My Retirement Account Is FULL! 🥳 🎉

Good morning, and hello May! We’re so ready for the warmer weather that this month should (hopefully!) bring, and we hope that you are, too. 

Today we’re back with a new issue of Money Convos with Steph & Den - we have a few personal financial updates to share, and some money news you can use. 

Here’s what’s up in this copy 🤑🗞 

• Steph’s retirement account is full! 👵🏻

• Dennis’ new monthly expense 💪🏿

• Our ⅓ spending wrap up 💸

• Did you know… ⁉️

• We were on a podcast 🎙️✨

• More free investing workshops! 💰

Money Convo Of The Month

I Maxed Out My Retirement Account!

I recently (almost) maxed out my retirement investment account for the very first time (btw, in Canada this account is called an RRSP - if you’re in the US, it’s very similar to an IRA). 

I opened up this account last year, after I’d already fully maxed out my tax free and first home investment accounts, first (also, ICYDK, ‘maxed out’ = contributing the maximum amount of money that I’m allowed to put into each account based on a set contribution limit). 

I chose to max out my tax free and first home investment accounts first, because they both allow you to pay zero taxes on the growth your money has inside of the account. The retirement investment account is tax-deferred instead, meaning that I will have to pay taxes once I take money out of this account in the future (aka when I’ve retired!). 

Now, if you’re wondering how I’ve (almost) maxed out this account within less than a year of opening it… great question! 

My account had been building up contribution room since I started earning an income and filing taxes - how it works is that 18% of the income that was stated on my tax return for each year has been added to my RRSP contribution room on an annual basis, and my personal max contribution room limit is $61,985.

I was actually able to invest $32,000 right away when I opened the account, from a mix of money I had sitting in savings from our previous year end bonus, and a lump sum of money I received as an inheritance. Then, I continued to contribute $2,000 per month for 8 months, bringing me up to a total of $48,000 invested!  

That brings us to this most recent tax season, when I filed my tax return. Well - something that I haven’t mentioned about the RRSP is that it can also be used to reduce your taxable income (and the first home investment account can be used to reduce your taxable income, too!). 

Here’s how it works - the amount of money that you contribute to these two accounts during the 2024 tax year can be used to reduce your taxable income when you file your 2024 tax return. 

So, for me personally, I invested ~$50,000 inside of those two accounts during the 2024 tax year, which means that I could bring my taxable income (which was ~$70,000) down by ~$50,000. 

That resulted in me receiving a ~$12,500 tax refund (which is definitely the biggest tax refund I’ve ever received!). Now, of that refund, I decided to invest $10,000, bringing me up to a total of $58,000 invested inside of my retirement investment account. 

So, I’ve officially contributed $58,000 to my retirement investment account, and - because I have a max limit of $61,985 - that means that I have $3,985 left to contribute until the account is officially maxed out! 

I usually invest $2,000/month, so I should hit that goal of maxing out my retirement investment account by June, which I’m very excited about! 

If you want to hear more of the details, and what I’ll be doing next once my RRSP is officially maxed out, check out this YouTube video - and if you want to hear why I chose to reduce my taxable income this year, check out this YouTube video.

My New Monthly Expense 🧘🏿‍♂️🏋🏿

I ‘re-learned’ a big money lesson this month - sometimes, spending more money can actually make a lot of sense. 

ICYDK, I used to be really into working out. When I was in university, I had a regular workout routine that included power lifting (which basically ruined my flexibility… but that’s another story). Over the years I switched to being more mobility focused, but I kind of let go of everything during the pandemic years.  

Fast forward to about two years ago, when Steph and I signed up for basketball intramurals. We started playing once a week, every week - it’s a great workout, it’s fun, and it’s social. 

Then, last year, we started doing yoga at home a few times a week, which was a great addition to the routine for me… until the beginning of this year. 

I started to feel like I wanted more, and finally looked into signing up for a gym again. The thing is, gym memberships are expensive, especially in a big city like Toronto! 

That originally held me back from signing up… and looking back, it was a silly decision, because once I finally did sign up (spoiler alert!), I realized how beneficial it’s been in my routine. 

Actually getting out of the house a few times a week, doing a mix of yoga classes and bootcamp classes, with a live instructor and being around other people in the classes, it’s been amazing for my physical health and my overall mindset. Certain expenses, especially intentional ones, can have benefits that massively outweigh the costs (especially if you can afford it). 

I’m still glad I found a relatively low cost option, though - I signed up for the local YMCA, which is about $56/month (for now… it goes up once I turn 30!). The other options near me were all way more expensive, so I’m happy I went with the option that doesn’t make me cringe every time I’m charged. 

If you want to see what my workout classes look like, check out this video.

Spending Wrap Up 💰

We’re officially ⅓ of the way through 2025, so we decided it’s time to do a little spending wrap up. 

Here’s the total of how much we’ve spent - each - per category, for the first four months of this year!

We’ll do another update in a few months to see how our next ⅓ of the year compares (our spending is typically slightly different every month, and evens out throughout the year!). 

If you want to keep up with our monthly spending, check out these videos.

Did You Know? 🤔

Did you know… that you can reinvest the dividends that you’re paid from your investments? 

We personally invest in ETFs - those ETFs are made up of thousands of different stocks, and some of those stocks happen to pay dividends.

Dividends = payments that you receive on a consistent basis for being a part owner in a company (aka a shareholder); the payments can be made every month, quarter, year, or at the company’s discretion. 

But wait… why do you receive dividends? Well, dividend payments are usually a percentage of the company’s earnings that they’re paying out to you - think of it as profit sharing. So, when the company makes money, they give out some of the profits to their shareholders.

Some people actually aim to receive dividends as a part of their investment strategy. Personally, we don’t - our goal is growth in our investment portfolio, not receiving payments now. 

So, when we do happen to receive dividends, we re-invest them. That means that as soon as we receive the payments, we have a ‘dividend reinvestment feature’ turned on within our investment accounts that automatically repurchases more shares of the same ETF that paid us the dividends. 

If you want to hear more about how this works, and why it might be a good idea for you, check out this video.

We Were Guests On A Live Show (In Studio!) 👀

We had a fun ‘pinch me’ moment last month when we were guests on TD Direct Investing’s live show called Inside Investing! 

We went in studio to record the episode, and were able to talk about our personal journey, our simple investing strategy, the current state of the stock market (and why we’re not panicking!), and some tips for couples when it comes to talking about money in their relationship. 

It’s so fun being able to talk about money (and of course make money simple) in different formats… and we might have some plans for more ‘shows’ in our future! 

We shared a behind the scenes look at our experience if you want to see more, and you can listen to the full episode here.

Free Investing Workshop (Round 3!) 

Back by popular demand, we’re offering more free live investing workshops later this month! 

We cover how you can start investing in the stock market, and specifically focus on passive investing, taking a do-it-yourself approach throughout the workshop.

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, May 20th @ 8:00pm EST 

• Wednesday, May 21st @ 8:00pm EST 

• Saturday, May 24th @ 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! 👋🏿👋🏻