Anyone out there cut their cable cord?

[viper37]

The big question, for Canucks, is - put into RRSP, or TFSA?

The diferences - RRSP is for retirement, you are not taxed on money you put in, you are taxed on money you take out. TFSA - for anything. You are not taxed on the increase on money inside the TFSA "space". You can take out whenever you want.

For high-income types, filling up the RRSP to the max seems to me to be a no-brainer: if you are in the over-30% tax bracket, it's like being handed an instant extra third of the money you contribute. Then, fill up the TFSA, the RESP (the education savings plan) if you have kids, etc.

It's simple, both

Maximize your tax income deductions with your RRSP.  Basically, what you need to do, is put enough money in this to change your tax bracket.  Say, if you are above 135 054$ for this year, you need to bring down your revenue to 87 123$.  From there, going to 85 000 or 80 000$ is not the same huge gain you make as before, so it's better to use the TFSA then.  Or other financial products, depending on what are your objectives.

These numbers are for Federal level only, of course, you need to consider provincial taxation schemes too, but you get the basics.

RESP is great for kids, especially considering the provincial and federal grant money they will give you if your kids go to college&university (not too sure about pre-collegial technical education, like mechanics or hair dresser).

[viper37]

Yeah, ironically we used to save a much larger percentage of our incomes when we made much less.  We still save a lot each year but if we had anything close to the kind of discipline we once did.... then our kids would have less fun   Beware the teen years!

so, raising the next line of defensemen for the Winnipeg Jets is not the only thing draining your savings? 

[Barrister]

Yeah, ironically we used to save a much larger percentage of our incomes when we made much less.  We still save a lot each year but if we had anything close to the kind of discipline we once did.... then our kids would have less fun   Beware the teen years!

so, raising the next line of defensemen for the Winnipeg Jets is not the only thing draining your savings? 

Look at who you're replying to.

[Admiral Yi]

You Anglos all look pretty much the same.

[Ideologue]

There is no way I could micro-manage my finances like you guys do, let alone make my wife do the same. I find it hard enough to docket my hours at work. 

I just say "every month I save X$. The rest we spend".

I use a similar system.  "Zero" is a possible value of x, right?

[Josquius]

I tried keeping track of my spending once. That way madness lies.
I tend to just stuck to having x an month I can spend which is a bit more than an x a week I can spend (though basically the same money). I don't hold to it strictly and excuses are accepted if there was something special one weekend or I had to buy something that cost more than a 1000 yen.
Still, my bank balance just doesn't want to go up this year. 

[alfred russel]

I have adopted seasonal cable. I get cable during football season, and disconnect it once football season ends. The beauty is that I then get the signup package for new customers so I get the cable I do use for about $35 a month. I'm not sure why comcast doesn't impose contracts on the signup packages.

Not sure what to do this year though. Olympics are in February, and the World Cup is over the summer.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Yeah, AT&T U-Verse and local cable here impose no contracts for their special introductory offers so you could easily cancel/restart as often as you want and get whatever special package they have available at the time.

DirecTV seems to only do two year contracts unless you're willing to pay $300-400 to buy all the equipment outright at the beginning.