Category: Personal Finance

I’ve been running my business as a sole proprietorship for about four years. Any cheques I’ve received have always been made out to my name. A personal PC Financial chequing account has served admirably as my “business” account, which gave me a place to deposit the cheques.

This year was a bit different – I started a publishing company, so that I could use Lightning Source as the printer for my book. As a result, all the royalty cheques are made out to “Money Smarts Publishing”. Since I can’t deposit those cheques in my personal PC Financial account, I had to open up a business account.

After doing a bit of research, I determined that most business checking accounts are quite expensive – in and around $10 per month or more in fees. In my case, I just need an account where can I deposit one or two cheques per month and do a withdrawal once a quarter.

I found out that HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) offers a free business checking account. It also handles US$, which is perfect since my publishing cheques are all US$.

Free has a price

This account isn’t for everyone – it has a limited number of transactions per month (20) and if you order cheques, they are very expensive. One workaround is to order cheques from a third-party cheque printer such as ASAP Cheques . I haven’t ordered any cheques yet, but I plan to.

Other major limitations are a lack of ATMs and charges on any EFTs.

This bank account is perfect for my business, but it will not suit the needs for many other businesses. Make sure you understand the limitations before signing up.

Another drawback to this account is the lengthy account set up timeline – it will likely take 4-6 weeks to get the account fully activated.

The basic steps to set up the account were as follows:

• Fill out online app at HSBC.ca
• They phoned me about a week later.
• We played phone tag for about two weeks (this was partly my fault).
• I set up an appointment to meet with a bank rep to sign a few documents. The appointment was very fast – only about five minutes.

Items you need for the appointment:

• Two pieces of I.D. – I showed my drivers license and a visa card.
• Ontario master business license as well as the federal license and business number.

About a week after the appointment, I got a bank card in the mail along with a “welcome” package with instructions on setting up the online login.

Setting up the bank card pin was tough – you have to call them and they take a LONG time to answer the phone. Once they activate the card, you get one hour to get to a HSBC ATM to set your own password. Given that all the HSBC ATMs in Toronto seem to be downtown, I would imagine that someone living out in Ajax would have do an Amazing-Race style dash to the city core. 🙂

Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware that I had to go to a proper HSBC ATM, not a no-name one, so it didn’t work for me. I phoned again to clarify, and she also told me I can get the pin reset in a branch which is what I did. I deposited some cheques at the same time.

I also found out that you can’t deposit US$ cheques in ATMs, so the whole pin number is a moot point anyways. 🙂

Setting up the online banking was a small hassle, but I think that’s true of all banks. One unique feature about HSBC is that they send you an electronic token which you have to use to login to your online account. This is good from a security point of view, but bad for convenience unless you can carry your token around with you (and not lose it).

Any other business owners out there? Where do you have your business account? Are you ok with the fees and service they offer?

I was happy to be published at Moneyville.ca this week – my article was called “Why you might (and might not) need an RESP“. It was quite well received and hopefully they will publish more of my articles in the future.  If you haven’t checked out the site – go for it.  There are lots of interesting personal finance articles.

One of my articles was also highlighted in Rob Carrick’s reader – it was my Interactive Brokers discount brokerage review.

On with the links

Larry Swedroe answers the question – What would happen if everyone indexed?

Bell backtracks on their incredibly greedy internet usage billing plan.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade, who stars in one of my favourite shows “Till Debt Do Us Part“, has some tough love information on buying your first house.

The Financial Blogger has some great job interview tips.

Rob Carrick has some very, very cheap investment options.

Dave the Mortgage Planner thinks that the 10-year mortgage is a good idea for some people.  I tend to agree.

Dianne Nice of the Globe & Mail covers some different kids allowance methods. An amusing read.

Investor Junkie fears that his friends and family are taking advantage of his computer skills. Grow a pair and learn to say no.

An interesting fridge repair story. I never know what to do when appliances break – this article will help next time.

Michael James figures that labour shortages are really just cheap employers.

Million Dollar Journey did a Moolala book review and giveaway.

Canadian Capitalist says that the proposed family tax cut, is a tax cut for the rich.

Boomer and Echo explains how to create a Bond or GIC ladder.

Oblivious Investor answers some reader questions about investing.

Some American links

• Taking Social Security and Investing the Money
• Betterment.com Review: Easy Investing For Busy People
• Mileage Tax Deduction
• What Happens If You Contribute Too Much To IRA Or 401k? — Do you know what to do if you contributed to much to your IRA, Roth IRA, or 401k? If not, you have to read this and find out.
• 5 Things You Should Know About Filing a Tax Extension
• Credit Card Perks – Take Advantage of What You Have
• Baby Nursery Decorating – Save Money, Have Style
• Downsize Your Home and Upsize Your Wallet
• Better Investing for Beginners – Betterment Review – This investing platform isn’t for everyone, but it is a great solution for the right people… read this review and decide for yourself.

One question which I’ve received several times recently, is how to unlock funds in an Ontario locked-in retirement account such as a LIRA, LRIF. I did this for my Dad a couple of years ago and successfully unlocked his LIRA. Ironically, he never should have had a LIRA – it must have been an RRSP contribution that got set up in error at some point.

How to unlock an Ontario locked-in retirement account

There are a number of ways to unlock your Ontario locked-in retirement account. This includes LIRA and LRIFs which are basically locked-in RRSPs and RRIFs.

If you are 55 years of age or at an age where you would have been eligible for a pension from the originating pension plan (whichever is less) then you can do the following:

1. Transfer the LIRA or LRIF to a LIF (Life Income Fund) account. This LIF account will be considered a “new” LIF account. You will have to instruct your financial institution to do this step.
2. You are allowed a one-time 50% unlock from the LIF account. This means you can request for a transfer of half the account value to an RRSP or RRIF account or just withdraw the money from the LIF.  This unlock has to be completed within 60 days of the creation of the new LIF account.  Do not delay!

When you complete the unlock, the money is treated as taxable income for that year.  If you transfer to a RRSP, you will receive a contribution receipt which will offset the transfer amount.

Here are some other methods which can also be utilized:

Small account balance

If you are at least 55 years old and the total value of all money held in every Ontario locked-in account you own is less than $19,320 (for applications signed in 2011), you can apply to withdraw or transfer all the money in your Ontario locked-in account. Use this form.

Regular withdrawals

If you are 55 years of age or older, you can get limited annual payments from a LIF account. Convert your LIRA or LRIF to a LIF account and then request the maximum payment allowed. This link shows the calculation of the maximum payments allowed per year. The formula is needlessly complicated and is probably irrelevant for most investors. Just ask for the max!

Financial hardship

You are allowed to unlock money if you qualify under one of the financial hardship rules, even if you are under 55 years of age. If you think you might qualify – fill out one of the Form 6 or Form 6.1 (for low income) and follow the instructions on the form. If successful, you will receive a letter from the government which you give to your financial institution to unlock the account.

Here are the financial hardship criteria:

• Withdrawal Based on Low Income – Your expected total income from all sources before taxes for the 12 months following the date you sign the Application is less than $32,200.  Use Form 6.1.  Note, you can also use Form 6 for low income as well.
• Withdrawal for a Debt Against Your Principal Residence – You need money to avoid legal action or eviction from your principal residence due to unpaid mortgage payments or property taxes.
• Withdrawal for Unpaid Rent – You need money to avoid eviction from your principal residence due to unpaid rent
• Withdrawal for First and Last Months Rent – You need money to pay first and last months? rent, to rent a place to live.
• Withdrawal for Medical Expenses – You, your spouse or a dependent need money to pay for medical expenses and/or dental expenses to treat an illness or physical disability that any of you have.
• Withdrawal for Renovations to Your Principal Residence – You, your spouse or a dependent needs money to pay expenses to renovate your current or future principal residence to accommodate an illness or physical disability that any of you has.
• Withdrawal for Renovations to a Dependent’s Principal Residence – You, your spouse or a dependent need money to pay expenses to renovate that dependent’s current or future principal residence to accommodate an illness or physical disability that the dependent has.

Shortened life expectancy

If your life expectancy is two years or less and you have a signed statement from a doctor, you can apply to unlock your money. Use this form.

Non-resident of Canada for two years

If you are a non-resident of Canada and your departure from Canada took place at least 24 months ago, you can apply to withdraw all the money from your Ontario locked-in account. Use this form.

How is the province of regulation determined?

Regulation for locked-in retirement accounts is provincial, with the exception of some larger companies which are federally regulated. The province where the income was earned and pension contributions made is the province that will regulate the LIRA. The province where the investor currently lives is irrelevant. Please contact the plan administrator to verify the applicable province.

Also – the financial institution where the LIRA or LRIF is being held, should know the province of regulation.

Combine different criteria to unlock your money

In my Dad’s case, he was able to unlock his entire LIRA account by completing the following steps:

1. Transferred the LIRA to a LIF account.
2. Do a 50% unlock  (actually he had to do two 25% unlocks, since the 50% unlock option was unavailable at the time).
3. Transfer the unlocked 50% to his RRSP.
4. Complete two annual allowable payments.  These were fairly small – about 4% of the account value each, but they helped lower the account balance.
5. Unlock the remaining funds by using the small account rule.

What is a LIRA

LIRA stands for locked-in retirement account. This is basically an RRSP account that is locked-in and you can’t make any withdrawals until the age of 55.

What is an LRIF

LRIF stands for locked-in retirement income fund. This is basically a RRIF account that is locked-in.  A LIRA must be converted to a LRIF by the end of the year in which the account holder turns 71.

How is a LIRA created?

Employees who work for a company that offers a defined benefit pension plan (such as the government), will build up pension credits over time. If the employee should leave the job, they have a choice of:

• Leave their accumulated pension credits in the pension plan and collect a pro-rated pension at retirement age.
• Transfer the “commuted” value of their pension credits to a locked-in RRSP account which is called a LIRA (Locked-In Retirement Account)

If they are close to retirement age, option 2 is usually not available.

Are withdrawals from a LIF or RRSP or RRIF taxable?

Yes, they are.  Any withdrawals from a LIF, RRSP or RRIF will be considered taxable income for that year.  The financial institution will hold some tax back at the time of the withdrawal.

More information

Government of Canada – Please release all locked-in retirement money

The RRSP home buyers plan is a great way to beef up your house down payment.  When I bought my first house, I had a down payment of $20,000 which was taken from my RRSP.  If you are thinking of borrowing from your RRSP to buy a house or condo, here are some rules to know.

Maximum home buyers plan withdrawal

First-time home buyers in Canada can borrow up to $25,000 of RRSP money tax-free to purchase a home, including shares in a co-op housing corporation.  First-time means neither of the spouses or common-law partners have owned a house in the previous four years.
Starting the second year following the withdrawal, one-fifteenth of the borrowed amount must be repaid to the RRSP each year or that year’s portion becomes taxable income.

90 day withdrawal rule

One home buyers plan withdrawal restriction is that you can’t withdraw any money from your RRSP if it was contributed within the last 90 days.

Strategy – borrow to contribute to RRSP and then get money out.

The idea behind this strategy is to make an RRSP loan, contribute the money to your RRSP and then after 90 days, you can withdraw the money for your HBP.  This can work very well if you are in a higher tax bracket.  This strategy can be done anytime during the year, but if it’s done before the RRSP deadline (March 1st), you can get the refund very quickly and use it to pay down the RRSP loan.

The home buyers plan money in your RRSP should not be invested in stocks or even long bonds.  Just go as safe as possible, since you need to make sure you have your money when you need it.  A high interest savings account is best.

Conditions to qualify for HBP

You (and partner if applicable) must be first time home buyers which means you haven’t owned a house that was your principal residence in the last 4 years. The rule to be eligible is that you can’t have  owned a house that was your principal residence at any time from January 1st of year that is four years before the year of withdrawal and up to 31 days before the date of the withdrawal.

For example; if your HBP withdrawal date is Mar 31, 2011, then if you owned such a house at any time from January 1, 2007 to Feb 28, 2011 then you are not eligible for a HBP withdrawal.

If there is more than one person buying the house, they are all considered separately for the home buyers program.  If one partner is ineligible, the other partner can still be eligible.  If both partners are eligible, the maximum withdrawal amount is still $25,000 per person regardless of how many people buy the house.  A couple can borrow up to $50,000 from their respective rrsps.

Buying a house for someone with a disability

If you are buying a house for someone with a disability, there are no restrictions if the buyer owns or has owned their own house. See this page for more details

Principal residence

You must intend to live in the house purchased with the HBP withdrawal within one year of purchase or completion.  There is no minimum time that you have to stay in the house.  Note that the CRA website indicates that there are situations where even if you didn’t move into the house, you are ok as long as you “intended” to do so.

Previous users of the HBP

If you qualify for the HBP and have used it in the past, you must pay off any outstanding HBP amount by January 1 of the year of the withdrawal.

How to make a Home Buyer RRSP Withdrawal

Basically all you have to do is fill in form T1036 “Home Buyers Plan (HBP) – Request to withdraw funds from an RRSP”.   You give this form (keep a copy for yourself) to the company that looks after your RRSP.  They should do the withdrawal on the day they receive the document or the day after – you should get the money within a few business days of giving them the form.

Things to look for when doing your HBP withdrawal

• Get the money quickly.  If they are taking too long (more than one week), get on the phone and find out what the problem is.
• Make sure the amount you receive is the amount you requested. If the amount is different than you requested, the financial institution might have made a mistake.  If the amount received is more than $25,000, you will owe taxes, so get it sorted out. If the amount received is less than requested then you need to know why.  It’s very possible that they processed a normal withdrawal and charged with holding tax which would reduce the payment amount.  They will fix this, but only if you complain first.
• You don’t need to make the HBP in one withdrawal.  But you have to make them all in the same year as the first withdrawal or in January of the following year.
• Cancel HBP. If you wish to cancel your HBP withdrawal, see this page for instructions.  Of course you can always just pay the money back to your RRSP, but then you won’t be eligible to participate in the HBP for several years.
• No tax. There will be no withholding tax on your home buyers plan withdrawal.

Repayments to your HBP

All HBP plan info including payments due, will be included on your notice of assessment, so you don’t have to calculate it yourself.

HBP annual repayment amount

The annual repayment amount is calculated by taking the total amount you borrowed from your RRSP and dividing by 15.  That is your annual HBP repayment amount.  If you pay more than the minimum, future payments will be the remaining amount owing divided by the number of payment years remaining.  I suggest that if you have unused RRSP room that you consider contributing to your rrsp rather than paying back the HBP loan beyond the minimum payment.

Timing. You don’t have to make your first HBP payment until you file your taxes for the tax year two years after the year you did your home buyers plan withdrawal.
For example; if you withdraw your HBP in June of 2010, you don’t pay your first payment until the tax year of 2012.  You don’t actually file your 2012 taxes until early 2013.

What if I miss a repayment to my HBP loan?

If you don’t make the minimum payment in full then any unpaid amount will be considered taxable income for that year.  It’s considered the same as if you had just withdrawn that amount directly from your rrsp (which is taxable income) instead of borrowing through the HBP.

This isn’t a bad strategy in the situation where your income is lower than normal.  If you went back to school for a couple of years or became a stay-at-home-parent, then declaring your annual home buyers plan repayment as income, might make sense if your income is low enough.  It’s possible that you won’t pay any income tax on that amount.

The Ontario government recently announced a provincial tax credit for Ontario families that would include all the sports activities covered under the federal fitness tax credit program, as well as non-sports activities. This program is an alternative to the federal children’s fitness tax credit for the 2009 tax year, which is available to all Canadian families, but only includes sports activities.

Rules and Amounts

• These expenses can be claimed for children under 16 years of age or disabled children under 18 years of age.
• You can claim up to $500 of children’s activity expenses ($1,000 if child is disabled).
• If the child is not disabled – the tax credit is 10% of the expense for a maximum of $50 per child.
• If the child is disabled – the tax credit is 10% of the expense if expense is less than $100. If the expense is between $100 and $500, the credit is 10% of expense plus $50.
• Eligible expenses incurred on or after January 1, 2010 will qualify for the tax credit.
• It is a refundable tax credit, which means the government will give you the money, even if you don’t pay any taxes at all.
• The plan will be in addition to the federal children’s fitness tax credit. If you have eligible sports expenses that are covered by the fitness tax credit – they will automatically be covered under this new Ontario credit.
• Child’s age is as of January 1st of the tax year.

List of eligible activities

Here is a link which lists all the eligible activities.

Some example activities are languages, cooking lessons, voice lessons. I’m not sure if band camp qualifies. 😉

More information

Tax credit article from the Globe and Mail.

Ontario Children’s Activity Tax Credit Q&A

Ontario government announcement

Children’s Fitness Tax Credit

I’ve been looking for some kind of software that will help me organize my bank accounts a bit.  I’m not into budgeting, but I do have a small business and need to come up with several totals at tax time.  I also would like to be able to see income/expense breakdowns without doing a lot of work to set them up.  I thought I would try Mint.com, since they just launched the Canadian version of the software.

Mint.com is a website where you can sign up for a free account and use their online budgeting software.  You add your various bank accounts and Mint.com will collect all the information automatically.  You can easily set up a budget or do reviews of your spending habits.

Setting up your account with Mint.com

Creating an account was very simple and very quick.  It’s also free.

Once I had a login, I tried adding my CIBC accounts.

Once the financial institution is found, the next screen asks for the bank or visa card number and password.

I had no problem adding my CIBC accounts, however the first problem is that it added all my CIBC accounts – in fact I only wanted to add my personal chequing account and personal visa in one profile and then have my business visa (also with CIBC) in another profile.
I think if I were to use this software for proper budgeting, I would have to set up a labeling system to separate the personal accounts from the business accounts.

One thing I wanted to do was add up all my Enbridge gas payments.  I clicked on the account and it showed all the transactions in a scroller.

One neat button is a “Show all XXX” where XXX is the transaction you have highlighted.  By highlighting the last Enbridge payment and selecting the button “Show all Enbridge”, it showed all the recent Enbridge payments.  This is precisely the function that I need to help me assemble my tax information.

It appeared to only show transactions from the last three months. which is not what I wanted.  I did some research and unfortunately Mint.com can only pull up to three months of historical data at a time.

They do have a manual “add transaction” function, which is useless since I’m not going to spend hours adding many transactions one at a time.  What they really need is a data upload function.  You would download your historical transactions from your account and then upload them to Mint.com in one step.

Nonetheless, if you sign up for Mint.com and don’t delete your account – they will continue to add your data and eventually you will have a useful amount of historical data.  I really like the automation involved with Mint.com and I can tell you that the interface is fantastic.  My plan is to keep my account activated and then I will try it again next year (when I have enough data) to help with my 2011 taxes.

I also have a chequing account at PC Financial, which I use for my business activities.  I added this account without any issues, although it also only loaded three months worth of data.

Who can use Mint.com right away?

If you are just starting a budget and want to keep track of your finances, having three months of historical information should be more than enough.  You can add your accounts, categorize transactions the way you want and then budget to your heart’s content.  Mint.com will automatically put all transactions into a category.  These can be changed at anytime and Mint.com will “learn” from your correction for future transactions.

Other features of Mint.com

I haven’t spent a lot of time on the budgeting features, however some of the neat one are:

• Targets and notifications – You can set a maximum amount you want to spend on a particular expense and Mint.com will send you email notices if you go over budget.
• Set up a budget – Once you input your income and budget categories – Mint.com will tell you how much you should have left over for saving.
• Trends – The trends feature allows you to see spending or income for any particular category over time.

How much does Mint.com cost?

Setting up an account at Mint.com is easy and best of all – free!  Keep in mind however, that Mint.com makes money from financial institutions which it recommends, ie it might recommend a “better” credit card based on your spending.  If you sign up for that credit card – that company will pay money to Mint.com.  I would suggest one the following strategies, when facing a recommendation from Mint.com:

1. Take any recommendations with a grain of salt.  You might very well benefit from their recommendation, but don’t just blindly assume that is the case.
2. Ignore them completely.

Main benefits of Mint.com

1. Free – Can’t beat that price.
2. Automatic data download – I love this part – once you add your accounts, you never have to add any kind of data again.  All automatic.
3. Great interface – The interface or user screen is awesome.  It looks good, it feels good and I had no problem figuring out how to do things I wanted.

Here is a quote from Red Flag Forums, which I completely agree with:

But man alive, THAT is how you design a website. It is amazing how easy it is get started with it.

Main drawback of Mint.com

1. Initial historical data only goes back three months.  For most people, this might not be a problem, but it is a problem for me.  I’m going to remain a client and then next year I’ll have enough historical data (data for all of 2010) to be useful for my taxes.
2. Can’t do data upload of historical transactions.  This feature would be a reasonable work-around for the first drawback.

What about security?

I’ve been banking online for what seems like my entire adult life.  At this point, I can’t honestly say I have any concerns about security or that I’m willing to do anything about them.  The only difference with Mint.com, is that it assembles all of your account information in one place, rather than regular internet commerce where your info is spread around.

Realistically, if someone could hack into your computer – it wouldn’t matter whether you use Mint.com or not – all of your information will be available.

What do you think?  Is Mint.com superior to desktop software packages like Quicken or You Need A Budget?

More reviews

See Mr. Cheap’s review of Mint.com.

I finally got around to calculating my investment returns for 2010 and the results are decent, if unspectacular: 7.3%

My portfolio is supposed to look something like Canadian Capitalist’s sleepy portfolio which returned 9.56% this year.  I’ve made a few changes and this is what my desired allocation is:

Asset class	ETF	Target (%)
Bonds	XSB	20
Real return bonds	XRB	5
Canadian equity	XIU	15
US equity	VTI	30
International equity	VEA	30

The only problem is that my portfolio doesn’t look like that. Over the last two years, I haven’t rebalanced or made very many purchases.  I guess you could say that I’ve gone from passive investing to neglectful investing.  🙂

As a result, my cash position is probably around 15%, which is why my returns trailed the sleep portfolio so much.  I also have a higher foreign content and with the Canadian dollar and market doing so well – that results in my portfolio not doing so well.

The next step

My plan (once I finish my taxes) is to rebalance all our investment accounts, so that they look something like the allocations shown in the table.  I’m going to make sure that I do more frequent purchases as well.

Past returns

Here are my returns from the last five years:

Year	Return(%)
2006	14.7
2007	4.1
2008	-17.0
2009	20.24
2010	7.3

My annualized rate of return over the five years is 5.05%. At that rate, $100,000 invested five years ago would be worth $127,861 now.
The rate of inflation over the last five years has been pretty low at just under 2%, so my annual real return is just over 3%, which I’m quite happy with.

Stay the course, regardless of your investment style

I’ve done two things well with my investments:

1. Stay the course – I haven’t sold anything in the last five years and I’ve had more or less the same plan.
2. Make lots of contributions – I make regular contributions, and extra when I can.

I had an interesting conversation with Dan Bortolotti from Canadian Couch Potato, a while ago and one of the topics we discussed was different investment strategies.  Although we are both die-hard couch potatoes, we agreed that most (reasonable) investment methods are just fine as long as you stay the course and keep making contributions.

I’m pretty bad with mail – I pay the bills quickly, but I tend to just let everything else pile up until I have a huge mountain of paper to deal with.  However, this past Sunday I spent several hours going through my mail and I’ve never had so much fun!  Why you ask?

Well, although I’ve been aware of e-statements and e-bills, I’ve never made use of them.  My biggest concern was that the statements wouldn’t be online long enough.

As luck would have it, I found some inspiration from this comment at the Canadian Money Forums by Brad

I’ve been getting almost all my bills and all of my banking statements electronically for a few years now and it sure beats having to keep paper files. I haven’t had to print anything yet, but I save everything as PDFs and back them up offsite. I got rid of two filing cabinets that I no longer needed and now have a lot more room in my home office.

I thought – what if I did the same?  The amount of mail should decrease.  I have done this on a limited basis in the past, but the efforts were more about getting off mailing lists rather than changing to ebills.  Brad later clarified that he also used to print a lot of documents, so stopping that practice was part of getting rid of his paper.

Action plan

I started with my CIBC Visa statements – I have two cards – one for me and one for my business.  After reading the fine print, I found that CIBC will keep the statements available for seven years.  Considering I don’t even keep the paper copies for that long, seven years should be plenty good enough.  You can get alerts to your email which will tell you when a new statement is available for viewing and payment.  My wife tried to do the same with her TD Visa, but apparently they don’t offer e-statements yet.

Next I opted for the e-statements at Questrade discount brokerage.  We have three active accounts there, so that should save some paper.  What I don’t know how to stop is the prospectus and reports from Vanguard that show up every once in a while.

My personal Rogers account (internet) was already set to e-statements, which I wasn’t getting since they were going to an old email.  I corrected the email and then set up another online account for my iPhone (business) and set those statements to online.

That’s as far as I got – don’t forget, I also had to deal with all the piled up mail which took some time.  I also spent quite a bit of time drawing and colouring various animals on the discarded envelopes with my son.  I’m going to keep at it – plenty more paper to convert!

A paperless office is as realistic as a paperless bathroom…

Things left to convert

• Mutual fund account with $6 in it.  I need to do a RRSP T2033 transfer and move this money to Questrade.  It probably resulted from a late dividend.  Very annoying!
• Ontario Hydro
• Gas (Enbridge)
• Phone bill (Bell)
• Water bill (City of Toronto) – not sure if I can convert this one.  It’s only every 6 months anyway.

I’m sure there are more, but I’ll deal with them when they arrive in the mail.  I’m really excited about doing this little project since I think it will help my organization and cut down on trivial admin tasks that I don’t enjoy doing.  It should also save a couple of trees per year.  🙂

What about you?  Are you still getting paper bills and statements or are you paper-free?