You and Your Money – For the Hamilton Musicians’ Guild (April 2018)

You and Your Money.

What they don’t teach you in music school!

For the Hamilton Musicians’ Guild, April 2018

Dear colleagues and fellow musicians;

Well it’s April and that means tax time again. Some of you may have already started receiving refunds particularly if you set up for electronic deposit with the government. What I have to say this time is pretty much the same as I say every year.

Don’t waste your tax refund!!!

I heard the following comment on a radio about three weeks ago and I wish I had been the clever person who coined it first:

Make saving an expense that you incur every month.

Set up a family budget. Keep it simple otherwise you won’t look at it and put in an amount for some money for savings every month. Be practical – it has to be something that you can afford. If you don’t do it, you won’t save anything. It forces you to prioritize your life and that is how smart people get ahead.

Opening at TFSA – that’s a tax-free savings account  – will give you a savings vehicle for you to focus on.

1. TFSAs can be used for an emergency fund or retirement if your RRSP room is used up.
2. Neither the income earned or withdrawals from a TFSA affect a person’s eligibility for federal income-tested benefits and credits.
3. If you make withdrawals there is no specified repayment plan to interfere with other payment obligations that you may have.
4. Earnings within a TFSA are not taxable. A higher-income spouse can contribute to the TFSA of a lower-income spouse without the income earned being attributed to the higher-income spouse.
5. The same types of investments that can be held within an RRSP can be held within a TFSA.

The financial institutions do charge fees for their TFSA services. Check out the fees before you sign on with a financial institution. You don’t need a financial advisor if you don’t have any money and you only get money by setting money aside instead of spending it. It takes money to make money.

Any comments or viewpoints expressed in this article are those of Kevin Mann Accounting.

Copyright Kevin Mann Accounting, 2018.

Kevin Mann, MBA is a Chartered Professional Accountant, a member of the Hamilton Musicians’ Guild, a performing bassist and the President of Kevin Mann Accounting. He has provided extensive financial and managerial expertise to a wide range of not-for-profit and for-profit businesses including being a board director and member of local symphonies.