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Weekend Reading - Feb 22, 2008

Written by FrugalTrader on Feb 22, 2008 filed under Interesting Links

Time to share some great articles that I found over the week.

The Financial Blogger has hosted the 140th Carnival of Personal Finance. This issue was a bit more creative than usual as he used the "Prison Break" theme. MDJ submitted a "best prisoners" (and controversial) article "Ask the Readers: Talking about Money".

John Chow reports how to efficiently setup a corporation to reduce income taxes. The basic premise being to keep all the income within the corp (taxed @ 17% for < $400k) and make all withdrawals as dividend payments to the shareholders. Providing that the private corporation dividend income is your sole source of income, shareholders can make up to around $30k tax free (depending on province). Remember that the gross up for a private corp is 25% instead of 45% for public corporations.

Canadian Capitalist has the perfect article for the current RRSP season (deadline is Feb 29, 2008) called "Tips for your RRSP Contribution". My favorite tip is "Park your contribution in a money market fund". This will allow you to take advantage of the contribution tax break, but give you some time (and a little growth) while deciding how to invest the money.

I've written about index funds vs ETF's before, more specifically "When to switch to ETF's". I came to the conclusion that it's best to stick with cheap index mutual funds when starting out, but switching to ETF's when the balance gets a bit larger (around $25k). Quest for Four Pillars has written a similar article which agrees with my conclusion but includes more details and calculations.

Moolanomy has a creative article the ABC of Wealth Building. The game was for readers to post a financial tip for every letter on the Alphabet. Check out the article for the tip that I submitted!

Thicken My Wallet wrote a great article "5 Investment Products that I Avoid". Included in the article includes PPN's, segregated funds, wrap funds, time shares and shady tax shelters.

That should keep you busy for a while! See you Monday!

9 Comments, Comment or Ping

1. Four Pillars

Thanks for the link!

I actually didn’t like that post very much so I ended up writing another one (hopefully the last one on that topic).

Mike

Feb 22nd, 2008 @ 8:26 am
2. The Financial Blogger

Thx for the link to the Carnival :-D

Feb 22nd, 2008 @ 8:31 am
3. squawkfox

I’ll be reading the “when to switch to ETFs” articles for sure. I am currently in index funds and have some investments over at PH&N. Given the news yesterday (RBC Buys PH&N) I’m feeling the need to really watch fees.

Feb 22nd, 2008 @ 10:48 am
4. Pinyo @ Moolanomy

Hey, thank you for sharing my article and call it creative.

As for ETF, I think it depends if the account is taxable or not. I swear I’ll never buy another mutual fund in my taxable account. Just one hit with capital gains distribution/dividend distribution will make ETFs worthwhile (even with the trade commissions — assuming you only buy once or twice a year).

Feb 22nd, 2008 @ 10:55 am
5. Canadian Capitalist

Thanks for the link FT. When I do get better, I’ll get around to doing a blog roundup myself. It seems like I’ve been sick more often than not in 2008. Take care!

Feb 22nd, 2008 @ 11:43 am
6. ThickenMyWallet

Thanks for the mention.

Feb 22nd, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
7. 45free.com

I would suggest that anyone interested in implementing any of John Chow’s tax planning strategies seriously talk to a tax pro before doing so. For instance, except in certain circumstances, a loan to a shareholder of a CCPC needs to be paid back by the end of the fiscal year following the year the loan was made. Delaying payment as some serious and punitive tax consequences. Some of the other strategies need to be done properly in order to be tax efficient.

Feb 22nd, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
8. Dividendgrowth

I also think that next to his tax article John Chow should put a lable like “do not attempt this at home” ;-)

Feb 22nd, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
9. Jeff

I completely agree with 45free.com. Consult an accountant before trying this at home. The $400k small business dedection only applies to active business income. Dividends received from investments would be classified as aggregate investment income, which is taxed at the full corporate rate (~34% in BC where John Chow lives).

Feb 22nd, 2008 @ 5:24 pm