On the Service Canada website, there is a calculator that is quite interesting and eye-opening. It takes you through a series of steps to help you to determine how much income you can expect during your retirement based on projections for Canada Pension (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), and a number of other factors.
As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband and I are traveling right now, and have been for about the last month and a half. So far we have driven approximately 12,000 kilometers, and our focus has been to visit various national parks in the southwestern U.S. Due to nasty weather conditions, we have had to skip some of the parks and have opted to drive the coastline up through California instead. We have stayed in a hotel/motel 3 times so far on our journey, but most nights we stay in various campgrounds or RV Parks. We have also spent a few nights sleeping in our car in Walmart parking lots. We did discover (at 1:30 in the morning), however, that not all Walmarts allow for overnight parking.
There are many great dollar stores out there, but my all time favorite is Dollarama. In the past everything was always one dollar or less, but now you can also buy items for two dollars. This allows for a wider variety of items and still things are very reasonably priced.
Dollarama carries a variety of different food items that are really cheap. For example, I often buy my spaghetti sauce there. It’s a great brand and it only costs $1.25 per can. I seldom can find it for cheaper at Superstore. Some items that I have bought, however, didn’t turn out so well. I find that it’s best to select the brand names you trust when it comes to buying food items at Dollarama.
How will the average Canadian taxpayer benefit?
As the new government gets to work in Ottawa, the tax measures proposed in the March budget should soon be passed. Here are some of the changes you can expect to see on your tax return soon:
Children Arts Credit: Parents with children under 16 who are enrolled in artistic, cultural, recreational or developmental programs will be eligible to claim up to $500 in registration or membership fees. This includes things like scouting, credits, painting, pottery and tutoring. If a child is disabled, there is an additional $500 supplement.
Although the official deadline has passed now to be able to use your RRSP contributions for the 2010 tax year, it doesn’t mean that RRSP season is over. In fact, it is better to contribute to your RRSP all year round than wait until the last possible minute to put a lump sum into it.
This year I challenge you to set up automatic payments into your RRSP every time you get paid. That way you will not have to burden yourself with coming up with a lump sum every year. If you discover that you still want to put in more, then you can top up your contributions before the deadline, but the lump sum will be far less of a burden.