Pennysaverblog – Page 291 – Smart Finance and Money Saving Tips

Taxes

Top 7 Ways To Trigger A CRA Review

Forget a T slip: You are required to report all your income. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) receives copies of all the T slips issued, so if you forget, misplace or hide a T slip, it will inevitably be uncovered by their matching program and result in a reassessment. Do this twice in a two-year period and you will be looking at substantial penalties.

Your business looks like a hobby: The CRA does not expect every new enterprise to make a profit their first few years in business. However, you cannot create a business for the purpose of creating losses. There must be some reasonable expectation of profit in future years. If you claim year after year of losses, you may be answering questions about your business plan from a CRA auditor.

March 16, 2011

Household

Things Really Are Not All That Important

“The most important things in life are NOT things.”

In the past, I allowed myself to become really attached to my things. Whenever I would try to organize my bookshelf or closet I would find it really hard to part with anything, even if I never used it or even looked at it. The interesting part, though, is that any items that I ended up giving away, I never ended up missing at all! Who would have thought!

March 14, 2011

Shopping

Do Not Go Shopping When You Are Lazy Or Hungry

Many people will advise you not to go grocery shopping when you are hungry because you will end up buying more than you anticipated. I completely agree as I have discovered firsthand that this is exactly what happens if I shop on an empty stomach. Anything that looks remotely edible becomes appealing and I end up buying a whole lot of items that I never would have even considered under normal circumstances.

March 11, 2011

General

A Government Task Force To Educate Canadians About Personal Finance

I recently read articles on the Web about how the Canadian government has set up a task force whose mandate is to educate the Canadian public about properly handling their finances. I think this is long overdue. Wouldn’t it be great if high school students took a class as part of their curriculum that discusses the pros and cons of RRSPs, TFSAs, and overall basic budgeting skills? They could pass this information on to their parents!

It is sad but true that many Canadians just don’t have a clue about how to handle their finances. They spend more than they earn and then find themselves in a hole too deep for them to dig themselves out of. Many people learn very little from their parents about money so they have to learn on their own, sometimes going through some difficult financial situations in the process.

March 9, 2011

Book Reviews

Read The Laws Of Money By Suze Orman

The Laws Of Money, The Lessons Of Life: Keep What You Have and Create What You Deserve by Suze Orman

I just recently finished reading an interesting book by Suze Orman entitled The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life. It discusses the five laws of money that we can follow in order to be financially successful in life.

The five laws are as follows:

Law 1: Truth Creates Money, Lies Destroy It

Suze’s first law is very simple. Don’t lie about your financial situation. Don’t buy what you cannot afford and don’t pretend that you are richer than you are. Live within or below your means rather than allowing yourself to get into bad debt. Don’t think that others will not like you if you don’t appear to have a lot of money. People will like you for who you are and not for what you have.

Law 2: Look At What You Have, Not At What You Had

This second law is about living in the present and not in the past. There is no use comparing yourself and your money to something that no longer exists. The past has no power over you unless you give it power. Be sure to focus on what you have now and work with that so that you can move forward and be successful. Don’t continue to live with regrets from the past.

March 7, 2011

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