People are worried about how the COVID-19 crisis is affecting the world economy, and their own finances.
Although it may be painful to look at investment portfolios right now, and difficult to plan future incomes, savings and rates of return, eventually things will return to some sort of normal.
To help you through the crisis, we won't be deleting expired MoneyReadyApp accounts, we are extending your paid subscriptions, and the free trial now includes unlimited runs of the TIME MACHINE.
So that we can keep functioning, if your subscription would have expired or if you have completed three runs of the TIME MACHINE in the trial version, the website will ask for an optional donation. If you choose to donate, it will be credited to you as additional subscription time when things return to normal.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Elisabeth Tillier, Ph.D.
Head of Money-Ready

Dear MoneyReadyApp users,

I was inspired by a letter I received from a user who uses the MoneyReadyApp to determine the long-term viability of his family's lifestyle.
(I posted it here https://www.moneyreadyapp.ca/blog/post/6.)
The EXPENSES tab is one some people stuggle with. Although it is optional to enter them in the MoneyReadyApp, it is recommended to enter at least your minimal living expenses so accounts can be withdrawn if necessary.
It's usually easy to tabulate your incomes and pensions, to know the current value of your investments, and so on. It's not so easy to understand how much money you spend or to predict how much you will spend in years to come.
Remember the TIME MACHINE attempts to satisfy this formula every year: Income - Savings - Expenses = 0.
In order to help get you started with EXPENSES, we now show you the amount of money available to spend this year as a guide.
We show you an approximation of Income - Savings - Expenses already considered elsewhere (e.g, taxes, loan payments) for the current year according to your inputs.
We think it will be helpful to guide your expenses and savings for this year and future years.
The calculation requires a mini TIME MACHINE run to calculate just the first year according to your inputs. For this reason, we have reorganized the left menu items in order to have the information necessary to get the estimate before you reach the EXPENSES tab.
Please read the Help for this page for a full explanation.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Elisabeth Tillier, Ph.D
Head of Money-Ready

Dear MoneyReadyApp users,

We've implemented several user suggestions:
1. Currency Investments. For those who trade currencies, or just need an additional cash investment in an account, we added Currency investments.
2. Copy/Merge Accounts feature. You can select accounts to copy all of their investments into one MOCK account. This would mostly be used with our rebalancing tool to get a current rebalancing recommendation over multiple accounts.
3. Ignore OAS and CPP/QPP. Whether you don't believe these programs will exist in the future, or you want to see what your plan would look like without them, or you simply don't want to deal with the CPP earnings table, you can now just click a checkbox (in the CPP/QPP and OAS tab) to ignore OAS, GIS, CPP, QPP, disability pensions, and survivor benefits for both spouses in the TIME MACHINE. Don't use this, though, if you have a free account with us as a low-income senior who is or will be collecting GIS.
4. Partial RRSP to RRIF conversions. Any withdrawals from RRSPs when 65 or older are considered to qualify as pension income eligible for the pension tax credit and income splitting in the TIME MACHINE. Essentially we are assuming the paperwork for the partial conversion to an RRIF will be done for the withdrawal amount if the account wasn't already converted. You can set up an AUTOMATIC Withdrawal on the account beginning Jan 1 of the year you turn 65 to take advantage of the tax breaks.
5. Partial LIRA to LIF conversions. We now allow withdrawals from LIRAs from age 65, assuming that the withdrawal will be considered a partial LIF conversion. This way the withdrawal will qualify as pension income eligible for the pension tax credit and income splitting in the TIME MACHINE. Again, you can set up an AUTOMATIC Withdrawal on the account to take advantage of the tax breaks. A maximum withdrawal amount will be enforced as if a LIF in the TIME MACHINE.

More information on these features is available in the appropriate "Help for this page" and in the eBook.

I want to thank the users for their suggestions. Your feedback is awesome, keep it coming!
You know that I listen and that I answer all of your questions, comments and suggestions, so please do not hesitate to contact me.

Elisabeth Tillier, Ph.D
Head of Money-Ready

Dear MoneyReadyApp users,

Just a small update.
 We've implemented a request from several users to allow stopping of dividend reinvestments and the automatic withdrawal of distributions in the TIME MACHINE.
 You can set that up in Automatic Savings/Withdrawals. Please see the Help for that page for details.
 I've added a blog to the website. For things that really don't fit in the eBook.
 You'll find the homepage a little snazzier too.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Elisabeth Tillier, Ph.D
Head of Money-Ready

Dear MoneyReadyApp users,

Happy New Year!
2019 was a very exciting year for me as I launched the MoneyReadyApp out into the internet world.
The response has been tremendous. I thank you for all the feedback and support you have given me as I continue to improve the most comprehensive and accurate financial planning app for all Canadians.
The MoneyReadyApp is only concerned with the future, and 2019 is now gone.
The app has been updated with all the 2020 tax numbers, including the new Enhanced Personal Tax Credit that was announced in December. Although not yet law, it looks likely to pass.

When you log in for the first time in 2020 you will need to do some updating before you can run the TIME MACHINE.
Review any CPP tables. The My Services Canada will not update your 2019 CPP contributions until later this year so you will have to estimate.
You will also have to review your PRIORITIES so that new tables are created for 2020. Remember to click Submit.
We assume all taxes are paid up for 2019 already. If you are expecting a tax bill you may want to enter it as a one-time expense (that is with the same start and end date) for the date you expect to make the payment. Similarly, if you are expecting a tax refund, you can enter it as a one-time Other non-taxable Income on the date you expect to receive it.
The advantage of running the TIME MACHINE in January is that there are a lot fewer inputs needed to consider for the first year.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Have a most wonderful 2020.

Elisabeth Tillier, Ph.D
Head of Money-Ready

Dear MoneyReadyApp users,

We have added a new functionality to the MoneyReadyApp. This one is for small business owners.
We now allow multiple accounts and business loans in your CCPC, in any currency.
You can also now select whether your CCPC is or not eligible for the Small Business Deduction (we previously assumed it was).

Since loan expenses will be calculated for you, you no longer need to remove them yourself from REVENUES.
If you have more than one account+loan, you will need to give us their priorities and limits for deposit and withdrawal in the TIME MACHINE.
These will be found in PRIORITIES with your personal accounts and loans, and highlighted in blue.
Please read the Help for this page on PRIORITIES for more explanation.

The graphs for the CCPC accounts and loans are now be available under the CCPC results of the TIME MACHINE and are no longer included in your personal results.

We welcome any questions and feedback,

Elisabeth Tillier, Ph.D
Head of Money-Ready

Dear MoneyReadyApp users,

We have added new functionality to the MoneyReadyApp. The program now calculates disability tax credits, the caregiver tax credits, and the eligible dependent credit for single parents and caregivers.
The calculation is done federally and for all provinces and territories. We aim for accuracy but can not guarantee the tax calculations.
CHILDREN are now DEPENDENTS on the Menu. For children you have already entered, they are assumed to be able and dependent (for tax purposes) until their 18th birthday. You can edit the child if you wish to make changes. You can also add additional eligible dependents (current or future).
If you or your spouse are eligible for the disability tax credit, you can now indicate that by checking the box in your PROFILE.

Many of these benefits are income-tested, so we also now allow you to enter INCOMES for your dependents.
If you have a CCPC, you can now specify income from the CCPC to your dependent (instead of "Other') and their taxable income will automatically be adjusted.
You will not see the income to your dependents, just the tax benefits to you when applicable.

We have also made the site faster for people with many accounts and investments as it would get bogged down with all the graphs.
You can now download the All-Investments table to csv or Excel.
You might be seeing dividends appearing in your distributions table, that you can also download.

We have added a FAQ for registered users with a list of common pitfalls that we have gathered from user comments.
Let us know if you'd like us to add anything to the list or to the FAQs.

We welcome any questions and feedback,

Elisabeth Tillier, Ph.D
Head of Money-Ready

Dear MoneyReadyApp users,

We are pleased to announce three major updates the MoneyReadyApp.

First, as we recently added functionality for disabled users and dependents, we have now added RDSP accounts.
The amounts for grants, bonds, and repayments, are calculated in the TIME MACHINE and you will see them in the account graph and in an extra column in the downloadable Excel and .csv files.
We have also added such a column for RESP accounts, so you can see the CESGs coming in.
RDSP accounts are quite complicated. If they are at all applicable to you, we strongly urge you to read that new section in the MoneyReadyApp eBook.
A beneficiary can only have one of each RDSP and RESP accounts, which raises the problem if the account holds investments in different currencies as we allowed only one currency per account.

So second, we now allow accounts to hold investments in any currency. This was our most voted on feature in VOTES.

Last, we also allow investments to be moved to other accounts in case you want to reorganize them without re-entering them. It also makes it easy to use our Account Rebalancing tool in creative ways.

The Help pages and eBook have been updated, and we always welcome any questions and feedback,

Elisabeth Tillier, Ph.D
Head of Money-Ready

Dear MoneyReadyApp users,

We have added a new functionality to the MoneyReadyApp. This one is for dividend-lovers. From now on, you will be able to see all dividends and distributions received, in the form of a table. It is accessible from a button below your ACCOUNTS table or your All-investments table.
This will allow you to see the changes we made to your investments and keep track of dividends.

Previously, we updated your investments with new prices and distributions only when you clicked on the ACCOUNTS and INVESTMENTS link.
But this was slow and not scalable for people with many investments.
We now automatically update everyone's investments nightly, just after we have received and processed the market data from Fundata.
This means you will no longer see the distributions as a flashed message when you click accounts and investments. The table will load much more quickly, and you can view/print or download the stored distributions.
Another plus is you will only see the "We are updating market prices, please review your accounts and investments later" very briefly, if at all.

There is a Help for this page on the Distributions table page with more details.

We welcome any questions and feedback,

Elisabeth Tillier, Ph.D
Head of Money-Ready
www.moneyreadyapp.ca