Estate Planning
What Happens to your RRSP and TFSA after you Die?
Last week, I wrote about the most efficient way to withdraw from your accounts during retirement. Within the article, I mentioned that while the general rule of thumb is to keep your RRSP as long as possible, there are some situations where drawing down on your RRSP first makes the most sense. This is particularly…
Read MoreLetter to My Wife – How our Finances Work
Its not uncommon for families to have a designated money person. Some families may have one spouse who takes care of the bills, while the other takes care of the investments. In other cases, it may be completely one sided with one spouse taking care of the household financial issues. In our household, I’m the financial enthusiast,…
Read MoreEstate Planning for a Family Business using the Tax Free Spousal Rollover
One topic that I’ve been thinking more about lately is estate planning. It’s a pretty morbid topic and most would rather avoid the topic altogether. However, poor estate planning can lead to a much higher tax bill than neccessary. While I’ve written about preparing a will, testamentary trusts and even living trusts, I’ve never really…
Read MoreHow Testamentary Trusts Work
A little while ago, I was invited to a local CIBC event that featured a presentation by Jamie Golombek. For those of you who haven’t heard of Mr. Golombek, he’s the Managing Director, Tax and Estate Planning for CIBC, and regularly publishes tax articles for the Financial Post. I was a fan of Mr. Golombek…
Read MoreEstate Planning – Where is Your Money Going?
I’m not sure if it’s a recent hot topic, or if it’s because my mind has been on it, but estate planning and inheritance seem to be popping up all over the personal finance landscape (see Canadian Capitalist guest post). While our current wealth is modest, I imagine that the more time our investments have…
Read MoreSuccession Planning of the Family Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Now that’s a fancy title for a fairly simple concept. With a recent comment about term life insurance, it got me thinking about my mortality again. As the family Chief Financial Officer (which you probably are as well), there is a lot of financial information stored inside my head that my spouse most likely knows…
Read MoreTalking About Finances With Your Aging Parents … or Grown Kids
There are some conversations in life that are more difficult than others. Bringing up the subject of money with your aging parents or grown children has the potential to get messy. It’s a sad but true reality that our days are numbered and for the millions of aging baby boomers with their billions of combined…
Read MoreDo You Plan to Leave Anything Behind?
The premise behind this post is based on a forum topic started by Sampson. The question was, what are your inheritance plans when you pass on? Do you plan on leaving a large sum for the next generation? Or do you plan on spending it all? Perhaps you plan on leaving whatever is left over?…
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