Weekend Reading – The how-tos of early retirement, paying CRA via PayPal, travel tips and more #moneystuff
Welcome to my latest Weekend Reading edition – where I share some of my favourite articles from the week that was across the personal finance and investing blogosphere.
Here was my article from this past week:
Enjoy these articles, enjoy your weekend, and see you around the site!
Mark
- They prioritize their futures over living the good life now. The majority of early retirees save 50% (or more) of their income.
- They understand where their money goes and strive for value for money.
- They tend to take a glass half-full approach.
- They spend money on experiences, not stuff. I intend to do that very soon.
Does early retirement make you lazy? Perhaps.
Did you know that you can now pay your taxes to our Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) via PayPal? Interesting stuff.
Take advantage of these saving and investing deals!
Here are some tips to save money when travelling with kids.
As a refresher, on the travel subject, here are some of the travel items I don’t leave home without.
JNJ increased their dividend by 7% this week. When I add it up – that’s a whopping 17 dividend increases across my portfolio already in 2018. Save, invest – prosper!
Last but not least – what is it going to be for you? Your money or your life?
Mark
Mark
My name is Mark Seed - the founder, editor and owner of My Own Advisor. As my own DIY financial advisor, I'm looking to start semi-retirement soon, sooner than most. Find out how, what I did, and what you can learn to tailor your own financial independence path. Join the newsletter read by thousands each day, always FREE.
@sst: “My goal is to die dead broke and full of life”
Hope it works out that way! I prefer to never have to worry about money(or others) and enjoy life regardless what may come.
re: CRA & PayPal
Woah! How very 2000 of them! Government has never been speedy at adopting new ways of doing things.
re: Your money or your life?
My life, each and every time, without compromise. Far too many death and near-death experiences to know that money is a feeble and illusory place holder. The true wealth comes from having the option to choose between money OR life, however, most people on this planet will never have the ‘money’ option. Canadians are wealthy with wealthy friends and neighbours (80% of Canadians are more wealthy than 80% of the global population). If you are wealthy (and you probably are) and think you don’t have enough money, it might just mean you actually don’t have enough life. My goal is to die dead broke and full of life 😉
Sporting side-note: Kudos to Ontario homeboy Mike Woods who finished 2nd in the oldest professional bike race, Liège–Bastogne–Liège (260km). Amazing effort for a kid who wanted to play for the Leafs! Watch for him in the upcoming (and gruelling) Tour of Italy.
That goal you wrote is one to aspire to!
Mark, I really agree about avoiding market-linked GICs. I had one through Scotiabank that matured last September. It was linked to the TSE and my return was literally 1 tenth of 1%, no exaggeration. And this after two years of generally rising CDN stock prices. Over the two years I could have made 30+ times the gain by putting the cash in the same bank’s high interest savings account.
Sadly I also bought a 3 yr (US market) and a 5 yr (world market) GIC at the same time, so I am expecting more disappointment this September and in 2020. Huge mistake, but the bank salesman did a good job and I was naive.
A great reminder that while the banks have some good products….they are products after all.
Re: paying the CRA by Paypal. Doesn’t Paypal charge you 5 percent for this service? I have an account but have only used it once or twice when that was the only option.
So this year for the first time in many, many years, I owed money to the CRA. I sold my rental property, thus had some significant capital gains. I dutifully got out my cheque book, only to discover that you cannot pay them by mailing a cheque! A bit of a surprise to me. But it was easy to pay from my bank account.
PS My cheques are from a line of credit account, thus the cheques are provided free to me and there is no cost or limit on how many bills I can pay or cheques I can write from that account. I used that account to manage the rental expenses.
My experience with PayPal is generally good but they do charge fees Barbara.
Yes, I owed a bit of money this year to CRA since a) I have this blog, b) my RRSP is maxed, and c) I have non-reg. dividends. A good problem to have I guess? 🙂
Re 35 yr old retiree keys: I retired @ 55 and my wife a few years before.
1. no- for us balance = best
2&3 definitely
4. not before retiring, but much more so now
Lazy in retirement…need to define “lazy” first. I’m sure my idea is not the same as many others. Generally I agree with firecracker- if you were lazy before retiring you’ll be lazy in retirement, not lazy = same in retirement.
Good start from wealthsimple. At some point interest rates will start getting attention – both on savings and on debt.
In looking at our finances, my wife and I could be “retired” if we a) didn’t travel internationally; b) didn’t buy a house or plan to move into a condo in 2019 and/or c) did nothing. That’s no fun 🙂
All the best RBull.
Mark
I hear ya.
Thanks and same to you.
Retire at 55 is already amazing. I will be very happy if I could do that. And I agree with you, balance is the best.
I have already spent more than $10K after I moved. None of those expenses is MUST. But we live happier and we can afford it, while we still max out all registered savings account, so why not?
That’s the thing. If you have the financial means to max out all registered accounts, that’s great. If you do that there is a very good possibility you can retire a bit earlier than most. Best wishes.
Thanks May. I was fortunate to be able to phase down my career last 5 years getting out of of management/ownership, P/T for last 2.5 years before full stop on 55th birthday. Good luck with your journey.
Yes, on balance. Why have a better lifestyle in retirement than in working years, or a be a cheapo just to retire at 35 or 40 etc???
If you’re saving and on track to your financial/retirement goals then absolutely spend on what gives you happiness. From your posts it seems you’re living a great life with your family.
Biff, refreshing good honesty. We’ve certainly all made investing mistakes. Maybe someone can benefit reading this. G/L
SST, I agree on the wealth and money thing. I would like to be in the same situation when I die- broke but full of life until the end.
I’m not really a bike fan but as a long distance runner/marahoner for years I can appreciate the commitment and toughness that takes to compete in those tours.
I am on board with working a bit longer, balanced spending and a better lifestyle in retirement. Retiring early and then relocating to a low cost of living country is not something we want to do. I can understand why some people do that. Work becomes unbearable and for health reasons they absolutely need the escape. A toxic work environment can do that to you, I get that.
Living well and travelling well in retirement without worrying about money is the life we want before checking out. Work hard, play hard man! Enjoy our hard earned money during retirement while we still have our health.