- Comments (3)
- Text Size: Down Up
moneysense.ca, 14/02/07
RRSP Tip # 2: Park your Contribution
Let’s say that you have decided that making a RRSP contribution makes sense for you. You are ready to contribute but you are not sure how you should invest your money. What do you do? It is very important that you don’t buy some mutual fund just because you want to beat the deadline.
It is possible that you have accounts with many different institutions and a motley collection of mutual funds. It is going to take a while to sort out where you stand. Maybe you are going to make your first contribution and you wisely want to take your time to research your investments. Perhaps you aren’t sure how you want to invest your contributions and are feeling pressured to make a choice.
If you want to take your time, consider parking your contribution in cash in a high-interest savings account. After carefully considering your options, you can transfer the money into another RRSP account at a later date. Usually there are no fees involved and the money will earn a decent interest until you decide what to do with it.
moneysense.ca, 14/02/07







Keeping interest earning income inside your RSP is generally recommended since interest is taxed at your marginal income tax rate. This can be upwards of 40% for some earners:
to see your marginal rate this is a simple calculator at E&Y
http://www.ey.com/GLOBAL/content.nsf/Canada/Tax_-_Calculators_-_2006_Personal_Tax
Usually there are no fees involved, but after researching I found that if I wanted to build up in PC Financial, then move it over to CIBC’s brokerage there would be a fee, even though they are sister companies.
[...] market fund: A RRSP allows you to hold cash but while you wait to develop an investment strategy, invest the contribution in money market funds or cashable GICs. That way, you have the access to cash when you are ready to actually invest but [...]