Hubert now offering one-year RIF terms. | Page 2 | Hubert Financial | Discussion forum

I don't worry much about the medical expenses claim. We have significant medical expenses but it never seems to amount to very much in return so I have just stopped thinking about it as it's not worth the effort. I just take whatever comes. Would be more useful if we had lower income, but, then , I wouldn't be able to afford the emdical expenses!

Rick, the figures and ideas I gave are all about individual income. I can't think of where joint income would enter into it except inasmuch as personal net income is affected by any pension splitting or pension "sharing" (CPP).
I believe there are some joint income considerations for GIS but have never looked into it. Is that what you were thinking of? Let me know if you find anything relevant that I have not considered.

Yes, you are correct about the 38K and 80K thresholds, for each of you, under current rules. 48K is also important for the tax bracket division.

Personally, I don't distinguish between interest and principal in any of my holdindgs except inasmcuh as the interest constitutes income and inasmuch as some FIs base their mandatory RIF withdrawals around it. To me, it's all just money. I prefer compounding the interest because it means I have fewer things to manage. If I need more money to invest, I'll take it out of savings accounts or from the next GIC that comes due. However, I keep a large float (for personal reasons) so I always have money to draw from if I want to get ahead of an upcoming redemption. This year in particular, I have reinvested non-registered funds well before they came due. There is one coming due in September which I reinvested this past week. In January I reinvested the ones coming due in March. This is much easier to do with non-registered funds - another incentive for me to dispose of the RIFs.
I don't worry about what to do with the extra money that comes out of the RIFs. It just adds to my stockpile of flexible non-registered funds, or I can spend it if I want. If you wanted to diversify, I suppose you could put it into the market, art, precious metals or property etc. Just don't buy a time-share!