Add/Edit regular or lump-sum Saving/Withdrawal to/from account

You can set up the TIME MACHINE to make regular deposits from, or withdrawals to, specific accounts.

This is a great way to force the TIME MACHINE to make deposits or withdrawals.

For lump sum deposits and withdrawals, enter them with the same start and end dates.

The deposit will be made, even if you don't have the money to make it, or the withdrawal will be made, even if you don't need the money. Any deficit or surplus will be cleaned up later using the PRIORITIES. This may mean that although you made the instructed deposit, the TIME MACHINE may need to withdraw a portion out again in the same year to cover a deficit. You will only see the net deposit in the TIME MACHINE results.

Be aware that a deposit or a withdrawal amount made will be capped automatically by any deposit or withdrawal limits that are appropriate for that account (TFSA and RRSP deposit room are enforced, for example). This form does not check the legitimacy of the deposit/withdrawal, which will only be done by the TIME MACHINE.

You do not need to add regular savings to pension plans that you have entered elsewhere (in INCOMES for defined benefit plans and in ACCOUNTS/INVESTMENTS for defined contribution plans like DCPPs, and GRSPs). Also be sure not to duplicate any income or expense entered in INCOMES or EXPENSES.

AUTOMATIC savings and withdrawals are completely optional for the MoneyReady App. We added them for several reasons:

1. Many people budget their savings that way. They plan for a certain amount of savings to particular accounts like RRSPs, TFSAs, and RESPs. This can be done informally, or easily set up by banks and advisors with a Pre-Authorized Contribution (PAC) plan. With a PAC, a pre-arranged amount is withdrawn from a chequing account on a regular basis, such as weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly and monthly, then deposited directly into the investment account. It’s automatic and a great way to pay yourself first.
2. We wanted a way for others outside of the user and spouse to contribute to an RESP account.
3. We wanted a way to allow for forced withdrawals from RRSPs. Planned withdrawals from your RRSP in low tax years, even if the money is not needed, can reduce taxes in the future: this is called RRSP melting. Usually, the money is then deposited to a TFSA to continue getting tax-free growth; see the next item in this list.
4. We wanted a way to allow for forced contributions to TFSAs, even if it means withdrawing money from other accounts, because TFSAs are a great saving vehicle for most Canadians.
5. We wanted to allow money transfers to a joint account to cover household expenses. We follow CRA attribution rules, such that any taxable income from the account is attributed proportionally to the contributions of each spouse.
6. We wanted a way to allow stopping of distribution reinvestments and the automatic withdrawal of all distributions in the TIME MACHINE.

The owner is the contributor of a deposit or the recipient of a withdrawal. The owner can be you, your spouse (if applicable), or some other person, identified as `Other'.

The account for deposit or withdrawal is selected from previously entered accounts, and they must be able to accept deposits or withdrawals. The TIME MACHINE will make these deposits or withdrawals for as long as they are valid (i.e., not exceeding any deposit or withdrawal limit for the account).

As for INCOMES and EXPENSES, you can link the start or end date to LIFE EVENTS. Again, please annualize the saving/withdrawal, even if it is for less than a year. For example, if you save $1000/month for only 3 months, enter that as $12,000/year with start and end dates 3 months apart. When it comes to a one-time saving or withdrawal (for example a last minute TFSA or RRSP contribution this year), the lump sum can be recorded with the same start and end date. You can specify the currency. For savings/withdrawals that start in the future, you can enter the amount in today's currency (i.e. adjusted for inflation) or in future currency. If entered in today's currency the TIME MACHINE will grow the amount with inflation up to the start date automatically. If entered in future currency, the amount entered will be used.

You can set how the saving/withdrawal grows in time between the start and end dates. We ask if the the saving is indexed, a multiplier (default is 1), and an addend rate (default is 0% and can be negative). If you check "Index to inflation", it will grow with inflation multiplied by the multiplier, plus the specified addend rate. Essentially: growth rate = inflation × multiplier + addend. If not set to be indexed with inflation, you can still set an alternate rate to grow it. In that case: growth rate = addend.

An exception is made for indexing TFSA contributions. For those of you who plan to contribute the maximum every year to a TFSA and have entered an AUTOMATIC DEPOSIT to a TFSA at $7000 (in 2026) to be indexed with inflation, the TIME MACHINE will now increase that amount to the increased limits expected in future years given your set inflation rate and rounded to the nearest $500 to match the maximum.

You can alternatively specify the withdrawal amount to be the distributions the investments have made in the year by just checking that box. That is all income and dividends will not be reinvested, and instead withdrawn from the account. Many retirees enjoy living off their dividends, and withdrawing them first reduces the need to sell investments that may trigger capital gains tax. Note that the beginning date can be next year at the earliest and that once dividend reinvestments has been turned off for the account in the TIME MACHINE, it cannot be turned back on. Past the end date you set, the distributions will put in Cash before account rebalancing.

Another alternative given is that you can also enter the deposit or withdrawal as a percentage of the account balance at the end of the year. The deposit or withdrawal will be made only once in each year that falls in between the start and end dates set.

For RRSPs and other registered retirement accounts, you can specify a withdrawal amount that will be calculated in the TIME MACHINE to bring the account's owner's taxable income up to the top of the federal tax bracket before withdrawals from that account (if not already reached by mandatory required withdrawals, and up to the maximal withdrawal allowed). Once OAS has started, an extra federal bracket corresponding to the OAS recovery tax threshold is considered so as to limit the OAS clawback when taxable income is low enough. This is a common RRSP melting strategy you can try, that can lead to decreased taxes in future years. Results will vary according to your scenario, as it can increase taxes and clawbacks in earlier years which can be costly as that money paid also loses its ability to grow. It is best to use if there are low-income years pre-retirement, then let the Withdrawal Optimizer optimize in years after retirement.