Author: kiara

There are a lot of things to take into consideration when you’re leaving the country for an extended period of time. These tips will help make you with preparation, travel, and driving basics.Once everything taken care of, all that’s left is getting to your destination safely. From there you can enjoy the sun and warm weather stress and worry-free.

Leaving your house vacant for more than 30 days

Each homeowner insurance provider is different but all of them have rules in place regarding steps that you must take if your house, condo or apartment is going to be vacant for a specified length of time – usually 30 days. A trusted neighbor, friend or family member who routinely checks in on your house could help mitigate any potential problems—such as water damage resulting from a burst pipe. It is wise to call your insurance provide to review your policy so you can leave with peace of mind.

Tips before you leave 

1. Pack your passport, but first renew it if it’s due to expire during your time away.
2. Make 2 photocopies of all your cards and documents. Pack one set and leave a copy with a trusted neighbour, friend or family member.
3. Let your bank and credit card companies know that you’ll be leaving the country.
4. Consider purchasing an international phone plan to save on costly roaming fees.
5. Cancel any regular deliveries and forward your mail.
6. Unplug all unnecessary electronics and appliances in your home. Shut off the water.
7. Make it seems as if someone is home. Arrange someone you trust to collect mail or flyers that land at your front door. Install timers on indoor and outdoor lights and hire someone to clear snow from your driveway, sidewalk and path after each snowfall.
8. Call your telephone, cable, Internet and/or satellite provider to temporarily suspend your service. However, make sure this doesn’t interfere with your home monitoring system, if you have one.
9. Store valuables that you’re not taking with you in a safety deposit box.
10. Do not post your travel plans on social media sites. You don’t want to publicize that you’re away from the house.
11. File all your prescriptions ahead of time: Be sure you have all of your medications with you and carry them in their original, labeled, drug store containers. It is also recommended:
    • To have a document with your medical history handy
    • To carry your updated immunization pass
    • To have a health care power of attorney specifying who can make decisions on your care in case you are unable to articulate your wishes.
    • If you have pre-existing medical conditions it is important to wear an alert device that would connect to a virtual database with pertaining medical information
12. Get travel health insurance: Getting sick abroad can be very costly or unsafe. Some credit card issuers offer health and travel insurance. You should check which coverage they provide (e.g. hospital stay? Doctor visits? Emergency medical evacuation to Canada if needed – possibly escorted by nurse/doctor?). In any case make sure you have a health insurance while travelling to avoid high bills upon return.
13. Keep track of how many days you stay in the US – verify the latest regulations and limit of days/year allowed (different rules for immigrations and for tax purposes).

Before hitting the road, reach out to your auto insurance provider. It’s important you notify them of your plans and review your coverage options to ensure you’re properly protected.

1. Take your car to a mechanic for a tune-up. It’s important your vehicle is prepared for the lengthy drive.
2. Renew your auto insurance, or driver’s licence before leaving if they’re going to expire while you’re away.
3. Consider joining a roadside assistance program such as CAA that can help you both in Canada and outside of the country.
4. Equip your car with a winter driving survival kit which will come handy in case of an emergency.
5. Make sure you know where you’re going! Even if you have a GPS to help you with directions, having maps as a backup couldn’t hurt either. If you belong to a roadside assistance program they can provide you with maps and other details of your route.
6. Don’t overdo it. Take frequent breaks from driving and take your time. A well-rested and alert driver is a safe driver.

At all stages leading up to retirement—from decades to mere years and months before—we may worry if we are going to be able to retire comfortably. Simply put, starting earlier is always better. But wherever we may be in that planning stage, we must identify the primary challenges and barriers that are either preventing us from moving forward, or paralyzing us with fear. Only then can we identify the solutions to achieving a fulfilling retirement.

Planning Inertia

The first step is always planning. Having confidence in ourselves that we will achieve our goals is not to be underestimated. That confidence is so crucial to the comfort we seek in retirement. Those of us with formal plans for generating retirement income and savings will feel more confident from the outset.

Obtaining professional services to help put in place, monitor, and adjust such plans also increases confidence. Having an investment advisor can help paint a clearer picture of what to expect and facilitate a finely tuned—at times complex—plan to best suit personal needs.

This all sounds great, but there are several reasons planning is not always prioritized.

It can be extremely difficult to balance long-term, retirement-related needs with more pressing financial realities. Furthermore, it can be daunting to research all of the products and options available on the market and determine which would best address our specific retirement needs.

Starting early is the best idea. And with a professional investment advisor, we can start planning for retirement to ensure that we will have what we need upon retiring, and that those goals can be reached in conjunction with present needs.

It’s Never Too Late

Despite the feeling that it might be too late to start saving for retirement, it never really is. Every little bit helps, regardless of age and income. Now is always the best time to start. Shame, guilt, or frustration will only stall us longer. The best idea is to move forward.

Competing Priorities

 We already have day-to-day living expenses, and have to save up for a car, a down payment on a house or condo, a vacation, children’s activities, college, and manage credit card debt. So how can we save for retirement too?

It is difficult to justify something so far in the future when all of these things are happening now. But the someday of retirement will come soon enough, which is why, once again, an approach that takes into account a larger plan is the way to go to help us through all stages of life. The question is: who can we trust to help get us there?

Rothenberg Capital Management has been helping Canadians plan and manage their retirement savings for 40 years. Our advisors are salaried and have state of the art systems and administrative help so they can give their clients expert advice for now and for the long range. They will guide you to maximize opportunities at every stage of your life, beginning with questions such as:

• How much income will I need to live comfortably at retirement?
• What should my annual savings be now so that I can reach my retirement goals?

Let’s get started with a FREE consultation without obligation on your part.

To schedule an appointment, call our office (Montreal: 1.800.811.0527, Calgary:  403.228.2378), or click here.

Being debt-free can seem like a pipe dream.  However, it is possible.  A lot of progress can be gained step by little step. It is important to just start by taking the first step.

Know Your Interest Rates:  An important step to becoming and remaining debt-free is knowing how much you are paying for your debt. Canadian credit cards charge anywhere from 20 to 24 percent interest. That is a huge percentage and will rapidly increase the amount of debt you have.

Consolidate debt:  If you’ve accumulated credit card debt, the best way to manage it is to consolidate that debt onto a low rate line of credit, and perhaps even close all credit card accounts, switching instead to a debit card. Lines of credits tend to hover around 5% interest, which would substantially decrease the amount of interest you will be charged each month.

If you need to negotiate payments with the financial institution(s) that too is an option. It is possible that by contacting your creditors, you can negotiate a reduced settlement or a more manageable payment schedule.

It is important that you know in clear numbers how much you owe and what the interest rate is so that when you can make payments on your debt, you are paying off the debt that is costing you the most. Keep in mind that you should still always try to make the minimum monthly payments on all debt.

Track your spending:  Once you know how much you owe and at what rate(s), tracking your spending is the most tangible and easiest way to get started on the road to a debt-free life. Either note all purchases or save receipts and take note of them. This way, you can know where your money is going. A good app to help track spending and provide for basic budgeting needs is Wally. Unlike many other budgeting services, Wally is free! By tracking your spending, you will slowly get into the habit of being more aware of your purchases, and cutting back on what is excessive.

Budget:  A budget doesn’t necessarily mean scarcity, it just means that you know where your money is coming from and where it’s going. That way, you can better plan and monitor your spending. True to its name, the app You Need A Budget helps you live within your income and see what can be done to balance your budget. This app works on mobile phones and desktops, and enables you to build your budget while taking into account living expenses, debt, and investments. Other websites/apps to track budgeting and spending include Mint and Budget Tracker.

Don’t rush it! Your motivation will disappear if you try too much too fast and don’t adjust to budgeting at a pace that works for you.

Budgeting will not only enable you to contribute as much money as possible to debt repayment, but also help your spending and saving habits once the debt is gone. This way, you can enjoy a debt-free life as much as possible and even being able to spend money guilt-free.

Stop spending:  Until your debt is paid off, it is best to rein in as much spending as possible. Using savings to pay off debts is a good idea, but make sure to replenish those savings as soon as possible.  And having an emergency fund is still necessary.

Be consistent:  Try to be consistent in your payments: pay off as much debt as you can afford to regularly.

When you reach milestones, celebrate! You deserve that feeling of freedom and positivity! The greatest reward is that you will be on your journey toward being debt-free forever.

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is one of the core components of Canada’s retirement income system and can provide a significant income to a CPP survivor. A person is considered as a “CPP survivor” if he or she was married to or was the common law partner of a CPP contributor.

It is important to understand what can be expected upon the passing of a CPP-contributing spouse or common-law partner. Final decisions regarding survivor benefits will be made according to all sources of retirement income. That is why a well-prepared advisor means a well-prepared client. The Advisor will draw your attention to important details and assure that you are well prepared too. All CPP contributors should regularly review their Statements of Contribution (SOC) for accuracy.

Pre-Conditions
To qualify as a CPP survivor:

• The contributor must have made payments to the CPP for either 10 years, or a third of their contributory period, but not less than three years.
• The surviving spouse or common-law partner must have dependent children, be disabled, or be at least aged 35.

Bill C-26
In December 2016, Bill C-26 was passed and it amended the CPP. It increases the covered earnings and the earnings replacement. The retirement benefits arising from the new rules will in turn increase survivor benefits.

It takes time for changes to mature so, unfortunately, current survivors and those who may become survivors soon, will not see much of a change. Nonetheless, survivors should apply for benefits as soon as possible, as retroactive payments are only valid up to 12 months.

Special Circumstances
Couples sharing their CPP will, when one of them dies, have the pension adjusted to what it would have been before sharing. There are other special circumstances such as special Remarriages or deathbed marriages, that have rules that are worth researching.

Orphan Benefit for Contributors’ Children
As long as the deceased contributed to CPP for the minimum periods described earlier, it is possible for eligible children to receive a CPP Orphan Benefit. This is a flat benefit, which in 2017 translated into $241.02 per month per CPP contributing parent.

Other Retirement Income
Other retirement income affect the final amount a survivor will receive in CPP monthly payments. It is important to be aware of the various benefits and limitations of Survivor Benefits. Below are some very useful links:

Useful liks
Benefits payment calendar
CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions
Our investment solutions financial calculators

Tax Free Savings Accounts

You’ve heard about the TFSA but what is it?

Well, first of all it’s not just a savings account. Think of a tax-free savings account (TFSA) as a basket. You can put a number of financial instruments in that Self Directed basket – guaranteed investment certificates, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and yes, actual savings accounts.

The key is that all gains that you make from the investments in that basket are tax-free. The Canadian government introduced TFSAs in 2009 as a way to encourage people to save money for retirement. Since you paid tax on the money you put into your TFSA, you won’t have to pay anything when you take money out.  The contribution amount for 2018 is $5,500 for a total lifetime maximum contribution limit of $57,500.

Registered Retirement Savings Account

A refresher on RRSPs:

A Registered Retirement Savings Plan or RRSP is an account that  allows a person to shelter money from income taxes.

Like a TFSA a Self Directed RRSP can be compared to a big basket and numerous investments can be made: savings accounts, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), stocks, bonds, mutual funds and more.

The maximum amount one can contribute to an RRSP changes each year.  A deduction limit is generally calculated as 18% of a person’s earned income from the previous tax year, minus any “pension adjustment”, up to a specified maximum. For 2018 the maximum contribution is $26,230.