Avoid These Five RRSP Pitfalls

It is Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) season once again! Beyond the importance of contributing to the RRSP to grow funds for retirement, avoiding certain practices can also help to save tax or create a bigger nest egg for the future. 

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RRSP Season Reminders

Contribute — The deadline RRSP contributions for the 2021 tax year is Tuesday March 1, 2022. Contributions are limited to 18 percent of the previous year’s earned income, to a maximum of $27,830 for the 2021 tax year. Consider an automatic monthly contribution plan to avoid missing the deadline. 

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TFSA: Do You Have Unused Contribution Room?

The 2022 TFSA dollar limit is $6,000. This brings the total lifetime contribution limit to $81,500 for those eligible.  

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Be Aware: Use the TFSA for Longer-Term Investing  

Perhaps as a result of a confluence of factors — buoyant markets, social media influence and today’s ease of investing  — we have been receiving more questions about young investors who want to open up a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) for investing purposes.  

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Inflation: How Has Purchasing Power Changed?

Estate planning often involves preparing for what happens after death. Yet, consider that giving while living can also play a complementary role within an estate plan. While the obvious personal benefit is the satisfaction of seeing your gift at work, consider that there may be other benefits, including financial ones, from giving while alive: 

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Estate Planning: The Benefits of Giving While Alive

Estate planning often involves preparing for what happens after death. Yet, consider that giving while living can also play a complementary role within an estate plan. While the obvious personal benefit is the satisfaction of seeing your gift at work, consider that there may be other benefits, including financial ones, from giving while alive: 

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Supporting the Cost of Higher Education: Tapping the RESP

With the return of autumn, many families have turned their attention to school. If (grand)children are off to pursue post-secondary education, the rising cost of higher education may be top of mind. As investors, we have the opportunity to assist (grand)children with education at all levels. For starters, we can provide advice about money, teaching the fundamentals of saving, investing, and taxes. We may also choose to put aside financial resources to support the cost. 

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The Season of Giving: “Doing Good” and Benefitting Your Taxes

Many of us wish to support charities that are important to us. In “doing good,” it can also work to your benefit in the form of a tax credit. Here are just a handful of options...

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Investing & the Art of Patience

It may be easy to overlook the importance of patience in investing. Instant gratification has become a way of life. We’ve been conditioned to expect instantaneous results through influences like on-demand television and one-click shopping. Many of us aren’t willing to wait more than two seconds for a website to load.

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Afraid You’ll Outlive Your Funds? The Four Percent Rule Revisited

How much can I spend in retirement so that I don’t outlast my money? This is one of the more common questions we hear as we help clients to plan ahead. 

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Retire Up to 30 Percent Wealthier: Why Not More? 

You may have heard an oft-repeated advertisement in the media today that suggests that by reducing investment management fees, you have the potential to retire up to 30 percent wealthier. While few would choose to forego this amount down the road, it may be worthwhile to take a deeper look at these claims. 

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Responsible Investing: Four Reasons to Consider ESG Investing

Responsible Investing (RI) is quickly growing to become a standard. With accelerating commitments by policymakers and business leaders to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, RI has gained a greater focus in the investing world. Increasingly, investors are prioritizing ESG factors into their investment objectives. Have you integrated ESG factors into your own investing? Here are four considerations...

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Estate Planning: Having End-of-Life Discussions with Loved Ones

It is understandable that many of us prefer to avoid the subject of end-of-life planning, or at least try to put it off until the last moment. Yet, the pandemic should remind us of the importance of these discussions.   

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Talking to Adult Children: The Hot Housing Market 

For those of us who can remember, the average cost of a Canadian home was around $164,000 when we started the millennium.1 In just over 20 years, this has risen to around $716,000 — and, what you get for that price can vary depending upon your location.

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Tax Planning: A Spousal Rollover May Not Always Make Sense

In married or common-law partnerships, using a spousal rollover1 has become a conventional strategy for many estate plans. Under a spousal rollover, any associated capital gains on certain capital property or registered plan income that transfers to a surviving spouse will be deferred until the spouse disposes of, or is deemed to have disposed of, those assets or withdraws them (in the case of registered plans).  

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Estate Planning: Preparing for a Wealth Transfer

With over one trillion dollars of inheritances expected to be passed along over the next decade, taking action to preserve wealth across generations has never been more important.1 Does your estate plan protect this wealth transfer? Here are some considerations: 

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