Objective Financial Partners Blog
How to Choose a Retirement Financial Planner in Canada
Choosing a financial planner for retirement can be harder than it should be. A bank employee, investment adviser, insurance agent, and advice-only financial planner may all discuss retirement, but the services they provide and how they are paid can vary significantly. The right choice depends on what you need. Some…
Can I Keep My Investment Advisor and Work With a Financial Planner?
Clients often ask whether they need to move their investments to work with a financial planner. The short answer is no. If you work with an advice-only financial planner, you can generally keep your existing investment advisor. The planner focuses on financial planning while your advisor continues managing the investments.…
Flat-Fee Financial Planning vs. a 1% Investment Management Fee
Financial advice can be paid for in several ways. Two common approaches in Canada are a flat fee for financial planning and an investment management fee based on a percentage of your portfolio. At first glance, the comparison seems straightforward. A 1% annual fee on a $1 million portfolio is…
Retiring in Canada with American Ties
If you have worked in both Canada and the United States, retirement planning can involve many moving parts. You may eventually receive Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) benefits, Old Age Security (OAS), U.S. Social Security, employer pensions, and withdrawals from Canadian and U.S. retirement accounts. Many…
Your Canadian Home Can Still Create a U.S. Tax Bill
For most Canadians, selling a principal residence is relatively straightforward from a tax perspective. If the property qualifies for Canada’s principal residence exemption, some or all of the capital gain may be tax-free. A U.S. citizen living in Canada has another tax system to consider. Selling a Canadian home can…
What to Do With Your U.S. Accounts Before You Move to Canada
If you are moving from the U.S. to Canada, your bank accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement plans, and other investments should be considered long before you move. Many Americans assume they should close U.S. accounts or consolidate everything in Canada. That is not always the best approach. Some planning opportunities are…
How Much Does a Financial Planner Cost in Canada?
The cost of working with a financial planner in Canada can range from a few hundred dollars for a specific question to several thousand dollars for a comprehensive financial plan. Some advisors charge an hourly or fixed fee, while others are compensated through investment management fees or commissions. There is…
Why Canadian ETFs Can Be a Problem for U.S. Citizens Living in Canada
Ask a Canadian investor what they should own in a low-cost investment portfolio and Canadian exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will often be part of the answer. And mutual funds are still one of the most common investment vehicles for savers. For most Canadians, there is nothing unusual about these products. However,…
Canadian Tax-Free Does Not Always Mean U.S. Tax-Free
If you are a U.S. citizen living in Canada, one of the most useful things you can learn early is that account labels do not travel across the border. Canada generally taxes people based on where they live. The United States is unusual in that it generally taxes its citizens…
Can You Afford to Retire from the Farm?
For many Canadian farmers, retirement planning looks very different from what it does for most Canadians. A teacher may retire with a pension. An executive may retire with RRSPs, TFSAs, and non-registered investments. Their challenge is often figuring out how to draw income from those assets in a tax-efficient way.…
How Many Advice-Only Financial Planners Are There in Canada?
I have been an advice-only financial planner for more than 20 years. When I started providing fee-only financial planning in 2002, very few people in Canada were doing it. More than two decades later, there are still surprisingly few. So, how many true advice-only financial planners are there in Canada?…
U.S. Social Security for Canadians: What You Need to Know Before You Retire
If you are a Canadian who has worked in the United States, or you are a U.S. citizen living in Canada, one of the biggest retirement planning decisions you may face is when and how to claim U.S. Social Security benefits. For many cross-border retirees, U.S. Social Security is one…
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