O Canada<\/h2>\r\n
First off, let’s go over some Canadian slang for any non-Canadians following along so they can feel welcome here (because being nice is what Canadians do).\u00a0 I sure wish I knew all of these terms before moving up here.\u00a0 Let’s see how much of the following paragraph you can understand:<\/p>\r\n
Come on, we’re going to be late for Jenny’s stagette! What’s that? There’s a moose on the loose! It’s about three klicks away.\u00a0 Let’s call CAA, eh?\u00a0 Oh come on, don’t be such a keener!\u00a0 Grab your toque from your knapsack, you never know when we’re going to get some snow…this is Canada. Oh no, all I have packed are my thongs.\u00a0 I heard there’s going to be a chinook coming in soon.\u00a0 Who knows, we could be stranded out on Hwy 1 if the moose hangs out there.\u00a0 I’m going to name her Zara (her name starts with zed).\u00a0 It’s been confirmed, a family of moose have decided to call Hwy 1 home for the night.\u00a0 Did you bring your lunch kit? I could use a coffee crisp.\u00a0 Or even better, some KD.\u00a0 Ah, sorry you should have told me sooner, mine ended up in the garburator. You have any loonies? I’m going to stop off at Timmies real quick and grab a box of Timbits.\u00a0 I can’t be stranded out here without my double-double. Might as well grab a serviette while I’m here and stop off at the washroom.\u00a0 The queue is going to be massive. Oh no, my car got stuck in a ditch. Let me put on my runners and push her out.\u00a0 Give’er! Phew, got her going again… what a beauty.\u00a0 Might as well head over to the LCBO while we’re at it to pick up a two-four. Actually, I’ll just grab a mickey – we’re keeping it low key tonight. Want to play a game while we wait for the moose to clear the road?\u00a0 Sure, I don’t have any games with me (they are all under my chesterfield, not in my car) but I have some pencil crayons. Ah those crazy Canucks, eh?!<\/p>\r\n
Any non-Canadians follow along???<\/p>\r\n
Let’s break this down:<\/p>\r\n
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- Stagette: The Canadian version of the pre-wedding bachelor\/bachelorette party. Stag would be used for males and stagette for females.<\/li>\r\n
- Klicks: Kilometers.\u00a0 You gotta get to know kilometers in Canada (and any other country besides the US really). Psst, Americans \u2014 one kilometer is approximately 0.6 miles!<\/li>\r\n
- CAA: Canadian Automobile Association – it’s just like AAA in the states<\/li>\r\n
- Eh: Pronounced \u201cay\u201d. This word is the classic term used in everyday Canadian vernacular. It’s used to indicate that you don\u2019t understand something, can\u2019t believe something is true or if you want the person to respond. Similar to \u201chuh\u201d, \u201cright?\u201d and \u201cwhat?\u201d commonly found in U.S. vocabulary.\u00a0 Also, if you used “huh?” or “what?” in Canada this would typically come off as being pretty rude as “pardon?” would be what’s used here instead.<\/li>\r\n
- Keener: Used to refer to someone who tries hard to please others or is overly enthusiastic. Similar to \u201cnerd\u201d, \u201cbrown-noser\u201d and \u201cgeek\u201d.<\/li>\r\n
- Toque: A toque is a knitted hat used to keep your head warm.\u00a0 Most people in the States would refer to this as a beanie.\u00a0 Calling it a beanie in Canada is a big no-no and a definite sign you are just visiting.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure this word is only used in Canada – does any other country use this word??<\/li>\r\n
- Kanpsack: What Canadians commonly refer to a backpack or rucksack as.<\/li>\r\n
- Thongs: Sandals\/Flip-flops people!<\/li>\r\n
- Chinook: A warm wind that comes over the mountains in the dead of winter and instantly melts the snow and raises the temperature.\u00a0 It’s an Inuit word for “the snow that melts”.\u00a0 Chinooks are commonly talked about in Alberta (where we get these warm winds from the Canadian Rockies).\u00a0 And yes, it’s true, we can get 2-3 inches one day and the next day its gone (we don’t typically get the days of 6+ inches of snow which is more common in the east).<\/li>\r\n
- Zed: The letter “z” in the alphabet is pronounced as “zed” in Canada, not “zee”.<\/li>\r\n
- Lunch Kit: A lunch box.<\/li>\r\n
- Coffee Crisp: A Canadian chocolate bar consisting of alternating layers of vanilla wafer and coffee flavored soft candy.\u00a0 There are TONS of different chocolate bars in Canada vs the States.\u00a0 I’m not a huge chocolate person but some of them are Smarties, Aero bars, Eat More bars, Crunchie, Crispy Crunch, Mirage, Caramilk, etc.<\/li>\r\n
- KD: Kraft Dinner.\u00a0 It is NOT referred to as mac and cheese here.<\/li>\r\n
- Garburator: This one gave me a chuckle when I first learned about it.\u00a0 It’s the Canadian term used for a garbage disposal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\r\n
- Loonie: The silliest word for currency on the planet, next to toonie.\u00a0 A loonie is a one-dollar coin and a toonie is a two-dollar coin in Canada. Makes total sense for a country to come up with that name once they went from a one dollar bill to a one dollar coin, right?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 You have to look at a loonie for yourself and it will make more sense.\u00a0 It has a picture of a Loon on it.\u00a0 Ahhh.<\/li>\r\n
- Timmies: Tim Hortons.\u00a0 It’s the Starbucks of Canada.\u00a0 You will find a Timmies in EVERY Canadian town.\u00a0 Like Starbucks, it’s mediocre coffee that Canadians are mysteriously addicted to.<\/li>\r\n
- Timbits: Donut holes from Timmies.\u00a0 My fav is apple fritter.\u00a0 Timbits are also little kids sports teams that Tim Hortons sponsors.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n
- Double-Double: The standard coffee order by Canadians at Tims.\u00a0 Two (double) sugar and two (double) cream.<\/li>\r\n
- Serviette: A napkin.<\/li>\r\n
- Washroom: What Canadian’s refer to the toilet as.\u00a0 To Canadians, toilet seems a bit too vulgar.\u00a0 And I agree, I like using the word washroom or restroom more.\u00a0 Is washroom used outside of Canada anywhere? I know toilet and bathroom are common in the states and have heard of the loo and water closet\/WC in Europe.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n
- Queue: A line up.\u00a0 If you’re at the grocery store, you’d say “look at the queue at that till”. Oh yea, that’s another one.\u00a0 Till is the cash register.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\r\n
- Runners: Sneakers.\u00a0 They are not called sneakers in Canada.\u00a0 Another fun clothing one is Bunny Hug.\u00a0 This is mostly used in Saskatchewan and is what others would refer to as a “hoodie”.<\/li>\r\n
- Give’er: A slang term that means to give it all you got. Used when referring to work, drinking, sports and any other activity that requires you to buckle down and get it done.<\/li>\r\n
- LCBO: Liquor Control Board Of. A Crown corporation that retails and distributes alcoholic beverages throughout the Canadian provinces.\u00a0 The LCBO maintains a “quasi-monopoly” on alcoholic beverage sales in Ontario\u2014Canada’s most populous province with over 13 million people, or almost 40% of the nation’s population\u2014and as a result is one of the world’s largest purchasers of alcoholic beverages. Note that you cannot buy alcohol in grocery stores in Canada – it must be purchased at a designated liquor store (called a Liquor Board Store in some provinces).<\/li>\r\n
- Two-four: A twenty four pack of beer.\u00a0 (And beer is VERY expensive in Canada compared to the States (like double the price, no joke) thanks to the Canadian Sin Tax<\/a>, which I’m personally in favor of.)<\/li>\r\n
- Mickey: A 375 ml bottle of alcohol (like a flask size).\u00a0<\/li>\r\n
- Chesterfield: A couch\/sofa. Pretty sure this is British that stuck in Canada?<\/li>\r\n
- Pencil Crayons: Colored pencils, love it \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Also, let’s remember that it’s spelled “cheque” not “check”, “colour” not “color”, “behaviour” not “behavior”, “cancelled” not “canceled”, “tonne” not “ton”, “neighbour” not “neighbor”, and “centre” not “center”.\u00a0 There are MANY other words that Canadians use the British spelling for (I clearly am still using the US dictionary on this blog). Canadians do NOT “take” a shower or a nap, they “have” a shower or nap. They “phone” someone, not “call” someone.\u00a0 They pronounce “process” like PRO-ciss.\u00a0 Pasta is pronounced “past-a” whereas in the US it’s pronounced more like “pah-stah”. Same goes for drama. It’s grade seven, not seventh grade. College and university are not the same thing in Canada whereas both words typically refer to the same thing in the States. Also Toronto sounds more like “tronno” to Canadians.\u00a0 Same thing for Calgary.\u00a0 Outside of Canada, people would pronounce this “Cal-GAry” but Canadians mash it all up and say “Cal-gree”.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Phew, ok. Everyone reading this is now Canadian. Send me your address and I’ll mail you your citizenship papers (because it is much sweeter to retire early here than in the States in my opinion, thank you Canadian social system where we will get free healthcare, Canada child benefit, CPP and OAS and GIS come typical retirement age). On to the good stuff (or maybe that was the good stuff….).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Moving On<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Similar to Part 3 of the Investing 101 Series, you can keep your cash in dollars under the mattress (no thanks), open a checking or savings account with a big bank or online-only low fee bank (would recommend only to have enough in a checking account to cover your expenses for a 3-6 months), or open a high interest savings account (this is where I would hold money that I\u2019m looking to access within 5 years – for example a new house down payment). As mentioned last week, we use Motive Super Savvy Saver <\/a>which is a Canadian online-only bank and we\u2019re earning 2.8% returns<\/strong>. And we can withdraw from these funds at anytime<\/span> if we want\/need the cash. This is WAY better than the 0.05% interest rate TD Bank<\/a> offers for their TD Every Day Savings Account or whoop-di-do 0.5% interest in their TD High Interest Savings Account. Give me a break. Break free from the big banks!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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The following are other Canadian specific types of accounts<\/strong> that you can choose to open up if you so desire:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
- \r\n
- TFSA<\/li>\r\n
- RRSP<\/li>\r\n
- Group RRSP<\/li>\r\n
- Spousal RRSP<\/li>\r\n
- RESP<\/li>\r\n
- GIC<\/li>\r\n
- Brokerage (aka Non Registered aka Taxable)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Again these are just the accounts<\/strong>. The type of funds that you can invest within these accounts will get covered in another post<\/span>. Let’s dig in.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
TFSA<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
A TFSA stands for a Tax Free Savings Account. Don’t let the words “Savings Account” at the end make you think this is like a savings account that you open up at a big bank like the TD example above to save cash which earns a measly 0.05% interest. The name for the TFSA is actually really bad and misleading. And online marketing doesn’t help. You don’t have to put your money in a savings account within a tax free savings account. And frankly, you shouldn’t be. You can earn a MUCH higher return if you instead invested elsewhere in other funds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
You can select ANY sort of funds to invest in a TFSA – be it stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, index funds, REITs, GICs, cash, etc. all under the TFSA umbrella. These investments will grow tax free<\/strong> until you take them out<\/span>. The contribution amounts have varied each year since its inception in 2009 (see table below). If you are a Canadian resident and have been residing in Canada since the TFSA inception in 2009, you are entitled to the lifetime contributions for every year after you turned 18<\/span>. This means, if you turned 18 in 2009 (or were older than 18 by then) and you have not opened up a TFSA yet, you have the FULL $63,500<\/strong> of contribution room available to you in your TFSA.\u00a0 And come 2020, your contribution limit will increase even more. (To know your limit, check the CRA website<\/a> – it’s actually really easy to use as your login is based off your ID\/Password from a major Canadian institution (like a bank) that you already have signed up – just keep in mind the CRA website does NOT account for any contributions that you have made in this current year.) The table below summarizes the annual contribution limits since the TFSA’s inception.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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