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So, question: I am getting older and realize our assets are significant enough that we can, even if slightly, see retiring as a possibility more in the medium future and not just a long term pipe dream. I would like to consult with an professional advisor for allocation and planning. I would of course pay for this but have no idea how to find an independent financial planner. The ones I have dealt with previously also belong to a financial institution that want your accounts and trade with them and earn sweet commission. I don't want that. Any idea how to find someone that is independent to consult with? Someone basically to pay per hour to give consulting advice while having a high level of fiduciary duty?
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Nov 19, 2021 04:21
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slidebite posted:So, question: You can absolutely meet with a financial planner (or more specifically one that specializes in retirement planning) without any of that. I know one in Vancouver, full disclosure he's the brother of one of my closest childhood friends. I believe he specializes in retirement planning, I met with him years ago when I was first starting to get my passive ETF investments going.
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Nov 19, 2021 05:28
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I exercised a bunch of options my company gave me a couple years back and I have shares (privately held, not on any exchange). The company offered to buy me out. Is there a good resource on what tax I'm liable for at the time of exercising (was I liable at the time of exercising? it wasn't public stock so I have no idea), and how much I'll be liable for after selling and receiving actual cash for it, and how to prepare documentation for it at tax time?
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Nov 19, 2021 15:23
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It's complicated based on a number of factors, but it sounds like you might be working for a Canadian-controlled private corporation (CCPC), in which case you pay tax when you dispose of the share, not when you exercise the option. There's also a 50% deduction you might be eligible for based on some qualifying factors. The rules are more complicated for non-CCPC employers and just changed in 2021, so it's worth talking to a tax accountant for a definitive answer.
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Nov 19, 2021 15:38
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VelociBacon posted:You can absolutely meet with a financial planner (or more specifically one that specializes in retirement planning) without any of that. I know one in Vancouver, full disclosure he's the brother of one of my closest childhood friends. I believe he specializes in retirement planning, I met with him years ago when I was first starting to get my passive ETF investments going.
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Nov 19, 2021 16:12
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slidebite posted:Any ideas on how to find one short of googling retirement planner? Which obviously is do-able, but not sure if there is a special "type" that does what I'm looking for, like someone not associated with a brokerage. https://www.pwlcapital.com/
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Nov 19, 2021 17:12
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slidebite posted:Any ideas on how to find one short of googling retirement planner? Which obviously is do-able, but not sure if there is a special "type" that does what I'm looking for, like someone not associated with a brokerage. I think most people just ask their friends etc but if you have ties to a bank you prefer you should be able to meet with someone from there, I don't think they'll be trying to push you to any kind of purchases through their employer.
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Nov 19, 2021 18:33
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Less Fat Luke posted:I know a lot of people who use PWL Capital (an Ottawa/Toronto firm) for investment and retirement planning and are pretty happy with them. Ben Felix, a fairly prominent personal finance nerd, works there.
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Nov 20, 2021 14:37
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slidebite posted:I appreciate that, I see they do canada wide as well. I check into them. There's a few non-PWL advisors who post on the Rational Reminder (podcast by PWL peeps) forums, kind of a stretch but may be a way to find like-minded firms.
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Nov 20, 2021 20:47
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VelociBacon posted:if you have ties to a bank you prefer you should be able to meet with someone from there, I don't think they'll be trying to push you to any kind of purchases through their employer. My experience is that they do exactly this. Reading Millionaire Teacher was enough to know more than the first guy I sat with, and when he pawned me off to the woman running investments for the branch, I was able to recognize how what she was pushing me towards wasn't great. I picked up self directed investing because of it so I guess it was a win, but it's easier than you think. Much like personal taxes in the US the industry has a perverse incentive to pretend it's not.
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Nov 21, 2021 17:25
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Yeah banks absolutely all push their own advisors who in turn pitch their own mutual funds with high fees.
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Nov 21, 2021 17:32
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Basically all of my banking is online so that's not really an option, but my experience was similar when I did deal with bank "advisors"... and they didn't exactly exude confidence. I would like to deal with someone locally in person, but pretty much everyone here that has a "financial guy" they are tied to their bank which are commission driven. So I think I'll end up dealing with an advisor remotely on a per hour basis, if possible. That PWL seems like a decent place to start 
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Nov 21, 2021 17:44
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Don’t assume the bank advisors really know anything about investing either, they really are just salespeople. Case in point, new regulations this year have forced advisors to have a stronger knowledge of the products they are selling, the intent being to protect investors. How did the banks respond to this? They now refuse to sell third party funds to clients, claiming that it’s only reasonable for their advisors to have that “deep” of a knowledge of the banks own products. This is an obvious conflict of interest, but that doesn’t matter because banks have been fighting tooth and nail to prevent any kind of fiduciary duty being applied to them. So yeah that tells you all you need to know about the big bank’s investment arms, steer clear of them like they’re the plague.
qhat fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Nov 21, 2021 |
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Nov 21, 2021 20:53
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In my experience banks suck at most things. Just found out that CIBC is going to be doing credit cards for costco canada next year. I guess that means they're going to Visa from MC? E Nope, still MC https://www.cibc.com/en/personal-banking/credit-cards/costco.html
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Nov 21, 2021 23:02
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Costco only accepts Mastercard in store.
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Nov 22, 2021 01:11
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McGavin posted:Costco only accepts Mastercard in store. Currently, it used to be amex not long ago and it's visa in the States so they're not exactly locked into one provider. I hope the new card ups the cash back percentages a bit. We put everything on ours and usually get a cheque for 7 or 800 bucks every spring.
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Nov 22, 2021 01:28
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My CC are all Visa but since I already sorta have dealings with CIBC (via Simplii) I'd probably get a Costco CC again once they start issuing.
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Nov 22, 2021 17:30
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slidebite posted:My CC are all Visa but since I already sorta have dealings with CIBC (via Simplii) I'd probably get a Costco CC again once they start issuing. Reminds me of a family member who was visiting Rapa Nui and didn't realize that everywhere only accepted (Mastercard or Visa) and they had only brought the other one. That was years ago, and the only other place I've heard of that only supported one was Costco, but nonetheless it might be useful to have options!
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Nov 22, 2021 17:40
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Yeah, redundancy is not a bad idea. I used to have all 3 majors spread over 4 credit cards years ago, but thought it was stupid because I never used them and had some insane combined credit limit which was more than I made in a year. After Costco left Amex I cancelled that because I never used it. I only had a few years of history with it so it wasn't a big hit, but it was the one with the craziest credit limit. Amazon cancelled their card a few years back so that got turfed which is the only one that sort of bothered me, as I used that exclusively for Amazon purchases and forex. I think the other was a Capital One but they pissed me off with never ending telemarketing and mailing out account checks even when I asked them to stop, so I cancelled that (and never really used it anyhow). So that left my old PC which I had for many years, which migrated to Simplii and a fairly recent hometrust for forex to replace my Amazon.ca card. Both unfortunately happen to be visa. I'd totally be up for a "decent" MC. slidebite fucked around with this message at 18:20 on Nov 22, 2021 |
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Nov 22, 2021 18:00
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I'm in a position where I could maybe, possibly, sort of start thinking about potentially buying a house. I always assumed I'd never want to so never looked into it. Is there a 'how does dumb dummy buy house in BC' thread, or a decent online resource that spells out what I should do in large font with lots of pictures? My understanding of the process is something like: talk to bank, sire and sell first-born, talk to financial planner, sell housemate's kidneys on dark web, talk to real estate agent, rob bank, hand large bag with dollar sign back to bank, watch house immediately crumble to dust at first sign of rain. I probably need some help.
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Nov 24, 2021 17:16
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You forgot about picking up the big sack of money from parents.
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Nov 24, 2021 17:21
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Also the really cool process of blind bidding where you're repeatedly reminded how you can't afford to play the game. Talk to a bank or mortgage broker (free) and see what you can afford. Any realtor worth their commission should be able to guide you through the buying process. Honey Im Homme fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Nov 24, 2021 |
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Nov 24, 2021 17:23
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Right, so talk to Realtor and hopefully they're competent enough to tell me what to do. That might be achievable.odiv posted:You forgot about picking up the big sack of money from parents. Should I have them committed and sell their poo poo with power of attorney or just ask for the big sack of cash directly?
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Nov 24, 2021 17:29
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Big sack of cash would be less effort, but you'll still have to explain where it came from. I would strongly recommend lining up a broker first to check into pre-approvals and what you can realistically afford, even before a realtor. That will dictate right there how serious you can be and what your options are. Your realtor will probably thank you for doing it too. I personally wouldn't even bother with a bank, I have yet to hear of any of my friends over the past 20+ years get a better mortgage with a bank over what a broker could offer. Generally not even close. Good luck on your home purchasing Signed, GenX'r who first bought in 1999... which in our minds was crazy then, but I can't imagine getting the market now 
slidebite fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Nov 25, 2021 |
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Nov 25, 2021 16:06
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Just resurrecting my question about Simplii and 2-F authentication for each log in. Seems to be FF related. I disabled uBlock and it still did it. Tried it on Edge and logs in fine each time.
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Nov 27, 2021 17:09
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I had the same annoying issue with CIBC where it would require a 2-factor for every login while my partner's did not. I changed my password and the problem went away, have you tried that?
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Nov 27, 2021 22:21
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I actually changed it not that long ago, certainly during the time it was giving me issues. Didn't seem to make a difference. Either way, it's OK. Going to Edge for my banking is not a big deal. Looks like CIBC has released the skinny on their Costco MC. Available in March. https://www.cibc.com/en/personal-banking/credit-cards/costco.html
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Nov 28, 2021 19:05
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Saw this article a little while ago about how the ultra wealthy billionaire class are capable of paying no taxes. quote:Buy, Borrow, Die: How Rich Americans Live Off Their Paper Wealth That last bolded line is a detail of US tax policy that makes this an insanely effective way to pass down wealth to heirs indefinitely. It is not possible in Canada since there is deemed deposition on death; the capital gains are realized and must be paid on death. Why am I posting this? Well the implications of the idea in application to mere hundredthousandaire mortals has been stuck in my head. If you google the phrase "buy, borrow, die" you do get a few blog articles unpacking how the middle class may do something similar, noting that while mere mortals probably don't have enormous piles of stock equity to put up as collateral to loans, the asset class that the middle class does have access to is real estate. With the explosion in popularity of HELOCs in recent years, it seems possible to me that many Canadians are somewhat following this strategy perhaps without even much thinking about it. Homeowners that want to do a renovation could sell $50,000 of equities to pay for it and pay $10k in taxes on that capital gain but they could instead borrow the $50k from their HELOC, and pay the sub 3% interest charge, which should be more than paid for by 5%+ gains on the $50k they've left in their investment account. If they are contributing to their RRSP every year, they'll have some tax refund room. They could sell some equities over a few years to pay off that HELOC and leverage the tax refund space to not have to pay any tax out of pocket. Or perhaps they could invest their tax refund and simply continue paying HELOC interest forever knowing that the gains from their investments will more than compensate for their debt payments and principal. This works so long as interest rates are low and stock market returns are high, which they have been all throughout our recent housing bubble. One can see the potential for things to go sideways here (lol). Though if things start to change, the homeowner can quickly liquidate some stock to bring their HELOC balance down to a manageable level. So the above scenario seems workable enough that it's likely many Canadians are (unintentionally?) already doing this, but at a scale so low that it doesn't seem much comparable to what the billionaires are doing. Eventually one runs out of HELOC room. Unless I guess... you keep buying more and more homes to leverage for more and more HELOC room? Coincidentally buying multiple investment properties is also something that Canadians have been doing more and more. Potentially it seems one can continue to buy more and more houses, max out HELOCs to fund lifestyle, have an enormous pile of equities, and die with enormous piles of debt having never paid any tax. Perhaps there is some point at which a bank, looking at your pile of maxed out HELOCs, will no longer lend you money to buy another investment property, but I dunno, seems like banks are pretty happy to lend. Unlike the USA, deemed deposition on death will ensure an enormous tax bill for one's heirs though similarly to the justification for the RRSP, the logic of delaying tax events until you're old and (probably?) have near zero income holds here. Femtosecond fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Nov 29, 2021 |
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Nov 29, 2021 19:27
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Wealthsimple Trade is going to be offering a $10/mo service for US trade accounts (so no currency exchange on every single US trade), and a couple of other features. There will still be an exchange fee for getting the money in though, of course. I just did Norbert's Gambit in RBC Direct Investing for my retirement stuff which doesn't see much activity and I tend not to buy US stuff in my fun Wealthsimple Trade account (though I did get some SEDG when I first started out). I don't trade enough where this would be appealing to me, but maybe someone here does. https://help.wealthsimple.com/hc/en-ca/articles/4411905237275-Join-the-waitlist-for-Plus
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Dec 8, 2021 18:28
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If anyone wants to do currency trades, I would recommend IBKR over Wealthsimple. It doesn't have a monthly fee anymore and the exchange rates are at the interbank rates, and it's dead cheap to execute trades.
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Dec 9, 2021 01:04
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Is there any reason to use ibkr over questrade if I just buy ETFs and never sell? Some things I would like are securities lending or secured line of credit.
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Dec 9, 2021 05:49
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IBKR has the lowest margin rates by far. If you never sell, well, free ETF buys are going to be the best. Use whatever makes you comfortable at that point.
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Dec 9, 2021 06:11
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whoa yea those margin rates are low. In contrast TD is 4.5%
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Dec 16, 2021 02:19
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I had it in mind that I would max out my TFSA and RRSP before saving on a downpayment for a house or committing to taxable investments. I understand the TFSA contribution room, and it's purpose, and should be able to max that out in another year or two. I've decided to do that first, based on common wisdom I've learned about when to contribute to TFSA vs. RRSP. As best I can tell, it's better to max TFSA out before the RRSP if you're early in your career and expect to make more down the road, since the entire idea of RRSP is to defer taxation, lowering your tax burden in the year of contribution and deferring it until withdrawal (ideally when your income has decreased in retirement). But I will still be relatively early in my career once I max out my TFSA contributions, and in my current career I likely won't hit my peak salary for another 10-20 years depending how far up the chain I want to go. That considered, is there any reason I wouldn't want to start contributing to my RRSP in a year or two and max that out vs. holding off until later in my career? And continuously max out my TFSA/RRSP contributions with each year thereafter? Edit: Also, is there any reason you couldn't/shouldn't make an RRSP deduction and simply put the money from your return into the TFSA? Or is this backwards?
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Dec 20, 2021 18:22
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I'm so pissed off at td right now. They refused to process my mutual fund purchases without "updating my investor profile". And now I've been on hold for 2 hours. Anyway, I want to move my tfsa from td eseries to something similar. What are the good ETF or low fee mutual fund providers right now? My tfsa is 100% equity.
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Dec 20, 2021 18:26
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PoizenJam posted:I had it in mind that I would max out my TFSA and RRSP before saving on a downpayment for a house or committing to taxable investments. Think of your tax advantages accounts (and any other savings) as being the saving for a down payment - what other purchase of that scale would you really be saving for anyways? RRSP even has the first time home buyers thing. I'm not a financial advisor but I believe in many cases where your pension is excellent it makes sense to contribute earlier/fill your TFSA bucket and let that grow in there. In my case that's what I am doing because I have a federal pension and won't *need* the RRSP money after I retire. Instead, I contribute a few k a year into the RRSP and try to aggressively pay into my TFSA. When it comes to retirement planning it's really a good idea to meet with a professional who can better understand your specific needs so you don't gently caress yourself up. Calumanjaro posted:I'm so pissed off at td right now. They refused to process my mutual fund purchases without "updating my investor profile". And now I've been on hold for 2 hours. I use XSP.TO for that, others exist which have a wider diversity of holdings. BlackRock and Vanguard are your go-to. I think XEQT and probably VEQT are the relative offerings but that's off the top of my head Monday morning and I could be way off.
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Dec 20, 2021 18:37
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VelociBacon posted:Think of your tax advantages accounts (and any other savings) as being the saving for a down payment - what other purchase of that scale would you really be saving for anyways? RRSP even has the first time home buyers thing. Regarding the bolded. Despite being early in my career, I'm 33 (I went deep on a PhD, starting my career at 30, paid off loans last year) and I live in Toronto.There's a very real possibility renting + investing remains my best option indefinitely, or at least until I am too old to really bother with a mortgage on a place I would want. Mine and my partner's household income is good (~$150k gross) but... Frankly the scale and expense of Ontario real estate--and Toronto in particular--feels like the economic equivalent of Lovecraftian cosmic horror. So what other purchase of that scale could I use my savings for? I guess my answer is: financial security, possibly retiring early, expensive hobbies, and investing? As for the rest, I work for the government and contribute to the PSSA. But I can't think of a reason not to also max out my RRSP if I have the money available, unless I would be better off waiting until my earnings are higher. PoizenJam fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Dec 20, 2021 |
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Dec 20, 2021 19:10
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PoizenJam posted:Regarding the bolded. Despite being early in my career, I'm 33 (I went deep on a PhD, starting my career at 30, paid off loans last year) and I live in Toronto.There's a very real possibility renting + investing remains my best option indefinitely, or at least until I am too old to really bother with a mortgage on a place I would want. Mine and my partner's household income is good (~$150k gross) but... Frankly the scale and expense of Ontario real estate--and Toronto in particular--feels like the economic equivalent of Lovecraftian cosmic horror. So what other purchase of that scale could I use my savings for? I guess my answer is: financial security, possibly retiring early, expensive hobbies, and investing? One thing to perhaps clarify for the last part, you can contribute to an RRSP but not use the deduction in the same year that you contribute. Any unused contributions can be carried forward to future years when you would then choose to use them by filling out Schedule 7. Edit: The main complicating point in carrying-forward unused contributions is that now your deduction limit is different from your contribution limit. AegisP fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Dec 20, 2021 |
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Dec 20, 2021 21:32
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Oh- well if the deductions can be carried forward that kind of obviates my dilemma. Contribute whenever, save deductions for years with higher tax burdens.
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Dec 20, 2021 22:55
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PoizenJam posted:But I can't think of a reason not to also max out my RRSP if I have the money available, unless I would be better off waiting until my earnings are higher. I had the same thought as the first half of the sentence and didn't bother trying to guess about when the second half might come true. No regrets. If you've recently gotten a big raise or a new job or whatever and so you've calculated that waiting one year to deduct would make a significant difference (as in $thousands) then yeah do that. But I wouldn't withhold the contribution or deduction for some unspecified future high income year. Same idea as a capital loss (carryback): if you can show your work for the exact gain it'll offset then go for it. Churning your portfolio just to generate offsetting gains and losses is less obviously worthwhile.
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Dec 20, 2021 22:58
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