2015 RRSP Poll

[Manhattan]

Are you contributing to RRSP's this year?

[killramos]

I voted No and don't believe because that's the closest to me. Obviously I'm not an idiot and know the value of an RRSP. But at my current level and tax bracket it doesn't make much sense.

I pay my taxes up front and max my TFSA instead.

[ExtraSlow]

Do you mean for the tax year just ended, or for the 2015 tax year?

I contribute the max every year, and I have done so for ten years at least. For 2015, I'm not getting any company matched contribution, and I may be taking a little bit of unpaid time off, so I may or may not contribute the max, I will for sure contribute something.

[riander5]

I contribute 6% , employer gives me 12 - that's where I leave it every year

[Cos]

.

[16hypen3sp]

I contibute to RRSP through work... not close to max though but substantial. My TFSA is maxed every year. I wish the max contribution room for the TFSA was bigger though.

[GQBalla]

I try not too since I believe it's a scam. But I also don't feel like paying taxes so I contribute.

[SkiBum5.0]

I think AdamC posted a link to a blogger who explained RRSP's really well in a previous thread. RRSP's make sense if:
1. Your company matches - free money
2. Your marginal tax rate is higher now, than when you withdraw the $
3. You want cash flow that comes from the tax refund
4. You have no consumer debt - CC and LOC's

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I contribute on my own, I don't have any incentives from work or anything like that.

[Chandler_Racing]

Originally posted by GQBalla
I try not too since I believe it's a scam. But I also don't feel like paying taxes so I contribute.

Can you explain?

I contribute the maximum amount each year, 6% is employer matched.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by GQBalla
I try not too since I believe it's a scam.

You aren't the first person I've heard say this, but I totally don't understand this attitude. What part is the scam? The investment options that your bank is selling to you, or the concept of the RRSP?

[killramos]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
You aren't the first person I've heard say this, but I totally don't understand this attitude. What part is the scam? The investment options that your bank is selling to you, or the concept of the RRSP?

Yup the concept is EXTREMELY simple and so long as you have a good understanding of marginal tax rates and rate of return you cant really fuck it up?

[Sorath]

max every year then forwarded to rsp waterhouse account

[max_boost]

Originally posted by killramos


Yup the concept is EXTREMELY simple and so long as you have a good understanding of marginal tax rates and rate of return you cant really fuck it up?

Yup.

I haven't done very much RRSP's in the past 5 years, focus has been on the house. I want the damn thing paid off lol

[Manhattan]

Originally posted by GQBalla
I try not too since I believe it's a scam. But I also don't feel like paying taxes so I contribute.

Elaborate? Yes it does suck to have your money locked-in til retirement essentially since there's a big penalty on withdraws. It's nice to get that immediate tax rebate though because paying taxes sucks even more IMO.

[Manhattan]

Keep in mind RRSP can also work as a form of EI. If you're out of work for a significant period of time you can dip into RRSP savings without paying too much of a penalty because it's taxed as income.

[blownz]

I put in just shy of $30k the past two years, so more than max for the year, but I have contribution room from earlier years as I didn't think it was wise to max out until after I was in the highest tax bracket.

[eblend]

Originally posted by Chandler_Racing


Can you explain?

I contribute the maximum amount each year, 6% is employer matched.

After much research, I believe RRSP are a scam as well. What SkiBum5.0 stated, is pretty much a good list at a top level.

The reason I don't believe in RRSP is this:

1. Lock your money into RRSP until you retire. If you retire at 65 for example, you only have 6 years to use up your RRSP before it gets converted into RRIF, at which point you get paid out automatically from your RRIF monthly, regardless if you want to take that money or not..which bring me directly into point #2..

2. If you have lots of funds in RRSP, you won't be able to maximize your pension, as in, you won't be able to get the Guaranteed Income Supplement. If during pension you earn above a certain amount, your GIS goes down to 0, therefore you are using your own money to fund your pention vs. the governments. If you just collect your bare minimum CPP, OAS and GIS, your income is very minimal, however, the money you take from your savings account doesn't count as income, so you can take out 100k from your savings account if you wanted to, and still get CPP, OAS and GIS like a poor person. Government been dipping into your money for years, might as well get the max out of them. If you want to live the lavish life style when you get old, your withdrawals from RRSP will likely end up in the same tax bracket you are in when you are working, so really not much in terms of tax savings.

That's how I understand it at least. I maximize TFSA and only contribute into RRSP if I owe money on my tax return, I just contribute the bare minimum to make it 0.

EDIT: If my company did RRSP matching, I would 100% do it, free money.

[killramos]

Sounds like we need to have someone do some massive spreadsheet marth to see which is of greater net benefit in the end?

[kenny]

I contribute just enough to max out the company match. There are people at work that don't take advantage of it though, never understood why. Too bad their matching $ isn't distributed to everyone that is on the program haha.