Posts from the ‘Legal’ Category

May 27

Using Options for Income

For Those Who Like the Bird in the Hand

As a financial planner, I generally despise uncertainty. When clients ask me whether they will be able to stop working this year and have the money to achieve their retirement goals, I hate that I can’t answer their question with a categorical, etched-in-stone, 100% guaranteed, resounding “yes!!!” No matter how hard I try, however, this is not going to change. In the end, my world is one of probabilities rather than certainties, so I will act accordingly. Since I will never be able to accurately predict all of the myriad variables that go into assembling a financial plan — such as lifespans, inflation, future tax changes and client health — I see my job as tweaking the odds in my clients’ favour to the greatest extent possible through techniques like tax planning and insurance, as well as making sure that all of the legal “t’s” have been crossed (although there will always still be a few “if, ands and buts” lurking in the background). Read more

Mar 18

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A Voice from Beyond the Grave: Providing Guidance to the People Listed in Your Will and Related Documents

Most people quite rightly feel pretty good about finally signing their Wills and related documents such as Powers of Attorney and Representation Agreements. They have taken a huge step toward making sure the right people get the right assets at the right time, that the right people are empowered to make the appropriate decisions, and that their healthcare choices are clear, all the while hopefully ensuring that those left behind are still able to sit across the table from each other at family gatherings without needless bloodshed. On the other hand, as I generally point out in my egregiously long reporting letters after the fact, their work may not be quite done. Read more

Feb 23

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RRSPs 102 — Part 2

With mid-February now come and gone and the RRSP deadline for the 2015 year looming large, the time is right to round off my two-part series on RRSPs. Many of you reading these words already have a firm grasp of the fundamentals. In fact, in my mind’s eye, I may even have seen a couple of you nod off or zoom ahead a few times while reading my first article (although I hope you didn’t skip the funny bits). For those of you who haven’t read the first article, however, and who don’t regularly talk about marginal tax rates while on the social circuit, I would suggest checking out my last piece in order to set the scene for the information below. As an added bonus, I did include a couple of advanced RRSP techniques that in the right hands can result in dangerous levels of tax savings. Read more

Nov 19

Tax Planning Webinar Saturday!

Hi all. I just wanted to pass along that I am doing a free webinar Saturday morning (i.e. November 21, 2015) at 10 am my time (1 pm in Ontario) on tax planning for Canadian Moneysaver Magazine. Hopefully, you’ll learn a few tips that can put a little bit more green in your bank account, which isn’t a bad sort of thing this time of the year. Click here to get more details: http://www.canadianmoneysaver.ca/events