It's that time of the year again…time to bundle up in multiple layers in order to go outside, line up at the auto shop to get your winter tires put on and wonder why you haven't decided to hide in Mexico for the next 5 months. It's also time to start thinking about the typical year end items: goals, plans and budgets for the coming year, your personal taxes for 2013 and any last tax planning that you may need to do. These are things that are procrastinated on and all of a sudden it's January and you realize that you haven't even thought about it. It's never too early to start looking at the last year and deciding what worked and what didn't, things you need to change, spending habits that have gone out of control, how much extra you might going to be able to put into your RRSP by March 1st or whether you've maxxed out your TFSA contributions for the year. If you are the owner of a small business, you may also want to look at your dividend payments to see if you need to pay yourself out a little more, or if you've already hit the limit you already set for dividends for 2013. I highly recommend taking the time in November before the crazy rush of December hits to spend a few hours going over some of these key items and starting a rough draft of your 2014 budget. You'll find that come year-end, with most of these items done or at least started, you won't have to spend as much time in January on it so you'll have more time to relax and enjoy the start of 2014!
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