It is February 26, 2021 and you are taking a Personal Finance course, your two best friends Joanne and John have turned to you for some advice. All are living on a tight budget with Joanne being the only one that is saving money. You have all three been roommates for the last year and live in a condo near university. John has always taken care of the finances each month, making it easy for both you and Joanne to simply e-transfer a lump sum to him based on his monthly calculations. All are Canadian citizens, residing in Quebec.

Joanne (currently 23 years old with upcoming birthday on May 2, 2021):

• is a full-time student at university.
• lives on a tight budget and prefers to save any extra money that she has at the end of each month (currently puts $25 a pay cheque a side for her Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA); to date she has managed to contribute $2,600 to her TFSA).
• has been working part-time (12 hours/week) earning $20/hour working in finance at the Bank of Montreal:
  • 2018 gross salary for part-time work $12,000
  • 2019 gross salary for part-time work $13,000
  • 2020 gross salary for part-time work $14,000
  • 2021 gross salary for part-time work $15,000

John (currently 25 years old, birthday was on January 2, 2021):

• graduated in April 2020.
• never worked previously and due to COVID-19 only started his first job working full-time at Google as of December 1, 2020 earning an annual gross salary of $75,000 where he is paid monthly, on the last day of the month.
• his parents have provided John with a budget throughout his school years except for his tuition, for which he had to obtain a government student loan; now that he is working, he no longer has his parent’s monthly income.
• John made a first payment towards his government student loan with his first pay cheque on December 31, 2020.

You (currently 20 years old, birthday was on February 15, 2021):

• first year of university as a full-time student.
• you are on a tight budget as you are not working and your parents are helping you with your tuition and expenses.
• received $5,000 under the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) in 2020 as you were unable to find work over the summer due to COVID-19.

1. Neither John nor Joanne have ever contributed to their RRPS’s. Calculate how much John and Joanne could contribute to their RRSP to deduct on their 2020 tax return. Neither are part of a company pension plan. Do not forget to take contribution room from previous years and use information from Table.

(Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP): Annual Limits Formula for RRSP contribution limit: 18% of your previous year's earned income less your previous year's pension adjustment to an annual maximum.)

Year	Annual maximum contribution limit
2018	$26,230
2019	$26,500
2020	$27,230
2021	$27,830

2. Based on the information, calculate the following to see how much each could contribute to a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) in 2021. Assume that none have contributed to their accounts to date except for Joanne who has contributed $2,600. Do not forget to take contribution room from previous years and use information from Table.

Table: Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA): Annual Limits

Years	Annual Limit	Years	Annual Limit
Year started 2009 - 2012	$5,000/year	2016 - 2018	$5,500/year
2013 - 2014	$5,500/year	2019 - 2020	$6,000/year
2015	$10,000/year	2021	$6,000/year

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

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