DIRC - Canadian Money and Tax Matters Board

Sep. 5, 2010 by thehof: Re: PeerFx

Sun, 5 Sep 2010 11:16:10 GMT

Yes I know it's a very old post. I just heard about this company on a Dragon's Den re-run. Has anyone used this service?

I tried signing up to give it a whirl, but got a message saying their service is currently down (and the website last shows the exchange rate on July 30th).

Sep. 4, 2010 by naminal: Re: Car insurance - a rant

Sat, 4 Sep 2010 05:30:22 GMT

Or start cycling.

I do not have a can, never had in Canada. I used to use TTC. Since beginning of the summer 2010 I do not by TTC passes, only occasional tickets.

My transportation cost is ZERO (at least for 2/3 of the year).

Next to housing cost, transportation costs are the second biggest source of expenses. The average American spends 18% on his income on transportation.

That is 0.18×12=2.1 months a year of work. That is a lot of time that could be used for something better.

Not owning a car comes with other benefits. First you will save money on exercise. Driving your car over to a gym to run at a treadmill and then drive back again is inefficient at best. If you ran or at least walked or biked to and from work not only would you save the money for the car. You would also save the money for the gym.

Sep. 1, 2010 by olympic: Re: RESP account providers

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 16:17:13 GMT

As per my contribution, that's what I thought you meant. And yes it would also go to my neice, so long as it appeared that she was going to use it for it's intended purpose.

Sep. 1, 2010 by qui: Re: RESP account providers

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 15:00:25 GMT

this is the CRA link:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/rc4092/rc4092-e.html

q

Sep. 1, 2010 by qui: Re: RESP account providers

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 14:49:02 GMT

What I am speaking about is that there are three portions that get withdrawn once the money is needed. I would need to do more research to tell you the exact names of these portions but you may access this info on the CRA website. There are rules around what type of documentation is needed to prove enrollment and how much can be taken out per year etc.

The gist is that the portions are
1) your contributions - get returned to you in the end tax free because you contributed to it with after tax money. (Most RESP owners decide to give this to their children anyways) but it can be given to the child or back to the contributor.
2) "educational assistance payments"- this gets withdrawn from the plan straight to the child. This consists of grant, gains, income. This gets taxed in the hands of the child
3) Gains and income if the child does not go to school. - this can be contributed to the rsp of the owner of the plan if that person has contribution room. Or this gets taxed 20% (penalty). The CESG is returned to the government.

So I am taking about portion #1 - if its in your name, you will get it. If it is in your brother/sister's name, they "could' retain it if they wanted.

In my case, I have not decided if I am going to give my children portion #1. I do believe that they have to partially earn their education or they will not know the value of it.
I have manage to free up $2500 every year for each of them to get the full grant as I expect them to have some education after high school (hopefully university like their daddy and I). I will continue to contribute until I get the full $7500 per child in grant or reach the maximum allowable $40,000(I think this is the number but I am not sure) in contributions per child. I have lots of years, my children are very young.

Qui

Sep. 1, 2010 by zzzinvestor: Re: RESP account providers

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 12:27:40 GMT

I believe he is speaking in referance to the situation where she decides NOT to go to Post Secondary.

But, I am not totally sure i followed what was being said.

Z

Sep. 1, 2010 by olympic: Re: RESP account providers

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 11:30:49 GMT

Qui, I don't understand, what do you mean I will get my principle back? If it is in my name or my sister's, in trust for my neice, she will receive the principle upon enrolling in university.

I suppose it would be more advantageous to me to have it in my name in that I would benefit from the tax advantages.

Sep. 1, 2010 by qui: Re: RESP account providers

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 10:23:08 GMT

sorry Olympic. Reading the thread too fast and though Jon was the originator.

Wish you luck with whatever you decide to do. There is a resp that you can open where you are the holder but it is for your niece. The advantage is that when the time comes, you will get your principle back. This is in contrast to getting the parents to set up the resp and you giving them the money as it is the parent's money when the time comes....
The grant is based on the sin of the child not on individual resp accounts. It is possible to hold an resp account in your name and for the parents to hold another account, both for your neice. Just something to consider.

q

Sep. 1, 2010 by qui: Re: RESP account providers

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 10:16:48 GMT

Sorry John. Forgot that you said you had a questrade account.

q

Sep. 1, 2010 by qui: Re: RESP account providers

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 10:10:28 GMT

Hi John,
I have a self directed RESP with TD and love it. However, there is an admin fee of $50-$100(I forget) unless you have a minumum of $25K in that account. The person who opened a RESP with TD and has efunds likely has a electronic mutual fund account which only is capable of containing TD efunds. My RESP is a family plan for both my son and daughter. I like the customer service with TDW and would not switch. No fee for depositing certs.

However, I heard that Questrade has no admin fee and a cheaper transaction fee. But Questrade also has a huge fee to deposit certs so better to trade and incur the $4.95 fee to buy stocks. I also heard that their customer service takes a while to respond.

Check out itrade. May be a lower minimum in that resp account to waive the admin fee and
maybe no cert depositing fee??

Q

Aug. 31, 2010 by drppingsoprano: Re: Car insurance - a rant

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:06:01 GMT

You may all be shocked to hear this, but the $1800 annual fee is for pleasure use only, less than 5,000 km/year, no collision or comprehensive, just the bare minimum legally required coverage, and a driver with many, many years of safe driving - no tickets and no accidents. All the insurance companies and brokers I spoke with had similar rates. The biggest part of the premium is accident benefits, at over $1000. I guess there has been a lot of fraud in my part of town. I am still appalled, but there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it, other than start walking.

Aug. 31, 2010 by olympic: Re: RESP account providers

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:29:50 GMT

I'm curious, why not transfer in shares of companies? This way, we (family members) can keep contributing cash or stock as it is available and not lose money to fees.

Aug. 31, 2010 by thehof: Re: Car insurance - a rant

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:53:19 GMT

Have you looked into getting recreational use insurance? If you do that combined with riding the rocket (TTC). Should be cheaper and still allows you to have the freedom of having a car.

Aug. 31, 2010 by VanDrip: Re: Car insurance - a rant

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:30:31 GMT

Yeah, Mills, FYI, I had an ex girlfriend who had her car stolen out of her underground parking while it was registered in her parents name, (don't ask me why). When she went to ICBC, they denied coverage because it was insured for a quaint little neighbourhood out in the valley, not a high crime area like the one she lived in.

Aug. 31, 2010 by Jon-o: Re: Car insurance - a rant

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:35:28 GMT

Did you get any liability only quotes and omit the C&C coverage if your car is older?

Any car sharing spots located near by?

Aug. 31, 2010 by drppingsoprano: Re: Car insurance - a rant

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:52:28 GMT

The problem with that is if you get into an accident and they do an investigation, which they will if it's for a significant amount, they will discover the deception and your insurance will be invalidated. BTW, I do have a PO Box, but they always ask where my car is parked.

Aug. 31, 2010 by millsforester: Re: Car insurance - a rant

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:42:35 GMT

you could also get a post office box in a "low risk" part of town and claim that as your address.

Heard about that tactic working in northern ontario where everyone had Manitoba "addresses" due to the cheaper insurance.

Not really legal though and you may have issues with registration if the vehicle insurance and registration don't match.

Aug. 31, 2010 by sinoguy: Re: RESP account providers

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:13:35 GMT

I opened my family resp account at TD bank and purchase its e-funds which have no fee and lower MER.

Aug. 31, 2010 by Jon-o: Re: RESP account providers

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:13:51 GMT

I have my family RESP with questrade and it's been perfectly fine. Gov't grants get deposited monthly based on contributions - but yes, not ideal for depositing certificates, unless DRS is possible.

Aug. 30, 2010 by drppingsoprano: Re: RESP account providers

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:33:28 GMT

You definitely don't want to use Questrade, since it charges $200 to deposit a certificate.