Are You Saving for Retirement?

Here in Canada, we are fortunate to have a fantastic registration program known as the RRSP, or Registered Retirement Savings Plan.

Unfortunately, lots and losta people have almost no idea what they are talking about when it comes to their retirement savings.

"Hey Eboo! I just invested in an RRSP!"

Me: "Um. No you didn't. You invested in a savings account, GIC, mutual fund, etc. and registered it."

I have understood the basics of RRSPs since I first heard about them, thanks to a swell guy named Dave F. who took the time to explain it properly to me.

When we head into that time of year when the financial institutions start flogging their RRSP products (read loans), you should have a basic understanding of how it works before you even give them the opportunity to confuse you. Because they will.

Here is a great article that my hero and financial Sham-Wow, Gail Vaz - Oxlade wrote on her blog to help explain it in the simplest of terms. Please take a minute to go read it, and tomorrow, I will post more on the RRSP and how to use it to your advantage.

June Month End Report, Part 2

I have so much to say about this month end report, I decided to do it in a separate post.

First....d'you see the difference in our debt from last month?? Almost $8,000!! Now, this is not going to be a monthly occurrence, or anything like that. But it was a good month! I like to think of it as my blizzard month, instead of just a few snowflakes, lol.

Can I get a cheer please? We paid off three, count 'em, three, debts since last report, and one small claims court settlement. All to the tune of about $9,000.00. Holy smokes! I can tell you that certainly has eased the pressure off our cash flow and allowed us to juggle some payments so that we can get our snowball effect started.

$18,994.22 vs. $16,124.93

This month end report also marks an important milestone for us with our finances. As of this month, we have more money in assets (various savings and planned spending accounts) than we have debt. Technically, we could use all of our available money and pay this debt off once and for all.  Of course that would leave us in a very precarious position, because we would have nothing to fall back on to pay for the upcoming bills that will be due in a few months time. We could probably do it, but I'm just not comfortable with it. So for now, it's enough just to know that we could do it.

On my Financial Goals Page, we have made progress on nearly every single line. All that is left to start working on are the 'wish list' type items. A buffer in the bank account and vacations. Items that we will start working on once we have made significant progress on the Emergency Fund and the EEE Account. Our Debts Paid In Full page has been filling up which makes us very happy!

And how are we going to celebrate our successes from this past month? We're going to a house party for Canada Day and buying a barbecue. Grocery shopping is going to be fun this month!

As always, your comments are appreciated.

Month End Report, January 2011

I want to start out by saying that I finally went and opened a Mutual Fund account for my RRSP savings with CIBC. I was going to do it with PC Financial, but since PC is owned by CIBC, they only hold CIBC's Mutual Fund products. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I started out with a monthly contribution of only $25 per month, until I get a better handle on the budget. I am, however, planning on transferring all the funds held in the PC Financial savings account to the mutual fund. Then the savings account will be used to 'hold' additional monies saved for the RRSP, and transferred over once a certain amount is reached, or at a particular time (like when net asset value per share is down).

Kudos to me for not applying for a Visa while in the bank, although they did ask. I explained that I wanted to have about six more months of 'better credit payments' to my credit report BEFORE I go about applying for any more credit. Although I don't want another credit card at all, I would like to have one that will be used only for business expenses, making tracking easier. If I were to get it, it would only be used if I could pay the balance immediately, so that I am not incurring any interest charges.


Planned spending - renamed and switched account
Xmas Fund - $48.68 (up $30)

Emergency fund - renamed to EEE Account $65.37
RRSP - $1178.41 (up $125)
General Savings - $47.41
Can. Saving Bond - $455.00 (down $1260)


$100 paid to Personal Loan

$180.00 paid to CC with 28% int. rate

$150 paid to CC with 0% int. rate

$204.04 paid to Auto Loan

HBC card - $447.93



We paid a total of $2146.32 toward our debt this month.


Our current total Debt owing: $21,299.23.
Total Debt owed on January 1, 2010: $23,861.01

Obviously I'm not including all of our debts on these recaps, but suffice it to say, we are making some headway! (That's why the numbers don't add up.)

Overall, it was a good month, but I would have liked to manage things without using savings. I guess that's what it's there for, but I still don't have to like it.

How was your first month of the New Year overall?

My Journey into Investing in Mutual Funds-The Beginning

I've had money in mutual funds before. I only had invested a small amount of money, and withdrew it, closing the account, as soon as I "needed" money for something. Not a very good way to do things.

Now that I'm older, and hopefully a bit wiser, I'm looking into putting money in mutual funds again. Having my retirement funds in a bank account that is only earning 0.5% interest makes my tummy queasy. It's secure, but with a retirement timeline of only 25 or so years away, and next to nothing saved, I have got to start getting the magic of compound interest working in my favour, or risk being destitute in my old age.

I've used some calculators online, and decided that I would put my retirement monies in mutual funds with CIBC Mutual Funds, using their Index Portfolio Rebalancing Service, offered through PC Financial. I'm not suggesting anyone else should put their money there, I'm only talking about what I'm willing to do with my money.

I had the send me the appropriate paperwork required, along with a prospectus. I read through the materials, decided which fund I'm comfortable with putting my money into, and then pulled out the application. Goodness me. Why do these things have to be so darn complicated? It's going to take me the better part of a week to get it all filled it. Maybe I should take it to one of the PC Financial kiosks and have them go through it with me, just so I don't mess it up too badly.

I'm hoping the outcome of this venture is that one day I can live comfortably off the money I've saved for my retirement. I'm looking forward to sharing this journey with you.