $200m to national disaster programs – driven by Alberta floods
- Beer regulations relaxed to stimulated craft beer industry
How was this paid for?
- Tobacco tax increase (Approx. $700m)
- Billions (Approx. $4B) was reallocated from Defense spending
- Closing offshore tax loopholes (Approx. $1.6B)
Not included: (but should have been)
- No stimulus for low-growth economy
- No measures for reducing household debt
- No significant measures for young people
- Income splitting was delayed until nearer to the next election
Check us out on:
Ever wonder what Halloween is costing you? Well check out our info graph below. Should you be worried about a one off $70 expense?...probably not. More of a concern should be your pesky investment fees that are $1,000s of dollars a year. You price pick on candy for Halloween so why don’t you price pick on your investment costs!
Contact us today for more info.
If you have any ideas for Eureka’s “Cost Of Series” please submit them at info@eurekainvestorguidance.ca
(Click for larger image)
Part 1/3 in the "How's My Portfolio Doing?" series.
The series will cover:
1. How Should My Investment Portfolio Be Performing?
Including a Case study with a video walk-through of the excel spreadsheet
2. How Does My Portfolio Match Up?
Including a look into Return, Risk, and Cost
3. How Do I Fix My Portfolio?
ASK ABOUT: free portfolio allocation check, first 10 requests are free!
Check us out on:
The Government of Saskatchewan has recently added to the existing 20% RESP contribution from the federal government. The increase of 10% is called the Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings Plan (SAGES) program. Now some individuals are eligible for up to 30% contributed to their RESP plans!
A family annually contributing $2,500 into their child’s RESP could receive up to $750 from the government. Over 17 years this would amount to $12,750 from the government if you contributed $42,500.
For more info contact us at info@eurekainvestorguidance.ca to find out how we work.
.jpg)
Check us out on:
Are “Financial advisors” are working for clients?
Why does it matter to me how my advisor is paid??
How do you know if you are being given good advice or sold a product?
Can you trust someone whose interests aren’t aligned with yours?
STOP going with the flow and find out how the people you trust with your savings are paid.
We are all feeling under the weather here at Team Eureka. So we thought we would find out the cost of the common cold! Enjoy. Click image below for larger image.
We start with the end in mind. Lets be clear what we are trying to achieve, assess progress so far, all the stuff you have gathered in your lifetime ( good and bad ) learn what options we have, find ways to move forward and get results for you.
You know the hard part? Its getting started , stopping the procrastination!
Don't know what you want? Where you want to be in the future? I bet you know where you DO NOT want to be though!