Monthly Archives: February 2013
Getting Down the Basics of the Registered Retirement Savings Plan
For Canadians looking for a good retirement package, the Registered Retirement Savings Plan or RRSP is a good way to start. It doesn’t offer all of the answers a veteran investor might be looking for, but it has enough benefits to get all levels of investors started on their retirement plan.
For starters, the RRSP allows employees to hold off on their tax payments until they start withdrawing from their account. However, taxpayers should be careful with this benefit as this doesn’t mean they don’t have to pay taxes, just that they delay the inevitable. They’ll only feel the real effect when they’ve begun their retirement withdrawals. Fortunately, any income earned using the plan’s savings are not taxed.
How much an individual contributes to his RRSP will depend on his status as a taxpayer. If the individual is not married, he becomes the sole contributor to the RRSP. For married employees, they have the option of paying towards the RRSP using the income from the higher earner. There are also group or pooled options for employees who want to use a schedule of payroll deductions.
The RRSP isn’t a full- proof plan, and there are limitations and downsides to this retirement plan. Still, it’s a good place to start not only in terms of saving up, but also in terms of understanding the fundamentals of investing early in life.
Information About the Home Buyers Plan
Many of us are finding that we are struggling to make ends meet in a difficult economy. There is something called the Home Buyers Plan that can really help people out, but a lot of people don’t know what it’s all about and what it does. This plan lets you take out over twenty thousand dollars from an RRSP.
They can then use this money to buy a house without having to worry about paying taxes on the money. People than have fifteen years that they can pay the money back over time. This can really help people out if they are looking to purchase a house, but are struggling with being able to make that first down payment.
Unfortunately, there are some catches involved in this, as good as it sounds. For one thing, you can’t be buying your very first house. You have to have had a house over four years’ time period. Next, you have to use money that has been put in months ago. You can’t use very recent funds in this plan. Hopefully, this has given you some more information about the Home Buyer’s Plan. If you need more information, there are a lot of places to look online.
