Hi all
Great site here, love the Canadian content! Ive been visiting MJD for quite a while now, but this is my first time in the forum.
I am at a bit of a financial turning point in my life & am looking for some insight.
Here is the lowdown:
1. Married w/ baby on the way.
2. Gross $135k last year, on track to about the same this year.
3. $280k mortgage @ 3.25%. 1 year term, comes up in February. Purchasedthe house for $300 about 1.5yrs ago & it is now probably worth... $280k. Got to love Alberta real estate!
4. Zero consumer debt! We hammered down for the last couple of years to kill this, which is why I haven't been investing anything.5. $3500 in TFSA & will definitely get to $5k by December. No other investments or cash holdings. I have 2 Lines of Credit for a total of $15k,with no balance.
Paying off the debts has been my focus for so long & now that I am entering this next stage I need to come up with a solid plan of attack.
Goals:
1. I want to get enough equity into the house to start making use of theSmith Manouver.
2. Start contributing to my RRSP, to bring the taxable gross down & to setup for the future.
3. Start RESP & contribute enough to get the maximum amount from the gov't.
4. Eventually buy a bigger house, but keep our current house as a rental.(This is my long term goal...)
Basically I am wondering how to best bring my taxable income down, while still building equity in the house as quickly as possible so I can start theSM going.
A couple of contributing factors:
1. Wife stays home, so there should be a nice deduction there! Plus forthe lil guy.
2. Ive been paying an extra 15% on the mortgage from the beginning & intend to increase that now that I have killed the car payments.
3. I work out of the country & qualify for the Offshore Employment TaxCredit. In a nutshell, this means that I get a big refund every year, withthe end of the year all said & done tax obligation around 15%.
This refund has mostly gone to debt reduction in the past & will now gotowards house, SM, RRSP's, etc, but am not sure how best to utilize it.
S.
Great site here, love the Canadian content! Ive been visiting MJD for quite a while now, but this is my first time in the forum.
I am at a bit of a financial turning point in my life & am looking for some insight.
Here is the lowdown:
1. Married w/ baby on the way.
2. Gross $135k last year, on track to about the same this year.
3. $280k mortgage @ 3.25%. 1 year term, comes up in February. Purchasedthe house for $300 about 1.5yrs ago & it is now probably worth... $280k. Got to love Alberta real estate!
4. Zero consumer debt! We hammered down for the last couple of years to kill this, which is why I haven't been investing anything.5. $3500 in TFSA & will definitely get to $5k by December. No other investments or cash holdings. I have 2 Lines of Credit for a total of $15k,with no balance.
Paying off the debts has been my focus for so long & now that I am entering this next stage I need to come up with a solid plan of attack.
Goals:
1. I want to get enough equity into the house to start making use of theSmith Manouver.
2. Start contributing to my RRSP, to bring the taxable gross down & to setup for the future.
3. Start RESP & contribute enough to get the maximum amount from the gov't.
4. Eventually buy a bigger house, but keep our current house as a rental.(This is my long term goal...)
Basically I am wondering how to best bring my taxable income down, while still building equity in the house as quickly as possible so I can start theSM going.
A couple of contributing factors:
1. Wife stays home, so there should be a nice deduction there! Plus forthe lil guy.
2. Ive been paying an extra 15% on the mortgage from the beginning & intend to increase that now that I have killed the car payments.
3. I work out of the country & qualify for the Offshore Employment TaxCredit. In a nutshell, this means that I get a big refund every year, withthe end of the year all said & done tax obligation around 15%.
This refund has mostly gone to debt reduction in the past & will now gotowards house, SM, RRSP's, etc, but am not sure how best to utilize it.
S.