All posts by Jonathan Chevreau

How to liberate your RRSP losers

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | April 19, 2016

My latest Financial Post column looks at how to find a silver lining in the losing stocks in your RRSP. See If you’ve got losing stocks in your RRSP, now may be the time to set them free. It’s also in the Wednesday paper.

I have to admit this is a controversial topic and had I not been introduced to it by the unidentified advisor in the piece, it would never have occurred to me. (the firm’s compliance department didn’t want him identified)

Nonetheless, depending on your tax bracket and your desire to start “melting down” your RRSP or RRIF, it could make sense. See also last weekend’s Hub blog by Doug Dahmer, which provides further context to this particular strategy: Debt is more than a four-letter word during your drawdown years.

Bottom line is, and as Dahmer often says, one of the biggest expenses in retirement is tax. By paying a little more tax now than you have to — if you’re in a lower tax bracket — you may be able to avoid paying a lot more tax down the road, which can happen once you reach age 71 and are subject to annual forced RRIF withdrawals that are fully taxable.

Not intuitive, I realize, but as the Fram Filter folk say, “You can pay me now or you can pay me later. “

Review: The Procrastinator’s Guide to Retirement

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | April 18, 2016

I have to hand it to financial author David Trahair. He and his publishers have come up with a catchy title that’s bound to sell a few copies of his latest (sixth) book. It’s titled The Procrastinator’s Guide to Retirement and sports an equally alluring subtitle: How YOU can retire in 10 years or less.

You can find a Q&A I conducted with Trahair about the book here at MoneySense.ca.

When I perused the book initially, my first impression was that there seemed to be relatively little about procrastination and the critical last ten years of Retirement. The book doesn’t have an index but my initial perception was that the book is a standard-issue retirement guide covering all the good things you should do throughout your working career, not just the final ten years.

Which came first, the book or the title?

Book Review: Ian Brown’s Sixty

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | April 14, 2016

Perhaps it’s because we are contemporaries who went to the same college and are slightly acquainted, but my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed reading Ian Brown’s recently published memoir/diary: Sixty (Random House Canada, 2015).

While attempting to read some other book, I was constantly interrupted by the laughter Brown induced in my wife. I was soon hooked, in part because some of the names Brown drops were familiar to us.

Sixty started as a Facebook post and a declaration that Brown — a feature writer for the Globe & Mail — would be conducting a diary of his 61st year. It reads more like a personal memoir than a mere day-by-day chronicle of events, although Brown deftly does both.

Not surprising, since Brown is a skilled proponent of what is variously known as creative non-fiction or literary journalism. He has over the years been a literary journalism instructor at the Banff Centre, where we once enjoyed a pleasant dinner with him.

The angst of Boomer envy

Retire Retirement?

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | April 6, 2016

The notion of “retiring retirement” or at least the term Retirement is coming more into vogue these days as more baby boomers reach the traditional ages of the old-fashioned “full-stop” retirement.

The current edition of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine has a piece titled “Watch out, Boomers, Here Comes 70,” noting that millions of baby boomers around the world are turning 70 this year.

In the U.S. that means they will come up against the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rules on IRAs and 401(k)s, with many forced to pay taxes on those forced withdrawals. Canadian retirees with Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) are in a similar boat by the end of the year they turn 71. (By the way, I’m preparing a Special Report on RRIFs later this month, and welcome input from professionals with expertise here.)

Of course, the Boomers don’t appear set to leave the workforce quietly. In researching my portion of my own upcoming book (Victory Lap Retirement), I came across a 2008 book by Tamara Erickson titled Retire Retirement, subtitled Career Strategies for the Boomer Generation.

Demography favors Boomers’ third phase of work life

Wealthy investors dodge capital gains bullet but little else to cheer about in Budget

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | March 24, 2016

Here’s my latest blog for Motley Fool Canada: Investors dodge bullet on capital gains but little else to cheer about in Budget 2016.

Note the paragraph about the the roadblocks put in the way of two strategies involving life insurance, often used by business owners. You can find more detail about this in yesterday’s Hub guest blog by Robert Kepes: Budget closes two life insurance planning strategies.