The Best Guaranteed Investment That Withstands The Market Ups & Downs! Part 2

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With all these inevitable risks, coupled with the current market condition, it more than ever essential to turn to guarantees and other advantages designed to promote peace of mind. Segregated Fund contracts can be an integral component of a diversified portfolio to ensure that your aspirations and goals for you and your loved ones are achieved with confidence. In addition to access to the growth potential of the markets, investors may take comfort in knowing they can benefit from the following value‑added features:

Maturity Guarantee

At the maturity date, the owner is guaranteed to receive the greater of the market value or the maturity guarantee amount, subject to the provision in the contract or product chosen. This means that in the worst-case circumstance, you’re getting up to 100% of all deposited.

Payout Benefit Guarantee

It guarantees that you get the scheduled income payments provided in the contract, even when the market value is down. In down markets, this guarantee offers additional protection, ensuring that your steady income stream is not interrupted.

Death Benefit Guarantee 

Upon the death of the last surviving Annuitant, the beneficiaries will receive a guaranteed amount, the greater of the market value or the Death Benefit Guarantee. The death benefit could be up to 100% of all deposits, less any withdrawals.

Guaranteed Income For Life

Some segregated fund contracts include features that can deliver a guaranteed stream of income for your lifetime or a fixed number of years, as desired. With a guaranteed, predictable income for life, you can be confident that you won’t run of money. Income guaranteed, cannot decrease no matter how the investments perform. 

GIF solutions offer you protection in the market by lowering your risk with guarantee, more rewards and certainty

Resets to Lock-in Market Gains

This feature work to capture market growth by allowing the owner to periodically lock-in increases in the market value of their segregated fund contracts. Resets may be automatic or client‑initiated with the assistance of a financial advisor, and may impact the maturity guarantee or Death Benefit Guarantee.

Creditor protection

A segregated fund contract has the potential to protect a client’s assets from creditors. This feature is ideal for professionals and small business owners looking to help protect their personal assets from professional liability. 

Estate planning benefits

In addition to guarantees, segregated fund solutions offer your estate planning advantages by helping your loved ones receive an inheritance more quickly and may assist investors to leave more to heirs than they would be able with other types of investment products. Since Segregated funds are insurance contracts, death benefit proceeds pass on quickly and privately to the designated beneficiaries (other than an estate) without any legal, estate administration and probate fees.

Canadians, who are focused on securing a financial future for their family, after they are gone, can rest assured knowing that their loved ones will not endure additional stress during those difficult times.

Comparing the benefits of a Segregated Fund versus Mutual Fund

Other Additional Benefits to You

Potential Creditor Protection

Assets flowing through an estate (which generally occurs when non‑registered assets paid by financial institutions other than insurance companies) may be subjected to creditors of the deceased, which could mean a smaller inheritance for your heirs. 

Privacy & Confidential

Proceeds bypassing the estate and paid to the named beneficiary can preserve confidentiality as the application for probate is a matter of public record. The ability to bypass probate saves your named beneficiaries time and money as well as estate fee upon your death.

Quick & Fast


Settling an estate can be lengthy, frequently taking months or even years should the will be challenged. With a named beneficiary, other than the estate, death benefit proceeds of a segregated fund contract can pass directly to the recipient within a month or two and avoid these delays.

Annuity Settlement Option


This option automatically transfers segregated fund proceeds upon death into an annuity, in accordance with the terms chosen by the client. You also have the opportunity to replace a lump sum death benefit with smaller scheduled payments while providing savings you legal, estate administration and probate fees. It offers additional privacy and potential creditor protection. For heir(s) with poor money management skills or minors, this option comes in handy to spread the inheritance whiles you’re away, at no cost to you!

Want to learn more about Guaranteed Investment Funds and how it can complement your current financial plan, to help you achieve your aspirations and dreams with peace of mind? Connect with us virtually @ https://app.hubspot.com/meetings/fb4, for a complimentary assessment. To Your Future Success!

Is more of hard-earned money going to your loved ones or the government?

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A comprehensive financial plan covers every area of your financial life, from investments and real estate to insurance risk mitigation, retirement planning, and tax and estate planning.

There are a number of financial planning areas that a financial plan may take into account; all based on your current unique circumstances and where you want to be later in life, and what do you want to happen should life uncertainty throw a curve-ball at you or a loved one(s).

While nobody likes thinking about it, planning for a future after you’ve passed away is an important process to go through for your family’s sake. It is essential if you don’t want your loved ones to face financial or legal distress after you’re gone. But that’s exactly what could happen if you don’t make the effort beforehand to put your estate in order.

But there’s good news. It may be easier than you think to get your affairs in order so that the people and/or organizations you care about most will benefit from the estate you have created over your lifetime.

It’s very important to review your estate plan to ensure it continues to reflect your wishes and desires going forward, while still making maximum use of potential tax-reduction strategies available.

Read more..https://www.agf.com/ca/en/insights/personal-finance/articles/article-estate-planning-series-the-basics.jsp

Courtesy: AGF Management Ltd -Personal Finance

How to plan around the small business tax changes, effective 2019

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Starting this year, 2019, incorporated private business i.e. Canadian
Controlled Private Corporations (CCPC) are taking a different approach when planning their tax and investment optimization strategy to managing their wealth and fortifying their legacy. However, because the reduction will be based on “Adjusted Aggregated Investment Income” (AAII) from the previous year, passive income for 2018 can impact the 2019 small business limit.

Passive income earned inside a corporation e.g. retained earnings, investment income ( such as interest, portfolio dividends, and taxable capital gains) in a Canadian active business can lower a corporation’s small business deduction (SBD). This reduction begins when a corporation (or a group of associated corporations) earns $50,000 of passive income in a year. Specifically, where passive income – known as “Adjusted Aggregated Investment Income” (AAII); exceeds $50,000 for a given year, the corporation’s access to the small business tax rate (10% federally) for the following year will be reduced.

Reduction in Small Business Deduction Limit Based on Passive Investments Income


The small business deduction (SBD) will be fully eliminated when passive income reaches $150,000. For each dollar of passive income over $50,000, the SBD will be reduced by $5. That’s once AAII reaches $150,000, none of the corporation’s active Business Income (ABI) will be ineligible for the small business rate and instead will be taxed at the general corporate rate, as illustrated in the graph. Courtesy by CI Investments.

The following strategies can reduce the impact of the new passive investing rules;

1) Invest for capital gains.

2) Buy and hold to defer capital gains

3) Consider corporate-owned tax-exempt life insurance

4) Pay sufficient salary to maximize RRSPs & TFSAs

5) Consider establishing an Individual/Personal Pension Plan (IPP/PPP)

Download to the document below to learn more!

Tax-Planning-Using-Private-Corporations-Download

Government grants to small business: “free seed money” – go unused

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For small business and startup companies, one of the biggest challenges to get the enterprise going is finance to implement your creative and innovative ideas. Unfortunately, many businesses never consult financial professionals to ease this hurdle to an excellent “take off”. Small business hiring grants are available throughout the year, often for a certain period of time. They usually cover about 50 to 70 percent of the wage of someone being brought on to the payroll. Many programs are for recent post-secondary graduates or students with relevant work experience. Read more..

Securing Your Business

‘Tis the season for tax-loss selling

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As the year-end approaches, many investors with taxable accounts may be seeking to dispose of securities that have lost money, especially during Sept – Oct. The strategy of tax-loss selling allows the investor to claim a capital loss, which offsets capital gains for the current year. Any unused net capital losses can then be applied against taxable capital gains in any of the three preceding years, or carried forward indefinitely to future years. Read more


Financial Tips to help you achieve your dreams – TFSA

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It’s official. The TFSA dollar limit will be increasing to $6,000 in 2019. TFSAs have been extremely popular among millions of Canadians, many of whom will welcome the upcoming ability to sock away extra funds in their TFSAs come 2019.

The TFSA was first introduced in the 2008 federal budget and became available to Canadians for the 2009 calendar year. The initial TFSA dollar limit of $5,000 had risen to $5,500 for the past few years, with a short-lived flirtation at $10,000 in 2015.

Under the tax rules, starting in 2016 and for each subsequent year, the annual TFSA dollar limit was fixed at $5,000, indexed to inflation for each year after 2009, and rounded to the nearest $500 to make the annual limits easy to remember. Contrast this with the maximum RRSP limit, which is fully indexed to inflation, with no rounding, making this year’s limit of $26,230 a bit harder to recall.

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