How much does everyone put into RRSP every month?

[SJW]

I put 600 a month and try my very best to dump a lump sum in at the end of the year.

I'm just curious to see what others are doing after watching all of this CPP bullshit.

I don't get a pension here at work.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Hmmm....I managed to put away about 75k over 10 years at my old job but now over the last two years i've started from scratch in a new career and the pay discrepancy has me lucky to put 200/month away now....but, that'll all change for the better as my pay does here.

[revelations]

I think I am at 150$ a month, but as my wages increase so do my deposit amounts.

edit - also do lump sum deposits from bonus at year end.

[SJW]

I only want to fish every day when I retire anyway. That doesn't take much money. Perhaps the odd whore here and there.

[Joel_D]

About $700/month + Company Match. It's like free money from from the company so try and take advantage of it.

[DayGlow]

Good pension at work (I have over $1k in deductions and taxes a pay cheque for all my benefits) but I still try to put at least a $100 a pay into a RRSP for the tax benefit and as a backup source of income after retirement

[spike98]

I contribute about $450 a paycheck. I contribute 6% of my wage, company matches and gives me an extra 3% if i am maxed. I would be foolish if i didn't :thumbsup:

[derpderp]

$0 :burnout:

[88CRX]

$200/month plus company contribution once a year just under $2000.

[lint]

10% of net is good rule of thumb. Before I switched to contracting I was doing 15% of gross and then topping up at EoY depending on how far away I was from the next threshold

[Chandler_Racing]

I typically put about $2,500/month into an investment account. I suspect I will have to make a large lump sum contribution to RRSP's this year to reduce my tax liability.

[max_boost]

Originally posted by derpderp
$0 :burnout: :werd:

[Zewind]

$100/m
and a 1 time deposit of $1000 by the company every year.

Once I have more bills paid off, Ill be putting aside alittle more.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Pacman]

So how does this RSVP thing work?

[JfuckinC]

Originally posted by Pacman
So how does this RSVP thing work?

:rofl:

haha i just started an RRSP 2 months ago, finally. Dropped 5g into it to start and now put 100 away each month. It will def go up once i pay off a bit of my stupidity debt(partying every cent away for the past 4 years). I'm Incorporated so i only have what i contribute.

[ZenOps]

$0.00

Silver and Gold baby.

[spike98]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
$0

No point putting in money monthly when I have a mortgage to be serviced.... I would rather defer interest on that as long as possible.

I do a lump sum at the end of the year to max out my tax advantage, then dump my tax return back into my mortgage.


I have pretty much zero faith that CPP will be around when I retire; or any of these other hair brain private pension schemes they are coming up with now.

In a round about way this is what i am doing. I am allow to withdrawl the amount in my company RRSP account for emergancies or to make a yearly lump some on my mortgage. So i am receiving my maximum match from the company and still making that allowed lump some on my mortgage.

The plan is to do this for another 3 or so years to bring it down quite a bit. That should be a heafty chunk of savings in interest while taking a HUGE chunk off the amount of time it will take me to pay it off.

Then back to keeping it in RRSP's until retirement.

[dezmarez]

Originally posted by DayGlow
Good pension at work (I have over $1k in deductions and taxes a pay cheque for all my benefits) but I still try to put at least a $100 a pay into a RRSP for the tax benefit and as a backup source of income after retirement


Wait untill you retire, you'll find you will be paying probably about the same amount of taxes. (considering police pensions are very good)

[codetrap]

Originally posted by spike98


In a round about way this is what i am doing. I am allow to withdrawl the amount in my company RRSP account for emergancies or to make a yearly lump some on my mortgage. So i am receiving my maximum match from the company and still making that allowed lump some on my mortgage.

The plan is to do this for another 3 or so years to bring it down quite a bit. That should be a heafty chunk of savings in interest while taking a HUGE chunk off the amount of time it will take me to pay it off.

Then back to keeping it in RRSP's until retirement.

http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/the-smith-manoeuvre-resource.htm

[TorqueDog]

Works out to about $350 a month. I put $50 a month into a TFSA, and a lump sum (works out to ~$300/month) into my RRSPs yearly.

[Kloubek]

I put away 10% of my gross income. From what I've heard, 10% gives you a reasonably comfortable retirement, with your standard of living being based on your current income and spending habits.

[Feruk]

I put away $600/month, company matches 1.5X, so $1,500/month. Usually held in company shares for 1 year, then I move to a self directed RRSP.

[seer_claw]

I'm currently putting $500/mo into my TFSA. I've been dumping a lot into my RRSP but I'll be pulling it out shortly to buy a house. First time home buyers can pull out $25,000 tax free towards a home. So its a pretty good incentive.

I've also got 4% of my pay going towards the company policy, they match up to 4% so I might as well get the most out of them.

I'm hoping that after I buy the house I can put about $2-300 into my RRSP, so that I can pay back the money that I've taken out.

[5.0]

$0 into RRSP, im still young and don't see the advantages of contributing now.

But 5% goes into a TFSA, which is matched by my employer, and 15% into a share purchase plan which is also matched. So I contribute 20% of my net income.

[Calgaryrocky]

We have a matched RSP plan at work, depending on years of service the company matches your contribution up to a certain percentage.

Currently I put away 6% gross and they match 5% so 11% of gross.

[Pacman]

I'm more curious to know what people are doing with the RRSP money once it's in the account. Is it going into stocks, bonds or just sitting in cash earning .025% interest?

All mine goes into a self directed account and I'm doing 50% equities (which I write covered calls against to generate income) and 50% option trading.

[mazdavirgin]

0 instead I put 400 a month into my TFSA which is then invested into the market. Frankly RRSP are not that great compared to the TFSA. I don't get why people bother with RRSP if they don't have matching being done by their company.

[Ekliptix]

Nothing. I put a much as I can afford in at the end of the year.

[Darkane]

Zero.

I've put in one 5k lump sum.

Company dumps 8% of gross every year.

Summer 2012 it jumps to 12%.

I'll throw in another 5k soon for this year just to help with Taxes. I get burned with my Renter each year because of my variable mortgage rate. Gov't loves me come tax time :D

All my RRSP's are high risk, and have been doing 20% since 2007 (aside from early '09).

[Alterac]

I put in 8% of my wage, company matches + 2%.. so 18% of my wage is in rrsp.

[ExtraSlow]

12% plus company matching of another 4%
Plus a few grand here and there in my self directed RRSP.

Wife puts nothing in hers these days, since mine ain't maxed out and I get a bigger tax reduction from it.

[Darell_n]

Work gives me around $750/month and I throw $350 into another account.

[Kloubek]

Originally posted by Pacman
I'm more curious to know what people are doing with the RRSP money once it's in the account.

Mutual funds.

[Skyline_Addict]

0 into RRSPs.

9.3% of my salary goes into company pension plan, 100% matched by company. So 18.6% of salary saved every year.

Will be using TFSA for self-directed investing, particularly as contribution limit increases year-to-year. With 2 savings vehicles, one of which is completely tax sheltered for the earnings upon withdrawal, the RSP is the last thing I'd contribute to funds permitting. Only thing I would use it for is year-end lump sum contributions to get tax refund immediately.

[wintonyk]

I opened my RRSP when I was 18 with a lump sum of tax refund. In university I didn't pay anything into it. Right now I just do 100 per month. Most my money extra goes to paying off debt.

I have everything high risk.

[Feruk]

I don't get people who don't see the value of the RRSP. Don't you realize it lowers the taxes you pay the government? If you put in $10K, your taxable income is lowered by $10K... It's like saying "oh no, what's the point of free money?" TFSA doesn't do that.

Also, mine is self directed. I hold some in cash, but try to be 80-90% invested at any time in a mix of stocks and ETFs (mainly stocks).

[JRSC00LUDE]

Originally posted by 5.0
$0 into RRSP, im still young and don't see the advantages of contributing now.


:rofl:

Registerd plans aren't the right choice for everyone, that much is true. However, if you don't see the advantage of starting younger vs. starting older I suggest you consider compounding interest for starters.....

[rage2]

Originally posted by Feruk
I don't get people who don't see the value of the RRSP. Don't you realize it lowers the taxes you pay the government? If you put in $10K, your taxable income is lowered by $10K... It's like saying "oh no, what's the point of free money?" TFSA doesn't do that.
It's just deferred tax. You pay the tax when you take the money out. I think the only exception is for a first time home buy or something?

[Type_S1]

Originally posted by Feruk
I don't get people who don't see the value of the RRSP. Don't you realize it lowers the taxes you pay the government? If you put in $10K, your taxable income is lowered by $10K... It's like saying "oh no, what's the point of free money?" TFSA doesn't do that.

Also, mine is self directed. I hold some in cash, but try to be 80-90% invested at any time in a mix of stocks and ETFs (mainly stocks).

....you do realize one day you STILL HAVE TO PAY taxes on it :confused:

[dezmarez]

Originally posted by Feruk
I don't get people who don't see the value of the RRSP. Don't you realize it lowers the taxes you pay the government? If you put in $10K, your taxable income is lowered by $10K... It's like saying "oh no, what's the point of free money?" TFSA doesn't do that.

Also, mine is self directed. I hold some in cash, but try to be 80-90% invested at any time in a mix of stocks and ETFs (mainly stocks).



Originally posted by rage2

It's just deferred tax. You pay the tax when you take the money out. I think the only exception is for a first time home buy or something?



Ya exactly....


the theory behind RRSP's....

taxes payable during your earning years will be higher then at retirement, thus paying less tax during retirement, thus paying less tax in general...

you also get the tax deferred growth on increases in investment income...

[max_boost]

The idea is when you retire, your personal exemption for income tax is also much much higher than it is right now. So if you withdraw up to that amount, it's tax free :D

Who knows about the future if CPP, old age security etc. is going to be around anyway. I sure hope when I retire, the next stock market crash isn't happening at the same time. Markets have rebounded nicely from the 7500 low but I'm sure there are those who panicked and sold out of everything too.

[sabad66]

Company does 6%, plus matches mine up to another 4%. So basically I pay 4%, but save 14%. Free money is sweet! Planning on withdrawing it all when I have enough for a house down payment though.

[msommers]

Honestly unless a company is going to match or help you contribute, why wouldn't you rather go with a low risk portfolio instead?

[Pacman]

Originally posted by msommers
Honestly unless a company is going to match or help you contribute, why wouldn't you rather go with a low risk portfolio instead?

Because you pay capital gains tax now, instead of later.

[ExtraSlow]

Not sure how much some of the ballers are planning on withdrawing each year during retirement, but you'll pay very little tax on say $50k withdrawn per year, compared to the $100k you might earn now.
Also consider that you defer those taxes for thirty years or so, and there is a pretty big benefit.
Not to mention you get that tax refund within one year, so you can invest that right away in the vehicle of your choosing.
Sure, RRSP's aren't the perfect option for everyone, but they should be in the top two or three choices for at least 95% of people.

[l/l/rX]

I put $100/ wk into my mutual fund TFSA account. After I put money here and there into different investments/ savings accounts I'm pretty broke. I gotta adjust the way I save. I feel like I over save.

[Afrodeziak]

company has a Pension plan, where about 10% of my income goes to a fund each year. Company matches it and then a bit...

max out RRSP and TFSA. RRSP's are pretty low, since my taxable income is already reduced by that 10% that I put away (I believe).

I consider it all low risk, since I basically know what my money is doing.. sitting, lol.

Starting to get curious about mutual funds.


just a thought... for those putting away $100 a week to TFSA, that would put you over your $5000 limit. Not sure if you actually are doing that much?

[ZenOps]

Well.

Thing about dollars and investing is that you usually get dollars out. Dollars in - dollars out. Canada is unlikely to see inflation high enough to be considered dangerous, but the US is definitely heading that way with their dollar.

So by the time you retire - if the government hasn't completely eaten up all the money and you do get something back, it may be more along the lines of $20 for a loaf of bread (And don't kid yourself, ask your grandfather how many groceries he could buy with a nickel, dagnabit!)

So don't be counting on a million dollars being all that much when you retire.

But Canada definitely has one of the better pension systems, it may fall victim to stock markets and be dragged down into a pit by the US - but at least the pension system here does not seem to be overly corrupt.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by Afrodeziak


just a thought... for those putting away $100 a week to TFSA, that would put you over your $5000 limit. Not sure if you actually are doing that much?

$100/week = $400/month

$400/month * 12 month = $4,800 < $5,000

[lint]

Originally posted by TomcoPDR
$100/week = $400/month

$400/month * 12 month = $4,800 &lt; $5,000

$100/week * 52 weeks/year = $5200/year

[atgilchrist]

Originally posted by rage2

It's just deferred tax. You pay the tax when you take the money out. I think the only exception is for a first time home buy or something?

You can take the money out of an RRSP tax free to buy a first home, but it is in effect an interest free loan that you have to repay back into the RRSP in 7 years, or you have to pay the retroactive income tax on the withdrawal.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by lint


$100/week * 52 weeks/year = $5200/year

hmmmm I suppose you could look at things that work too.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[johnboy27]

Originally posted by revelations
I think I am at 150$ a month, but as my wages increase so do my deposit amounts.

edit - also do lump sum deposits from bonus at year end.
I am in the same boat, I put in 5% of my salary and then my employer matches it every month. It isn't a huge amount, about 60 bucks a paycheque so my total with my employer input is 240 a month. I also have the option of putting my vacation pay that is paid to me on my job bonus's every year into it. This year should be about an extra 3500 in there. next year I am going to try to bump it up to 100 bucks a pay for my contribution .

[5.0]

Thanks for the tip! Not enitrely what I meant I can see me contributing in the near future but right now I rather invest where I make bigger returns, and can play with my money a bit.


Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE


:rofl:

Registerd plans aren't the right choice for everyone, that much is true. However, if you don't see the advantage of starting younger vs. starting older I suggest you consider compounding interest for starters.....

[Aleks]

I put the max allowable in every year $22k this year I think. About about 40% of that is through work, the rest is self directed from share sales I get at work since I don't want to pay tax on those now. Also contribute to a TFSA and company pension plan.

[tch7]

I put away about 16%, inclusive of a 4.3% employer match. I'll also probably throw in a lump sum once I have a better idea of my contribution room and the tax implications.

I anticipate buying my first home in 1-2 years, so I want to take advantage of the tax free $25k RRSP Home Buyers Plan.

TFSAs are a bit more intuitive and the benefits are more immediately apparent, but from everything I've read, RSPs still reign supreme in the long term. Nonetheless, I always max out my TFSA room at the beginning of each year, and I'll use my 2011 TFSA room to start playing with stocks & ETFs.

[LollerBrader]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
$0

No point putting in money monthly when I have a mortgage to be serviced.... I would rather defer interest on that as long as possible.



You have a ways to go in the understanding of your finances.

[LollerBrader]

Originally posted by Kloubek


Mutual funds.

Oh, goodness.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[K3RMiTdot]

100 dolas

[Cos]

I put $150.00 a cheque away. Company matches me at 50% of that amount. I dont know EXACTLY what I put in as we have a standard form that says 'yes, deposit the max amount to take advantage of company deductions.'

All I know is it is something like 6k a year that gets put in. Plus I do about another 1k a year into my personal one (through TD).

Considering I have other debts to service I dont see the point in doing more when I throw lots of money down onto my truck loan every month.

[l/l/rX]

Originally posted by Afrodeziak

just a thought... for those putting away $100 a week to TFSA, that would put you over your $5000 limit. Not sure if you actually are doing that much?

didn't use any in 2009, 5k carried over, 10k contribution room for 2010. Havent done a lump sum yet, I'll do that in the new year some time. Christmas hasn't been nice to the wallet this year :(

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


Um... care to elaborate?

Well, if he's taking all his moola and punching it against his mortgage, then his max rate of return is really the deduction of the interest off his mortgage.

If he takes that same extra money, and invests it, and can exceed the compounded interest rate of his mortgage, then his money is working harder. Since the typical mortgage is only what, 3%? He should be able to realize easily 6-7% gains, then he's effectively losing out on 3-4% interest on the same money, compounded.

Now, what we're doing is taking the equity out of our home using our heloc at 2% interest, investing that into stuff that pays between 8-15% monthly/quarterly, then taking that interest/dividends/capital gains, using it to pay the borrowing costs (with are tax deductable btw), and putting the rest into the mortgage, creating more heloc, rinse and release. Withholding money for taxes of course.

At the end of the mortgage cycle, we've reduced the amortization of our mortgage by 9 years, with no additional out of pocket expense. At then end of the cycle, we'll have a heloc that's worth approximately 75% of the actual investment. So if our heloc is at 380k, our investment is worth $475, and gaining a healthy 47k/a in return, which more than covers off the cost of borrowing.

Keep in mind, this is all outside of an rrsp, so we've already paid the taxes on it. Cash in hand. Keep it going to 20 years, and it should be worth around 3-4 mil. All without costing us anything at all.

[Pahnda]

$0... Permanently leaving the country next year so no sense in paying into something I won't claim! :)

[revelations]

Originally posted by codetrap


Well, if he's taking all his moola and punching it against his mortgage, then his max rate of return is really the deduction of the interest off his mortgage.

If he takes that same extra money, and invests it, and can exceed the compounded interest rate of his mortgage, then his money is working harder. Since the typical mortgage is only what, 3%? He should be able to realize easily 6-7% gains, then he's effectively losing out on 3-4% interest on the same money, compounded.

Now, what we're doing is taking the equity out of our home using our heloc at 2% interest, investing that into stuff that pays between 8-15% monthly/quarterly, then taking that interest/dividends/capital gains, using it to pay the borrowing costs (with are tax deductable btw), and putting the rest into the mortgage, creating more heloc, rinse and release. Withholding money for taxes of course.

At the end of the mortgage cycle, we've reduced the amortization of our mortgage by 9 years, with no additional out of pocket expense. At then end of the cycle, we'll have a heloc that's worth approximately 75% of the actual investment. So if our heloc is at 380k, our investment is worth $475, and gaining a healthy 47k/a in return, which more than covers off the cost of borrowing.

Keep in mind, this is all outside of an rrsp, so we've already paid the taxes on it. Cash in hand. Keep it going to 20 years, and it should be worth around 3-4 mil. All without costing us anything at all.

otherwise known as the Smith maneuver? (its been a few years)

[Sugarphreak]

...

[codetrap]

Sugarphreak, you're probably right, and yes, it is the smith maneuver.

[derpderp]

Wait, what is with the talk about buying a home with money in a TFSA? Are the rules diffrent if you pull out money in a TFSA to buy a house?

I was putting money in a TFSA, but haven't for awhile now since I'm poor, but I have been making some pretty profitable trades and never thought that maybe if I hold onto the money for a few years and everything goes good I could use it to get a mortgage.

[Blue]

300 a month

[atgilchrist]

Originally posted by derpderp
Wait, what is with the talk about buying a home with money in a TFSA? Are the rules diffrent if you pull out money in a TFSA to buy a house?

I was putting money in a TFSA, but haven't for awhile now since I'm poor, but I have been making some pretty profitable trades and never thought that maybe if I hold onto the money for a few years and everything goes good I could use it to get a mortgage.


There are no restrictions to pulling money out of your TFSA for whatever you want. The only restriction is you cannot re-contribute your now open contribution room until the next tax year.

[LollerBrader]

<DOUBLE POST>

[LollerBrader]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


Excellent strategy Codetrap, although I think you are taking a big leap of faith that this is what LollerBrader was intending with his aimless criticism of my hacked apart quote.


Codetrap's approach is far more granular than what I do, but the gist is similar: Invest the money at a higher return than your mortgage's interest rate. Paying down your mortgage is a "poor dad" strategy.

I'm sure you know that, though, and the point was lost on us because your quote was all hacked up.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Graham_A_M]

Fuck.... I have to start seriously. Especially with RRSP matching at my work...

Im aiming for $200 a month at least.

[LollerBrader]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


You did hack out important parts of my quote and try to make it seem like I was saying that I don't save anything at all... also I have never read poor dad books, I formulate my own strategies based on risk vs reward.


Whatever.

As I recall, you were boosting the facile strategy of using excess cash to pay down one's mortgage as a good idea.

I'm sure you know better now.

When you're done your pathetic whining about quote trimming, perhaps you'll pick up a few books on finance.

[LollerBrader]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


That works in theory, but in this type of a market you are risking money to get returns over what you pay on your mortgage on it. I am not a big fan of leveraging borrowed money, while it can pay off it can also bite you in the ass very quickly.


Whine whine. Others have a greater vision. Fear it, and you're going to be poor and pathetic for the rest of your life.

I made 100% profit on the market this year - And that's taking into account any crash-losses. A portion of the money was borrowed (as much as I could - It's damn near free!).

[l/l/rX]

holy fucking girls in this thread. Actually just lollerbrader. Chill, can you not have a civilized debate without getting your panties in a bunch?

edit: i must say though, there are some really good strategies in here on how to pay off your mtg and make money off it while doing so.

[mazdavirgin]

Originally posted by LollerBrader
Paying down your mortgage is a &quot;poor dad&quot; strategy.

:facepalm: Nevermind that book is written for the states or the fact the author has been outed as a fraud(http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html)... Getting advice as to the sanity of paying down your mortgage from the states is insane considering that they can write off their mortgage interest and property tax without additional risk like smith maneuvers.

Either way people should stop spouting rich dad poor dad which has been shown to be a hunk of steaming crap.

Oh and here is a nice tidbit for you...



Suppose one year after taking out the $100,000, 6%, 5-year mortgage, you received an unexpected $2000 windfall and decided to apply half of this to your mortgage. Without the extra payment, you would be owing $89,836.47 at renewal after five years. With the extra payment this is reduced by $1,266.76 to $88,569.71. It should not surprise to you to learn that this is a 6.09% compound annual return on your $1000, since that is the effective annual rate on the mortgage. This 6.09% is tax-free, which is roughly equivalent to a 9.5-10% rate of return on a pre-tax basis for people earning interest outside an RRSP or other tax-sheilding vehicle. That is excellent, considering that it is close to a risk-free return.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[LollerBrader]

Originally posted by mazdavirgin


:facepalm: Nevermind that book is written for the states or the fact the author has been outed as a fraud(http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html)...


I'm aware of the controversy around Kyosaki... Personally, I think all of these guys are frauds and hucksters - But that doesn't mean we need to close ourselves off to valuable ideas in their books.

The two most important ideas I took away from RD,PD, was this:

- No guts, no glory.
- Constant learning is the best investment.

[Jry_79]

$200 per month and company matches!

[Feruk]

Originally posted by LollerBrader


I'm aware of the controversy around Kyosaki... Personally, I think all of these guys are frauds and hucksters - But that doesn't mean we need to close ourselves off to valuable ideas in their books.

The two most important ideas I took away from RD,PD, was this:

- No guts, no glory.
- Constant learning is the best investment.

This advice is about as valuable as listening to Queen's "We are the champions." Common sense still be common sense.

[1barA4]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


yeah yeah, I keep forgetting your day job is being a Secret Agent Astronaut Millionaire Cowboy...

http://pantileimon.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/cowboy_astro.jpg

I LOL'd

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


You did hack out important parts of my quote and try to make it seem like I was saying that I don't save anything at all... also I have never read poor dad books, I formulate my own strategies based on risk vs reward.

That aside;

That works in theory, but in this type of a market you are risking money to get returns over what you pay on your mortgage on it. I am not a big fan of leveraging borrowed money, while it can pay off it can also bite you in the ass very quickly.

Not to say I don't try to earn high returns; the lump sum payments I make to my RSP at the end of the year from my HELOC pretty much go straight into a 50/50 split of self directed market investments and GIC's.... before you lecture me on GIC's I only buy them in high market conditions and for long terms, currently all of my GIC's are long term and pay between 3.75% to 4.50% compounded annually.

Then I also have another type of investment in hard bullion that represents about 10% of my total savings; every year I collect an undisclosed number of Canadian Maple coins and deposit them in my SD. My plan with those is eventually when I stop having income from employment, I can sell them one by one to supplement my income while not having to pay any tax on the earnings. I especially like the fact that they don't show up as an asset and are very liquid.

I am pretty happy with my investment strategy, you can poke fun and say I am not taking enough risks, but as it stands now I am well on track for where I want to be down the road.

Sugarphreak. I understand the risks in using leveraged money, as it can (and has) turned around an bitten us. But, it's a very necessary risk. We did the math of projecting our earnings/savings over the next 30 years to see where we'd be by just paying everything into the mortgage, and then investing the freed up income, vs paying half/half into mortgage and rrsps, vs continuing regular mortgage payments, putting 10-15% into RRSPs, and using the smith maneuver strategty with the heloc.

The difference was HUGE. First scenario, we're eating cat food in our retirement. Second scenario, we're maybe living ok, but no with no extra money for doing fun stuff. Just basically staying home and waiting to die with the odd trip to mexico or somewhere nice. Third scenario, we have our RRSPs, plus slightly over 6 million in non sheltered investments that are paying a continuous revenue stream, the house payed off, and no bills. Since the investments are outside of the RRSP structure, and all the tax has already been paid on that money, if I want to liquidate some and buy a motorhome, so be it. Don't have to take a huge tax penalty on it. I know a few guys who found out the hard way that pulling 80k out of their RRSPs to buy a motorhome really cost them closer to 140k because of tax. What we're doing is NOT a substitute for RRSPs, its something to be done alongside of RRSPs. Deferring that tax and using the proceeds to invest/save etc is a key part of our strategy.

Now, keep in mind, that the simple fact that we're talking about this shows that you're FAR ahead of a lot of people in Canada, and even in this thread. I see these young guys that aren't putting anything away, or the bare minimum and living it up, and I shake my head. I was exactly the same way in my tweens & 20s. Now I'm mid thirties and I realize that had I actually done some smart investing in even basic funds, I'd have well over 250k in rrsps already. For something like home buying, that would have been a HUGE bonus. I WISH my parents had understood finances better, so they could have taught me, so I wouldn't have had to learn this stuff the hard way.

There was a survey somewhere that I read about where something crazy like 40% of canadians were counting on their lottery winnings in their retirement plans. That is scary.