I have quite a bit of experience with it, because I arranged it, and built it into the SM to many of my clients.
I don’t know what particular questions do you have, but if you send them to me, I shall send you the answers.
My personal opinion is that it is a marvelous device and I haven’t had the slightest of complaints yet from my clients.
I believe, I am the only one here using it in a professional capacity, so probably I have the most experience with it.

This morning I posted again (this time following David’s advise, saved the text separately,) but although it did appear immediately on the list, just like the previous one, by now at 4:30 PM it has disappeared. This is very strange. Don’t you think?

I didn’t find the comment in the SPAM folder, I’ll have to look into the comment problem.

Thanks for the heads up.

FT

David

I did answer your last posting (#10) but it got lost.
Can you check what happened to it?
It only interests me because I had several quotes from PriceWaterhouse and CRA in it and I would hate to start the research for it again.

Sandor

I didn’t know that you could donate a life insurance policy to a charity and include the premiums as a tax deduction? I guess that would mean that you would need a “whole life” policy?

FT

I am a licensed financial advisor in Toronto and read with interest as well as admiration the postings.
There are some interesting details missing from Pastor Brad’s description; the interest rate of the mortgage for instance. Without it, it is impossible to decide what is better, a line of credit, or a rainy day fund.
But in a general way I must say that the ING Direct is not a good solution in comprison to the Manulife One. The former is not going to provide substantial return on the money and all that it earns is fully taxable, while the line of credit at Manulife (or anywhere else) attracts interest charges only if he uses the money.
As to leveraging the equity in his house, I would encourage that, provided the proceeds are not risked in the stock market. Instead I would recommend tax-efficient investments (dividends, or equity,) in segregated funds, where the capital is guarantied, therefore, losses are minimized.
Finally about the charitable donation. It is indeed real charity only if it involves some sacrifice. That makes it nobler. However, since we are considering here not only the sacrifice, but also the financial wellbeing of the Pastor, we must consider the whole in the form of a long term process. If he would be contracting a life insurance policy to the benefit of his charity then much less money would buy much more benefit to the charity, (while also attracting some tax benefit,) and so both the Pastor as well as the charity would be better off.
Example: 10% of his income, $420 each month is given to charity. If he would buy a life insurance and donate that, then a monthly $150 would probably buy $400,000 life coverage, that would be considered a generous contribution by any charity. (this is more than 10 times his yearly income!) and yet, he could still get a tax refund for it. Be generous, without being foolish.

Sandor

Anyways here’s my ideas.

Step 1) Open a high interest savings account and start putting your savings in there for now (eg: ING Direct)

Step 2) Start your new part time job on reading personal finance books. When your done reading at least 10 books you can start to make up your own mind on what works for you. That should give you enough different points of view to make a decent decision.

My personal thoughts on your situation would be if your not too fond of Calgary cash out your house and move over to Saskatchewan. $200K can buy you a nice house and that would mortgage free that would allow you to really ring up some savings. Otherwise, the RRSP’s are most likely not that useful to you, so I would either pay down the mortgage or start a taxable investment account after you got a bit of savings built up.

I hope that helps and good luck.

CD

Pastor Brad you should try writing into MoneySense magazine. They run a story in every edition where a person writes in asking for financial advice and then have 2-3 professionals give you advice on what would be some good options to take.

Brad: I would not use the rainy day fund for vacations — budget for them. IN the short term, I’d choose to put the money you can against the mortgage. The $850 per month will reduce your mortgage by well over the $10,000 you contribute, as your interest costs are reduced. Have a look at the calculators at http://www.dinkytown.net to see how these payments could affect your worth. Given your current financial practices, you should be able to readily manage your retirement savings in a manner that meet your future needs.

David

David: I forgot to mention that Brad is 30 years old.

Health Body: Good call, I think Brad mentioned to me that he has a line of credit that he could use as a rainy day fund. Some people are comfortable with having a LOC as backup, others may need more security in cash savings.

If I were him, I would build up at least 1 month’s wage in that fund, and then split the savings between the rainy fund and paying off the mortgage.

I am a Christian too, and a pastor’s daughter, and we too pay 10% (actually, some years is a lot more). God is good, and blesses those who give.

He should also have a chat with a financial planner to determine if disposition of allowances, especially if they are non-taxable, should be managed in a different fashion.

And, as described above, take some time to become more knowledgable about investment options, including mortgage strategies.

David

Also as your biggest expense make sure you use a mortgage broker and get the best rate possible. And stick to a normal mortgage. M1 is a money-making gimmick.

Kudos on have a good budget – you sound like a great saver which is 90% of the battle.