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TFSA vs. RRSP Duel: Who Wins?
The inability to make a decision has often been passed off as patience.
~ Author Unknown

At this time of year, many Canadians are trying to figure out where to put their savings in order to reap the greatest tax and long term investment advantage. With the introduction of TFSAs, that decision has been complicated a bit. There has been great debate over which are the best investment vehicles to choose for your TFSA and whether RRSPs are a better retirement savings option.

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RRSPs: Taking Money Out
Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.~ Samuel Johnson

Our series on RRSP Basics continues today with some information on how and when to take money out of your RRSP.
Withdrawing Money Before You Retire
The idea behind RRSPs is that you won't be taking any money out until you retire. But as we all know, life happens. Here's how it works if you encounter an emergency where you absolutely need to take some of your money out:
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TFSA: Investment Gains, Withdrawals and Contribution Room
Money often costs too much.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Last year I wrote about TFSA Withdrawals, giving some examples of how they work. In the last couple of weeks, however, I've received a lot of questions from readers on how capital growth affects your TFSA contribution room.
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TFSA Contribution Limit for 2012
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
~Leonardo DaVinci

Most people have calculated that if the CPI (Consumer Price Index) runs around 2%, that would mean we should exceed the threshold as of 2012. While that looks likely to happen, the CRA hasn't officially announced the 2012 TFSA limit yet. I spoke to someone at CRA last week and they said that the official announcement hasn't come yet, but that it will (obviously) be out by the end of 2011. He advised us to keep watching the CRA website for TFSA updates.
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RRSP vs. Paying Down Debt
Today, there are three kinds of people: the haves, the have-nots, and the have-not-paid- for-what-they-haves.
~ Earl Wilson
RRSPs work best for the haves. The have-nots might be better off starting with TFSAs, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-haves should pay down debt first. That would pretty much sum up my general view of using RRSPs.
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Financial Outlook for 2012
We are rapidly coming to the point where we can no longer stuff the dirty clothes and toys under the bed. There is no more room. We are going to be forced to actually deal with the mess.
~ John Mauldin, 2012: A Year of Choices

Just a few weeks into 2012, markets have been mostly positive - until Friday's rumours of European downgrades and JP Morgan's disappointing earnings results derailed the enthusiasm. The warm holiday glow of optimism seems to be fading and 2012 is already starting to feel a lot like 2011, with all of ...
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Yes, You Can Live Without Bonds
The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.
~J.K. Galbraith

A recent article in the Globe and Mail delivered the following advice to investors: Don’t Let a Fear of Bonds Infect Your Healthy Portfolio. The implications are clear:

Recent concerns about ultra-low interest rates eventually turning higher are overblown.
If you succumb to the paranoid people who think interest rates can actually rise above 0% - 3%, your portfolio will be unhealthy, damaged, infected. (The image with the article showed people in protective masks.)
And my personal favourite: Long term investors ...
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6 Remedies For a Debt Hangover
Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.
~ Oprah Winfrey
OK, so you overindulged. You read all of those articles warning about moderation or complete avoidance. You intended to follow that prudent advice. But you didn't. I could easily be talking about alcohol consumption or debt consumption. Either way, over-consumption will put you in a precarious position.

If you're not in that position on either front, congratulations. If you are, you're not alone. Debt has been in the news a lot lately and if you read my post on 2010 ...
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The Gene Mauch Rule for Investing Success
The following is a guest post by Rob Bennett. I'm pleased to announce that Rob will be sharing his thoughts with us here in a monthly column. Thanks Rob! :)

Gene Mauch was the manager of the Phillies baseball team when I was a boy growing up in Philadelphia. He once said something in an interview that has stuck with me ever since.

Mauch said that, when his team was on a winning streak, his job was to pop holes in the inflated egos of his players. When players are winning, they start thinking that they are so ...
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The Real January Effect
We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.
~Ellen Goodman
Have you ever heard of The January Effect? It's basically a piece of market folklore that gets mentioned each New Year, with updated performance statistics. It usually comes with an endless debate about whether it's an actionable piece of information or something more ...
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Is This a Good Time to Invest in Banks?

By 2 Cents on June 9th, 2011 | Category: Investing | 3 comments

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.

~Bob Hope

This is an excerpt of an article that was originally published on Seeking Alpha as premium content. You can read the entire article there.

The old joke from Bob Hope in today’s opening quote isn’t quite as true as it used to be. For one thing, we’re still recovering from a financial crisis that was sparked in large part by banks lending money to plenty of people without proof of, well, just about anything. For another, some think we’re not really recovering at all due to the fact that a lot of those bad loans are still hidden in the depths of bank balance sheets … or somewhere just far enough off the balance sheet to evade close scrutiny … or on government/central bank balance sheets, which [...]

Read on and enjoy … Is This a Good Time to Invest in Banks?

Unthinkable Thinks from John Mauldin

By 2 Cents on January 21st, 2011 | Category: Economics | 9 comments

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the THINKS you can think up if only you try!

~ Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think

Update: This article was included in the Umpteenth Weekly Carnival of Wealth at Control Your Cash. Thanks!

John Mauldin’s weekly e-letter is a must read for me. His yearly economic outlook letters, even more so. The second part of this year’s outlook came out on January 15th. In it, Mr. Mauldin is Thinking the Unthinkable, and that makes it a perfect subject for the first Friday Food for Thought of 2011.

For new readers, Friday Food for Thought is just an occasional feature at Balance Junkie where I devote a Friday post to an article I found interesting or thought-provoking. Sometimes I’ll choose a longer, more complex article [...]

Read on and enjoy … Unthinkable Thinks from John Mauldin

Nightmare on Wall Street II

By 2 Cents on October 6th, 2010 | Category: Investing | 15 comments

There is nothing that gives more assurance than a mask.

~Colette

At the risk of using hyperbolic Halloween metaphors too early in October, I’d like to point out an issue that has, until very recently, received very little attention in the mainstream media. It’s the resurgence of trouble in the banking sector due to toxic mortgages that caused the Nightmare on Wall Street in 2008. You wouldn’t know it from the best September stock market performance since 1939, but the mortgage monster that terrorized global financial markets may be ready to trounce Manhattan once more.

Many have been warning that central bank and government interventions could divert attention from the toxic assets on bank balance sheets for awhile, but that they wouldn’t get rid of them once and for all. Like the millions of barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, trillions [...]

Read on and enjoy … Nightmare on Wall Street II

Elizabeth Warren: Must See Video

By 2 Cents on March 7th, 2010 | Category: Economics | Leave a comment

This Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 marks the first anniversary of the stock market bottom. Most markets are up a whopping 70% or so from there, although still down from their earlier peaks. Many would have us believe that we have dodged a bullet, or more accurately, a nuclear missile.

I agree. We have pulled back from the brink and some aspects of the economy are improving. But have we fixed the problems that caused this mess? I guess it depends on who you ask. If you’re like me, you’re tired of hearing a lot of different answers from people with different agendas. If you’re like me, you just want to listen to someone who might actually know the truth and be willing to share it with the rest of us.

I found someone. It’s Elizabeth Warren. I’ve written about her before in the context of my review of her [...]

Read on and enjoy … Elizabeth Warren: Must See Video

TFSA vs. RRSP Duel: Who Wins?

RRSPs: Taking Money Out

TFSA: Investment Gains, Withdrawals and Contribution Room

TFSA Contribution Limit for 2012

RRSP vs. Paying Down Debt

Financial Outlook for 2012

Yes, You Can Live Without Bonds

6 Remedies For a Debt Hangover

The Gene Mauch Rule for Investing Success

The Real January Effect

Is This a Good Time to Invest in Banks?

Unthinkable Thinks from John Mauldin

Nightmare on Wall Street II

Elizabeth Warren: Must See Video

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