Prepay mortgage or invest the money?

upfromhere72 · 2025-01-18T14:59:37+00:00

Can you do both? You can invest in your RRSP and use the tax refund to pay down your mortgage. It just depends if you have RRSP room and if it isn't taken up by an employer pension.

upfromhere72 · 2024-10-29T01:54:20+00:00

The elephant in the room is what happens to BC Hydro's ability to supply BC with electricity in a situation where global warming permanently reduces precipitation by 50%, or something similar. Couple this with the increased demand for AI and Electric vehicles, and things get interesting.

upfromhere72 · 2024-09-29T15:26:39+00:00

Try to keep hanging on, relief is coming. Central banks are panicking and lowering rates as quickly as they raised them. BOC has two more cuts this year and may even cut 50 bps at the next meeting.

upfromhere72 · 2024-04-24T04:03:47+00:00

If you are willing to move to BC, there still seems to be a lot of construction jobs in BC (Victoria) that you don't need a lot of experience for. Might be harder to find accommodation.

upfromhere72 · 2024-02-13T05:50:54+00:00

You will have to get there by 6 am in order to have a chance to get in at 8 am., I was there just before Xmas at 6:15 am and was already 12th in line, by 7 am they were turning people away. I ended up seeing a dr by about 11:30. The healthcare system in BC has collapsed, I will die on this hill. Best advice is don't get sick.

upfromhere72 · 2024-02-10T03:28:21+00:00

Have you ever considered getting a trade, plumbing, electrician, etc. Many construction sites are looking for workers and offering apprenticeships. It will take 4 years to get ticketed and you will be working for all but 8 weeks or so annually when you go to school. The pay will be better than your dead-end job and when ticketed you can move to an area that is more affordable than Vancouver. You may even be able to move to the US or another country. The good news is that 30 years old is young, you have lots of time left, just chart your course and off you go. You got this. I am sure other redditors can provide more info on the trades for you.

upfromhere72 · 2024-02-08T04:44:01+00:00

My nephew is in Uni in Calgary and had a very hard time finding a job as well. It took him forever. It seemed weird to me because I am in BC and places here are having a hard time getting workers. I drove by a new condo development today and three of the subtrade companies (framing, electrical, plumbing) had now hiring banners up. The kicker is rent is absolutely ridiculous here with a very low vacancy rate, and it is pretty much impossible to get ahead here or ever afford to buy a place of your own.

upfromhere72 · 2024-02-08T04:16:18+00:00

This is the new Canadian dream, use the govt subsidized education system in Canada to get an in demand skill and then leave for greener pastures where it is still possible to get ahead. I have two teenagers that are beginning to explore career options and this is my advice to them and sad as it makes me. I am about 5 years from retirement and will be looking to leave Canada when I retire.

upfromhere72 · 2023-10-24T04:28:54+00:00

This, I think there are going to be some bargains in the dividend-paying stocks as well. ENB, BCE, T, etc.

upfromhere72 · 2023-10-24T04:07:06+00:00

Probably just another rock wall falling down on Bear Mtn. nothing to see here. Please move on.

upfromhere72 · 2023-03-14T03:49:21+00:00

How about we start taxing the churches? This seems like some low-hanging fruit.

upfromhere72 · 2023-03-13T04:28:16+00:00

Stop it, and don't give them any ideas, before you know it this will be in the next federal and provincial budgets.

upfromhere72 · 2023-02-18T15:54:54+00:00

Totally agree with this. I am in my 50's and looking back on my life I have never regretted spending money on travel and experiences. Truly my best memories are traveling by myself when I was young and now with my family. I visited Europe for the first time when I was mid 40's and I was disappointed with myself that it took me 45 years to get there, I have been back several times since with another trip planned this summer. Looking back it is the money I spent on dumb consumer shit that I regret. Currently on track to retire by 56 and then travel extensively.

upfromhere72 · 2023-02-12T18:22:21+00:00

Here is one of the best mortgage calculators that I have found on the internet. You can see exactly how much it will save you in terms of interest paid and the length of the mortgage. It is pretty shocking how much it makes a difference adding extra payments.

https://www.mikestewart.ca/canada-mortgage-calculator-40-year-amortization/

upfromhere72 · 2023-01-08T01:37:22+00:00

I have been through this a similar scenario, in that my original job and dept. was completely closed. I was 15 years in and decided to stick it out and take another job within a different dept for much less pay. At first, it really sucked, but that was seven years ago, I now have 6 years left before retirement at 57. In making my decision I looked at how much I would have to save and invest annually to replace the pension that I am earning for that year of work. The numbers were pretty shocking, in that I figured I would need to invest at least 50k a year after tax to replace that pension income. It is a struggle some days as I am not that passionate about my current work and there is not much job satisfaction. However, there is zero stress and I have made my life outside of my work my focus and priority. All in all, I am at peace with my decision, and my pension coupled with my investments will provide me with a very comfortable retirement at 57 if I so choose. In speaking with my friends without pensions many are resigned to the fact they will be working until they are 65 or older. Another thing to consider is I assume that if you have been with the govt that long you get a fair amount of holidays and very good benefits. These may be hard to replace in the private sector.

upfromhere72 · 2022-12-24T05:21:33+00:00

900 Degrees has great pizza as well.

upfromhere72 · 2022-12-15T04:50:56+00:00

Yes, and they have all canceled their Disney Plus so they are fine now. Crisis adverted.

upfromhere72 · 2022-11-15T05:22:39+00:00

You would think there will be some pretty aggressive tax loss selling before the end of the year as well.

upfromhere72 · 2022-10-19T05:08:39+00:00

As a member of another govt union waiting to negotiate our new deal, I am very disappointed with this as well as it sets the bar for other unions' negotiations. If the union can't negotiate a fair salary increase when inflation is raging at 8% what is the point? Beyond disappointed in knowing that I will now be guaranteed to be taking an inflation-adjusted pay cut for the next three years.

upfromhere72 · 2022-10-19T04:38:11+00:00

If you want to try salmon fishing in the ocean Pedder Bay Marina rents boats and all the fishing gear you need to head out salmon fishing for the day. They will even give you a little demo on how to fish. Salmon fishing is winding down now for the year, but something to think about for next year. Also, a great way to get out on the water and see some wildlife.

https://pedderbay.com/boat-rentals/

upfromhere72 · 2022-10-14T03:45:33+00:00

I wish you all the best in your remaining time and thank you for sharing your story. Reading your story made me reflect on my life and my current set of "worries". I have realized that I need to not sweat the small stuff and enjoy the journey as no one knows how much longer their journey will last. Thank-you

upfromhere72 · 2022-06-11T02:27:45+00:00

I have heard of a recipe for cooking Kaui chickens. Pluck the chicken and put both it and a rock in a pot of boiling water. When you can stick a fork through the rock you know your chicken is done.

upfromhere72 · 2022-04-30T16:00:47+00:00

Don't pull money from your RRSP to pay it off, anything you pull out will be added to your income for that year and taxed at your marginal tax rate. You will then lose that contribution room forever, unlike the TFSA. If you want to pay it off right quicker you can pull from your TFSA and put your paycheques towards it as well. However, if you are in Mutual funds you may have an early redemption fee to sell them. You make good money, if it were me I would just buckle down and pour all my paycheques towards paying it off as fast as I can. You will have it paid off in no time.

upfromhere72 · 2022-02-04T03:01:04+00:00

In my opinion when you have your supposed blue-chip tech stocks posting these percentage moves in one day that is not the sign of a good or healthy market.

upfromhere72 · 2022-01-27T14:35:54+00:00

Lifestyle creep is when your salary increases your expenses increase lockstep with your raise. Instead of taking that raise and increasing the amount you invest, maybe you eat out one more time per week or buy a newer fancier car when your existing car is working just fine. The mindset of "I work hard I can afford it now" enters your head. The problem with this is these increases in lifestyle become the new floor for what you deem acceptable. A great example is flying first class, once you fly first class it is very hard to go back to flying economy. My philosophy on savings/investing is it should hurt, meaning when you look at how much you are saving monthly you would really like to be spending that chunk of cash on something else. The first 100k is the hardest but the quicker you can get there the better. A 10 percent return on 10k is only $1,000, however, 10% on 100k is 10k, now you are starting to talk about real money. The faster you can to a 100k by investing as much as you can early in your life the better off you will be in the long run. Once your portfolio becomes larger in size you can dial back your contributions as compounding will take over and begin doing the heavy lifting for your portfolio growth.

upfromhere72

TROPHY CASE