"Hey Stupe." It was short for stupid. "Come-ere! I need you to run some patterns again."
And no, it wasn't football.
We had a symbiotic relationship of sorts. My brother got to practice shooting his pellet gun and I got to practice running. If I could hold my nerve, run fast and dodge erratically enough, it didn't hurt as much, because most of the projectiles missed. I was a Matrix man, way ahead of my time.
Keeping my back to the shooter helped, but if I ran too far the other way, he would drop the gun, overtake me in a powerful sprint, and punch me. And that hurt even more than the wheat.
Yes, wheat. We kept some in storage as a kid. A self-reliance technique encouraged by church leaders, we would grind our own flour and endeavor to keep a two-year supply of basic foodstuffs on hand. That was the only thing about church my dad took to. "You never know when the communists might attack."
Never mind communists. I had my very own personal Big Brother.
Well, I had two, but one seemed to have read the UNICEF convention on the rights of a child, and the other one not so much.
The not-so-much one was sitting on the back porch of the church beside our house (not our church) resting his pellet rifle on the handrail, barking instructions to me.
"Keep your feet moving! Run hard! Okay. Other way! Good. Okay, now be still for a minute!" I would cover my head and crouch down, to which he would bark:
"Stand up! Don't be such a baby!"
When I got so that I was fast and artfully dodgy enough to avoid most of the prairie bullets, he eventually lost interest in the unpredictable and misshapen ammunition in favor of real metal pellets. I must say, I preferred the wheat.
To incent me to give the lead a try, he agreed to let me shoot at him first. But as he was walking away toward the usual place where person became prey, the predator in me was overcome and I shot lamely toward his feet, dropped the gun and ran like a madman off his meds. I headed toward the safety of... yeah. You know where this is going. There is no safe haven from Big Brother.
Anyhow, the role reversal seemed to have quenched the man-hunter in him, and that was the end of me as his living target practice decoy.
A shield of
a different sort
Following up on last week's TFSA discussion, consider using a TFSA, in addition to a registered education savings plan (RESP), as a tax-sheltered way to supplement savings for your child's education.
If you gift funds to a child who is at least 18 years old, they can contribute to a TFSA. They will not pay tax on the investment income they withdraw from the TFSA as they would with RESP withdrawals. Note however that contributions to a TFSA will not attract the government grant. In addition, once you make the gift, it is theirs to spend, no string attached.
In B.C., the age of majority is 19.
A person who is 18 will accumulate TFSA contribution room for the year but will not be able to open the TFSA until they turn 19.
Tfsa opportunities
for retirees
Retirees are one of the major groups to benefit from the TFSA.
Here's a summary of some of the potential opportunities:
If you are no longer working but have cash that you don't need right away, you can continue building your savings in the TFSA's tax-free environment.
You can contribute to this tax-free savings vehicle even after the end of the year you turn 71 when you are no longer able to contribute to your RRSP. This may prove useful for your future needs and you will not be required to convert it to a taxable income vehicle at any time in the future as with an RRSP.
If you anticipate being in the same or a higher tax bracket in retirement, a TFSA could provide another source of tax efficient retirement income. Unlike withdrawing funds from a registered plan, which would be fully taxed at a higher future tax rate, withdrawals from a TFSA are not taxable.
Another advantage of using a TFSA to complement your existing sources of retirement income is that, as withdrawals from the account are not taxable income, they do not have an impact on any federal income tested benefits and credits you may receive, such as the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Age Credit.
The fact that TFSA withdrawals are not taxable also means that the withdrawals will not affect Old Age Security (OAS) claw back.
Be sure before you shoot. This article is not meant as legal or tax advice, and readers should consult their own professionals before proceeding with a strategy.
Mark Ryan is an advisor with RBC Wealth Management, Dominion Securities (member CIPF) and can be reached at [email protected] or 250-960-4927.
