Here’s my latest blog for the Financial Post, titled Here’s how to find all your tax info in one place.

It features chartered accountant Robin Taub (pictured), who is also a spokesperson for Turbo Tax.

I know that filing personal tax returns seems impossibly far away, considering that winter has yet to begin in earnest. But as Taub points out, there are only three weeks left in 2015 and if you want to minimize tax owing for this calendar year, waiting until 2016 may be too late for certain actions: notably making charitable contributions or making a contribution to an RESP in order to qualify for the accompanying grant.

December 31 is the deadline for those but there’s an earlier practical deadline of December 24th for those who want to engage in a last-minute bout of tax-loss selling or booking offsetting gains. That’s because it takes three days for trades to settle and there aren’t a lot of working days left to trade between Christmas and New Year’s.

But Taub’s number-one tip is that the easiest way to get organized early for the next tax-filing season is to sign up for the Canada Revenue Agency’s My Account for Individuals. The FP blog goes into some detail on that.

TFSA rollbacks will hurt the needy

Also in the FP today is an article by public policy consultant Neil Mohindra entitled TFSA rollbacks will hurt the needy. Continue Reading…

By Adrian Mastracci, KCM Wealth

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

“Each of us has a distinct investment personality. Hopefully, it resembles our comfortable tolerance for risk. Especially during market jitters like today.”

One of the significant guidelines that I use in designing investment portfolios is the client’s investment personality.

Let’s understand those personalities, also known as investor profiles, by summarizing the six I have adopted.

1.) Preservation

These are investors with virtually no tolerance for unpredictability in annual returns. They generally invest in guaranteed interest vehicles, which are stable investments having predictable income and no fluctuation in capital value. Typical asset mix is 20% in stock investments.

2.)  Income

Investors with low tolerance for variation in annual returns. These investors usually desire stability with fairly predictable growth and relatively little fluctuation in capital value. Typical asset mix is 40% in stock investments.

3.)  Balanced

Continue Reading…

The latest FWB TV video has been posted at FWBSecurities.com and Findependence.TV. It’s entitled What are ETFs and why are they so popular?

It’s a three-minute primer on ETFs (Exchange-traded funds), featuring Hector McNeil of WisdomTree Europe. He says ETFs are growing exponentially and while they are currently just 12% of the mutual fund industry at just under US$3 trillion it won’t be long before they pass the US$10 trillion mark and gather assets that will be between 30% and 50% of the mutual fund industry.

That said, he issues three caveats: that you shouldn’t assume all ETFs are low-cost, and you still need to consider the issues of diversification and trading costs.

Here’s what Financial Wealth Builders president Paul Philip says about the segment: “I have heard many people confuse Index Funds with ETFs but they are not the same thing at all. Some think they are a one-size-fits-all solution but they are definitely not that. At the end of the day, it can still be active management, which has inherent risks and costs associated with it.”

Ottawa is moving to steamroller the old $5,500 TFSA limit back into place by Jan. 1, 2016, less than a week after the federal clerk of petitions posted the government’s version of the Working Canadians’ TFSA petition to keep the annual contribution limit on Tax-free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) at the current $10,000 level.

Details also in my column in Tuesday’s Financial Post or online, headlined TFSA cap cancels out benefits of ‘middle class’ tax cut, critics warn.

The URL for the federal clerk of petitions’ TFSA petition is at https://petitions.parl.gc.ca

The Hub has been following this petition since its creation in the aftermath of the Liberal Government’s electoral victory.

Last Thursday morning, Working Canadians issued an update that was posted at the Hub’s sister site, Findependence.TV, because the Hub itself was down for maintenance that day. It was headlined Majority of Canadians support leaving TFSA limit at $10,000, poll shows.

Updated 3:15 pm.

Working Canadians issued two press releases today. The first was at 5 am under embargo and appeared on the original version of this blog. It is still there at the bottom, but we have added above it one issued mid-afternoon today:

Dear Working Canadians Supporters:

You may have heard that late yesterday afternoon the new federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government was planning to proceed with reducing the Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) limit from $10,000 to $5,500. As you may know, Working Canadians has waged a very successful campaign over the last few weeks to encourage Canadians to support leaving the TFSA limit at the current level. The support from Canadians of all income levels, of all age groups, and even of those supporting every political party has been overwhelmingly positive. Despite their claims to the contrary, if the government reduces the TFSA limit they will be doing so against the best interests of the vast majority of Canadians.

After we launched the initial Working Canadians electronic petition about a month ago to encourage the government to retain the Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) limit at $10,000, the federal government very recently created its own online petition process Continue Reading…

Get sick and get paid. It’s a grim proposition but it’s one that is transacted upon every day through life insurance companies. Critical Illness [CI] insurance is a form of Living Benefits insurance that provides a lump-sum payment in the event the insured becomes seriously ill and survives a waiting period.

Most young adults don’t have CI coverage in force and are more likely to rely on debt to fund their recovery. Millennials report low savings levels, at about $13,000 each, and plan to use credit cards and loans to carry them forward in case of a critical illness.

Illnesses don’t affect just older people

It’s a common misconception that major illnesses only affect older people. A study done by the Neurology journal found that the rate of strokes among people in the 20 to 54 age group has increased from 13% to 19%. Continue Reading…