What is Tax Planning?

Tax planning is the process of ensuring all aspects of your financial plan work together in such a way that they reduce your overall tax bill as much as legally possible. By minimizing your taxes, this keeps more money in your pocket and allows you to grow your assets faster.

Many people are not aware of all the legal strategies to minimize their tax bill both while they are alive and when their estate kicks in. Using efficient tax strategies like a private reserve account, can provide you more consistent income in retirement and minimize the taxes that your estate pays, so that the government gets less and your estate gets more!

One of the things that makes us different from other advisors is; that instead of focusing on decreasing your tax bill for one year, we focus on minimizing your taxes over your life time.

Most people do not want to pay taxes now while they are working, so they use a lot of tax postponement strategies such as RRSP’s, group RRSP’s, deferred profit-sharing plans and pension funds. These plans don’t save taxes but instead postpone the tax bill until the money is withdrawn. So, ask yourself; “what tax bracket will you be in at retirement”? Remember that even if we project based on current tax laws, the government has in the past, and can change the rules along the way.

In general, most people retire with less income than when they are working. So, if you don’t want to pay taxes now, when you have more income, what makes you think you will want to pay taxes when you retire and possibly have less income? That is why we need to have some frank discussions about your overall set up of your current financial picture! We should determine the breakdown of your investment accounts between tax deferred accounts versus tax free accounts. Then we need to see whether you are using the best strategy for your situation and make decisions to set you up now for the best future outcomes!

Why is Tax Planning Important?

  • Affects Your Finances: Tax planning has a big impact on how your money works for you.
  • Part of Every plan: It’s a crucial part of any good financial plan, and you should think about it for all your money matters.
  • Save More Money: By planning your taxes right, you can end up with more money in your pocket.
  • Less Tax to Pay: Tax Planning helps you find ways to pay less tax, whether it’s on your investments or the money you make.
  • Protects Your Estate: It also helps you keep more money safe from taxes when you pass away.