Susan Daley

In summary, you can pay student’s bills through two types of payments from an RESP. A withdrawal for post-secondary education (PSE) is a refund of the original contributions. There are no limits to the amounts that can be taken out of this bucket, and the amounts are tax free. Educational Assistance Payments (EAPs) come from the grant and accumulated earnings bucket within the RESP. There are certain limits to these payments to keep in mind, and the payments will be taxed in the student’s name.

Old Age Security, commonly referred to as OAS, provided a base level of retirement income to over 6 million Canadians in January 2019. I outline how OAS works and how to determine the amount you will be eligible for.

The foundation of many Canadians’ retirement is the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). The CPP is designed to replace a certain amount of your average work earnings, up to maximum limits each year. I outline what CPP is, how it works, and how much it might pay out.

How much of your current income will you need in retirement? The answer to this question is called the replacement ratio and is a major driver of the retirement planning piece. It will be different for everyone, so I outline how you can figure out your own replacement ratio that will ultimately determine how much you need to save for retirement.

When talking about saving for retirement, most people default to the common 10 or 15 percent of income towards retirement. But are those numbers accurate and is this a reasonable approach? I outline this traditional approach, and compare it to another approach that takes into consideration a typical Canadian’s financial scenario.

For most millennials, retirement seems like it’s ages away; a future you problem. The cards might seem to be stacked against us: the number of Defined Benefit pension plans are falling, we’re living longer, student debt levels are rising, and house prices are massive compared to our incomes. I break down the basic concepts of retirement planning in this video to help you get started.

What would happen to you if you were diagnosed with cancer, had a stroke, or suffered from another critical illness? In Canada, we’re fortunate to have universal healthcare. However, our healthcare system won’t cover all the costs of having a critical illness, which is where Critical Illness Insurance comes into play.

According to the Fraser Institute, Canadians pay about 43% of their income in taxes. To test their tax estimate against my own situation, I tracked all the various taxes I paid throughout the year. I reveal how much I paid, and how I stack up against the Fraser Institute’s estimates.

If work for yourself or have a side hustle on top of your regular job, there are extra complications when it comes to calculating and saving for taxes. You might worry if you’ve planned things out properly or if you’ll be hit with a big unexpected tax bill. In this post, I outline how to handle taxes as a self-employed individual or side hustler and tips for managing your money.

Many of you have been in the situation where you were quoted a salary or hourly rate, were excited to get your first paycheque and disappointed when you don’t receive as much as you expected. You’ll have to thank taxes, CPP contributions, EI premiums, and benefits for that. I’ll go into more detail about how each of these deductions work.