Financial Figuring

So we finally bought a home gym for the basement. We already had a Stairmaster in our bedroom and thought we should have some resistance training equipment too. My wife and I spend quite a bit of time tethered to our computers so it was important to be able to get some exercise at home.

We ended up with the Bowflex Conquest home gym with all the attachments. It’s a Cadillac of a home gym. Normally Bowflex are quite expensive, but my wife is such a smart shopper, she bought it second hand and got it about a month after Christmas. This is just enough time for people to realize that this big new gift is not something that they want after all. Then she under bid and waited. We used Kijiji (which is a division of EBay) for our online second hand purchase and it worked great. I did have a short drive to pick it up and had to pay cash, but brand new these things are well over $1,000 (actually they are discontinued so can only purchase new from a sports store that still has one in stock or online) and you can see them listed on Amazon for around $700 US. We paid $500 CAD.

I brought it home and discovered that this sucker is big – too big for the bedroom, so downstairs it went. 8’4” long and 6’6” wide when in use, also nearly 7’ high. We have a low ceiling in the basement (about 7 feet) but it did just barely fit. Assembly was complete in 20 minutes. Now all we have to do is watch the DVDs to see all the different exercises that we can do (assuming we have the will power. Yes damn it I can do it).

We are definitely saving money on a gym membership and gas to and from the gym. Also, since it’s downstairs I am assuming that we will actually use it more frequently and already my wife has challenged me to a three week routine, that I’m determined to complete. We both used to work out quite regularly but that was before we had kids and had all kinds of time (although we didn’t know it at the time), now however it has been several years between work outs for me, so I’ll have to start slow. Better slow than stopped. Ok I’m off to find my running shoes for a workout, wish me luck.

Hello to all.  Well if there is one thing you must do in 2010 is open up a TFSA before the federal government changes its mind and closes this great opportunity for Canadians to save money.  For those who don’t know a TFSA is Tax Free Savings Account, but it is not just a savings account.  In fact you can consider it to be an umbrella that can hold any account that you could put in your RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan).  Here is a link showing what is allowed.  http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/tfsa-celi/nvstmnts-eng.html

Currently you are allowed to deposit $5000 per year into a TFSA, but don’t worry if you forgot to do it last year, you are allowed to carry over the amount you didn’t contribute.  Even if you didn’t open an account last year (the first year you were able to do so) you could deposit $10,000 this year to make up the difference.

Within the TFSA all income earned is TAX FREE.  So interest income or capital gains income or even dividend income is all yours.  The implications are awesome.  While you don’t get a tax deduction for contributions like you do with an RRSP, tax free is better than tax deferred.  Of course you should consult with a tax professional to determine which account is better for you to max out first.

For more information see the gov’t website on TFSA http://www.tfsa.gc.ca/index.html