Choosing Your RRIF Beneficiary
For couples, naming a spouse is the typical choice. You have several options if you’re divorced, widowed, single or have specific estate planning needs. Designating your spouse. You can name your spouse as the successor annuitant or beneficiary. As successor annuitant, your spouse can simply take over the RRIF. If you name your spouse as […]
Valuable RRIF Withdrawal Strategies
Once you open a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF), you’re required to make a minimum taxable withdrawal each year, starting the year after it’s opened. The amount is based on a percentage of your RRIF’s value and your or your spouse’s age. Every withdrawal is taxed as income at your marginal tax rate, but you […]
Who will execute your estate plan?
Choosing an executor (liquidator in Quebec) to appoint in your will is an important estate planning decision. Many people instinctively appoint their spouse, siblings or adult children. This may seem logical, but appointing a family member is not always the best option. While some view being named as executor as an honour or a sign […]
Understanding the three phases of retirement
Retirement is often viewed as a new chapter in your life, but it’s typically not just one chapter. These years are often divided into three very different phases. A great many retirees—though not all—go through the active, slowdown and inactive phases, sometimes called the go-go, slow-go and no-go phases. The active phase: retirement to age […]
When is your financial independence day?
The day when you no longer need to work to cover your current and future cost of living, including realizing your retirement dreams—that’s your financial independence day. To identify it, some people try using one of the many online retirement calculators that ask you to input information so you can find out if you can […]
FIRE versus YOLO
“Financial independence, retire early” (FIRE) and “you only live once” (YOLO) are essentially opposite approaches, but they share a common goal—to seek happiness and achieve financial freedom. They’re just focused on different stages of life. With FIRE, the point is to live frugally, save aggressively and ideally retire earlier than the traditional retirement age—by a […]
Should you pay down the mortgage or invest?
It’s an age-old question. If you have surplus cash flow or receive a lump sum, such as a tax refund or annual bonus, are you better off making extra mortgage payments or investing the money? Generally, if you expect your portfolio’s rate of return to be greater than your mortgage’s interest rate, investing may be […]
The surprising variety of RESP-eligible programs
When you imagine the post-secondary education you’ll fund with a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP), you may first think of a university or college. However, the government lists several hundred institutions beyond traditional universities and colleges that have programs eligible for RESP funding. A wide range of choices Here are just some of the career […]
Retirement income withdrawal strategies
Determining the annual dollar amount of retirement income and its sources can be different for each retiree. Here are some common methods. The 4% rule. A retiree withdraws 4% of their total retirement savings in their first year of retirement. Each year, they withdraw the previous year’s amount plus an increase to account for inflation. […]
Why drawing retirement income is personal
How much annual retirement income can you safely withdraw? Which source of savings should you access first? When should you start government benefits? What guidelines can you follow? There is no cookie-cutter approach to withdrawing retirement income. Here are just some of the factors that make one retiree’s income plan different from another’s. Risk tolerance […]