OMG! Biggest freaking news of this decade!!!!

[BMW Rider]

Originally Posted by CLINT

I know only what Ive heard from older people who have spent years putting money in RRSP's and have had to pay enormous amounts in taxes when they've needed larger sums of money.Id hate to have my car die when im older and need to take money to pay for it only to add 40% to the cost for taxes.Just makes very little sense.I dont even like giving the goverment gst and pst.Last thing I want to give them is the money that I spent years squandering away like a chipmunk.JMO.Clint

If they're paying that much in taxes because they had to draw out a large sum, then they failed to plan ahead. Once you are into retirement, you should start to move small amounts out of the RRSPs regularly even if you don't need it. You can reinvest it in a non registered fund. That way you minimize the impact of the taxes since it does not bump your income into a higher tax rate. In a few years you will have a nice sum outside of your RRSP that you can draw on with no further tax penalty. Plus, you have to remember that you have not paid any taxes on any of that money for the entire time it has been in the RRSP. Its not that you will never pay taxes on it, the plan is that you will pay less taxes on it and you get to have all of your money to invest rather than just the aftertax portion.

If you have an income that is sufficent to push you into the highest tax rate all ready, then you can shut up and quit griping about your taxes since you have way more money than me

If you plan to tap into the funds prior to retirement, then an RRSP is perhaps not the best place to invest; or at least not all of your savings.