Financial Issues 

Protection

  1. Do you have enough life insurance for your family to live comfortably if something should happen to you? Ask me about this.
  2. Do you have enough disability insurance income if you are unable to work? Ask me about this too.
  3. Ask me about critical illness insurance. If our health care system is too slow to respond to your needs, this insurance might pay your way to fast service in the U.S. You may also want to consider Long Term Care insurance.

Wills

  1. Do you have a will? If not, your estate will be divided according to intestate laws which may or may not be according to your wishes.
  2. If applicable, does your significant other have a will? Are you co-executors with your significant other along with a back up executor? If you are having trouble finding someone who will do the exhausting work of carrying out your wishes then simply name someone you trust along with a trust company (all major banks have one) to handle your estate. The trust company will do all the work (lawyers, accountants, etc.) but will have everything approved by the person you trust.
  3. Is the will(s) up to date or updated after life events such as births, marriage, or divorce?
  4. Is the will(s) in a safety deposit box under a joint and several agreement with all other executors?
  5. Use a lawyer to avoid errors.
  6. Expect taxation, debts, funeral and other (ask me) expenses.

Safety Deposit Boxes

Should Contain:
  • wills
  • land titles
  • insurance policies especially home, life
  • home video (You can store your home video in the cloud instead of your safety deposit box. The point is you can get it if your house burns down. This can also apply to any document or anything you can scan into a computer. Be sure your executor knows how to access your cloud storage.)
  • updated list of assets and investments
  • passports, birth certificates, etc. PLEASE NOTE: If your bank is closed on the weekend and you remember on Saturday that your passport is in your safety deposit box for your weekend flight, you're in big trouble. This may hold for other documents as well.
  • valuables
  • etc…. anything you cannot lose in the event of a theft or fire
YOUR EXECUTOR SHOULD KNOW WHERE YOUR SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX IS AND HAVE A KEY TO IT. IF THEY ARE LISTED ON THE BOX THEY CAN SIMPLY WALK IN AND CARRY OUT YOUR WISHES. OTHERWISE, YOU WILL CAUSE THEM AND YOUR BENEFACTORS UNDUE HARDSHIP AND POSSIBLY LOSS OF BENEFITS IN YOUR ESTATE.

Other Issues

  1. After your RRSP's, TFSA's and possibly RESP's are maximized, you may want non-registered investments. Put as much as possible of your income earning investments in your RRSP. Then, put capital gains and dividend earning investments in your non-registered assets for better tax treatment than income earning investments.
  2. You may want to allocate previous RRSP contribution room to keep you in a smaller tax bracket (ask me).
  3. Beware of the tax consequences of switching mutual funds in a non-RRSP investment.
  4. Beware of transfer out fees.
  5. Be aware of year end capital distributions in mutual funds.
  6. Beware of government clawbacks of senior’s pensions.
  7. Watch out for forgotten contributions during the year. This may lead to overcontribution.
Questions? (Remember, there are no silly questions). Contact Dan.