October 23, 2023 When thinking about family gatherings, you might focus on special occasions like holiday meals, birthday parties and anniversary celebrations. These are all good reasons to bring generations together, but there’s another gathering that’s equally important: the family financial meeting. Granted, discussing your health care needs and estate plans can be difficult and uncomfortable, but it benefits the entire family when everyone’s on the same page regarding your intentions....

October 16, 2023 Central banks in Canada and the U.S. have raised interest rates very aggressively over the last year to fight soaring inflation, putting a significant amount of strain on borrowers. But high interest rates have a silver lining: they give savers and savvy investors a great opportunity to boost their return potential. Here are six ways you can take advantage of high interest rates: Bank stocks. Banks usually generate more profit as the spread increases between the interest they...

Higher education provides many benefits to students, such as building a career foundation, expanding social skills and learning responsibility. However, this education can come at a steep cost. The price tag will depend largely on whether or not your child attends a nearby school. If your child is still years away from post-secondary education, you’ll need to budget for inflation as well. Major expensesWith proper planning and budgeting, many families can manage an investment in the child’s...

Three years ago this was not a thing.  You could not buy a company that was preparing to sell marijuana(mj) for recreational use. Now there are mj farms, dispensaries, accessories manufacturing and bi-product formulations being crafted for beverages and consumables. There is a complete new understanding of botanicals, oils, and dietary science being explored to further develop markets within this industry that in total are expected to dwarf beer and wine sales in the coming years. I have...

We are all aware of families who have children and adults with disabilities, but most of us are unaware of programs designed to financially assist those individuals as they age beyond their earning years.  Most individuals with disabilities may have careers but most won’t have earnings that would allow them to retire with a pension.  The Registered Disability Savings Plan RDSP would provide that option and would assist to bridge the gap to a more modest income.  This program is under-utilized...

We have entered the tax filing period for personal income tax.  If you read our last two articles you would have considered tax loss selling in 2016 and maybe even made some charitable donations to take advantage of graduated tax credits while preparing your 2016 tax return.  Our to do list for 2017 includes creating a net worth statement as a baseline, much the same as your doctor recording blood pressure and cholesterol readings that future readings can be compared to.   Your Net worth...

What if your partner suddenly dies? Besides having to grieve you are now responsible for taking control of the finances. Think about it!  What would that look like? Would you have the resources to continue to live in the same home? It goes without saying that a conversation with your spouse or your executor should cover all of the following topics and you should make notes on each topic, gathering information that is relevant to how the asset is to be treated when the owner dies....

Which plan should you invest in for your future?  In every case the answer depends on your personal situation.  Your age, residency, citizenship, income, marital status, dependant status, housing status, health status, disposable income status, and debt levels will all factor into helping to answer this question. The primary use of RRSP is to defer tax payable on all deposits and to create a personal Pension Plan. The primary use of TFSA is to save without tax consequence. The limits of...

Everyone has their own reasons to give charitably, so this article will focus on making the most of your donations for tax purposes. Donation credits are two tiered in our tax system.  All donations are considered non refundable tax credits.  For British Columbia donations up to $200 will receive a 19.59% (combined Federal and Provincial) tax credit and all amounts over $200 you will receive a 43.7% (combined) tax credit as per tax tables from Canada Revenue Agency. If you save up multiple...

It's Not Going to Happen to Me by Mark Nichol Procrastination and avoidance are two things that you don't want to be remembered for. What happens when you are mentally incompetent and have no Power of Attorney (POA) or you die without a valid Will. Since you won't have to deal with it, doesn't mean you shouldn't care. If you become incapable of managing your affairs and do not have an enduring POA or representation agreement and you have property which requires management, a committee of...