Financial Planning

When to Review Your Financial Plan

Once you have implemented your financial plan, there’s still work to be done. First, you’ll want to periodically check your progress to make sure you are still on track to reach your goals. Secondly, certain situations and events require that you revisit and, possibly, revise your plan.

Plan for periodic reviews

You should plan to review your progress annually, checking to see if you are making progress towards your goals. If you find that you are not on track, you’ll need to fine-tune your plan where necessary.

Revise your plan when...

Changes to your circumstances –– a career change, retirement, the sale of a business or significant asset, or the receipt of an inheritance, will require that you revisit your financial plan. In addition, life events such as marriage, divorce, arrival of children and the death of a close family member also will affect your plan. And legislative and tax changes can have an impact. Finally, you may change your objectives over the years.

At every step along the way, I can help you keep your financial plan current and in keeping with your changing circumstances and goals. To arrange for an annual review of your financial plan, please Contact me directly: Alex Kastanis (416) 224-2250

Reduce Your Personal Taxes

Preparing your income tax return can be stressful and time consuming, but there are tactics that can help reduce the amount of tax you pay:

Employment Income

Exercising employee stock options? - Speak to your employer about deferring the employment benefit.

Will you have an employer provided car? - Keep track of personal and business use to reduce the income inclusion.

Receiving a bonus? - Defer it for a year if you will be in a lower tax bracket.

Do you have unused RRSP contribution room? - Make this year’s contribution now and start enjoying tax-deferred earnings.

Investment Income

Keep investments that generate interest income in a registered account to defer taxing the income and hold dividend paying investments that are taxed at a lower rate outside your RRSP or RRIF.

Will you realize a capital gain? - Carry forward losses realized in previous years to reduce taxable gains.

Are you and your spouse splitting investment income? - Consider a loan for investment purposes.

Charitable Donations

Do you and your spouse make charitable donations? - Claim all donations on one tax return regardless of the donor. You receive a tax credit equal to 16% on the first $200 donated and 29% on any additional donations.

Are you planning to sell investments during the year? Will you also be making a charitable donation? - Donate the investments directly to charity and halve your tax.

Pension income

Are you and your spouse collecting CPP/QPP? - Sharing benefits may reduce the total tax on this income and may also prevent the higher income earner from losing any OAS entitlement.

Are you collecting an employer pension? - A $1,000 tax credit is available to individuals in receipt of employer pensions and also to those aged 65 or older who receive RRIF payments.

The six key steps for Financial Planning success

What can a financial plan do for you? Provide a roadmap to achieve financial goals such as:

Saving for retirement

Providing for post-secondary education

Ensuring your family’s financial security

Building wealth

Minimizing taxes

Leaving an estate for your heirs

Building your plan

Advocis (the Canadian Association of Financial Planners) recommends six key steps to the financial planning process.

Clarify your current financial position

Identify measurable goals and objectives

Identify financial barriers or issues

Provide alternative solutions to create a strategy

Implement the strategy

Periodically review and adjust the plan

How to get started

Our sophisticated planning software makes it easy to follow the Advocis recommendations. We can develop a systematic plan designed specifically for you. Your plan will have clearly defined goals, achievable steps and appropriate benchmarks. Note that purchase of financial products comes late in the process and investment vehicles will only be chosen if they can contribute to your goals.

Your next step

If you’d like to start working towards your financial goals with a properly designed financial plan, please contact me directly. Remember, the earlier we can begin the process, the easier it will be to achieve your goals.

For more information please Contact me directly: Alex Kastanis (416) 224-2250

The comments contained herein are not intended to be a definitive analysis of tax or estate law, and are general in nature. Professional advice regarding an individual's particular tax position should be obtained