Answering the key questions in all areas of your retirement planning
Retirement Income Planning
- Can I afford to retire?
- How much can I spend in retirement
- How do I turn my portfolio into a paycheque?
- When should I take CPP (Canada Pension Plan) or OAS (Old Age Security)?
- How do I coordinate all my income sources (Pension, CPP, OAS, RRSP/RRIF, other investments, etc.)?
- How do I preserve my savings?
We carefully coordinate all your assets and income sources to provide you with a reliable income stream, designed to last longer than you do while minimizing taxes and maximizing future opportunities for the ones you love.
Tax Planning
- How do I know if I am paying too much tax?
- Do I need to worry about the OAS clawback?
- Where should I take my portfolio withdrawals from first to minimize tax?
- How do I plan for RRIF minimum withdrawals?
Our tax planning involves a view to the future, rather than trying to maximize your tax savings today. We aim to keep your taxes low today and into retirement, lowering your lifetime tax liability. We stay on top of this by reviewing your tax returns annually and running your unique situation through our tax planning checklist.
Risk Management
- What if I need long-term care?
- Will my spouse be okay if something happens to me?
- What if I become critically ill?
- What will happen to my income if the market crashes?
We know you have worked hard and made sacrifices to get to this point. Part of our process involves understanding what can go wrong and minimizing the risk. This planning could involve (but not necessarily) life insurance, long-term care insurance, critical illness insurance, home equity, and in all cases, a well-designed and articulated retirement income withdrawal strategy.
Estate Planning
- Will my beneficiaries lose 50% of my RRIF/RRSP to tax when something happens to me?
- How much money will my beneficiaries receive when something happens to me?
- How can I minimize taxes upon my passing?
- Do I need a trust?
- How often should I update my will and POAs?
We work with you to ensure you have the proper documents in place and up to date. We will review your estate documents to ensure they align with your wishes. We work with you to leave as much as possible to the people you love and the organizations most important to you while paying as little tax as possible.
We promise you will never face a “hard close” from our firm. We want you to feel good about your decision to work with us, and that is why we added “Sleep on it” as a step in our process.