Comments on: 2009: A Retrospective

By: Squawkfox

Squawkfox — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:01:56 +0000

Happy New Year CC!

By: dj

dj — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:20:03 +0000

Don’t worry Al,you will get your prepaid tax back…just max out your TFSA before your RRSP

By: Cynical Investor

Cynical Investor — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:48:55 +0000

Invested my TFSA in stocks but I should have used my wife’s as an emergency fund (now she is in stocks too).

By: Al

Al — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:22:20 +0000

This is completely unrelated to the post but I thought it would be of interest to people here. If the government has prorogued parliament, that means that all legislation is stalled. If I recall correctly, the Home Reno tax break is not on the books yet but everyone said don’t worry about it as the opposition agrees with it and it will pass.

Did it already pass or are people like me with their envelop of home depot receipts out of luck?

By: Phil S

Phil S — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:51:35 +0000

As per usual, I disagree with the lines of conversations regarding the TFSA. The higher the tax advantage of the investment, the less advantageous it is to hold that investment in a TFSA.

If you’re going to invest to make a capital gain, why not do it in your taxable account since capital gains are only taxed at 25%? And not only that, you can write down some of that gain against other capital losses when you inevitably make a bad pick! The same thing goes for dividends and other distributions which are classified as “return of capital” – dividends and RoC are tax advantaged investments and you lose some of those tax advantages in a tax free account.

Interest and income trust distributions are fully taxable. Those are the types of investments which would have the maximum benefit from sitting in a TFSA account.

Then again, I’m not a financial planner nor investment advisor, so you should do whatever your own advisor says. But the main benefit from a TFSA comes from the impact of taxation and so from a purely taxation point of view, you should load it up with the worst investments from a purely tax standpoint.

By: boko

boko — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:04:20 +0000

“I feel everyone who is putting stocks in their TFSA is gambling that their stock will always go up ”

Now isnt that a lousy statement to make, I made over $10k, yes $10,000 in my TFSA in the last 6 months investing in stocks, and the money is in all cash at this point. You just have to know how and when to invest, at this point there is real evidence that the markets are highly manipulated by the banks and governments. If I hold my TFSA in cash for the rest of 2010 I would still be ahead big time.

The big run up in stocks will eventually explode, when? I dont know, people have been calling it for this autumn but I knew since so many were expecting, it wasnt going to happen..it will happen when everyone is a bull and not looking.

So saying that, the TFSA should only be invested in the markets, savings accouts, GIC’S, MF and even ETF’s are a real waste in my opinion, of course it depends on your risk tolerance.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:08:11 +0000

My wife and I actually did pretty well with our TFSA, we made about $200 each in our index bond funds, so we are happy. Like CC we are using our TFSA as our emergency fund. I’m still leary of placing stocks in the fund as I like the idea if my stock picks tank at least I can deduct my losses off any capital gains I may make in the future. I feel everyone who is putting stocks in their TFSA is gambling that their stock will always go up …. which was the problem that got us in the financial melt-down in the first place. Income generating assets seem to be the best thing to have in the TFSA for income tax reasons. Maybe I’m being too conservative but then again I have a decent pension which means I do not need to hit a homerun to actually be able to retire.

Merry Christmas

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:04:31 +0000

Happy holidays!

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:03:57 +0000

@CC: We’re in the same boat. Actually, you’ve earned $7 more than me. Once the mortgage is gone, then we’ll start to use the TFSA to best advantage.

Must admit though, it’s been a little bit chafing to read all the stories of people who now have $19,000 in their combined TFSA’s after investing in dividend stocks etc…

And I share the concern about first time home buyers.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:26:46 +0000

Merry X’mas everyone!