MemberI was a little surprised by some people I know who do not have a TFSA. Since I don’t discuss things like this with many people, I figured I’d ask you bees!
MemberI have one where money from my paycheck automatically is transferred over. I don’t even have to watch it. It’s quite nice 🙂
My Fiance doesn’t have one, but I have been bugging him for MONTHS to get one! I think it is well worth having a tax free way to save money.
MemberWe donT have a tfsa. We make too much money to ever qualify for hst rebates or child tax benefits so the income benefits aren’t there for us.
MemberI’d love to hear from people who don’t have one, why not. Especially if they have some savings outside an RRSP.
Member@SapphireSun: You’re not paying taxes on the interest. I don’t see how that wouldn’t benefit you.
MemberI have one but have been dipping into for wedding money! Money goes in straight off my pay.
Member@AB Bride: My understanding is the biggest draw of a tfsa is that you don’t pay tax when youI withdraw the money and if youre in a position that you receive govt benefits the withdrawal doesn’t count toward your income that year. Not sure of thecurrent rate of return on a tfsa but say its 3% for the sake of an easy example. If interest is taxed at 30% on a traditional investment as long as your rate of return is >4.3% you’re still better off if you don’t have the additional benefit of maintaining elligibity for govt subsidies.
In our particular case we have rrsps and do have some savings but typically for short term reasons. We own a home with a mortgage rate that’s much higher than pretty much any investment would return and plan to upgrade in he near future so money saved for that makes most sense to be applied in mortgage prepayments and save the interest we’d pay there and gain equity in the house.
MemberI have both TFSA and RRSP. My TFSA is maxed out (except for 2012) and I still have a lot of contribution room in my RRSP.
MemberI prefer to just pay taxes now. I save and invest in non tax free items but I just prefer to pay the current tax rate as I earn the $$, either through income or interest.
Fiance has a TFSA that we through the max in each year, but it’s more for him wanting to have one because “people have them” than any other reason.
Member@SapphireSun: I know many high net worth people who do a lot with their TFSA. Even if you make $100 in interest over the year, at least it ends up being $100 and not $75 or something after tax. There’s really no negative to having one, if someone has the money to stick into it. I agree about paying off the mortgage though. When I buy a house most (if not all) of my TFSA will go towards that.
MemberNeither Fiance nor I have one – partially because I keep forgetting to talk to the people at my bank about it (they pester me every time I am in), partially because I have no reliable income right now so I’m wary of setting up things that I can’t follow through with. My bff told me I was an idiot last night, so I’ll probably have to get around to setting one up sometime next week.
I don’t know why Fiance doesn’t have one. He had some financial issues in the past, and doesn’t really like to think about money or savings, so it’s a total pain to get him to focus and talk about accounts.
Member@berybery: You don’t have to do monthly contributions or anything. If you have some money just sitting in an account you may as well stick it into a TFSA. You can always pull it out if you need it! Depending on the bank, you might be able to set it up just by phoning them.
MemberWe have E-savings right now and plan on starting a TFSA soon. Were trying to finish paying off our credit cards before we start a TFSA. We have a new accountant who will be helping us out with the company and how to pay ourselves. We will see how things work out.
Member@AB Bride: I think that depends on what kind of TFSA though. I locked in with an account where we can pull the money at any time, but you can get higher interest rates if you lock it in for 6 months, a year, etc.
MemberI have a TFSA which is an investment account. So I can buy stocks/etfs/funds etc with the money in it. Very worthwhile IMO. Plus I’m more willing to buy riskier things with that money than I am with my RRSP trading account.
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