For the Canadians: CBC video RRSP/TFSA/etc

[Nudel]

Great video from one of the CBC webcasts. Even if you already have your head around RRSPs and impact to first time home buyer plan, TFSAs, and planning for retirement there is a great discussion with easy to understand examples. Grab your morning coffee/tea and enjoy. You don't need to watch the video you can put it on and just listen in.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/02/rrsps-for-reluctant-savers-an-ostrichs-guide-to-nest-eggs.html

[Self-employed-swami]

Cool.  Thanks.

Off to watch it now.

[Self-employed-swami]

I just saw this comment:

I just filled my car up with gas. I paid $50 for the fill up of which $18 was Government taxes! It is no wonder the average John and Jane can never get ahead in life. I am so sick of these know it all Finance Ministers and self appointed financial planner gurus who think they have all the answers. I have news for you. If Canadians want to retire at 65 years of age with a Million bucks in the retirement fund they will have to live a life of a monk on a vow of poverty, never get married, never have children, never lose a job, never have a serious emergency, never have an accident, never have a family member die or get seriously ill, never buy new clothes or shoes and never get a credit card! Only those who have a huge salary, inside trader information, are politically connected or work for the Government and never have real life touch them will be able to retire in dignity with ample funds. Forget the financial advice and the Finance Ministers baloney advice, it is a placebo designed to keep the public working harder to get cars they will never own, houses they cannot afford and vacations they will never take! Cut the damn taxes and stop wasting millions of the tax payers money on boardwalks to nowhere, bogus historic sites in Newfoundland, $16 glasses of Orange Juice and $350,000 for a Senator to take trips to New York or Toronto or was it to Saskatchewan!

He just doesn't seem to get it, at all, however I do agree about ridiculous government overspending.

[strider3700]

I'm not sure why anyone would use the RRSP first time home buyer plan.   5 year mortgages are in the low 3% range.  Investments should be more then that.  I suppose it could work out tax wise to do RRSP's to get the lower income tax  then get your tax return and pull from the RRSP to get the downpayment. 

[tomatoprincess]

Lovely broadcast, I like the sound basic advice given.

[Kazimieras]

I'm not sure why anyone would use the RRSP first time home buyer plan.   5 year mortgages are in the low 3% range.  Investments should be more then that.  I suppose it could work out tax wise to do RRSP's to get the lower income tax  then get your tax return and pull from the RRSP to get the downpayment.

The HBP lets you basically leverage funds earmarked for retirement for something more useful now, rather than 30 years from now. Before this was a great way to have assets grow tax-free to get the equity needed to get a down payment. It was even accented since some workplaces would basically double your contributions, which can work out very well at creating some assets. However, with the TFSAs now, the HBP is, imho, a poor choice to use (there are some cases it is great). In most cases you basically use it to borrow against your future self. Because most people start at the bottom of the pay scale when they buy a house, and move up to a higher taxed bracket over time, the HBP actually costs you more. This is because repayment dollars are made with after tax, and since the marginal rates typically go up for a person over the 15 year repayment term, they end up paying more. Sadly it is just a way to get something now, rather than wait it out.