This is the time of year when everyone is setting their goals for 2006, and I am no exception. 2006 will be a year with a lot of change for us, completing the switchover to a new bank, a switch to a new full-service broker, and our first year filling out our tax return as a married couple. It’s also a year where I expect the value of our RRSPs to grow 69% from contributions alone, to make a small dent in our line of credit while still saving up for the things we want, like vacations.
- Investing:
- Contribute to our maximum allowable RRSP room (18% of income in 2005) by the end of 2006.
- Transfer my RRSP from TD Canada Trust to Clearsight in February.
- Invest in value-oriented investments or ETFs at lowest cost wherever possible.
- Be invested in 25% fixed income and 75% equities by the end of 2006.
- Personal finance-related:
- Switch all our automatic deposits and withdrawals to PC Financial from BMO.
- Limit our daily expense for food, dining, gifts, gas, bus, entertainment, recreation, etc . . . to $300-400/week (this will be regulated by having a second chequing account linked to our bank cards which only contains that much per week).
- Contribute the rest to ING Direct Savings accounts for vacations and other “wants.”
- Try to get at least one salary raise this year.
- Debt:
- Get rid of AMEX Gold and carry only one credit card (BMO Mastercard). Don’t get any additional cards in 2006.
- Eliminate all credit card spending except for online purchases (only when necessary and which will be paid off immediately) and dental appointments (which I get reimbursed for later).
- Pay down federal student loan using our lower-rate student line of credit.
- Pay at least $700/month to student line of credit.
- Apply all of our tax refund to student line of credit.
- Blogging:
- Try to publish at least one post daily.
Some of these goals are things that we’ve just started doing in 2005, but would like to continue doing in 2006. I have no doubt that we will achieve all of these goals, which is why I’ve called them goals and not “resolutions.”
I was just curious why you went with Clearsight. I had never heard of them, so I clicked on the link and visited their website. Their website has hardly any details at all. I clicked on Lower Fees to see what they are, but they don’t tell you. It just says lower. I don’t trust companies that aren’t up front about their fees.
Joe: Good point! It looks like they just redesigned their website and now the fees are gone (they were listed before in quite some detail). I might mention this to them, thanks for pointing it out.
As to why I went with them, the main reasons were:
1) From their website, “Unlike most full-service brokers and financial planners, our Investment Advisors do not earn an individual commission based on whether a client places a trade order.”
2) Access to Strategic Analysis Corporation (SAC) (Ross Healy’s company) through their Clearsight Stock Basket.
3) When I went in to meet with one of their advisors, I liked his approach.