[Sylvanfan]

So the deadline is fast approaching as March 2nd is 15 days away. The limit for 2014 tax year looks to be 24270 plus any carry over amounts from previous years.

I might guess that many of us are looking at a less lucrative 2015 as compared to last year Given the Alberta economy.

I did manage to increase my personal contributions by 17% this past year, up to about 14.7% of my meager gross earnings before deductions. Granted family wise my wife and I only are getting 8.5% roughly. So we still get a F grade there. Our overall finial health is still poor, but that's an upgrade from the catastrophic rating I would have given myself 5 years ago.

Despite looking at less personal income and a huge loss in family earnings with a 2nd kid due in May, I will try to match the gross dollars from last year. I realized that I am committing the fundamental mistake of not paying myself 10%. My company matches my 5% contribution and than put 1/3 of our bonuses towards the RRSP. So last year about 45% of my RRSP contribution came via those. So this year I plan to match my own 5% so that I give up 10 to get my 5. That will put me at 15% without any bonus which I expect will not happen.

Will need to study the new tax laws a bit though. 7 months of EI will reduce our family income a fair bit. Under the old format I would have considered converting some of my wife's RRSP stuff to TFSA. But I doubt that would have even made sense.

I still think people are not honest enough with their financial failures. I hope everyone is better than me at this stuff, but many of the people on the staff I manage claim they can't afford to lose 3 hours on a pay cheque let alone lose one. So that leads me to believe that they are not in good shape. I would struggle for sure to lose my biweekly pay, but can ride it out for at least a year.