A Closer look at Savings Accounts, TFSA’s and RRSP’s
You have a job, you are saving part of your income, and your hard-earned money is sitting in the same savings bank account you opened years ago. You may have noticed that the interest your money is earning has been dwindling while the fees the bank charges you remain the same. Perhaps you have heard […]
Warren Buffett’s Reversal On Gold Is The Latest Bet Against The U.S. Dollar
For decades, Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman and vice chairman, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, respectively, built a convincing case against gold. In his 2018 annual letter to shareholders, Buffett went as far as stating “The magical metal was no match for the American mettle.” This long-standing aversion to gold appears to have changed. In its Q2 […]
The Largest Financial Commitment of Your Life
The Largest Financial Commitment of Your Life Those may seem like dramatic words, however buying your first house is generally the largest purchase of your life. It can also mean the combining of financial futures for many couples as they start their lives together. With ultra-low interest rates for the foreseeable future, many clients and […]
The Risk and Opportunity of Investing in Canadian Banks
The Risk and Opportunity of Investing in Canadian Banks A foreigner visiting a Canadian city for the first time could tell a lot about us by standing at any major intersection. Tim Horton’s would occupy one corner, on the second could be a Shoppers Drug Mart or gas station or LCBO, and the remaining two […]
The Estate Bond Strategy: Tax-Efficient Tool to Accumulate and Transfer Wealth
The Estate Bond Strategy: Tax-Efficient Tool to Accumulate and Transfer Wealth Quite typically, life insurance is viewed as a pure risk management tool used to create liquidity in the event of death. In this “traditional” approach, insurance is used to fund personal and business needs – such as income replacement, debt repayment, and funding estate […]
The Love Letter – July 2020
It’s 2020, but the outlook isn’t 20/20 It’s been four and a half months since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. It seems that the world has both stood still and evolved considerably during these past few months. As in the aftermath of a terrible storm, we are slowly emerging from our […]
Cascading Life Insurance as a Wealth Transfer Strategy
In working with affluent families, one of the key questions I commonly hear is how to transfer wealth to their children and/or grandchildren while paying the least amount of tax? Here is a strategy that allows for wealth to accumulate on a tax-sheltered basis and effectively transfer to children and/or grandchildren free of income tax […]
Opportunity to Income Split and Save Taxes on Investment Income
The CRA has announced that they will be decreasing the Prescribed Rate for the third quarter of 2020 from 2% to 1%, effective July 1, 2020. Consequently, Canadian taxpayers will have an opportunity to lock-in Prescribed Rate family loans at the lowest possible level and potentially achieve significant recurring tax savings on investment income by […]
The Love Letter – June 2020
Strong body armour enhances dividend sustainability for Canadian banks Heading into a pivotal earnings week, the Canadian bank subsector of the S&P/TSX Composite Index had declined 24% since the beginning of the year, vastly underperforming the overall Canadian stock market’s year-to-date decline of 11% (to May 22). Lower net interest margins, higher expected loan losses, […]
The Love Letter – May 2020
The road trip is cancelled, but the roadmap is intact Normally at this time of year, Himalaya and one or more of his sons set out on a 3,500km roundtrip journey to Omaha, Nebraska to attend the annual general meeting of Berkshire Hathaway (this year’s meeting is being held Saturday May 2). Due to COVID-19, […]