By Sheryl Smolkin

If you are reading B.C.-based Kerry K. Taylor at Squawkfox for the first time don’t miss 50 ways to save $1,000/ year. But her blog Price Check: How to cut the cost of a gluten-free diet is a must-read for anyone shopping and cooking for people with this dietary limitation.

In Give me back my five bucks Krystal Yee who also blogs on moneyville.ca and The Frugal Wanderer asks what you would do if someone gave you $1000.

At Boomer & Echo, Robb Engen from southern Alberta (also another moneyville blogger) test drives a new rewards credit card from American Express.

Tim Stobbs lives in Regina. He is well on his way to the Canadian Dream: Free at 45. He recently posted a five-part blog updating his retirement calculations and how he is going to get there 20 years before the rest of us.

And as you prepare for the holiday season with your nearest and dearest, make sure you have a tissue handy when you read a reprint on Brighter Life of the tender 2011 letter from Sun Life AVP and blogger Kevin Press to his daughter, Dear Grace: The three secrets of Christmas.

Derek Foster podcast

Hi, my name is Sheryl Smolkin. I’m a lawyer and a journalist. Today I’m pleased to be continuing the Saskatchewan Pension Plan’s series of financial expert interviews, talking to Derek Foster author of six books including The Idiot Millionaire.

After spending his 20s backpacking across Europe, Australia and Asia, Derek left the rat race at age 34 when his investment strategy made him a millionaire. Today we are going to talk about his latest book, The Worried Boomer.

Welcome Derek.

Q1. Derek, you retired six years ago at age 34 and started a new career as a financial writer and motivational speaker. Was this all part of the plan? Did you ever imagine you would be so successful?

There was no a plan at all. The only thing I did was to begin investing religiously just before I started university. I put away $200 a month and it kept growing and growing. But as far as writing a book, once I retired I thought it was an interesting story so I wrote a book and it became a national best seller. I thought this was kind of great so I wrote a few more books.

Q2. Because you are your own boss, you have more time to spend with your family and do things you enjoy. How much time do you spend writing and speaking in a typical week or month?

It really varies depending on the season. I find I do a lot of my writing in the fall after summer vacation is over and the kids are back at school. But if I was to average it out, I would say probably around ten hours a week.

Q3. Everyone I talk to is worried that they will run out of money before they run out of time. How did you figure out how much money you had to save in order to retire at such a young age?

I think a lot of people put the cart before the horse. In other words, if you ask people how much money they need to retire, many will respond “oh you need a million dollars or two million dollars.”

But if you ask “how much money do you need to live on now?” they’ll generally say $50,000 a year or $100,000 a year. The interesting thing is that they tell me the annual income they need to live right now, but for retirement they fixate on this big lump sum of money.

I think you need an annual income when you retire. So essentially all you have to do is build up an annual income stream and once it equals what your expenses are going to be, you can stop working.

Q4. You have five children. You own a four bedroom, four bathroom house in Ottawa and your family has taken trips almost every year since you have retired on less than $40,000/year. How can you afford this lifestyle? What don’t you do?

I think the main thing I don’t do is that I don’t work. It’s going to sound kind of strange, but working is the most expensive way to make money in Canada. When you’re working at a regular job, you pay Canada Pension, you pay employment insurance, you also pay income tax at the top marginal rate. And those are just the direct costs of working.

There are a whole slew of indirect costs of working. You might need to pay for a wardrobe, union dues, commuting costs, parking costs or child care expenses if you’re at that stage in life. So I basically realized that working was too expensive and I couldn’t afford it so I stopped working.

That was a big part of it, and the other thing too is that I’m not really a “stuff” guy. I don’t find I buy a lot of gadgets. For example I’ve never owned a cell phone. In my twenties I spent a year travelling around Australia and New Zealand. I had the time of my life and all my worldly possessions were contained in one backpack. So I think that’s another part of it as well.

Q5. How would you respond to people who say that they are already living so close to the line that there is nothing left over for savings?

I think sometimes people look at saving enough money for retirement as if they have to achieve the whole thing all at once. Make it simple. Start with $2 a day. Take a toonie every day from your change and throw it into a jar. At the end of the month you’ll have sixty bucks. Keep doing that month after month. If you started when you were twenty and stopped at the traditional retirement age of sixty five, you’d end up with something like $628 000 just by saving toonies which is a pretty good start. If you up that to $5 a-day you’ll have one and a half million dollars which is very good start. So start small.

Q6. You invested in the stock market to make your million, yet so many people over the same period lost almost everything. What’s your secret? How do you pick stocks?

I am not really that smart a guy so what I did is I tried to copy other people. The absolute best investor in the world is a guy by the name of Warren Buffet, and I read a lot of what he had to say about investing and copied him.

And the approach, which is really quite simple, is invest in only companies that are easy enough for a six year old to illustrate with a crayon. You want companies that sell the same boring product year after boring year. An example would be Colgate toothpaste. I mean if I invest in Colgate toothpaste all I have to rely on is that you’re going to keep brushing your teeth, and I think that’s a fairly safe bet.

Now if you look at the company they’ve paid uninterrupted dividends since 1895 so basically for 117 years, anybody who has ever owned Colgate stock has received their dividends. Which is great, so focus on those kinds of companies. Forget the casino approach where you’re looking for the next hot thing. I mean ten years ago a lot of people chased Nortel and that didn’t work out very well. Again, keep it simple.

Q7. The Worried Boomer is a primer on various types of financial instruments in which people can invest their retirement savings for retirement, but you also devote a chapter to the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. What do you think are the advantages of saving in the SPP instead of in an RRSP?

There are a couple different advantages. The first one is it’s very easy. I enjoy sitting down and reading annual reports and considering where to invest, but surprisingly some people don’t enjoy that. But the SPP allows them to just make a contribution and forget about it. It’s basically a set and forget kind of plan, which is good for a lot of people.

The second factor that I really like is that the costs are really low. If you invest in traditional mutual funds you’ll pay much higher fees than you will with the SPP. The differences can be huge. We’re talking tens, and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars difference just by saving on the fees.

And the third factor is that it has a very good long-term track record. I think returns have averaged around 8% over the last 25 years which is really, really good. Also in the 2008 stock market downturn the SPP fund it went down much, much less than the overall markets did.

Q.10 Do you think your savings will last for the rest of your life or do you anticipate having to going back to work for someone else some day?

No I don’t anticipate having to go back to work because I rely on dividends. Let’s suppose my money is a seed and I’ve planted a tree with it. Now the traditional investor lets his tree grow for a few years and then he wants to chop it down for fire wood and make a big gain. I am not doing that.

What I’ve done is I’ve planted a tree that’s bearing fruit every year. Every year I harvest the fruit. The next year I do it again. That’s essentially what I’m doing with the dividends. The money just keeps re-appearing every year. It’s almost like I have a little printing press downstairs, down in my basement where I’m able to print new money every year as I need it. So no I don’t really anticipate ever really running out of money.

Thanks Derek. It’s been a pleasure talking to you. I’m sure listeners will be inspired by your story and look forward to hearing more about you and your family’s financial adventures in the years to come. The worried Boomer and Derek’s other five books can be purchased from his website at www.stopworking.ca.

By Sheryl Smolkin

To contribute to the Saskatchewan Pension Plan you must have Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) contribution room.  Therefore it is important to understand what “RRSP contribution room” means and how is it calculated.

Your RRSP contribution room is the amount of RRSP contributions you can deduct for income tax purposes in a particular year. For 2012, RRSP contribution room will be the 2012 RRSP deduction limit appearing on the notice of assessment (or reassessment) you receive once you have filed your 2011 income tax return and it has been processed.

The RRSP deduction limit for each year is the lesser of:

• 18 per cent of your previous year’s earned income,* and
• The RRSP dollar limit for the year ($22,970 for 2012).

*Earned income is the annual total of:  employment income, net rental income, net income from self-employment, royalties, research grants, alimony or maintenance payments, disability payments from CPP or QPP and supplementary UIC payments.

However, if you belong to a workplace registered pension plan (RPP), your annual RRSP contribution room will be reduced by a Pension Adjustment (PA) representing the value of both employer and employee RPP contributions.

If you do not use up your RRSP contribution room in any year, it is added to the next year’s RRSP contribution room and carried forward indefinitely. When certain kinds of income are transferred to your RRSP such as a retiring allowance or an amount received from a deceased spouse’s RRSP, contribution room is not required.

If you want to calculate your 2012 RRSP deduction limit, use Chart 3 on the Canada Revenue Agency’s website.

The maximum annual contribution you can make to the Saskatchewan Pension Plan is $2,500, even if you have additional RRSP contribution room. You can also transfer an additional $10,000/year from another RRSP to the Saskatchewan Pension Plan.

Since you have already used up RRSP room when you made the original RRSP contribution, you will not need additional RRSP contribution room to make an RRSP/SPP transfer of up to $10,000 each year.

Also read:

RRSPs and other registered plans for retirement

RRSP contribution limits

Frequently asked questions: RSPs

By Sheryl Smolkin

When you save for retirement, the last thing you should have to worry about is whether your money is in good hands. With the Saskatchewan Pension Plan you can be confident that your money is managed by professional investment managers based on a written statement of specific quality, quantity and benchmark standards.

A Board of Trustees appointed by the Saskatchewan government administers the Plan and acts as Trustee of the Funds. The Board has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the investments are managed prudently. Responsibility for safekeeping of the assets, income collection, settlement of investment transactions, and accounting for the investment transactions has been delegated to a trust company.

No one can guarantee how much your investments will earn over time, but SPP’s Statement of Investment Policies and Goals for the investment and administration of plan assets is based on a “prudent person portfolio approach.”

Non-retired members can invest their assets in either the balanced fund or the short-term fund. These two funds are collectively known as the Contribution Fund.  Assets of retired members are held in the Annuity Fund.

The purpose of the SPP Balanced Fund is to accumulate member assets and invest them in a prudent, risk-controlled manner for long-term growth. The short-term fund is designed to preserve capital and provide a stable cash flow.

In order to achieve the long-term investment goals, the balanced fund invests in assets that may have uncertain returns, such as Canadian equities, foreign equities and bonds. However, the Board attempts to reduce the overall level of risk by diversifying the asset classes, diversifying within each individual asset class and diversifying by manager style.

Risk is also addressed through quality, quantity and diversification guidelines and by retaining an Investment Consultant who monitors investment performance and reports to the Board on Investment Manager related issues that may have an impact on performance.

As a further risk control measure, management reviews compliance on a monthly basis of each of the managers with the quality and quantity guidelines contained in this policy. Finally, investment managers provide quarterly reports to the Board on compliance with the investment policy throughout the reporting period.

The short-term fund eliminates most risks by investing solely in a high quality money market portfolio. The remaining risks are accepted as the costs of providing a high level of capital preservation.

You can review SPP’s balanced fund, short-term fund and annuity fund investments at December 31, 2011 on the Plan’s website.

SPP allocates 100% of the market rate of return, less operating expenses of about 1% to members monthly. With all of the checks and balances in place, you can be confident that your money is in good hands, and will be there to help fund your retirement when you need it.

Also read:

Is my money safe in a company pension plan?

Four key questions about the safety of your pension

Is the money in my RRSP safe?

Derek Foster retired at the age of 34 despite spending his 20s backpacking across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand – and living a number of years in Asia.  He has written six books including “The Idiot Millionaire” and most recently, “The Worried Boomer.”

On February 13, 2012 he was interviewed by Patricia Lovett-Reid Senior Vice President with TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. for Business News Network. When asked for one tip that is not out there in mainstream personal finance, here’s what he said:

“Join a pension plan. Why doesn’t everybody join a pension plan? There is a pension plan available called the SPP run out of Saskatchewan and anybody in Canada can join it. It’s a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned. Have a few eggs in that basket here, a few over here, a few over there….

…The reality is that a lot of people don’t belong to a pension plan and they are going to have to create some sort of income stream in retirement. There’s talk of OAS changing, who knows what will happen to CPP? The SPP is another stream of income. If you put all these baskets together, eventually you have enough to live fairly comfortably.”

Shouldn’t YOU join SPP?

BNN interview

You Tube video: Meet Derek Foster

This man admits he’s an idiot millionaire

By Sheryl Smolkin

In the first two months of every year, oceans of words are written trying to help people understand why retirement savings is important and how best to grow their money.

However, a recent TD Poll reveals Saskatchewan and Manitoba residents still have a variety of misconceptions about their retirement finances, from when they should start saving to the amount they will need.

Here are four retirement savings myths that continue to proliferate in spite of ongoing efforts by financial institutions, governments and the media to enhance the financial literacy of Canadians.

Myth 1: You should focus on eliminating debt before saving for your retirement.

The majority of survey participants (63%) in Manitoba and Saskatchewan think they should focus on eliminating debt before saving for retirement, and 59% feel they should never retire with any debt.

If you have a mortgage, you have debt. With most mortgages amortized over 25 years, if you wait to start saving until your mortgage is paid off, you will never accumulate enough to retire. It’s important to pay down as much debt as possible before retiring, but it’s also essential to strike a balance between reducing debt and saving for retirement.

Myth 2: In an economic downturn it’s safer to sell your investments and only put your money in guaranteed investments.

Those in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are the least likely to believe that putting money only in guaranteed investments is the safest strategy durng an economic downturn (32% vs. 42% nationally).

Consumer prices rose 2.3% in the 12 months to December 2011, following a 2.9% increase in November. GICs may be safe, but at best they are currently earning about 1.5 per cent – much less than inflation.

An advisor can help you determine the right asset allocation for your portfolio, which will optimize potential returns without exposure to inappropriate levels of risk.

Once you have a plan, stick with it. Trying to time the market doesn’t work, even for the experts. If you sell everything and move to fixed income investments when markets are down, you will not participate in the gains when the inevitable recovery occurs.

Myth 3: The older you get, the less money you spend/need for day-to-day expenses.

With more than half of Manitoba and Saskatchewan residents believing this to be true, they are the most likely in the country to feel that your expenses will decrease as you age (55% vs. 46% nationally).

But if you plan to travel, continue membership in pricey clubs and eat in expensive restaurants, your cost of living in retirement could be more rather than less.

Also, don’t forget to take into account everyday expenses such as dental and health care, or unforeseen expenses such as accidents or home repair.

Work with an advisor to estimate what your expenses will be in retirement, and to ensure that you are saving enough now to pay for these future expenses when you no longer have a pay cheque.

Myth 4: You don’t need to have money in the stock market to grow your retirement nest egg.

Sixty-four percent of people in Manitoba and Saskatchewan do not believe that investing in the stock market is required to establish a financially-secure retirement.

When it comes to retirement savings, it’s important to establish a good balance and have a variety of investments and savings products, including equities, bonds, and savings vehicles such as SPP, RRSPs or TFSAs.

Your portfolio should also contain a mix of conservative and more aggressive investments, depending on the number of years you have until retirement and your comfort level, which will help you maximize your retirement savings.

Saving money is as easy or as hard as you make it. As fellow moneyville blogger Krystal Yee recently wrote in RRSP baby steps: The $12.50 solution, you don’t have to start by saving hundreds of dollars from every pay cheque. Find a number that works for you – even if it’s only $25 bi-weekly – and have it automatically deducted from your bank account as soon as you get paid.

Also read:

How worried should you be about retirement?

Do you really need an RRSP?

Sheryl Smolkin is a Toronto lawyer, writer and editor. She can be contacted through her website or you can follow her on Twitter @SherylSmolkin.

If you are like most of us, maximizing contributions to the Saskatchewan Pension Plan and other retirement savings plans is at the top of your “to do” list every February.

Because 2012 is a leap year, you have until Wednesday February 29^th to increase your 2011 SPP contributions to the annual maximum of $2,500.  SPP must receive your contribution on or before the deadline.

If you want to make sure you get your money to us in time, consider contributing:

• In person or by telebanking at your financial institution.
• By phone using your credit card; or
• Online from the SPP website.

And don’t forget that throughout the year you can also make monthly contributions by pre-authorized chequing from your bank account or contribute by mail.

If you make regular monthly contributions, you’ll hardly notice it, and at this time next year you will already have “contribute to SPP” crossed off your “To Do” list

By Sheryl Smolkin

We all know we ought to maximize Saskatchewan Pension Plan and other retirement savings plan contributions so we can retire comfortably sooner rather than later.

But the fact that your SPP contribution is deducted directly from your income for tax purposes and lowers the total income taxes you pay not only makes saving easier – it makes you feel like you’re getting a break!

You must have available RRSP room to make an SPP contribution. SPP contributions should be reported on Schedule 7 of your income tax form and claimed on line 208. Both your application and your contribution must be received by SPP before a tax receipt will be issued. SPP contributions will also be taken into account in determining RRSP over-contributions.

Spousal contributions are also permitted and if you have available RRSP room, you may contribute and receive a tax deduction for both your personal account and your spouse’s account.

Reduce taxes at source

Although you may look forward to getting money back after you file your income tax return in April, let’s face it — where possible, the best strategy is to avoid paying unnecessary taxes in the first place.

If you contribute to SPP by payroll deductions your employer can reduce the income tax you pay at source. But if you make regular monthly contributions which have not been automatically deducted by your employer, a letter of authority from a tax services officer must be provided in order to reduce income taxes deducted.

To get this letter you have to complete a Form T1213 Request to Reduce Tax Deductions at Source and provide documentation showing you are making regular SPP contributions to support the request for a tax deduction at source. It may take four to eight weeks for the Canada Revenue Agency to process the request.

Tax treatment of benefits

When your spouse has been named as beneficiary, death benefits from your account can be transferred directly to his/her SPP account or to an RRSP, RRIF, or guaranteed life annuity. Tax-deferred transfer options are also available if the beneficiary is a financially dependent child or grandchild.

All annuity payments from SPP are taxable in the year received and are eligible for the $2,000 pension income credit and for pension income splitting. Each year you will receive a T4A for the benefits that you have received in that year. Withholding tax is determined using a schedule prescribed by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Your SPP account is also tax sheltered. You may continue contributing to your account until the end of the year in which you celebrate your 71st birthday or until you begin receiving a pension from SPP, whichever is earlier. You can continue contributing to the Plan if you are receiving SPP survivor’s benefits.

Key SPP tax benefits

• Personal tax deduction available.
• Spousal tax deduction available.
• Contributions and earnings are sheltered from tax until received as income.
• SPP annuity income is eligible for the pension income credit and for pension income splitting.

  

Also read:

RRSPs and related plans

RRSP myths are just that

Why you should never borrow for RRSPs

Deductions at tax time make RRSPs popular

Sheryl Smolkin is a Toronto lawyer, writer and editor. She blogs for the Toronto star on moneyville.ca and can be contacted through her website. You can also follow her on Twitter @SherylSmolkin.

Katherine Strutt podcast

Interview Transcript

My name is Sheryl Smolkin. I am a pension and benefits lawyer and journalist. Today I’m kicking off our series of interviews with the people behind the scene at the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. I’m talking to Katherine Strutt, the General Manager of the Plan.

Welcome Katherine. Thanks Sheryl.

Q. Who can join the SPP?

A. Anyone between the ages of 18 and 71 can join the plan no matter where they live or work. So while most of our members are from Saskatchewan, anybody from the rest of Canada can also join and be part of the plan.

Q. Why do Canadians need a pension plan? Most of us are eligible for CPP and OAS, plus anyone with a house effectively has a chunk of savings.

 A. Well, if you think of retirement savings in Canada as a three-legged stool, on the first leg you have Old Age Security which is a universal program. On the second leg you have the Canada Pension Plan which is a workplace-based pension. And those two are the foundation for most people’s retirement savings. The third leg is individual retirement savings and that’s where the SPP fits in.

So it’s important to have some personal savings and the SPP provides a vehicle which is easy to use and gives members a strong return at a very low cost. Your home is a very important part of your personal savings but you cannot necessarily rely on that as your main source of funds for retirement.

Q. With an alphabet of savings options, why do you think Saskatchewan residents and other Canadians should consider the SPP as part of their retirement savings strategy?

 A. Well as I said, the SPP is simple and easy. We provide members with a true pension plan. That’s the difference between us and a Group RRSP. And you can’t get that anywhere else on a personal basis. Members get access to a large institutional plan for a fee of about one percent or less.

This would compare very favourably to retail mutual funds which typically would charge anywhere from 2% to 3%.

Q. How much can each member contribute?

 A.  Each member can contribute up to $2,500 per year based on their own individual RRSP limits. They can transfer in another $10,000 each year from an RRSP, a RRIF or an unlocked pension plan.

Q. How does an individual know where to put his money first – pay off debt? SPP? RRSP? TFSA? It’s a challenge to figure all of these out.

A. It sure is, and it is certainly a very individual decision, but I believe it isn’t an either/or proposition. People can be paying down their debt the same time as saving for their retirement through the SPP. As their financial situation improves, they can increase their contributions to the SPP.

Q. What if a plan member can’t afford to make contributions because of unexpected other expenses?

 A. That’s where the SPP is so flexible. If people need to stop making contributions for a while and then start up again, they can do so without penalty. It’s very flexible and very easy to use.

Katherine, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me today. I know both members and prospective members will be very interested in your answers to my questions. 

 

Katherine Strutt Interview, December 2010

Katherine Strutt podcast, December 10, 2010

By Sheryl Smolkin

High School English teacher Andrew Hallam started investing when he was 19. In an excerpt from his book Millionaire Teacher published on moneyville.ca, Hallam talks about the benefits of starting to save early and the power of compound interest:

“…Buried in the dull pages of most school math books is something that’s actually useful: the magical premise of compound interest.

Warren Buffett applied it to become a billionaire. More importantly, so can you and I’ll show you how.

Starting early is the greatest gift you can give yourself. If you start early and if you invest efficiently (in a manner that I’ll explain in this book) you can build a fortune over time, while spending just 60 minutes a year monitoring your investments.”

Read more