OK, So if you had $5000 in expendable cash to invest into something...

deaner

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I been through the bs of closing out a tfsa at RBC, got taxed right there at the bank based on my amount withdrawn. The government does not let you earn money tax free, they let you defer the tax.

If you put money in a tfsa that you have already paid tax on your good to go, but what is the benefit? any interest or profit you make, you still get charged tax on. You either pay the tax now or later.

You still have TFSAs and RRSPs mixed up.

The TFSA is basically a savings plan that encourages everyone to have a "rainy day" fund. Its not designed as a high yield investment. Its so that people arent living paycheck to paycheck.

RRSPs are a great thing. They have 2 main benefits; 1 is that you get to claim a tax deduction in your high income earning years. So while you are young making big money and still trying to have fun, pay down the house, and save it is a way for you to reduce the amount of tax you pay by claiming a deduction in the high tax bracket you are most likely in. Then when you retire, alot of your debts are most likely payed for and life has probably slowed down a bit so you dont need as much to live. So you get to take the money out in a much lower tax bracket than the one you would have initially paid taxes in. The second main benefit is that they allow your investments to compound tax free.

Anyone that says they are not a good thing clearly doesnt understand them.
 

HotShotHarry

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Hey Gates, Read the above post and understand it. Deaner is correct in what he is telling you.
 

gates559

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Yeah that may be correct, I hope it is, cause I just did this a couple months ago, Had a tfsa and RBC wouldn't let me close it out without charging me 10 or 12 percent. cant remember now. I ended up taking less cash out and getting taxed 5%
I argued with them for a while and figured my accountant will deal with it if there is wrong doing. That is my recent experience with the TFSA.

It is definitely a TFSA and not RRSP's and my understanding was the same as yours but when it came time to get my money it wasn't the case. Just figured their was likely small print some where cause it was to good to be true.
 

HotShotHarry

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Well, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if RBC charged you a service charge to close out the account. In my experience, they are very expensive to deal with. However there should not have been any taxes applied to the TFSA account. Definetly get your accountant to contact them and straighten it out.
 

somethingnuw

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Call your bank, tell them you want to withdraw 1000 bucks out of that TFSA account. Bet you get taxed about 10 percent on it. Please dont bother responding until you try it. Like any good salesman, your banking representative left out all the bad and told you nothing but good.


What a tfsa is, is a ploy to trick the average joe into locking their money up so that the bank can use it. Than get taxed at a greater rate down the road when you want it, and in the mean time you loose big time to inflation.

hey just fyi to everyone... i had 10k in an ing direct TFSA... a rainy day (house emergency) came along... i just transfered them over to my bank without loosing a penny... keep in mind it was invested in a saving account not a mutual fund! think at the time it was only paying out 2% per year... but it worked well for me
 

gates559

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Mine was invested in a mutual fund. This thread excites me to think I might get my money back!
 

Braddock54

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Yeah don't count on your 'advisor' or 'specialist' to know what they are doing. I opened a spousal RRSP for my wife recently and had to basically explain to the advisor what the contribution amounts could be for the Home Buyers Plan and how it gave me, the contributor, the tax deduction.

Pretty basic stuff for a bank RRSP specialist to know I thought. She had to get on the phone with the someone else to confirm what I, average joe, had told her.

So yea, not always the a-team in those offices.
 

ATV Rancher

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Just got real estate taxes in the mail. $5000 doesn't even make a blip to the amount they've increased, so considering the local situation, basically law enforcement and all the associated expenses took it already. ROI is very questionable since we all tend to be well armed and never bothered.
 

Clode

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Dakine879

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My basic thoughts:

1) if you have any outstanding debt pay it off.
2) pay against your mortgage
3) RRSP's are better suited for people in the highest income tax bracket (as deaner accurately outlined the most important feature of RRSP investment is the tax deferral until later in life when you are in a much lower bracket : Take note if you are a part of a good pension plan this will really affect you because you'll still have a strong post retirement income)
4) Energy will continue to be important part of the future economy.... thing of what powers all trucks, wife's car's, sleds, quads, lawnmowers etc.... Warren Buffett has an outstanding track record and he put $500 Million in Suncor just last spring....
5) The most important fact : get investing and do it early....
[h=1]Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.” A. Einstein[/h]
 

HotShotHarry

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What would it be?

And, I am talking about investing, not some toy or TV or something...

I am talking about something that has a high rewarding potential, with some risks of losing it all, and not having the worries about losing it.

Legal, of course...

Let's just say, you found a paper bag with $5000 in it, didn't really need it for anything... you get my gist?

Well Cuso,Did you make a decision yet?. Check out Coalspur shares on the TSX. 24 cents right now. Set to go-big time!. Just my opinion of course.
 

JoHNI_T

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Hit 43 today,would have doubled your money in less than a week! Still going up. JMO

maybe listen this guy ^^^^ do you play the market a lot? I need to start :)

there are NO interest charges on TFSA's I also had to pull mine with NO nothing!! now I need to re load.
 
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