Search found 83 matches

by Solo
12 Jul 2018 19:11
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: What is your current age?
Replies: 15
Views: 583

Re: What is your current age?

When I was under 50 and preoccupied with work and family, I was convinced that (1) I didn’t have the time or expertise to manage my own investment portfolio and (2) a knowledgeable financial advisor would have my best interests at heart. Some life lessons are costly :(
by Solo
12 Jul 2018 17:26
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: US REIT Question
Replies: 7
Views: 360

Re: US REIT Question

I'd focus on unwinding those REITs before selling other Cdn or US equity. I don't want small bits of everything.
Thanks AltaRed - good advice!
by Solo
12 Jul 2018 16:06
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: US REIT Question
Replies: 7
Views: 360

Re: US REIT Question

Looks like TD is working on RRIF US sub account:
I suspect that they will too. But, just so you know, they've been making that promise for more than a few years now :(
by Solo
12 Jul 2018 16:03
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: US REIT Question
Replies: 7
Views: 360

Re: US REIT Question

I'd suggest a 2.5% weighting does not move the needle in a portfolio. Why bother for anything less than 10% for an ETF?
Good point AltaRed.

When I wore a younger man's clothes (now 72) and equities made up 70% of my portfolio, REITs did in fact account for 10% of the total and Canada, USA and International were all at 20%. Now equities only account for 45% of my portfolio so all my equity positions are starting to look pretty small: VCN, VTI and VEA at 13.33 % each and ZRE+VNQ at 5%. I suspect this is an issue for many retirees who are in the fortunate position of not having to take on the extra risk associated with holding more equities.

Maybe it would make sense to drop the REITs all together but I already have them so ...
by Solo
12 Jul 2018 12:43
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: US REIT Question
Replies: 7
Views: 360

US REIT Question

I currently have 5% of my portfolio invested in REITs split evenly between Canada (ZRE) and the US (VNQ) with both ETFs held in a TD RRIF account. Over time, I've become increasingly annoyed at TD skimming off a piece of every VNQ dividend I receive (given their continued reluctance to add US sub-accounts to their RRIFs). However, I also know that it's not worth moving to a new online broker given that VNQ is my only US RRIF holding. So, now I'm thinking of selling VNQ, harvesting the currency gains I've made over the past few years and re-investing the proceeds into ZRE. The only thing holding me back is the question of whether I should think twice about giving up the diversity provided by investing in the US real estate market. As far as ...
by Solo
05 Sep 2017 22:42
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Investment income in a CCPC
Replies: 1102
Views: 152144

Re: Investment income in a CCPC

A question asked by my son-in-law. If the allowance for passive investment income in a CCPC is grandfathered, would it make any sense for him (via his corporation) to immediately borrow a significant amount and invest it now? Of course, I can well imagine the government will choose an earlier grandfathering date in anticipation of such a manoeuvre :?
by Solo
20 Jun 2017 08:54
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Portfolio creation [with some US taxation considerations]
Replies: 12
Views: 676

Re: Portfolio creation [with some US taxation considerations]

Thanks to all for the very helpful comments and advice - much appreciated!
by Solo
18 Jun 2017 09:32
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Portfolio creation [with some US taxation considerations]
Replies: 12
Views: 676

Re: Portfolio creation

My friend's response to TFSA and tax question: "in terms of the TFSA story - I was advised 3 years ago that the US doesn't recognize the tax free part.... so perhaps they are a safe vehicle if I don't plan to with draw anything until I no longer have to file US taxes. Now I have to do a dual income tax filing every year: first the Canadian one and then they take those numbers and file the US one. Because of the agreement between Canada and the US, I pay whichever is the greater amount. Up to date that is the Canadian tax. The only variation was when I lived in NY, and NY State Tax of 18% was also applied to my Canadian income. In terms of where my income comes from.. my personal income is from a Canadian Company.. so virtually all my i...
by Solo
16 Jun 2017 19:32
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Portfolio creation [with some US taxation considerations]
Replies: 12
Views: 676

Portfolio creation [with some US taxation considerations]

A friend (65 and planning to work for at least another 3 years) has asked me for advice re her investment portfolio. She is single, owns an apartment worth 400K and has no debt. Although incorporated, there is essentially no money in the corporation and all her investments are in an RRSP. Since much of her income is earned in the US, she has been advised not to put any monies into her TFSA. Currently she has a total of 223K invested in her RRSP (2017 deduction limit is 16K). The RRSP currently consists of: (1) 125K in TD Comfort Balance Portfolio (MER 1.91%) which is 52% bonds/cash, 22% CDN equity, 14% US equity, and 12% International equity (2) 98K in a 4 year ladder of TD GIC Plus RSP (including Security, Financials and Canadian Banking a...
by Solo
09 Feb 2017 14:17
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: Which Broker Do you Use?
Replies: 117
Views: 18161

Re: Which Broker Do you Use?

I'm with TDDI and have generally been quite satisfied. I am, however, unhappy with their failure to honour their commitment to a make a USD account available for RRIFs by the end of 2016. Just checked yesterday and there is no longer even a target date so I guess they're still reluctant to give up all the $$$ they make through high currency conversion charges. Probably time to follow through on my threat to move my RRIF account elsewhere.
by Solo
27 Sep 2016 15:45
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Cell phones and phone plans [2016-2017]
Replies: 136
Views: 4298

Re: Cell phones and phone plans [2016]

One more reason to check out your phone company loyalty programs.
Called today to cancel my home phone given the cost ($25 per month) and the fact that I really don't need anything other than my cell phone. Immediately the Telus representative informed me that since I was a longstanding customer, I would be able to keep the landline for $10 per month. Too bad I didn't know that a few years back :(
by Solo
12 Aug 2016 18:49
Forum: Under the Mattress: Protecting Your Money
Topic: High interest rates for savings, GICs and MMFs (2016)
Replies: 489
Views: 45225

Re: High interest rates for savings, GICs and MMFs (2016)

Just a heads-up if you are looking at GICs for a registered account. For a number of years my 5 year GIC ladders (all in RRSPs) contained GICs from a wide variety of providers. More recently as the GICs matured, I consolidated them all in my TDDI accounts. By far, the transfers from Concentra consistently proved to be the most frustrating and time consuming :(
by Solo
19 Jul 2016 18:21
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: Inheritance Ideas?
Replies: 90
Views: 5708

Re: Inheritance Ideas?

ltr wrote:
I feel whatever you provide or gift to one child, an equal amount must go to every child or there will be resentment.
Agree completely
by Solo
18 Jul 2016 15:08
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: Inheritance Ideas?
Replies: 90
Views: 5708

Re: Inheritance Ideas?

AltaRed wrote:
I am much closer to Ockham on this one based on friends I know, and in my own family. ... No more complex than that.
My experience as well - in spades!
by Solo
06 Jul 2016 18:43
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: January December 2016 Humour
Replies: 130
Views: 4992

Re: January December 2016 Humour

I'm 70 but was able to stop like a 27 year old. To bad I can't get going like one :(
by Solo
15 Jun 2016 22:48
Forum: Under the Mattress: Protecting Your Money
Topic: Cash Component. How much do you need.
Replies: 44
Views: 2399

Re: Cash Componennt. How much do you need.

Since retiring 6 years ago, we also rely on a Line of Credit to handle any major unanticipated expenses. But, so far, we've never needed to use it :)
by Solo
18 May 2016 20:12
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Backup strategy
Replies: 136
Views: 8392

Re: Backup strategy

DenisD wrote:IIRC, Google Photos High Quality degrades your picture even if it is less than 16 mp.
Although Google Photos does compress photos under 16 mp, so far I haven't been able to see any degradation. This article on jPEG compression testing might be of interest http://petapixel.com/2015/05/30/jpeg-co ... -jpegmini/
by Solo
27 Mar 2016 18:37
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: RIP 2016
Replies: 92
Views: 3676

Re: RIP 2016

Jim Harrison dead at 78. IMHO one of the great American writers (New York Times)
by Solo
30 Jan 2016 13:41
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Please critique my portfolio plan
Replies: 79
Views: 2487

Re: Please critique my portfolio plan

longinvest wrote:XAW is more tax efficient than VXC (has less tax leakage) in both registered and unregistered accounts, and has a lower management fee.
Justin Bender has an informative post on this subject" - FWIW
After taking into account the additional tax drag from foreign withholding taxes, the estimated cost of VXC increases to 0.66% (from 0.27%), while the estimated cost of XAW increases to 0.56% (from 0.23%). ... It’s important to take these differences into perspective. An additional cost of 0.10% on a $10,000 holding is only $10 per year. An investor choosing either of these ETFs to gain low-cost diversified exposure to global stocks would be making a prudent decision.
by Solo
26 Jan 2016 10:58
Forum: Now Hear This!
Topic: Changes to the '... and Your Life' forums
Replies: 47
Views: 11275

Re: Changes to the '... and Your Life' forums

longinvest wrote:My thanks to the management for the change.
. :thumbsup:
by Solo
23 Aug 2015 22:05
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Decaffeinated Coffee
Replies: 11
Views: 481

Re: Decaffeinated Coffee

If you like a dark coffee, I would also recommend Starbucks Decaf Sumatra. And, I also agree that the key is to grind the beans just before brewing.
by Solo
05 Feb 2015 17:53
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Sale of rental property [expenses]
Replies: 8
Views: 1248

Re: Sale of rental property [expenses]

Last year my wife and I bought a house in a nearby community with the intention of either (a) keeping it as a long-term rental property or (b) renting it out an interim basis until we eventually downsized there. For a variety of reasons, we soon decided that the purchase was not a good idea :oops: and after a few months (and some renovating) we re-sold the house without ever having rented it out. Although we were able to sell for more than our purchase price, we still ended up losing money (primarily as a result of real estate fees and BC’s high transfer tax). My assumption is that, with proper documentation, we should be able to claim expenses (e.g, initial purchase price, renovation costs, insurance, utilities, real estate and legal fees,...
by Solo
31 Jan 2015 13:09
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Childhood vaccinations
Replies: 109
Views: 2109

Re: Childhood vaccinations

However, my personal experience is that measles is not a public health catastrophe. I was a child in the '60s, pre MMR vaccines, and it's safe to say that everyone in my elementary school had measles (and mumps too, but rubella less commonly) at one time or another, me included. No one died. No one suffered any long term effects. Since I lean libertarian, I'm disinclined to invoke the power of the state to force vaccination. I also lean libertarian but given the risks associated with measles reported by WHO Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available. In 2013, there were 145 700 measles deaths globally – about 400 deaths every day or 16 deaths every hour. Mea...
by Solo
23 Jan 2015 23:13
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: RRSP -> RRIF mechanics
Replies: 5
Views: 1177

Re: RRSP -> RRIF mechanics

If you withdraw from RRSP only once each year, the best and easiest way is probably to discuss with your broker and ask/convince them to reimburse the charge. We have been doing just that with TD for past 4 or 5 years.
Now that is interesting to know since I'm also with TD :)
When deciding whether to voluntarily covert an RRSP to a RRIF, it is also worth checking to make sure that, if the RRSP has a USD component, the RRIF does also - TD does not :(
by Solo
23 Jan 2015 22:44
Forum: Under the Mattress: Protecting Your Money
Topic: High interest rates for savings, GICs and MMFs (2015)
Replies: 571
Views: 56249

Re: High interest rates for savings, GICs and MMFs (2015)

For a many years, I frequently purchased GICs for our RRSP 5 year ladders wherever the rate was best. Four years ago (at age 65) I decided that it would probably be a good idea to begin transferring all maturing GICs to our primary TDDI accounts so my wife would have fewer problems if I went first or if, for any reason, I was less able to manage our portfolio. Given the amount of hassle and delays (often months) that have accompanied these transfers (both at the Credit Unions and TDDI), I'm very happy I made the decision to consolidate the GICs and that I began the process as soon as I did. For the same reasons, I'm currently sticking with People's Trust even though I know I could do a little better elsewhere.