When do you need the money?
In a meeting with a potential client, they asked, “How should I invest the money I just received?” The key issues to review are: What is the money for? When do they need it? Situation: They had just received $400,000 income from a company they were associated with. Due to the structure of the business, […]
How Business Owners can increase their Retirement Savings by Investing within their Corporation.
A great strategy many owners of Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPC) use to build up retirement savings is to invest within their corporation using the benefit of the tax deferral between their personal income tax rate and the small business income tax rate. Why invest with your CCPC? Investing within your CCPC offers the potential to defer […]
Do you need Disability Insurance?
Do you need Disability Insurance? While reviewing the financial documents during a meeting with a couple in their forties who wished to create a retirement plan, I didn’t see any disability insurance for one of the spouses. He had a group disability policy with work, but she was self-employed and didn’t have one. She mentioned […]
Trusts for Retirees – Probate Planning
When estate planning, most retirees wish to review strategies to avoid probate fees, which in Ontario are 1.5% of the value of the asset that is distributed via a will. A potential client asked, “Can trusts be used to avoid probate costs when we transfer assets to the next generation?” The answer is yes. For retirees, […]
Nine Tax Strategies to Pay Less Tax in Retirement
Income tax is one of the largest expenses any retiree has. The Fraser Institute Report indicated that Canadians paid 45% of income as taxes in 2019. Your goal in retirement should be to organize your income stream to: reduce the amount of tax you may have to pay preserve any government tax credits preserve government […]
The 38 Blog Posts from 2021
I would like to thank all of you who have visited our blog and website. Below I have sorted the 38 blog posts I wrote last year by topic of interest to make the content easier to find. Some of the articles are good, some are ok, and some are…… Feel free to forward them […]
The Three Estate Buckets
Annually with clients, we review how their estate will be distributed to their beneficiaries. We determine if there are any changes in their desires, or opportunities to save taxes and/or fees. In a recent webinar by Michael Kitces, Mathew Jarvis, a US Financial Advisor, shared a concept he uses with clients called the Estate Buckets. I […]
What do I do if I don’t want to be an executor?
The question that arises occasionally from clients is: Can you turn down the role of an executor if you are named one? Why turn it down? You may not want to be the executor due to family conflict, or the job may be too much for you. So, can you turn the role down? The simple […]
Risks to Retirement Income Planning
Retirement Income Planning is a speciality in the world of financial advice. There are specific risks that are different from simply saving for retirement. It requires a different skillset for the advisor to be able to plan for the specific risks when developing an income plan that will last a family’s entire lifetime. From my […]
Should I transfer the ownership of my house or investment account into joint ownership with my children to avoid probate fees?
Excerpts from the Book – Preserving Wealth – written by Jack Lumsden, MBA, CFP® A common question we receive is, “Should I transfer the ownership of my house or investment account into joint ownership with my children to avoid probate fees?” This type of ownership is called joint tenancy with survivorship. This means both parties […]
