What I do that I find works for me is to split my expenses into two categories: Core (food, shelter, utilities, etc.) and Lifestyle (Go-Go -> for travel, fun money, early inheritance giving).  I've set up the Core expenses to continue as is until I plan to sell my house and move to a retirement home (at which point I expect them to substantially increase), so I end the core expenses and setup a new expense category for it.  At this time I end my Lifestyle expense and set up a new one (Slow-Go) with a new amount and a declining percentage of -1%, as Elisabeth suggested above. 

It seems to work well so far. 

I have saved both runs.  The only differences will be found in account "QT RRIF DS" where I have changed the distributions on two of the ETFs from ROC to Dividends.  

Thank you. 

Hi Elisabeth,

In my non-registered accounts I am holding ETFs that pay a distribution that is made entirely of ROC.  When setting the ETF distributions to reflect 100% ROC I am encountering an issue that there is a cashfow issue.  However, if I move the same distribution from ROC to Dividend, the issue is resolved.  It would appear in this case that perhaps MRA is assuming that I am not receiving a cash distribution, however, I am.  I want to ensure proper taxation is calculated on my distributions.

Will you please advise what is causing this?

Wow, I love the new Cash Flow report, Elisabeth!  This provides a very clear way to view income and expenses.  

Thank you!

Hi Elisabeth,

This is a wonderful post summarizing all the work done in MRA in 2023.   Thank you for your ongoing commitment to improve MRA and to making it the fabulous software it is.   I often want to refer MRA to friends and family, but in reality, it is such a small part of the population that are willing and interested in managing their finances to this degree.  I don’t understand it completely, but this is my experience. 

The moment for me that changed my approach to  my finances was when I truly came to the realization that nobody will care more about my money than me.  So who better than me to take care of it? 

Here's to another great year in the MoneyReady world!  Cheers!!

These are pretty cool diagrams.  Nice addition to MRA!  

Hi Elisabeth,

How does MRA handle the tax scenario when the cost base gets to zero for an investment?  Does it then begin calculating capital gains taxes?

The Optimizer is for more than dealing with a legacy calculation.  It can determine the priority for withdrawals for your various types of accounts which can help you reduce your lifetime tax burden.  Use it to compare the results of your plan by running the Time Machine first, and then run the Optimizer afterward.

Here is a very detailed article on the Optimizer you can read to help you understand exactly what it does.

https://www.moneyreadyapp.ca/blog/post/8 

Right, of course! 🤦‍♂️  That will work just fine, thank you.

I have a few ETFs whose distributions include both eligible dividends and foreign income.  Currently, I am setting the Dividend type to "Eligible", though Foreign is also an option.  What I don't see is a way to identify both types of income for a single ETF and the percentage of each.  An example of this type of ETF is XGRO.

As a result, no FI is being used in the TM calculations.

How do you suggest I do this so that the foreign income is captured correctly?

Okay I have doubled the contribution amounts for both partners and beleive there is enough money available to make the contributions (I'm assuming by money you mean available funds from NR and/or RRIF accounts? TM will sell securities when there isn't cash, correct?). 

When I look at the Cash In and Account Deposits details for specific years the TFSA accounts are not showing any withdrawals (cash in) and often the deposits to the TFSA's aren't utilizing the new contribution room, let alone the available room. 

Thank you for your help with the scenario I asked for your help with.  It is working quite well and, so far as you might have expected, the optimizer results are better.  I have managed to narrow the gap somewhat, but not fully as yet.

One of the things I have noticed when comparing the normal run with the optimized run is that not all of the TFSA room is being utilized in the normal run.  There are funds that could be taken from the non-reg accounts, but the TM isn’t using the available contribution room in several, if not all years.

(I have attempted to include a screenshot comparing both TM runs, however, have been unable to add it)

Would you please advise why this might be happening?  If you need access to my data, please go ahead as necessary. Thanks in advance for your assistance with this.  

Hi Elisabeth, 

I want to be able to run a scenario to do the following:

1. Withdraw monthly earned distributions from our TFSA accounts to cover expenses,

2. In January the following year, fully recontribute to our TFSA's from our RRIF's, then from our Non-Reg accounts using all available room.

3. Repeat each year until RRIF and NR accounts are depleted.

4. Continue to withdraw TFSA distributions to cover expenses. 

Could you advise how to set up this scenario in MR?