Tax

Feed the plan: Talking to clients about RRSPs

(February 2008) Since their introduction in 1957, the RRSP has been the cornerstone of millions of Canadian retirement plans. For many advisors, RRSPs are integral to their book of business and it’s unlikely that will change any time soon. In fact, the buzz around retirement planning has been growing for the last few years — […]

By Staff |February 4, 2008

2 min read

Spotlight on joint accounts

There’s a good chance at least some of your clients share their bank account with a family member. A husband and wife, a father and daughter — joint accounts have been around since banking began. But just because your client and her son can both access the same cash, survivorship does not guarantee ownership. The […]

By Staff |February 1, 2008

2 min read

There’s more to joint ownership than you think

(February 2008) Older Canadians are increasingly being advised to transfer assets to their children by making them joint owners of bank or brokerage accounts. This is often bad advice. Merely adding an additional name as co-owner to an existing account is generally not enough. Advisors must take care to ensure that they have created the […]

By Arthur J. Fish and Richard E. Austin |January 31, 2008

8 min read

Disjointed rights part one: Two similar cases, two different rulings.

(February 2008) An issue which perennially rears its ugly head is the topic of joint ownership of assets, specifically “joint tenants with right of survivorship,” or JTWROS for short. Under a JTWROS account, which is available in all provinces other than Quebec, upon the death of one of the joint owners the property in the […]

January 31, 2008

5 min read