With the days getting shorter and Christmas right around the corner, there’s no denying that the winter season is close at hand. If you live in the South, this may just mean some damp weather, an occasional jacket, and a greater number of cloudy, gloomy days. But for those of us in the North, winter means snow, cold, and ice – and the expenses that go along with such weather-related extremes.
When my husband and I bought our first home we started off with a 5 year fixed rate mortgage with an amortization of 25 years. Within our first year when we looked at our mortgage statement we were floored when we discovered that we had spent more than $7000 in interest in our first year!!! We could hardly believe that on such a small mortgage the interest would be so high. And we had a pretty good interest rate at that time, too. Our interest rate was 4.99% when most people were stuck paying at least 6%.
If you currently have a Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) at a financial institution but you would prefer to have it somewhere else, the good news is that you are able to transfer it; The bad news is that most (if not all) financial institutions will charge you a transfer out fee ranging from $50 to $100.
There are ways that you can avoid this transfer out fee. Check out the tips below to see if one of these will work for you.
Canadians are generous with more than 88 percent saying they already donate money to charity and 78 percent saying they would likely donate some if they received an unexpected windfall, according to a recent survey by Leger Marketing for H&R Block Canada.
In addition, the majority of Canadians (63% percent) also think they should be able to claim non-money donations on their tax returns. This would include donations of personal property and volunteer hours.