Life Situation: Young professional, just finishing paying off a 12k loan, living in Milton, ON, no RRSP but shopping for one now
Gross Salary/Wages: 60 000 CAD (soon to be 66k)
Pre-tax deductions: N/A
Other Ordinary Income: one night bartending/week = approx $5k/annually
Adjusted Gross Income: 71k annually (once raise applies)
Taxes: $18,481 annually
Current expenses: Rent: $850/month
Car insurance: $117/month
Gas: ~$225/month
Internet: ~$50/month
Loan payment: $400/month(loan given in 2014 @15% interest - ouch- signed for a 3-year term but I have $634 left to pay off. Goal to pay within two weeks - more on this later)
Groceries: ~$200/month
Other: Mint says I spend about $200 on 'other', includes pharmacy, account fees, entertainment, loan insurance, etc. I anticipate facepunching.
Total: $2042
Assets: TFSA: $68.74 - Please don't laugh. I was excited about closing my loan and emptied this account.
Liabilities: - Consolidated credit loan: $634 - as above, I got into some trouble doing unpaid internships after grad school and not finding a job. Consolidated 12k into a 15% loan over a 3 year term. I've managed to pay off most of it in just over a year...thanks MMM
- Credit balance: $1010 - I KNOW. I got excited about paying off the loan early and let the credit grow this month. I do pay it monthly... i went a year without credit cards to teach myself a lesson.
- One depreciated beyond belief 2003 Mazda Protege 5. I know banks put cars as assets but Lola has given me significant trouble in the last year and as such she's a major liability.
Total: $3686
Basically, I want to transfer what I was putting into my loan into an RRSP. I'd like to buy a house with my SO in the next couple of years. I've read Canadian Couch Potato and MMM, and I think the TD Canadian Index Fund-e is right for me, but I'm very novice. I really have a limited understanding of mutual funds, rrsp's, etc. I want to take advantage of the Home Buyer's plan (you can dump up to 25k tax free into a home - I'm sure you all know that). I want to make sure I'm selecting the right funds for me. Work has an rrsp but don't match until you've been with the company for a year (2 months to go). Once that happens I will open that account but you can't use home buyer's with that fund. I'll open once they match but didn't want to use it until I'd paid off my loan.
PS - I know the loan payments seem low to pay off in a year - when times were good, I upped it to $200/weekly and dumped anything extra into it, I also got a healthy tax return and poured it all into the loan.
I'd like to add - there's a major gap between expenditures and income. I can attribute a solid chunk of that in recent months to my car being temperamental. I've put $3k into her alone since Sept. There's the tiniest possibility work will give me a car and I'm holding off until then. Even if they don't give me one - it's another 5k beater for me.
Phew that took awhile. Please let me know if any more details are required.
