Tag Archives: TFSA

The Blazingly Simple Portfolio shines in TFSAs

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By Dale Roberts, cutthecrapinvesting

Special to Financial Independence Hub

In 2010 the Globe & Mail offered a simple Canadian stock portfolio idea. It was also called the Canadian Essentials Portfolio. The portfolio concept was courtesy of political science professor Mike Henderson who singled out the companies for the essential roles they play in the Canadian economy. He identifed the companies in the year 2000 and it formed the core of the retirement investments for he and his wife. The cumulative 10-year total return on these stocks to 2010 was 305%, greatly outpacing the 72% for the S&P/TSX composite index. In a recent article, the Globe detailed how Kate, a 71 year old retiree in Guelph used the Essentials Portfolio to take her TFSA to over $250,000.

For those who have a Globe subscription here’s the Essentials article from 2010, and the Essentials update in 2018.

The 2018 update reported that the annualized return since the beginning of 2000 for the Canadian Essentials Portfolio was 13.1%, including dividends, while the S&P/TSX Composite Index made 7.6%.

The blazingly simple portfolio

Once again, the idea was to hold companies that are essential to the Canadian economy. These companies are not going away and they are in everyday use. In fact, it’s the same concept as the Canadian Wide Moat portfolio that I’ve offered on this blog .

The Essentials Portfolio is concentrated in 3 sectors, while the Canadian Wide Moat approach offers 4 sectors by including the very important grocers. The returns would have been helped greatly in the last two decades by adding grocers.

Here’s the ‘Essential’ holdings from 2000 …

Canadian National Railway (CN-T), Canadian Pacific Railway (CNR-T), Enbridge (ENB-T), TransCanada Pipelines, now TC Energy, (TRP-T), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC-T), TD Bank (TD-T), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS-T), Canadian Utilities (CU-T), Fortis (FTS-T) and Emera (EMA-T).

It’s railways, financials and utilities. It’s a case of boring and staple blue chips beating the crap out of the broader market. That should be of no surprise.

Check out Canada’s top Robo Advisor

In Canadian stock portfolios on Cut The Crap Investing I offered this chart from Norm Rothery.

We see that the low volatility approach is a bit better. And there is a lot of boring essentials blue chip in the Canadian low volatility index.

And there is a lot of boring essentials blue chip in the Canadian low volatility index. The essentials, wide moats, low volatility and high dividend styles are all mostly concentrated in the same sectors.

In the high-dividend space check out the Beat The TSX Portfolio. It too has a long history of incredible performance, but with much greater volatility at times.

Back to Kate and her TFSA

Kate has maxed out her TFSA space and made the life-changing move of dumping her high fee mutual funds in favour of the Essentials stock portfolio approach.

Canadians should dump their high-fee mutual funds.

From the Globe & Mail post …

By early 2020, Kate had a substantial CEP in place. Her TFSA is now worth $247,000 as of mid-June, with most of the growth coming after January, 2020. Kate’s TFSA is not one of the million-dollar-plus TFSAs that the Trouncers series has often profiled, but after adjusting for the constraints of maintaining a relatively smooth ride and an undemanding workload, she sees her TFSA hitting a home run in terms of her own needs.

In the post, how to use your TFSA I noted that a maxed-out growth-oriented global ETF portfolio strategy would have delivered about $225,000 to the end of 2024. Given the gains in 2025 and the additional $7,000 contribution space, we can call it a draw. The ETF global ETF model would also be in the $245,000 range.

More risk for the same returns

For Kate’s experience, she took on much more risk for the same returns as a global ETF portfolio. She’s concentrated in a few stocks (concentration risk). All of her TFSA rests largely on the success of Canada (geographic and political risk). She’s mostly concentrated in one currency – the Loonie.

As we’ve seen recently, President Trump has suggested he might ruin Canada economically if we don’t cooperate on trade terms. He could ruin Canada in the near term. He might. That demonstrates that the risk is present. Risk to Canada could show up in other ways, it’s doesn’t have to be a Donald Trump.

Net, net, just because Kate’s strategy worked very well, doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea. It’s not. 100% concentration in Canadian equities in any account carries incredible risks.

Just because something worked doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. If a driver claims that he drove without car insurance for 30 years, it’s a good idea because he never had an accident? He saved a lof of money; it was a good strategy? Of course not. It’s the same false argument for extreme portfolio concentration risk.

If Kate had invested in the Canadian Essentials and a sensible U.S. stock portfolio, her returns would be much greater.

What is the cost of your Canadian home bias?

Our best performers over the last 15 years are U.S. stocks and ETFs.

Canadian stock portfolio weights

Of course, it’s a personal decision. Do you want a 20% , 30%, 40%, 50% Canadian weight? Many experts will suggest that 30% Canadian is optimal within a global portfolio. And again, I like the idea of the Essentials, Wide Moat, or Low Volatility approach. The long term outperformance is meaningful and likely to repeat IMHO. But we need to pay attention to geographic allocation.

But of course – past performance doesn’t guarantee future returns.

Norm Rothery tracks the Canadian low volatilty stock model for the Globe and at Stingy Investor. The current holdings are …

Algoma Central, Alta Gas, Atco Ltd, Scotiabank, CIBC, Canadian Utilities, Emera, Enbridge, Fortis, Hydro One, Intact Financial, MCAN Mortgage, Metro, National Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Waste Connections, PowerCorp, Quebecor, Rogers Sugar, Sienna Senior Living.

Other recent holdings are George Weston, Great West Life, Keyera Corp, Loblaw, Pembina, Sun Life and TMX Group. Personally, I would continue to hold stocks that come and go within the low volatility portfolio; I would simply consider and new holdings that are added to the list.

As you can see the low volatility portfolio is dominated by financials, utilities (including pipelines and telco) and grocers.

Inflation protection

Contrary to how the Essentials portfolio was billed, it is not inflation friendly. That was demonstrated in 2021 and 2022 when we had the COVID-inspired inflation spike that led to a rising rate environment.

The Essentials was down 1.9% in 2021 and up only 2.5% in 2022 as inflation surged, delivering a negative real return.

Cut The Crap Investing readers were prepared (at least armed with the knowledge), holding gold in a balanced portfolio. I also put Canadian oil and gas stocks on the table in late 2020. Fantastic returns were on the way in 2021 and 2022. Oil and gas is the most reliable inflation-fighting sector. Here’s XEG-T.

I have long put the Purpose PRA-T ETF on the table as a one-stop, well-diversifed inflation fighting asset. Here’s PRA over the last 5 years, averaging 15% annual.

The inflation paradox

Inflation fighters would have greatly helped portfolios over the last 5 years of course. But certainly unexpected and high inflation is rare.

And ironically, it is the avoidance of these cyclical sectors such as oil and gas and materials that has led to the success of the Essentials and Wide Moat Portfolios since the 1980’s, as we have mostly been in a low inflation, disinflationary environment. It’s possible the inflation fighters will be a drag on performance if we return to low inflation / disinflationary times.

An accumulator might stick to the Essentials / Wide Moat ‘stuff’. I think it’s a good idea for retirees and those in the retirement risk zone to hold some dedicated inflation protection.

As always the above is not advice. Think of it as information for consideration as you build your portfolio. 🙂

 

Dale Roberts is a former advertising writer and creative director and long time index investor. In 2013, he followed his passion to become an investment advisor, and then trainer at Tangerine Investments. He won Advisor of the Year in his first year. He left Tangerine in 2018 to start Cut The Crap Investing, where he helps investors learn how to use ETFs, simple stock portfolio models and Robo Advisors to full advantage in the accumulation stage, and especially in retirement. A ‘hyper-focuser’ Dale has spent thousands of hours studying retirement – from the financial planning aspects to the portfolio models that make it happen. Early in 2025 he co-founded Retirement Club for Canadians, described in this Findependence Hub blog. Keep in mind Dale is not a financial planner. Retirement Club provides ideas and learning for consideration. As we know, self-directed investors are responsible for their own investment decisions.  This blog originally appeared on his site on July 17, 2025 and is republished with permission.

Fritz Gilbert: My biggest Surprise in Retirement

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By Fritz Gilbert, TheRetirementManifesto

Special to Financial Independence Hub

I’m fortunate to have saved aggressively in my company’s 401(k) since I started my career at Age 22.

It’s what allowed me to retire at Age 55.

And yet, like many folks my age, those savings were predominantly in “Before-Tax” accounts in my company’s 401(k) plan.  Sure, I got the tax break while working, and I felt like a genius. Besides, we didn’t have the option of investing in a Roth, so the decision was easy.

I knew those taxes would come due when I “got old,” but I’d worry about that later.

Later has arrived. 

As I shared in my Retirement Drawdown Strategy, when I retired, we had 56% of our retirement savings in Before-Tax accounts, as shown below:

The Golden Age of Roth Conversions

Now that I’m retired, I’ve been laser-focused on doing annual Roth conversions to reduce that Before-Tax balance. As I wrote in The Golden Age of Roth Conversions, it makes sense to do Roth conversions in your early retirement years (be careful if you’re getting ACA subsidies, and ugly Aunt IRMAA can be a problem if you’re 63 or older).  I won’t rehash the arguments for why; you can read about it in the linked article.

My goal is to manage the taxes on my terms, rather than being “forced” into whatever the Required Minimum Distributions rule requires in my 70s.  I’d also like to get as much of that money converted into a Roth for the benefit of my wife, in the event I die early (she’d pay higher taxes as a single tax filer vs. our current “Married Filing Jointly” status). For now, I’m playing the tax bracket “stuffing” game (topping off my selected tax bracket with Roth conversions) and trying to be smart about minimizing the taxes I pay throughout my retirement.

The Bad News: The Roth conversions are not making as much of a difference as I had hoped.

My Biggest Surprise in Retirement:  It’s Hard to reduce your Pre-Tax Account Balance!

We’ve all heard about the power of compounding and how valuable it is in personal finance.  If you want a refresher, check out my post, “The Most Powerful Force in the Universe.” 

What I didn’t think about, and only realized after I retired and started doing Roth conversions, is the fact that compounding makes it difficult to reduce your pre-tax account balance.

Despite doing aggressive Roth conversions, our pre-tax balance isn’t coming down like I expected!

In fairness, part of that “problem” is driven by above-average returns since my retirement in 2018.  First world problem, I know.  But it’s still been a big surprise.

Let’s do a hypothetical example to demonstrate the point. 

To make the math easy, let’s say you have $1M in your pre-tax account, and your first full year of retirement is 2019.  If you had that entire $1M in stocks, here’s what would have happened without doing any Roth conversions (S&P 500 returns from ycharts, including dividends):

In this example, a $1M portfolio would have grown to $2.6M in 6 short years.  That’s the power of compounding. Amazing!

Let’s modify the above example, and say you’re doing an annual Roth conversion of $50k.

How much impact would Roth conversions make? Not much…

Despite doing annual Roth conversions of $50k, the pre-tax value has still doubled, to $2.15 M!

A More Realistic Scenario – $500k 

Ok, I hear you.  No one has $1M in their pre-tax account.  I got your attention, though, right?

Fair enough, let’s assume the starting balance is $500k (which compares nicely with the average 401(k) balance of $573k for folks in their 60’s):

The problem remains.

With a $500k starting balance and $50k annual Roth conversions, the account has still grown by $357k (to $857k), or 71%.

Bottom Line:  It’s difficult to reduce your pre-tax account balance due to the power of compound interest.

In fact, the only way to reduce your pre-tax account is to do annual Roth conversions in excess of the annual return generated by the pre-tax portion of your portfolio.  Sticking with the $500k example, an average annual Roth conversion of $89k would have been required to maintain the pre-tax balance at $500k, as shown below:

(Note:  you could argue about my $0 Roth conversion in a down year, but it’s just an example.  Quit whining and do your own math – wink.)

What About A 60/40 Portfolio @ $500k?

No one has a 100% stock portfolio in their pre-tax accounts, right?  Let’s see what things look like if our retiree had a 60/40 stock/bond allocation in their pre-tax accounts.  We’ll use the S&P 500 for stocks, and Vanguard’s Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBMFX) for bonds, we can find their annual returns here.

Without any Roth conversions, the account would have grown from $500k to $990k, as shown below:

Add in our $50k/year of Roth conversions, and the ending balance is $609k, an increase of 22%:

Bottom Line:  Even with a 40% bond allocation, it’s difficult to reduce your pre-tax balance via Roth conversions.

We’ve done aggressive Roth conversions every year, yet I continue to be frustrated by how little we’ve moved the needle.  In full transparency, we’ve reduced it, but only by 15% of its starting value.  That’s far less than I would have expected, given the size of the conversions we’ve done. Continue Reading…

Great things you can do with your TFSA

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By Mark Seed, myownadvisor

Special to Financial Independence Hub

A Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) is far more versatile and powerful than you might think.

Now that we’re into the start of a new year (Happy New Year!) here are some great things you can do with your TFSA.

TFSA Backgrounder

The TFSA was first introduced in the 2008 federal budget.

It became available to Canadians for the 2009 calendar year – as of January 1, 2009. Launched part-way through The Great Recession (where markets collapsed significantly during 2008 triggered by a financial crisis), the account was designed as a savings account (hence the name) to encourage Canadians to save more money.

But the “savings” word in the name is very misleading, no?

Correct. 

Since account introduction in 2009, adult Canadians have had a tremendous opportunity to save and grow their wealth tax-free like never before.

While this account is similar to a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) there are some notable differences.

As with an RRSP, the TFSA is intended to help Canadians save money and plan for future expenses. The contributions you make to this tax-free account are with after-tax dollars and withdrawals are tax-free. Consider it like an RRSP account in reverse.

For savvy investors who open and use a self-directed TFSA for their investments, these investors can realize significant gains within this account. This means one of the best things about the TFSA is that there is no tax on investment income, including capital gains!

How good is that?!

Let me tell you … here is summary of many great account benefits:

  1. Capital gains and other investment income earned inside the account are not taxed.
  2. Withdrawals from the account are tax-free.
  3. Neither income earned within a TFSA nor withdrawals from it affect eligibility for federal income-tested benefits and credits, like future Old Age Security (OAS) income.
  4. Anything you withdraw can be re-contributed in a following year, in addition to that year’s contribution limit.
  5. While you cannot contribute directly as you could with an RRSP, you can give your spouse or common law partner money to put into their TFSA. Do it without any income attribution!
  6. TFSA assets could be transferable to the TFSA of a spouse or common-law partner upon death. More details below for you.
  7. The annual contribution limit is indexed to inflation in $500 increments, that happened in recent years …. and more!

I’ve got my preference for which account I focus on for wealth-building purposes (related to the RRSP vs. TFSA debate, including what account I would suggest you max out your contributions to first) but let’s compare each first:

RRSP

TFSA
A tax-deferral plan. A tax-free plan.
Contributions can be made with “before-tax” dollars as part of an employer-sponsored plan or “after-tax” dollars when a contribution is made with a financial institution. Contributions are made with “after-tax” dollars.

 
Contributions are tax deductible; you will get a refund roughly equal to the amount of multiplying your contribution by your tax rate. Contributions are not tax deductible; there is no refund to be had.
If you don’t contribute your maximum allowable amount in any given year you can carry forward contribution room, up to your limit.
If you make a withdrawal, contribution room is lost. If you make a withdrawal, amounts withdrawn create an equal amount of contribution room you can re-contribute the following year.
Because contributions weren’t taxed when they were made (you got a refund), contributions and investment earnings inside the plan are taxable upon withdrawal.  They are treated as income and taxed at your current tax rate. Because contributions were taxed (there was no refund), contributions and investing earnings inside the account are tax exempt upon withdrawal.
Since withdrawals are treated as income, withdrawals could reduce retirement government benefits. Withdrawals are not considered taxable income.  So, government income-tested benefits and tax credits such as the GST Credit, Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) aren’t affected by withdrawals.
You can’t contribute to an RRSP after age of 71. Accounts must be collapsed in the 71st year. You can contribute to a TFSA after age of 71.
The Summary:  part of your RRSP is borrowed money (i.e., you owe the government taxation.) The Summary:  all of your TFSA is your money.

Based on my personal investment plan, I feel the TFSA ultimately trumps the RRSP as a retirement vehicle to focus on first at any income level even though I contribute to both every year. All the money in the TFSA is mine to keep, grow and manage with no taxation withdrawal consequences.

Since inception, here are the annual and cumulative limits assuming no withdrawals over that period were made:

TFSA contribution limit 2009 to 2025:

Year TFSA Annual Limit TFSA Cumulative Limit
2009 $5,000 $5,000
2010 $5,000 $10,000
2011 $5,000 $15,000
2012 $5,000 $20,000
2013 $5,500 $25,500
2014 $5,500 $31,000
2015 $10,000 $41,000
2016 $5,500 $46,500
2017 $5,500 $52,000
2018 $5,500 $57,500
2019 $6,000 $63,500
2020 $6,000 $69,500
2021 $6,000 $75,500
2022 $6,000 $81,500
2023 $6,500 $88,000
2024 $7,000 $95,000
2025 $7,000 $102,000
Based on the recent bull run in recent years, I know some individuals that have over $200,000 in their TFSAs.

I also know some couples who have their combined TFSA assets worth more than $400,000 in value.

Pretty impressive tax-free money!!

Q&A with Mark – What has worked for me/us over the years?

Well, we’ve bought various assets, namely Canadian stocks and ETFs over the years.

To date, we have avoided any TFSA withdrawals. Instead, like I referenced above, we use our TFSAs for owning equities and wealth-building purposes.

Q&A with Mark – What types of investments can you own inside the TFSA?

Thankfully lots!

Similar to the assets you can hold within a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), the TFSA can also be used to help Canadians build significant wealth beyond just holding cash savings. You can own a number of different types of investments inside the TFSA: Continue Reading…

Your Free Playbook to Retirement Income Planning

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By Mark Seed, myownadvisor

Special to Financial Independence Hub

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to achieving your retirement goals.

I know. 🙂

I think about it a lot. I write about it a lot.

Better still, I’m planning for our retirement income needs just around the corner.

As we all know by now, personal finance is forever personal.

You need to develop a strategy and retirement income plan that works for you. Nobody else will do.

Read on to learn about the key steps I’m taking and what key steps might apply to you as well. I hope you enjoy this free playbook to retirement income planning.

No course fee required. 🙂

Your Free Playbook to Retirement Income Planning

“Drawing down one’s savings in retirement is something very few retirees do well, even with the help of professional advisors.” – Fred Vettese, Retirement Income for Life.

A general retirement preparation rule suggests that retirement income should be about 70%-80% of your annual earnings.

Well, rules are made to be broken.

In some cases, these expert rules of thumb won’t apply to you at all!

Forecasting your future financial needs can be complicated – a puzzle that needs to be deconstructed and put back together.

That said, I believe there are two-major steps involved in retirement income planning and then a third for good measure:

Step 1: What are your spending goals?

Step 2: What are your investment savings and income sources to meet those needs?

Beyond that, you’ll want to consider a third step in my opinion:

Step 3: What is the bare minimum lifestyle that you’re ready to live?

With those key questions/steps to answer, here are our answers to these key steps I’m working through as part of my retirement income planning this year, for next year in 2025.

Step 1: What are our spending goals?

Step 1 is always first.

Some Canadians can live off a little.

Some Canadians want to live off a lot.

Your income needs and wants in semi-retirement or full retirement or whatever you want to call the next phase of your life will forever be personal and up to you.

A past headline that got a lot of retirement planning attention was this BMO study and its findings.

“BMO’s 13th annual Retirement Study reveals Canadians are prioritizing retirement savings as both contributions and account holdings have increased from the previous year. The study found that Canadians believe they will need $1.7 million to retire, up 20 per cent from 2020 ($1.4 million). However, fewer than half (44 per cent) of Canadians are confident they will have enough money to retire as planned, a 10 per cent decrease from 2020.”

Do you need $1.7 million to retire?

You might.

It is my conclusion most won’t need that much.

Here are the questions we’ve answered on this subject, to figure out what we need and want related to our spending goals:

  • How much do we wish to spend, annually, on average in retirement and starting when?
  • Do we see us working part-time or not at all?
  • Do we wish to have any “go-go” spending years/higher spending years in early retirement years vs. later retirement years?
  • How might inflation or other factors impact our savings?
  • Do we have any capital expenses in retirement – like newer cars every 10 years?
  • Do we care to leave any estate? If so, how much?
  • Are we prepared to change our lifestyle if needed?

I’ll link to all our answers to these questions later in today’s post with some articles for reference. 🙂

Step 2: What are our retirement income sources to meet those needs?

Just like planning a trip, once you figure out where you want to go you’ll need to figure out how to get there: what components are part of your trip.

As a starter for our retirement income planning considerations, I looked at these components: Canada’s retirement income pillars and what income might be available from each pillar and when:

  • Pillar 1 is the Old Age Security (OAS) pension and its companion program, Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) – age 65. 
  • Pillar 2 is the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) – starting age 65 or ideally later. 
  • Pillar 3 includes your mix of tax-assisted vehicles such as Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) and other accounts – starting in our 50s. 
  • Pillar 4 includes other assets accumulated over your lifetime such as your primary residence, vacation property (if you are lucky to have one), or stocks held with your brokerage firm in a taxable account – starting in our 50s. 

In Step 2, we basically listed all our available income sources and the potential timing of those income sources along with other considerations you might wish to review as well:

  • Maximize your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). If you have unused RRSP contribution room from previous years, take advantage of the ability to “catch up” your contributions.
  • Eliminate debt. I believe servicing debt eats into your available income when you’re retired – we won’t have this problem since we intend to enter semi-retirement remaining debt-free.
  • Consolidate your investments. Consolidating your assets under one financial roof should make it easier to manage and diversify your portfolio and it could reduce your overall investment costs too.
  • Make your portfolio as tax-efficient as possible. Are you paying more to the government than you have to? Different types of income are taxed in different ways. Too much interest income, which is fully taxable in a taxable accont should be avoided beyond an emergency fund while capital gains and Canadian dividends receive preferential tax treatment when held in a taxable account. You should also strongly consider maxing out your TFSA with equities as well = tax-free growth. 🙂
  • Company pension(s). We have been fortunate enough to have x1 defined contribution (DC) and x1 defined benefit (DB) pension plan in our household – so we use those account values and income estimates in our retirement income planning at certain ages. For us, the DC will come online at age 55. The DB is likely to come online at age 65.
  • Inheritance/family estate. Is that in your financial future at all? “Bonus money” if so?
  • Part-time or hobby work. We have also considered the option to work part-time here and there not only for hobby income for travel but also to keep your minds busy and remain socially active too.

You might want to consider creating a retirement income map that breaks down your income sources every 5-years or so. Here is mine:

Our Retirement Income Map - March 2024

I’ll highlight our three (3) key early retirement income sources later in the post as well.

Step 3: What is our bare mininum lifestyle – could we scale back?

Through basic budgeting, I know our base – what our day-to-day living costs are with some buffer built-in.

Using this information, I know what we need to earn at age 65 to enjoy retirement with.

Our retirement income plan has that covered with a few income sources listed above including government benefits such as CPP and OAS in our future at age 65.

My problem and opportunity is, I don’t want to wait that long until age 65. 🙂

Maybe the same applies to you.

Life is short. Time is precious. Work on your own terms is better than needing to work.

I’ve recently heard from one blogger that it’s quite easy to spend less in retirement – just assume you will. You will take off-peak vacations as an example. I think that’s flawed thinking. You don’t always want to spend less in retirement. There could be bucket-like trips or other purchases you’ve waited your entire life to take.

A good solution is to figure out your Coast FIRE number.

With Coast FIRE:

  1. While you expect your retirement assets to grow as you reach a final retirement date, the good news is,
  2. Based on the assets you have, you don’t really need to save any more money for retirement = you are financially coasting to your retirement date. This is because existing income (full-time, part-time, hobby income, occasional work) or whatever work that is covers your key expenses until you reach your final retirement date.

Another option is Barista FIRE.

I would advise just like looking at your spending goals related to what you want to spend, you should also look at your bare bones budget and determine what you must spend. That’s your floor. That’s your starting point. Coast FIRE or Barista FIRE could be add-on solutions.

I’ve linked to this fun Coast FIRE calculator here and I’ve also listed this calculator amongst other FREE stuff on my Helpful Sites page.

Your Free Playbook to Retirement Income Planning

Before my answers I promised above here are a few other factors to consider:

  1. Time – Do you have a lot of time to save for retirement? i.e., are you saving later in life?
  2. Diversification and risk and liquidity – As good as any one stock performs in my portfolio, some are up over 40% this year (!!) it’s probably never a good idea to put all your retirement eggs in the same basket. What goes up could go down…  I’ve always believed that any near-term spending within the next 1-2 years should likely be in safe cash or cash equivalents and not equities. Again, your mileage may vary.
  3. Inflation – To help ensure that your spending power is retained, you need to factor in the rising costs of goods and services. Ensure you include higher spending / inflation factors as you age. I’ll tell you mine below.

Our Playbook to Retirement Income Planning

Inspired by readers that wanted to know more, here are our answers to the questions above:

1. How much do we wish to spend, annually, on average in retirement?

Our desired spending for our first year of semi-retirement is in the range of $70,000 – $75,000 per year (that means after-tax).

As part of our retirement income assumptions we use the following that might be helpful to you as well:

  • 5% annualized rate of return i.e., over the coming decades from RRSPs/RRIFs, TFSAs and Non-Registered Accounts. Historically, we’ve earned much more than that but I like to be cautious.
  • 3% sustained inflation. I personally wouldn’t go any lower than 2.5%.

2. Do we see us working part-time or not at all?

Yes, part-time for sure.

I have personally anticipated I will continue working at something here and there after full-time work is done but the need to work however to meet our desired spending is now optional and therefore no longer required as of this year. Continue Reading…

Big tax tips for small business owners

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Image by Pexels: N. Voitkevich

By Aurèle Courcelles, CFP, CPA

Special to Financial Independence Hub

Small businesses play a sizeable role in shaping Canada’s economy, contributing significantly to national employment numbers and our country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

According to Statistics Canada, in 2022 businesses with 1 to 99 employees made up 98 per cent of all employer businesses in this country. But today’s economic environment has triggered new financial challenges for this cohort. Canadian entrepreneurs can help offset the cost of rising inflation, rising cost of inputs, and rising interest rates, and keep more money in their pockets, by adopting some or all of these key tax strategies.

Consider employing your immediate family

Income splitting, whereby the higher-earner transfers part of their income to a lower-earning family member, can reduce the tax owed by your household. Consider paying a reasonable salary to your spouse and/or children for the services they provide for your business to reduce your tax obligations.

Incorporate your business

If your business generates more profit than you need to live on, incorporation is a highly effective tax strategy. It could lead to a significant tax deferral by qualifying for the lower small business tax rate for active income – the longer the profits are left in the company, the larger the tax deferral. If shares of the business are ultimately sold and are eligible for the lifetime capital gains exemption, the tax deferral gained through incorporation can create a permanent tax saving.

Other potential advantages of incorporation include having family members own shares (so as to have access to multiple capital gains exemptions) and possibly paying out dividends to actively participating family members who are taxed at a lower rate.

Maximize tax breaks with registered plans

Consider your RRSP contribution room when setting and reporting remuneration for services provided by yourself and family members who also work in the business. Employment income creates RRSP contribution room for the following year which, for 2024, can represent up to $31,560 of room. RRSP contributions are tax deductible, provide tax deferral and allow for business owners to diversify their future retirement income.  Contributing to a tax-free savings account (TFSA) can also work in your favor by allowing you to withdraw funds if needed without penalty. Continue Reading…