Monday, January 09, 2006
RRSP season nears
They say that the earlier you invest, the better. That way, more interest grows throughout your lifetime and you can enjoy more when you retire.
That's the Registered Retirement Savings Fund, in case you were wondering. Your own personal, tax deductible, interest-gathering pension plan, if you will.
One source noted that investing $1,000 per year between the time you're 20 and 29 (9 years total) will get you more money in the bank by the time you're 65 than if you invest $1,000 per year from age 30-65 (35 years total).
Holy cow! That's good enough reason to start investing this year, if you haven't already (and I know many of the people who read this are well younger than I am).
One has many options to invest in RRSP's, though. They can be based in :
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As for the federal election, well, either not much has changed or everything has, depending on your point of view. Accusations of pro-Conservative media coverage have surfaced across the country, with ranting posts to be found on Liberal blogs everywhere. Meanwhile Harper keeps new and intriguing platform points rolling out, clearly having learned some lessons from the last election.
Still, it appears that some lessons were not learned, with the recent bits about Harper's "musings" on a possible majority hitting the press in recent days. Some pundits speculate that this is what cost the Conservatives the last election - post-debate "musings" in 2004 prompted too much of a "strategic voting" swing towards the Liberals by a fearful populace. Harper may very well be aware of this notion - in the currents stories in question, Harper recants his speculation and notes that the election will not be decided until the 23rd. (Though I note that this has not stopped some Conservatives from counting down to the day they believe that the Liberal streak may finally be over.)
On an aside, one job I've found that I would like: being a political "BlackBerry blogger." Nice job - ride the campaign bus around, comment on the occasional issue, spend a paragraph on how close the next guy's knees are to yours. Cushy job, that. Where can I apply?
That's the Registered Retirement Savings Fund, in case you were wondering. Your own personal, tax deductible, interest-gathering pension plan, if you will.
One source noted that investing $1,000 per year between the time you're 20 and 29 (9 years total) will get you more money in the bank by the time you're 65 than if you invest $1,000 per year from age 30-65 (35 years total).
Holy cow! That's good enough reason to start investing this year, if you haven't already (and I know many of the people who read this are well younger than I am).
One has many options to invest in RRSP's, though. They can be based in :
- Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GIC's), where you will never take a loss but then you're not earning a lot of interest (usually between 1% and 3%).
- Stocks - where you can take a loss, but the interest can be much higher
- Mutual funds - a bit less risky than stocks, but potentially higher returns than GIC's: some funds reported growth of about 9% per year
- Index-linked funds - where the value of your investment rises and falls with one of the stock markets
----
As for the federal election, well, either not much has changed or everything has, depending on your point of view. Accusations of pro-Conservative media coverage have surfaced across the country, with ranting posts to be found on Liberal blogs everywhere. Meanwhile Harper keeps new and intriguing platform points rolling out, clearly having learned some lessons from the last election.
Still, it appears that some lessons were not learned, with the recent bits about Harper's "musings" on a possible majority hitting the press in recent days. Some pundits speculate that this is what cost the Conservatives the last election - post-debate "musings" in 2004 prompted too much of a "strategic voting" swing towards the Liberals by a fearful populace. Harper may very well be aware of this notion - in the currents stories in question, Harper recants his speculation and notes that the election will not be decided until the 23rd. (Though I note that this has not stopped some Conservatives from counting down to the day they believe that the Liberal streak may finally be over.)
On an aside, one job I've found that I would like: being a political "BlackBerry blogger." Nice job - ride the campaign bus around, comment on the occasional issue, spend a paragraph on how close the next guy's knees are to yours. Cushy job, that. Where can I apply?
