New Years Financial Resolutions
Jack and Diane want to improve their financial situation and feel that making financial New Years resolutions and implementing them is a good start. To help identify their priorities, they made the following list: Set Objectives – Goal setting is the foundation of achieving financial success. If they write down their goals, it will […]
More Overlooked RRSP Tricks
More than 65% of Canadians have made deposits to Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs). Many do so just for the tax savings, but here are some often overlooked tricks you should be aware of: RRSP loans – Those who use investment funds for their RRSPs should be well aware of the strategy of ‘buying low and […]
The Retirement Dilemma: Part 1
In the mid – 1960s conventional wisdom (or motherhood) for retirement planning said that you should take all of your investments and put them into government bonds or fixed income type products. The thinking was that you could not afford to take any ‘risk’ in your retirement years. Thus it was believed that guaranteed investing […]
Regulators Target Compensation Structures
The current compensation model for financial industry participants*, who promote the use of investment funds and other managed investment products for retail clients, has been mostly unchanged for over 30 years. Regulators, led primarily by the Canadian Securities Administrators, (CSA – a national committee representing most Provincial Securities Regulators) have been studying and reviewing […]
RDSP offers a bonus
Starting in 2008, the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP), which is open to Canadians who qualify for the disability tax credit, offers a tremendous bonus to those who are eligible. The RDSP is a savings plan that you contribute to after-tax, with earnings and growth accumulating tax-deferred. The maximum amount that you can invest […]
How to Care
Our parents raised us; we moved out, had children of our own and raised them. Then our children moved out and had children of their own to raise. It was supposed to stop there for us, but then one day we had to look after one or both of our parents. According to a […]