Money Talk 101 (Ontario)
So you decide, eventually, to be responsible and worry about money (or lack thereof). It’s a dry topic, but one day you’ll get an AHA! moment and realize you’re head has been buried in the sand for way too long.
You should know that all your income is taxed, and if you can find a way to lower your taxable income (legally) then you will end up paying less taxes and still making the same amount of money. Here are a few things to think about as you try to get your money under control, and remember early is better but it’s never too late.
Tax Reduction Options
In Canada (Ontario), there are plenty of tools to work with – here are a few ideas that can help lower your taxable income:
- TFSA – This is money from your income (already taxed) but the interest is nontaxable
- RRSP – This gets removed from our taxable income and you can be in a lower tax bracket paying less taxes (but when you use it upon retiring it will be claimed as income then)
- RESP – This gets removed from our taxable income and you can be in a lower tax bracket paying less taxes government may make payments depending on your contribution – becomes taxable when used for Education purposes)
Life Insurance
Insurance for you, your spouse and even your kids is important. So the sooner the better, and you probably got told this many times but until you have kids you didn’t really care. You could be paying the price for starting late but the longer you wait the worse it gets. Invest in a life insurance plan that includes disability coverage and one that’s also an investment, so the money you put in actually goes into investments and in a few years you can choose to take withdraw it back with the profit (which is taxable) or keep it as an ongoing insurance policy.
Some also get salary coverage (if you loose your job and income due to a disability, but the instalments get way steeper and you still have the option of withdrawing the investment amount whenever you want. Look at the whole package you’re signing up to.
Even for kids, the sooner the cheaper. Get each of them a life insurance plan if you can. This is not a way to cash in on misfortune, but think of it as an investment for their future selves. When they grow up and have kids, to have already contributed and covered until their old age, easing their burden is priceless. It is can cost a 100 dollars a month for 20 years. Once they reach a certain age (say 18), they can make their own contributions.
Investment Property Sale
Also worth thinking about, if you have more than one property, this little tidbit. If you have a rental property that is not your main residence and decide to sell it, the government can take up to 50% of its value in fees and taxes. Before you sell, you make it your prime residence and then sell it to avoid this. Does not matter if you put it in your spouse’s name or not you are both treated as one. Alternatively, you can put it in another persons’ name, but that is also considered a sale when you transfer and you’ll pay the government’s horrific fee. So watch out, or plan to live in it for a few months before you sell it.
Last Will and Personal Directive
Last advice worth sharing is that a Will is the most important thing you can do, whether you have kids, on your own, just married. It keeps changing as your life, your money and your debts change. But make one. This is the most important thing you can make, there are plenty of free kits and cheap ones that you can use that suite the jurisdiction you’re on, as well as software and apps that can manage it, Time Secured App is one terrific tool to help with that.
Otherwise, it will take a long time to make your money accessible to the people that need it, and they will be forced to pay your crazy debts. It will also help with kid guardianship and include assets that you have which people who will have to deal with it on your death may not know about.
Equally important is a Personal Directive will, which is used when you have a big accident and you end up in a coma or life support. It says whether you want to stay on life support or unplug, where you want to donate your organs or not, etc. It gives people permission to make those decisions when you are unconscious saving them a lot of confusion, headaches, heartaches, and potentially costs. These two you need to do ASAP –and are a definite must.
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What is a Power of Attorney?
There is a lot of confusion on the need for Power of Attorney and equally important on the revocation of it. Generally, a need for establishing a Power of Attorney (PoA) is most necessary in case something were to happen to you. For example, if you have had an accident or illness that impacts your ability to make financial or healthcare decisions for yourself, you will need someone to make those decisions for you.
You should consider having a power of attorney, regardless of age or financial situation. You will always need that level of decision-making if you are not able to make it yourself, even if you don’t have a lot of assets.
A power of attorney is a legal document that gives someone you trust the right to make financial or health care decisions for you. This trusted person does not have to be a lawyer to be your attorney, it can be a family member, friend or a trusted professional of your choice.
Without an attorney for property, your family, including your spouse, cannot automatically step in to make financial decisions for you. They might have to go to court to become your court-appointed guardian. As a worst-case scenario, the government may have to make decisions for you, but only as a last resort.
There are two types of powers of attorney:
Personal care
An attorney for personal care can make decisions about your:
- health care
- housing
- other aspects of your personal life such as meals and clothing
If you do not have an attorney for personal care, your family can make some decisions, but not all.
Property
An attorney for property can make decisions about your financial affairs including:
- paying your bills
- collecting money owed to you
- maintaining or selling your house
- managing your investments
You should choose a person you trust to act as your attorney, such as a family member, spouse, or long-time friend. Some people choose a lawyer or trust company. Talk to the person or company before appointing them to make sure that they will take on this responsibility. Make sure they understand how you want your financial affairs or personal care handled.
You should never feel pressured to make someone your attorney. Speak to a lawyer about your options if you do not have anyone you are comfortable appointing.
You can make a power of attorney document yourself for free or have a lawyer do it. The Time Secured app provides a few editable templates that you can fill out and scan for safe keeping, including revocation of Power of Attorney if needed.
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Why Time Secured?
Imagine this, Shaun and Alice prepared a will that gives guardianship of their son Sam, to Alice’s brother Mike. Although they want to share the will with some of their other family members, they are worried that their guardianship wishes can cause some family friction or awkwardness, especially from the two sets of grandparents. They’re also worried that hard copies of the will might get lost or become outdated if other family members have different versions.
Then there is Kim, she wants to make sure her daughter Erin has her banking information but doesn’t want to give her that information just yet. She’s worried Erin might use it for a mini shopping spree! As a single mother, Kim constantly worries about how Erin can easily access her banking account if something were to suddenly happen to her if she goes into a coma or worse.
Jillian wants her online business email and social media accounts closed off if something serious were to happen to her, but she won’t give access to her sister Tonya just yet, especially since some of those accounts have confidential and financial information. She worries that her sister may not have her latest passwords because she changes them often for security reasons.
As the world becomes more digitized, sharing all sorts of documents online is becoming the norm. But there still isn’t an easy way to share important documents at a time of your choosing. Time Secured is the first app of its kind to fill that gap.
With the Time Secured app – you can easily create beneficiaries, assign them files and choose when they receive those files. You can share time-sensitive documents by setting the exact time and date they are sent. The Time Secured app makes time-based file sharing easy. It is available on both iOS and Android platforms and can be used for regular documents as well as larger multimedia files such as videos and audio files. You can try it for 1 month and see how it can work for you and it is easy to download on both iOS and Android platforms.
Right now, there are few options for storing important documents, and having them be accessible to others at a certain time. For example, after you write your last will, you can keep it with a lawyer or in a bank’s safety deposit box. But the fees are high, flexibility is limited, and if you decide to update the documents you may incur additional fees. Plus in the case of a deposit box, you will have to give access to someone else. Otherwise, a court order is required to access the box after you pass.
Other digital services allow you to store your files but do not solve the problem of providing access to the files at a time of your choosing. For example, Google Drive and Dropbox require a long and tedious process to get access to the files of a deceased person. Time Secured does this with little effort.
With Time secured there is one less worry by saving you the stress of wondering whether your loved ones will have the most up-to-date documents if you are not around. It will also save you from sharing sensitive information when you are not ready to do so. It is easy to set up, user-friendly, and fully customizable. You decide what is accessible, who gets access, and when.
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Sending your older kids milestone notes
Sending your kids day-to-day notes, like love notes or lunch box notes while they are young is always a special treat and definitely instills a sense of happiness and belonging at an early age. A bond through note writing is a strong one. However, often many forget the practice when their children get older. Writing milestone notes is even more necessary when your children start to face complicated events in their lives, and recognition or acknowledgment that you may have experienced the same will do wonders for their resilience. It is also a great way for them to know more about you and to see you as a 3-dimensional person rather than a specific lens of parent and child.
Whether you write them now and send them through the Time Secured Time Trigger vault option for later, or write them, as they get older, it does not matter. So long as the notes are written and shared for your growing children to treasure.
Here are only a few notes that you should consider writing to your older children, but there are plenty of other additional reasons to send them heartfelt thoughts through notes.
“Just Because” Note
As our children grow up, you may feel communication with your older children is becoming routine, regimented, and one-sided. So write a note praising your kids praising them or showing how proud you are of them for the littlest things they have done. You can add encouragement, and sometimes these notes can make all the difference in the world for their day or more.
College and Career Note
A note that acknowledges the most important things to instill in them as they were growing up. Before they leave the nest, with a list of traits or characteristics that you want them to take away with them as they face the next chapter of their lives. Here is where life advice can be wisdom well imparted. They can also keep those notes for their kids or loved ones in the future as a reflection of your relationship with them.
“Remember When” Note
However old the children are, they will always get a nice laugh or tear from specific memories that have touched you and them or taught them a valuable life lesson – whether they know it at the time or not. Reflection on the past also reinforces your shared bond and brings up stories and positive feelings that may have been forgotten over time.
“What You Should Know About Me” Note
You will be hard-pressed to meet someone who did not wonder what their parents felt or thought about particular things or events in life. Even if they don’t admit it. These notes are about you, but it gives your children anywhere from closure for traumatic events, to deep feelings you could not openly share with them. Notes make this easier by taking out the walls and preconceptions. These are valuable messages to your kids to not only teach them about the person you are, but inevitably also about the person they are as well or want to be. Anecdotes and analogies on what certain things mean to you make it all the more accessible and give them a new understanding of you. Whether they are shared while you are around as your kids are older and able to understand your perspective or later on in life when you are no longer around (both of which can be done through the Time Secured App easily); these notes are invaluable.
Any of these note types can be shared through scans or emails with multimedia add-ons easily using the Time Secured App. More importantly, the substance and content they entail will be appreciated by your growing children or any loved one for that matter – guaranteed!