Mom2KG, my regular monthly columnist, decided to do double duty in March and wrote a book review on Preet’s The RRSP Book. Preet’s regular blog can be found here. Hope you enjoy and have a great weekend.

The sub-sub title of this self-published book is “41 Strategies Canadians Need to Know About Our Country’s Single Greatest Tax Planning Tool”. I have to say, hats off to Banerjee, for itemizing, understanding and writing about forty-one aspects of RRSPs. Forty-one! I’d already vaguely become aware that RRSPs were more than tax deductions and RRSPs, but his work certainly opened my eyes.

Banerjee notes there are exactly zero books out there on RRSPs, and only a few focussed on the Canadian financial framework. This in an interesting things to ponder on its own, but I do wish Banerjee had elected another option besides self-publishing. It’s a bugaboo of mine, but the text is distracting for its lack of editing, ranging from poor punctuation to the inappropriate use of emoticons. I hope he shops the next edition around, because the book is otherwise engaging (for a book about RRSPs) and full of great information.

Banerjee absolutely provides a wealth of information, tips and tricks. He also provides excellent critiques of certain apparent benefits, such as using the $2000 over-contribution limit (see strategy # 13).

Not all forty-one strategies are applicable to all Canadians all of the time, but I would bet most of them eventually become applicable for most of us. I nearly fell over to learn I could finance a possible return to school through my RRSPs – a much better option than going back to student loans (see strategies # 9 and 10)! I knew about the Homebuyer’s Plan (see strategy # 8), but was flabbergasted to read about holding the mortgage in my RRSP and essentially becoming my own bank. It may not actually be feasible (Banerjee warns there are a lot of conditions) but at least I now know to ask about it (see strategy # 23).

There were so many things I – and likely others – had assumed about RRSPs. Turns out it is an unbelievably flexible tax-planning tool. My kids will thank Banerjee, as I intend to take his advice and start creating RRSP room for them as soon as they can push a broom (see strategy # 15).

Some – but not all – of the strategies are very technical, let’s face, not riveting reading. The important point is that Banerjee demonstrates the potential and flexibility of the RRSP. With a financial advisor such as the author providing guidance, I bet many Canadians could benefit from his strategies.