She Got a Lot Out of Those Physics and Shop Classes

Today’s post offers a couple of quick reminders for all my fellow Canadians. For better or for worse, we are fully ensconced in the middle of tax season now. While the deadline for submitting your income tax return isn’t for a couple of months, there is one important deadline that is only a week away. If you want to contribute to your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) for the 2014 tax year, you have until next Monday, March 2, 2015 to do so.

Even if you’re not entirely sure where you want to invest, it’s a good idea to move that money over to a high-interest RRSP savings account in the meantime so you can enjoy the tax deferment benefits for the 2014 tax year. Of course, you may also want to think about contributing to your TFSA and/or paying down your mortgage as well. That’s up to you to decide, perhaps with the assistance of your financial advisor.

Whatever you decide to do, you may be interested in a current offer from Tangerine, which was previously known as ING Direct (Canada). If you go to open an account using Orange Key 16449274S1, you can be eligible for up to $195 in “free” bonus money. The offer is good until the end of March, but again, remember that the RRSP contribution deadline is just a week away.

The bonus offers break down as follows:

  • $50: Open any Tangerine account (savings, TFSA, RRSP, etc.) with a minimum deposit of $100 using Orange Key 16449274S1.
  • $25: Set up an Automatic Savings Program (ASP) of $100 or more per month with your savings account for 6 continuous months.
  • $120: Get up to twelve $10 Friday Bonus paydays when you switch your payroll direct deposits to your Tangerine Chequing Account.

Add that all up and you’ve got yourself almost $200 in free money. Of course, you have to be a new Tangerine customer. The good news is that, unlike some of the other offers out there, the Tangerine savings and chequing accounts have no fees, so it really is free money. You can take advantage of one, two or all three of those offers with no obligation to fulfill the others, but you will want to get started with at least the first one.

As all the smart money people say, it’s not necessarily about how much you earn; it’s more about how much you spend and how much you save. And setting aside your TFSA and RRSP contributions every year is a great place to start.