Topic: How To Invest

How the Conservative majority could make your tax free savings account (TFSA) even better

During the election campaign, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised to double the annual contribution limit for your tax-free savings account (TFSA) after the federal budget is balanced, which the government expects to do by 2015.

(I recently wrote a special bulletin about how the election results could affect your investments. Click here to read this special bulletin and add your comments.)

The federal government first made TFSAs available to investors in January 2009. Your TFSA lets you earn investment income — including interest, dividends and capital gains — tax free. You could contribute $5,000 in 2009 to start your tax free savings account.

Every year, you can contribute an additional $5,000 to your TFSA. If you contribute less than $5,000 to your TFSA in any given year, you can carry the difference forward. That means your TFSA contributions for 2009 and 2010 totalled $10,000, rising to $15,000 in 2011, $20,000 in 2012 and so on.

Under the government’s proposal, the $5,000 annual contribution limit to your tax free savings account would double to $10,000.

Exchange traded funds remain our top choice for tax free savings account investing

Whether or not the Conservative government follows through on its promise, we continue to think tax-free savings accounts are a good choice for investors.

Your TFSA could help you cut your tax bill even more

TFSAs are already a great tax shelter. And if the new Conservative majority government follows through on its promises, your TFSA could save you thousands more in taxes. The May issue of Canadian Wealth Advisor, which comes out tomorrow, gives you our very latest picks of the best exchange-traded funds for your TFSA. Best of all, you get this issue FREE when you take a 1-month no-risk trial to Canadian Wealth Advisor today. Click here to get started right away..

Even though your total TFSA contributions have risen to $15,000 for 2011, it’s still difficult to build a diversified portfolio within your TFSA. That’s why we continue to recommend that you look to exchange traded funds, like the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index Fund (Toronto symbol XIU), for TFSA investing.

The fund is a recommendation of our Canadian Wealth Advisor newsletter. Its units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies.

The exchange traded fund’s units trade on the Toronto exchange, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but you will quickly make these back because of the low management fees, which are just 0.17% of the fund’s assets.

Over the years, as the value of your TFSA increases, you could switch to a well-diversified portfolio of conservative, mostly dividend-paying stocks.

Let our portfolios guide you to the right investments for your TFSA

Canadian Wealth Advisor recommends a number of exchange-traded funds suitable for TFSA investing in its CWA ETF Portfolio. It’s one of three portfolios the newsletter offers (the other two are the Trust & REIT Portfolio and the Safety-Conscious Stock Portfolio). We continuously monitor and update all three portfolios.

You can get our all three of our Canadian Wealth Advisor portfolios, including our CWA ETF Portfolio, when you take a no-risk trial to Canadian Wealth Advisor today. Best of all, you get one issue absolutely free, plus 5 in-depth Special Reports and much more. Click here to learn how.

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