Colin S. Ritchie

Mar 12

4 Tips for A Better Will

Further to requests following my webinar for Canadian Moneysaver magazine last October, I’m going to write a number of articles designed to help you understand the estate planning process, detail your choices, and assist you in increasing the chances of the right people getting the right assets at the right time — and with as little hassle, tax or expense as possible. If I can make you laugh or at least tweak the corners of your mouth from time to time along the way, I’ll consider that an added bonus. Read more

Feb 18

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Borrowing From Peter to Invest in Paul: Does Borrowing Against Your Home To Invest Make Sense?

To quote an oft-repeated line from Hamlet, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” To many of us, like my grandfather, these are words to live by (particularly the bit about not borrowing). Traditional wisdom suggested saving until you could pay in cash and, if you had to borrow to buy something like a home, moving heaven and earth until you owned a clear title. As for me, I don’t see things as nearly that clear- cut. While I agree that saving for the future is a wonderful thing and that living beyond your means is the road to ruin, carrying debt isn’t necessarily as evil as some might suggest. I hope to show you at least a couple of exceptions to the general rule, after which I’ll turn the focus to leveraged investing using home equity. Then you can decide if it’s a good thing for you or merely for those receiving commissions. You’ll also see some suggestions that I hope will help tip the odds more firmly in your favour if this path appeals to you. Finally, although I’ll discuss some borrowing options in passing, I will leave a more detailed review of this subject to Russ Morrison, a mortgage-broker friend of mine who excels at this sort of thing.

Jan 1

Insured Annuities

Do you have pension envy? Are you one of those people who secretly or not-so-secretly covet a gold-plated defined benefit pension plan that promises a stable income for life, no matter how long you live or how poorly the stock markets perform? If so, funds permitting, you can take matters into your own hands and create one for yourself by purchasing a life annuity. Even better, unlike some pensions that only provide you with limited choices, a life annuity provides you with far more options on the features and guarantees that go with it so that you get the best fit for your situation. Even better, even inside most registered plan, you are not required to spend every last dollar on an annuity. As a result, you’re not stuck committing more of your retirement dollars towards monthly annuity cheques than makes sense, which means getting to keep the surplus invested for rainy days and emergencies. Sound enticing? Read on. Read more

Nov 14

Preparing for 2016 – Changes to the Taxation of Life Insurance, Prescribed Annuities and Testamentary Trusts

For those of us who focus on estate and financial planning, particularly on the left coast, the last few years have featured a cavalcade of change. 2011 featured changes to how Powers of Attorney must be set up and what they can do, along with the introduction of a new healthcare document called an “Advance Directive” that allows you to dictate your healthcare choices in advance along the lines of a Living Will. 2013 marked large scale changes to family law in beautiful B.C., such as extending property rights to common law spouses and changing how property gets divided in the event of a divorce. This year (2014) saw massive changes to Wills law, including a change on how things get divided if you die without a Will, what happens if two people die around the same time and removing the automatic revocation of your Will upon marriage, to name just a few.

Despite the significant changes already in place, there more still to come. This time they’re coming from the Federal Government and will affect more than just those people who cheer for the Canucks. Fortunately, we’ve been told of these tweaks to the system several years in advance so that we get a chance to either prepare for the inevitable (such as under the new tax rules for how trusts set up in your Wills) or to take advantage of a final chance to buy life insurance and annuities that will continue to qualify under the current rules even under the new regime. Here’s a little bit about each.