It’s Not Too Late, Grab These CRA Benefits Before December 31!

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) picked maybe the worst time for so many of its benefits, grants, and savings accounts to reach their deadline for contributions. Sure, the end of the year does make sense. However, who is really this organized amidst all the holiday craziness to make a decent contribution?

That’s why today I’m going to highlight some benefits that Canadians can still grab before the December 31 deadline. What’s more, here’s how to never miss it again, and see further growth in the future.

CRA cash

Let’s go over some of the best CRA options out there to make sure you’re on top of them. If you’re a parent, then the top choice you should be getting organized for is the Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). By making sure that you contribute before December 31, you can claim up to $500 per year through the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG).

There isn’t a limit to how much you can put into the RESP, but there is a limit to what you can get from the grant. For every dollar you contribute, you’ll receive back 20% up to $500 each year. However, if you missed the year before (but only the year before), that jumps up to $1,000 from the CESG. So don’t miss out on a single year!

Now most people already know about how contributing to the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) can continue until the end of February. However, that’s different if you’re turning 71. The very last day you can contribute to your RRSP is on December 31 of the year you turn 71. So please make sure you’re contributing all you can towards your future!

Don’t let it happen again!

This is now a pretty mad rush to get yourself contributing to these incredibly important programs before the end of the year. So let me tell you about a way to make sure this never happens again. That comes down to creating automated contributions towards these investments each and every paycheque.

First, make yourself a budget. Then see what you can reasonably put aside each and every paycheque towards these goals. If that’s $500, then put some towards your RESP and some towards your RRSP so that you reach the limits without going over them.

By the end of the year, you could do a top up, sure. But in the end you won’t have to worry that you missed out on contributing that year! Now let’s get into an option you may want to consider these days.

Think long term

The goal of the RESP and RRSP is to get investors thinking long term about their growth strategies. The RESP is a bit sooner, so perhaps consider exchange-traded funds (ETF) or even guaranteed income certificates. Especially at these rates lately.

But if you’re thinking long term when it comes to your RRSP, I would certainly consider some Dividend Aristocrats in there as well. This will provide you with income that can be reinvested again and again – and a great option today is BCE (TSX:BCE).

While BCE stock is down thanks to market performance and recent acquisitions of competitors, it’s still strong. The company continues to expand its fibre-to-the-home network, offering the fastest internet as well. It now offers a huge dividend yield at 7.55% as well to consider. Here is what $3,000 could get you by putting that into your RRSP, for example.

Now you have extra passive income of $894 from returns and $228.33 from dividends. That’s a total of $1,122.33 in just a year! And imagine what that can do for you before retirement.