Met Another Financial Goal

I really enjoy these three paycheque months. I put $800 toward my TFSA today. Yay! That brings me past my goal of $4000, but now I want to hit $5000 for the year. I'm thinking it's now doable. I also want to begin to add more to my Travel Fund. There are still 2 and a half months left in this year.

I have also babysat a few times this month. Not exactly my favourite thing to do after a day spent working with kids, but it's nice to have a bit of extra income!

On my off time that's not spent with family or D, I've been working on my rag quilt. I have ALMOST all of the squares cut out. I have no pattern so we will see if it works! Hopefully, the flannel fabric is so soft! I'll keep you updated on how it is coming along. If I can complete it before new years that would mean I get to cross off a non-financial goal of mine, and I'm not doing very well at those this year!

This weekend there is a cranberry festival going on close to where I live. I am thinking I might take my mom there if D doesn't want to go. She and I went several years ago and it would be nice to go again. D and I are also going to try to go to the movies and see "Red" tonight. Our theatre only has early show times so it depends on whether he gets off early enough. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Where To Invest in RSPs??

I still have not invested in RRSPs. I am 25 and have thought about them but haven't looked too deep into what it all means. It's a bit confusing with the GICs, Mutual Funds etc.

Currently I have two bank accounts: Scotiabank, and ING Direct.

Where should I contribute to RRSPs? Should I be looking into GICs or Mutual Funds? What is the safest route to go?

What do you do?

In other news, I worked three days this past week which were really good. I enjoyed them a lot. I had a game night with D and two friends. D and I watched a couple movies this weekend and went out for ice cream and sat by the lake. It was a chilly weekend compared to normal. It was nice to hang out with him and hope to see him again soon.

I also contributed $600 to my TFSA on payday Friday woohoo.

DEBT-FREE

WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

Wow, this day has finally come. It took me a long time but it's here. I procrastinated the last bit too in order to start some savings. I finaly paid off that pesky family loan ;) I also paid off my credit card and phone bill today so I'm literally debt-free. However I also have very few assets. An education, a bit of savings, an old car, and a few personal items.

So now what??

With very little work this summer I think I will try to keep the spending to a minimum. But I also want to enjoy myself this summer but I won't go overboard. I think want to focus on the TFSA and start RRSPs. Any other suggestions??

Always An Upside

The upside of a break-up. There are some really!!

I've lost 4lbs, well it's only 3 now that I am getting back to normal. But what perfect timing for swim suit season. The heat makes me not feel as hungry as well, either that or I just don't feel like cooking anything.

I am also getting out more. I've been seeing and talking to friends a lot. Including some friends from back in elementary and high school! I went for a walk with a friend last night, and the night before went swimming and had a campfire :)

I've had a lot of time. I have looked into jobs a bit more, had time to apply to a lot of them. I am also thinking more about what I want in life. Still thinking about that one.

I have also had more time to play games, listen to music, read etc. I think I might start some sewing again soon and I have a book list with some books I would like to read this summer.

Tomorrow I am working at the rec centre and am looking forward to doing something a bit different. Getting out seeing old co-workers will be good.

I also put another $300 to my TFSA which brings me to over $2000 now yay!

Tomorrow I will stop by the bank on my way home from work and pay off my family loan. Which will make me debt-free. I will then be able to sock away a bit more in savings. Although the summer will be quite tight with the lack of income.

My old roommate is having her Bachelorette this Saturday and there is a concert on the lake on Sunday that I would like to go to. I'm glad summer is such a busy season! Any other cheap summer ideas??

Where To Buy Euros??

I have a feeling I've asked this before but I can't find the answer. Maybe I just searched for it myself and forget the answer.

Anyway, the EURO dropped to a new low. The lowest it has been in four years. I like this because I am heading to Europe in a little over 6 weeks. Where is the best place to purchase EUROs? Is it here in Canada at a bank? Or at one of those currency things you see at malls? Or should I just wait and do it when I actually get to Europe??

I seem to think the last option was the most economical. However, who knows what the EURO will be worth in 6 more weeks. Any suggestions???

In other news, I've added more money to my funds! I added $200 to the Family Loan, I also added $250 to TFSA, $140 to Christmas/Gift Fund, and $100 to Travel Fund. The travel fund is just $50 short of meeting my revised goal ($1000). I should be able to complete that by the end of June right before we leave. Off to update status bars!!

Income Tax In!!

I got the mail today and I received my new mastercard. It includes the pay pass and the chip. It's pretty cool haha. Also in the mail was my income tax cheque!

Grand total of $2037!!!! How sweet is that? So I went to the bank to deposit the cheque. I was hoping the bank would still be open so that I could withdraw a large chunk of that cheque but it was closed so I had to go to the machine and they would only let me withdraw $1000.

That money is going toward my E-fund. If I have time tomorrow I will withdraw another $500 and totally fund it. I also transferred another $75 to Christmas/Gifts, $100 to TFSA, and $250 to Travel. I also want to take BF for supper this weekend. He has paid for a lot of dates lately. Annnnnd that will pretty much take care of my entire income tax return. Sure easy to get rid of money, but I feel it's going to responsible places. April has been a great month so far!

Now to update those side bars!

Cause of Car Problems

It was the brake line. Apparently there was a leak and so I ran out of brake fluid, Jason you were right! The one line had a visible hole in it, and the other was wet meaning it likely had a small not visible leak. So it was a bit of a process to get it fixed. My dad went to get it checked but now it's done and working again. Yay! They also fixed the holes in the exhaust. Total damage is $300. I know my dad won't ask for the money, he wouldn't even tell me what it was. I had to get it out of my mom today. I will pay him back soon. Instead of taking it out of my TFSA (E-fund) which is very minimal already, I'm going to make a smaller contribution to my family loan next month.

Potential 2010 Budget

So I have been thinking about this for a while (well past couple of weeks at least).

I want to have a variable budget with regards to LIFE expenses. However with semi-fixed expenses/savings this is what I want to try to have each month:

$100 for Transportation
$600 to my Family Loan
$200 to TFSA
$50 for Gifts
$50 to E-fund

Transportation would cover gas and hopefully small repairs.
Family Loan is the loan my family gave after I graduated to help reduce interest costs. Contributing at this amount would take me to about June to get it paid off. Anything left over would also go here.
TFSA was started this month and would be "planned spending" but for something at a much later date (i.e. wedding, car)
Gifts is for birthdays and Christmas throughout the year
E-fund is low right now because I live at home and have relatively little expenses so an emergency is not very likely to occur but I still want to get one started to help for when I do move out.

You may be thinking that I should be contributing to an RRSP as well. I have thought about this, and I think for me it's more important to pay off my debt before contributing to retirement. Especially since I have a low income. I will start contributing to an RRSP once I get the family loan paid off. I have a budget for this as well. After loan is paid off I was thinking: $400 to TFSA, $250 to RRSP, $50 to gifts and $100 to E-fund.

*Also I should mention this is for typical paycheque months, some months I will not even make this amount and I will try to cut personal expenses as much as I can to make these payments but may not always happen. Other months I will try to go above these goals as well when I have better paycheque months :)

Any advice is welcome!! What do you think?

Starting to Save!

I have changed my budget around and what I want to do is start saving. I recently started a new ING account. I now have $100 in savings in a TFSA, and they gave me a free $25 for a regular savings account. Woohoo! My Orange Key is 34362383S1 in case anyone would like to sign up (means $25 for you and me for free)! You just need to have a minimum of $100 deposit. More info here.

I feel like I'm late to this savings game and don't know very much about it (particularly the RRSP savings). I realize it can make a big difference to your future though. If anyone can give me some advice on how to set up RRSPs that would be great!!

My original goal of paying back the $5000 to my family by the end of February is going to be delayed (they are fine with this, said to take all the time I need/want). I would like to give them $3000 by the end of February and then the remaining $2000 by the end of May or so. All the while putting some extra money into savings (will go more into detail about what this means later, after some more research as well). I'm glad I am going to start doing this because there is a lot to save for!!

Change of Budgets...

Yesterday was payday and I am going to put $1000 toward my family loan. I will update my progress bars to reflect this change. My original goal was to put all my effort into debt-repayment before starting any sort of savings plan. However I spoke with my family yesterday about this and they said that it's okay if I want to take my time paying them back. I will aim for $3000 by the end of February and hopefully the rest by July.

I think what I will do is send in a cheque to ING and open up an account there. Then start contributing some money each month to start a TFSA with ING. I also think that I am going to change my budget, as it is not really working that well for me. I often end up overspending in certain areas and underspending in others depending on the month. So I think that I will take an approach that Jessie has taken and plan my budget dependent on each paycheque. This will also be helpful because I have such a variable income.

TFSA vs. RRSP

Alright, I've been thinking about these two for a while now. I've talked to several people and I think I understand the difference a bit more.

With regards to retirement, the key variable is how the tax rate at the time of withdrawal compares to the tax rate at the time of the contribution. Here are 3 scenarios, and how they may affect your choice of account:

• If the two rates are identical, the TFSA and the RRSP are equally effective tax-savings alternatives. You get the same amount at the end.
  
• If the tax rate at the time of withdrawal is lower than at the time of contribution, the RRSP is the better choice. Especially because with an RRSP you get a tax break at income tax time. Meaning you won't owe as much to the government at income tax time because you contributed to an RRSP
• If the tax rate at the time of withdrawal is higher than at the time of contribution, the advantage goes to the TFSA. But remember that you can only invest $5000 each year.

Of course if you can afford it, the best thing to do would be to contribute to both! 

What I was interested in knowing though, is what would be best to invest my money in for short-term (under 5 years) savings. Would it be best to put it into a TFSA or just keep it in my high interest bank account? It's not a good idea to put it into an RRSP for short-term goals because you are taxed when you withdraw it. So a TSFA is great for short-term goals. Also, when you withdraw money from a TFSA you have to wait until the next year to re-invest it but you can put it all back in.

For those who will be receiving pensions when they retire, they are limited in what they are able to contribute to their RRSPs, so a TFSA is a great way to add more to their retirement fund. Max of $5000 per year, but that can definitely add up over the years!

My goal for 2010 is to start a TFSA. In 2011 I'll also try to max out my TSFA and if there is anything extra I will put it toward an RRSP. Now to only find permanent work. Life would be so much easier with a full-time job!