Dennis Almost Lost $10,000 😳

In case you didn’t notice, it’s the second month in a row where the 1st is on a Saturday - lucky us! 

We’re back in your inbox with another issue of Money Convos with yours truly, and we have a few fun updates, money reminders and announcements for you this month. So, let’s get into it! 

Here’s what’s up in this copy 🤑🗞 

• Dennis almost lost $10,000 😳

• Our v-day staycation recap 💘

• Our free investing workshop is here! 💰

• Did you know… ⁉️

• Are you worried about tariffs? 👀

Money Convo Of The Month

I Finally Transferred My Corporate Pension Plan To A Self-Directed Investment Account

If you’re confused by the title - because you know that the last time I worked a corporate job was three and half years ago - no, you’re not crazy (but this story kind of is). 

I worked at my previous company for about three years before I quit to work for myself, and during that time I took advantage of the employer matching program. 

Employer Matching Program = a part of a company’s compensation package, along with your salary and other benefits, where, when you make contributions to your retirement account, your employer will match those contributions up to a certain limit (TLDR - when you put money aside for your retirement, your employer will also add money towards your retirement). 

In my situation, it was a 2% match - so, 2% of my paycheque was automatically taken off and put towards my retirement account, and then my employer added an additional 2%. 

Now, when it comes to employer matching programs, usually your employer works with an external plan administrator of their choosing, and that company is the one who receives the money from your paycheque, and the money that your employer is contributing, and they invest it for you. 

In my situation, I only had a few investment options to choose from, including target date mutual funds - these are funds that are based on the year you think you might retire; and asset allocation mutual funds - these are funds that have a different mix of stocks and bonds.

Now, I personally would’ve never chosen to invest in either of those investment options on my own, but again, it was better than not taking advantage of free money from my employer, so I went with a portfolio of mutual funds that had a mix of stocks and bonds. 

Anyways, I kept adding money - and my employer kept matching my contributions - for the three years that I worked there… and then, I quit my job. 

When you leave your job, you can either 1) transfer your pension to your new employer (I didn’t have one, I was going to be self-employed), or 2) transfer your pension to a self-directed account.

I obviously chose option 2! I started the process right after I quit - it involved filling out a bunch of forms, and sending them to the plan administrator…

…but, they told me that the forms were filled out incorrectly. So, I re-did them, and I called the company to walk through my answers and make sure that everything would be good to go. They assured me that everything was okay, and that I’d hear back in a few weeks… but I didn’t. It took me calling back multiple times before they got back to me, and guess what? I was denied again! 

This ultimately led me to abandon the process for a few years (life got busy, and it was a headache that I didn’t want to deal with anymore). The next thing you know, three years have gone by, and in the back of my mind I’m still thinking about my $10,000 that’s been held hostage by this company (at least that’s what it felt like!). 

At this point, I decided that enough was enough, and over the course of two months I dedicated myself to learning more about the process, and I gave them a call every single day to make sure that they weren’t playing games.

Finally, after many phone calls and going back-and-forth, my money was transferred to a self-directed retirement account, and I was able to re-invest it into the investment option of my choosing (an all-equity ETF). 

Moral of the story? This process can be a headache, but make sure that you get your money (it’s yours!).

If you want to hear more about this process, check out this video where I share more of the details.

Tourists In Our Own City 💘

We normally stay in for Valentine’s Day (because it’s expensive, yes, but also because the weather isn’t the best this time of year, and staying inside honestly just sounds better!). 

But, this year we stepped out of our comfort zone and did something fun… a staycation! 

There are so many nice hotels in Toronto, but we live here (and our rent is expensive), so we obviously never actually stay at any of them. However, it was a special occasion, and we love a staycation - it’s more expensive than staying at home, but a lot less expensive than a full-on trip (especially when you love the city you’re in). 

We ended up at The Ace Hotel in Toronto - it’s tucked away in a slightly quieter pocket of downtown Toronto (emphasis on slightly - it’s still in a busy area!), and it was perfect for a one night getaway. 

We checked in for the night, grabbed drinks at the rooftop bar, dinner at the 10/10 restaurant at the base of the hotel, took advantage of the room’s TV to watch NBA all-star weekend (ICYDK - we don’t have a TV at home!), and then grabbed a quick breakfast in the lobby before checking out the next morning. 

Here’s a breakdown of how much it cost - 

• Medium Room (1 night) - $430.13

• Drinks @ Evangeline - $53.34

• Dinner @ Alder - $204.15

• Breakfast @ The Lobby - $53.57

Keep in mind that we never said it was a cheap staycation - ha! We usually stick to more low cost gifts and expenses for holidays, but we had a really great time, and we know that we’ll have these memories for a long time. 

We hope that you had a great Valentine’s Day, and the shortest month of the year in general, too! 

If you want to see more behind-the-scenes clips (and hear how we usually split expenses), check out this video.

Free Investing Workshop

Our free investing workshop is officially here! 

We’ll break down how you can start investing in the stock market now, and build your confidence with investing. 

We’ll specifically focus on passive investing, and taking a do-it-yourself approach.

We have a few sessions available - each one will start with the workshop, and end with a Q&A where we’ll answer all of your money and investing questions. 

• Tuesday, March 18th @ 8:00pm EST 

• Wednesday, March 19th @ 8:00pm EST 

• Saturday, March 22nd @ 1:00pm EST 

Seats are limited, so save your spot ASAP (again, it’s free!).

Please note: We focus on Canadian specific investment platforms and accounts throughout the session. You’re welcome to join if you live elsewhere, as the general information shared will still apply to you. 

Sign Up Here - Free Investing Workshop 

We can’t wait to see you there! 👋🏿👋🏻

Did You Know? 🤔

Did you know… that you pay taxes on the income you earn from a high interest savings account? 

Yes, the interest that you earn with a high interest savings account (or a savings account in general) is taxable. 

Here’s how it works - you open up a savings account, put money into the account, and then you earn interest based on the current interest rate being offered. 

Then, when tax time comes around, you submit a form claiming the interest that you earned throughout the tax year (in Canada it’s a T5 Form, and in the United States it’s a 1099 Form). 

You typically get this form directly from the financial institution or bank that you have your high interest savings account with. They’ll either send it to you, or make it available to download from your account. 

It’s a very simple process - the moral of the story is that interest from a savings account is considered an addition to your taxable income in the year it’s paid out to you. 

Now, we frequently receive comments from people stating that, because the money you earn is taxable, there’s no point in keeping your money in a high interest savings account. 

Our take? You are being taxed, yes, but you still earn more money than you would without a high interest savings account! 

In general, we always recommend only saving money with a specific purpose, like your emergency fund, or for specific short-term saving goals. Aside from that, yes, invest your money - but for the money that you need saved and accessible anyways, earn that interest by keeping your money in a high interest savings account.

Reminder For Long-Term Investors 💡

If you’ve been seeing the stock market go up and down over the past few weeks, and you’re feeling concerned about your investments, we have a quick reminder for you. 

For long-term investors - meaning that you plan on having your money invested for multiple decades - short-term fluctuations, no matter what’s causing them, shouldn’t impact your decisions. 

The idea behind long-term investing is that you consistently invest over a long-period of time (again, we’re talking decades here) whether the market is currently up, or if the market is currently down. 

So, if you’re seeing changes in your portfolio’s returns, or if you’re seeing news about tariffs and it’s concerning to you, as long as your investment portfolio reflects that of a long-term investor, then it shouldn’t cause you to make any immediate changes. 

More on this in future issues, but we wanted to quickly touch on this for now!