News of the finance

 The following information is for Canada only.  For site visitors outside of Canada, please visit your local government website or speak with your local financial institution to see if a similar program is available for you.

 RRSP's!? I've got bigger things to worry about! This is most likely true, but if you look at how long it will take you to set yourself up with them vs. how useful they actually are, it would be a mistake for you to overlook them right now at this stage in your life.  Here are the reasons why:

•  Who cares about retirement right now! Do YOU? I don't!  At our age, RRSP's are the best tool you can have to provide you with the opportunity to have some easy, "non-liquid" money to put down as part of your down-payment for your FIRST home. 
• Even if you're a starving student, it makes sense to establish an automatic monthly withdrawal from your bank account of as little as $10/month.  After a year, not only will you have $120 in RRSP's, but you will get back 30% of what you have contributed, on your tax return in the spring.  Yup, all of which you can then reinvest into your RRSP and get a return next year of 30% + 30% of your last year's 30% reinvested.  Confused? Doesn't matter.  The point is that it's allllll good.  Don't forget that time + a decent compounding interest = $$$ just keeps growing.
• If you don't do it NOW, you probably won't do it until it's too late.  In order to use your RRSP contributions towards your first home, they have to have been in place for at least 6 months before the official withdrawal date for your First Home Buyer's Plan.
• Oh, and repayment of the borrowed RRSP money towards your first home is easy... Your first two years, there is no obligation for repayment, and then the total amount of RRSP dollars borrowed towards your first home gets divided by 15 (15 years) and you only need to pay THAT amount, every year for the remaining 15 years.  This does not end up being very much money.  You can do the math.
• Stepping out into the real world after post-secondary schooling can be a frightening experience for many.  But if you've already got your feet wet having learned about finances, insurance, investments, it won't seem so bad.  And in this real world,  you'll have the upper hand (with the confidence you'll exude) by walking with your head up high and a strong keen gaze knowing how much power you actually have, by how you've so effectively laid out the path before you.

So here's how it's done:  

•  Assuming you have already made the switch from your traditional bank to an institution that provides No-Fee Banking (if you haven't already done so... look into what your fees are and see if it is worth your time to switch to an institution such as President's Choice Financial or ING or one of others that provide this service) then call your financial institution and let them know that you would like to set up automatic withdrawals from your bank account towards an RRSP savings account.  You can start with $10/month.  Ask a lot of questions and you will learn a lot. You can also check out their websites to see what other types of RRSP's they offer.

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