Personal Finance | Crawford • Ashwood Financial

Goal setting has proven benefits in all aspects of daily life – personal, professional, and financial. But while the act of setting goals is important, perhaps more important, is sticking to those goals. Staying on course is often the more challenging part. We all have good intentions, but humans can sometimes get in their own way to success. You’ve likely heard before that it is often lifestyle changes and having an accountability partner that make a weight loss journey successful. Setting more realistic goals and slowly committing to changing your lifestyle is a lot more attainable than a quick crash…

Do you have money sitting in a chequing or savings account making very little (if any) interest? Although cash should not be a long-term method of growing your wealth, there is a time and place to use cash to your advantage within your financial plan. Cash can support your current and short-term financial needs as well as provide you with protection and liquidity. With current interest rates at recent memory highs, more clients are asking about GICs and high interest rates. While I generally recommend investing in a diversified mutual fund portfolio for long-term investments, cash & GICs are finding…

Most people know that you can use up to $35,000 of your RRSP for a down-payment on your first home. Under this First-Time Home Buyers Plan (HBP), you essentially borrow up to that amount from yourself out of the RRSP and must re-pay the amount back into your RRSP starting the second year after you withdraw it. The re-payment is 1/15 of the total amount withdrawn, each year for 15 years. For example, if you take out the full $35,000 under the HBP in 2022, you will begin paying it back to the RRSP in 2024 in the amount of…

For years I have been having the conversation with clients around how interest rates won’t stay low forever, and how to be prepared for the eventual rise of mortgage rates. In the last few years, the housing market has been on fire, and houses have been selling way above their actual realistic value. Buyers have been enjoying super low interest rates, but did they think about what happens in 4-5 years time when their term mortgage renewal is several percentage points higher than when they bought (or refinanced) their house? More specifically, did they have someone advising them on some…

While many people are making their New Years Resolutions about health and wellness, consider committing to your financial wellbeing too! Here are a few things to think about when writing down your 2022 goals. Top up your TFSAs or consider making a regular contribution The new maximum limit for 2022 is $6,000, however if you have not maximized your contributions in previous years then you will have more than the annual limit to contribute. If you don’t have the cash available for a larger deposit, you could consider making regular bi-weekly or monthly contributions throughout the calendar year to maximize…

Leaving a job can be an emotional and often stressful time. During your transition from one job to another, or into semi- or full-time retirement, there are many financial decisions to be made. Many of these decisions can have expensive tax consequences, so being prepared with the right advice on how to proceed is priceless. Over the last 19 months since the pandemic began, many Canadians have found themselves out of work, back at work, and then out of work again. Some of these have been temporary layoffs, and others more permanent. Many people have taken this uncertain time to…

Although many tax planning considerations have not changed, there has been a lot of shifting supports from the government to get us all through the Covid-19 pandemic. We want to ensure you are prepared for filing your tax returns this year. Working from home If you have been working from home you are eligible to claim some expenses. Since so many people are doing this for the first time, the government has a simplified method to claim those expenses for 2020. The CRA is offering a “flat fee” for work-from-home deductions for 2020. Your employer does not need to fill…

To say 2020 has been an interesting year would be a massive understatement. Although in many ways it has been uncomfortable, it has also given us some time and space to take stock. And from my perspective as an ‘older adult’, yes ok, a senior citizen, the times of most discomfort provide the biggest lessons in our lives. When viewed with a curious mind we can find all kinds of useful learning opportunities through these times of COVID-19. Here are some things that have not changed but perhaps we needed to be reminded of: Obvious personal reminders are that our…

If the current COVID-19 situation has taught us anything, it is that we need to be better prepared for unforeseen situations. Having an emergency fund is one of the most important things you can do financially. You don’t want to wait until you have an emergency to start thinking of implementing this into your plan. Just like you shouldn’t put off starting to save for retirement until your 50’s or 60’s. A plan is key here. An emergency fund should be able to cover your major expenses for three to six months, or longer. These savings are basically a pool…

I think that we are all feeling various levels of unease at present; from slightly off kilter to all-out anxiety. Watching the numbers of new infections of COVID-19 every day certainly doesn’t help, nor do the wild swings in markets help calm us. We are living in a world where we are bombarded with daily news and it can be exhausting trying to keep up with it all. As we talk to many of our clients, we find that everyone’s approach to coping is different. Some people are glued to their TVs and radios, others are choosing to use this…

Category Archives: Personal Finance

The Importance of Setting Financial Goals

Holding Cash in Your Portfolio

New Tax-Free ‘First Home Savings Account’

Rising Mortgage Interest Rates

Happy New Year

Leaving a Job

Tax Tips for 2020

Goodbye 2020

The Importance of Having an Emergency Fund

Thoughts for Difficult Times