The pure purpose of Estate Planning is to make an efficient transfer of wealth.
Efficiency of Estate Planning is measured in two parts:
1) Tax: It is important to plan your estate in a way that will transfer wealth in a tax-efficient manner—setting up assets to flow so that the least amount o...
We have all heard the old saying, “Two things are guaranteed in life: 1. Death 2. Taxes.”We are at an interesting time right now where prices of assets over the last 50+ years have seen a tremendous growth spurt. I always find it interesting talk...
In the unfortunate event that you or a loved one is suffering from a critical illness, having critical illness insurance provides several benefits to you and to your family. Critical illness insurance is defined as insurance that pays a tax free, lum...
1) Money needs a name: Money is fluid and always moving, that’s why we call it “currency.” If you don’t put a name to it or label what it is meant to be used for, it will find somewhere to go. We need to remember this and set up automatic pla...
Mutual Funds have become a real point of contention in the media in the last few years. I recently watched a “CBC Market Place” report where a woman went to several financial institutions and asked “how do the fees with mutual funds work?”.I...
Lets face it, no one likes buying or paying for insurance. In fact I often hear people say they feel insurance poor. From time to time I will meet people who want or already have life insurance and they say "Hey, how can I save money on life insuranc...
What is Critical Illness Insurance?Critical Illness Insurance is designed to provide tax free money in the case of a serious illness. Believe it or not it was actually designed by a doctor who was frusterated because his patients were unable to affor...
On May 7 2014 - I was invited to participate in a discussion about Insurance for Business owners by Your Business with Charmaine on Rogers TV here in Barrie, Ontario.Our main specialty when it comes to insurance for business owners is the follo...
Recently I was approached by a reporter asking about non-medical life insurance. They were interested in my thoughts about which company in Canada offers the best products and what I thought the most common mistake was that consumers make.This is a...
Last time we talked about tax deductions. The next important piece to understand is tax credits. There is a couple more moving parts to a tax credit, but it is still simple to understand.What is a Tax Credit?A tax credit is an amount of money that wi...
When financial planning - taxes become a very important piece of the puzzle in many different times in our lives. It is often best to start with the basics before we can go in to strategizing. This way, if everyone understands how things work, it mak...
Below is a complilation of the outlook for 2014. Highlights include, The Economy, Jobs Growth, Market Forcasts and much more.Blackrock Investment Institute - 2014 Outlook &n...
"KINGSTON, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 12, 2013) - The Empire Life Insurance Company (Empire Life) has been named the Best Life Insurance Company in Canada in 2013 by World Finance magazine in its annual insurance awards competition. The award is gi...
In this video we are privileged to have one of the most succesful investors on the planet, Hedge Fund manager Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates explain how the economic machine works. I have always been very impressed with Ray Dalio's very sim...
Last week I had the opportunity to sit and listen to a presentation at our head office by Norm Lamarche.Norm Lamarche is a veteran investor who has made a name for himself over years by bringing tremendous investment performance. His investment philo...
Have you ever heard the old saying “Ride or Die”? If you were a Brooklyn Police Officer in the 1970s, it meant that when you carried your gun, you were ready to use it (ride it out, or die trying); be willing to do anything if it involves persona...
The amount of information available in the financial services world is outstanding and overwhelming. It can be frusterating as there are so many contrarian views, and articles written by non-professional writers.We have comprised some of our more fav...
Scams and frauds are all around us. I personally was scammed several years ago in a money transfer scam.A few years ago, I was in the market for a new car and found a great on an Acura sports car online through Ebay.The seller told me that he h...
A very common question - "I have heard that RRSP's arent doing well, should I do something else?"I often find people are not fully aware of what they are investing in (end all asset) with their RRSP and they get frustrated when they look at their acc...
Most of the Canadian population that has "mortgage insurance" that is highly unikely to be paid should they get sick or die. You may not be aware.If you bought mortgage or creditor insurance from a bank, mortgage broker or any kind of lender you ...
TFSA stands for a Tax Free Savings Account.The account basically allows you to save and invest without having to pay any taxes on the returns you generate from those investments. The government created the TFSA as an incentive to help Canadians save....
Once upon a time, a drought comes over the land and the wheat crop fails. Naturally, the price of wheat goes up. Some people cut back and bake less bread while others speculate and buy as much wheat as they can get and hoard it in hopes of higher pri...
How to figure out how much life insurance coverage we need is quite simple.This process depends on the situation so today we will look at a common example of buying life insurance for a family.The easiest way to look at this is to go through an...
Life Insurance is incredibly simple.I like to think of life insurance as being similar to buying a car. There are many different types of vehicles out there... cars, trucks, vans, etc. Just like there are many different types of life insurance p...
As I mention in other posts all life insurance products are great they simply are ideal for a different person at a different time of their lives. I am going to discuss the products available to you in the industry and hopefully you can get a sense o...
May we offer our sincere wishes to you and your family for a healthy, safe and prosperous 2013.Speaking of prosperity, allow us to start with positive news...the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicts Canada will lead...
It seems alot of people may not fully understand life insurance. Countless times I have sat down with people to review their insurance needs and their existing policies and they are lacking the appropriate insurance set up.Unfortunetly, I think many...
It is interesting how herd investing and recency bias works. People often make poor investment decisions because they "Follow the Herd" and do what everyone else is doing and most people think what has recently happened will continue to happen foreve...
It is no surprise that we are having debt issues in Canada. Most people are feeling the pressure. I have included below a piece that illustrates this reality.Much like anything in life that we are trying to fix, the first step is awareness. Be aware...
I had the privledge the other day to have breakfast with vetran fixed income investor Dan Bastasic. Dan has recently moved to IA Clarington from Mackenzie Financial. He now manages a corporate bond, equity income, and strategic income mandate. Dan ha...
To see the rates of all GIC providers in Canada click on the image belowSource: canoemoney.caDid you know you can often earn a higher rate of return and get added benefits by purchasing a GIC from a Life Insurance Company? ---When dealing in fin...
Although we may not be in the perfect definition of a recession, we can rightfully say we are in recessionary times. Unemployment is still high, interest rates are still low and economic growth has stalled.When it comes to financial decisions, most p...
In todays world with a suplus of information available, it is very easy for people to get overwhelmed on the topic of investing.Through time not much has really changed. The fundementals of how a business operates hasn't changed. Famous hedge fu...
Every once and a while insurance companies offer massive bargains and part of our job as independent advisors is to identify anomoly products as they come to market and notify people before they dissapear.Life Insurance and Critical Illness Insurance...
Sprott Asset Management has a history of outperformance, and cutivating leading investment managers.I had the privilege last week to sit at our boardroom table in Toronto over a coffee with Scott Colburne and Ben Chim of Sprott Asset Management. Scot...
A lot of investors are worried these days and rightfully so, there is a lot of uncertaintly in the world right now. Whats interesting is that there has always been uncertainty and reasons why "not to invest".I will never forget a point made by Warren...
Here is a fall newsletter produced by our team, and investment dealership Banwell Financial Inc.“Quietly, ever so quietly corporate earnings in America are going to an all-time high.” Fred Sturm, Chief Global Investment Strategist Mackenzie Inves...
Our Paid to Wait Strategy consists of owning a broadly diversified portfolio of select sovereign bonds, corporate bonds (investment grade and high yield), real estate investment trusts (REITs), dividend paying equities, and infrastructure assets. Thi...
A few weeks ago we had the privledge of chatting over breakfast with one of Canada's investment legends Dave Taylor. Dave is from the school of Value Investing with a history of consistent outperformance and risk adjusted returns. Dave Tay...
Critical Illness Insurance is a protection against serious illness or sickness. The most common illnesses covered are Heart Attack, Cancer, and Stroke. Many policies will cover up to 22 illnesses. The insurance pays a lump sum tax free amount of mone...
Alot of people lose a lot of money investing. Many times the reason is because they let Mr. Market take advantage of them...This story was written by father of value investing Benjamin Graham in his classic book "The Intelligent Investor" originally...
Stock Market volatility and low interest rates stressing out your retirement income? Guaranteed Variable Annuities provide a guaranteed floor of growth (prior to withdrawals) of 5% per year, and a guaranteed floor of income in the withdrawal phase of...
Mutual funds get alot of flack, and dont get me wrong they should there is a lot of terrible funds out there...But dont kid yourself, there is also great money managers out there who can do a far better job than you, me, or most stock brokers out the...
Of 100 men at age 6554 will be BROKE (live too long)36 will be DEAD (live too short)5 will still be WORKING (no choice)1 will be RICH (money at work)Source: Statistics Canada Why the Average Family/Person is Broke !The SituationStart working: Age 30...
An important thing to understand about RRSP‘s is the concept of Tax Deferral. What does this mean?Tax Deferral–This simply means that you will not have to pay tax on the money that your money makes for you until later when you need it.Don’t wor...
Check out these great useful calculators that will help you understand and get organized with your financial affairs. Send us a message if you would like help using or understanding one. Financial Needs Analysis &nbs...
Alot of people arent totally aware of how the RRSP tax refund works, so I am going to do my best to explain it to you. I think it is important that people understand the pros and cons of RRSP`s and what this term even means.First off and RRSP stands...
Someone asked me the other night "Hey Mr.Cook, how long will it take to double my money?"...Now one would think that this is a question that is impossible to answer...However there is actually a very simple formula you can use that will give you an a...
I am constantly explaining a common misunderstanding to people. They are not aware of their freedom with their RRSP's and TFSA's.Let me explain...What most people think is that these are accounts that you go and open at a Bank and that is the only pl...
Throughout history, gold has represented wealth and power. The value of gold has withstood the test of time and today remains (increasingly) an essential part of the foreign exchange reserves of almost every nation. It is interesting to note th...
There is a secret savings account out there Canadians, that few people will ever tell you about its called a Health Spending Account.I want to take a brief moment to explain what it is, and you can use it.What it is...A Health Spending Account...
One of the most common misconceptions is that a Tax Free Savings Account is just a checking account that you get at the bank. Although some Banks offer a superior savings rate for a TFSA, you could be missing out on taking advantage of a great wealth...
It is important that we stay organized with our financial affairs. We reccomend keeping certain important information in a safe, easy to find spot in case in the future aspouse, family member, or friend needs to take care of something for us.Here is...
Did you know that you could buy Tax Free money at a discounted price? This may seem unbelievable but it is absolutely true. Anyone could buy money at a discounted price, to provide for their family, or better yet to protect their income in the event...
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The pure purpose of Estate Planning is to make an efficient transfer of wealth. Efficiency of Estate Planning is measured in two parts:1) Tax: It is important to plan your estate in a way that will transfer wealth in a tax-efficient manner—set...
We have all heard the old saying, “Two things are guaranteed in life: 1. Death 2. Taxes.”We are at an interesting time right now where prices of assets over the last 50+ years have seen a tremendous growth spurt. I always find it interesting talk...
