Canadian Personal Finance Blog

So today I had an excellent presentation about the financial aspects of my severance from my employer, by a C.A. who is also a Financial Planner. He brought up several very interesting points, one that I had heard about but didn’t understand and another that I wasn’t even aware of (and caused me to write down many more questions for my one on one session with him in the near future).

RRSP Severance Rollover

Up until 1996 the rules for moving severance packages into RRSPs was pretty wide open, but then in 1996 the rules changed and you were not allowed to simply plow your severance directly into your RRSP (if you didn’t have room to put the severance allowance in your RRSP). The accommodation for folks like me that were still employed (and have been) by the same employer before 1996 (and haven’t received a severance package), I get a $2000 per year RRSP “bump up” for every year I worked for my employer before 1996 (and working in the year, could entail only 1 days work, too bad I didn’t work there as a Co-Op student).

For me this means that since I was employed from 1988 to 2008, I get 8 years counting in there or an RRSP bump up (for this one time) of $16,000 which I can put some of my severance package in (which is a good thing).  Since it is so late in the year, any dollar I shelter most likely saves me 46 cents of taxes I don’t have to pay on this year’s CRA tax forms (sorry Mr. Harper).

Severance Income is the Worst Kind of Income

Well, if there is such a thing as bad income, a severance package is that, because you get a T-4A for this income, but this income will not increase your RRSP room for the year, and it is not really counted as income per say (other than the fact that it gets TAXed like it is income). What I am trying to say is that severance is not an EARNED Income, thus you don’t pay CPP or EI premiums against it, but you don’t get RRSP room for it either.  I didn’t know that one either.

Another Idea the Lifelong Learning Program

Instead of simply cashing in RRSPs to pay for going back to school, the government has set up the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) where you can withdraw $10,000 in a  year and $20,000 total over 4 years to help pay for your schooling. There are rules for you to repay your RRSP the amount you borrowed to pay for your education, but I thought this would be a really good idea (for me or my wife). I don’t think this is something I will use now, but it is an interesting concept.

Best Joke to Say Around Former High Tech Workers

The presenter had a great comment for the section we skimmed over, “So this should be a short section, it’s about what to do if you make profits on your stock options during your severance period…”, everyone in the room burst out laughing, as did the instructor. If you aren’t in High Tech, you might not get it, but if you saw the Simpsons episode where it showed a high tech company giving out Stock Options from a toilet paper roller, you might get the joke.

I learned a lot today.

Busy week, so I am taking a break and publishing one of my favorite posts, about Risks and dealing with Risks.

Cancer, Now That I Have Your Attention

Yup, I am really talking about that, as Cancer’s ability to kill Canadians is rising, and Canadians are taking care of Cardiovascular issues more. Six out of every 10 deaths in Canada are caused by these two issues. Cancer is becoming more of a killer, is the bottom line for now.

So what the heck does this morbid topic have to do with Financial Planning issues? Maybe I’m just feeling morbid? No, but, if you look at this data, maybe you need to ask yourself the following important financial questions:

• Do I have enough life insurance so that my family can survive my death? Same question for your spouse too?
• Can my family survive financially a prolonged illness (as Cancer is capable of being)? Do I have any disability insurance?
• Do I have a will?
• Do I have enough health insurance to deal with a catastrophic illness?

If you are young and single, no it doesn’t matter that much, but if you are young and just married and planning on having kids, NOW, is the time to do this kind of stuff in place. No I am not selling insurance (and I am not advocating whole life insurance at all), but I am saying, go find out about what you need to deal with these concerning numbers about Cancer.

Hope for the best, and plan for the worst! (a wise saying).

One of the things I am learning is that I actually have done a great deal of training at work (it is one of the things you need to know and can talk about at job interviews), but it struck me (again) that I did not take advantage of all the training I could have taken from my current employer (who offers an extensive set of training facilities (not just for laid off folks)).

Financial Training

Where can we learn about financial stuff, you may ask? I have spoken about Financial Research before, but everywhere is the simple answer.

Hereare a few ideas that pop into my head:

• University of Waterloo offered an introduction to Actuarial Sciences course by correspondence, which was amazing. Taught me a great deal of info about present and future value of money and taught me how to figure out how Mortgages are calculated, and gives you a great deal of background on how insurance calculations are done as well.
• Look at your local community colleges, they offer a plethora of interesting finance based courses, that can teach you the basics of things, or help you polish your skills. Algonquin College here in Ottawa offers a great deal of training in this area.
• Even the high schools offer night courses in these areas to help out.
• The Ottawa Public Library (and your library too I would guess) has a cornucopia of books to help you out in this area (I mention lots of them in this very blog).

You have no excuse not to learn more and more, because the more you know, the better off financially you are going to be.

If I have missed any other areas, comments welcome on where else you can get financial training.

Work Training

Your employer may not even know it, but they may be helping you out too. I took a “Finance for Non-financial Managers” course that taught me how to read a company’s balance sheet and figure things out from it. Look for courses on how to use EXCEL or whatever spreadsheet you like using, they may teach you some stuff that will help you out too.

Remember, to get training at work if it is offered. Your company is giving you a chance to expand your skill sets and make you a better candidate for other jobs. If they pay for it, why aren’t you taking advantage of it? Expand your skills and thus make yourself more valuable to your company but also in the job market too.