Investment Q&A

Q: Could you tell me if i transferred all of my holdings, eg. Stocks, Etf's from an RSP into a TFSA, if i would take a tax hit? If i did, would it not make sense to do it, thanks?

Q: How do you recommend holding various investments? I am self employed with my own incorporated company, I am 32 so also have a long timeline. With my accountant we have structured my income to be very low for personal income tax. Do you recommended first filling tfsa then rrsp (since I don’t really need the write off) then moving to non registered for whatever’s left? Or do you recommend a continual mix or possibly omitting the rrsp to save on tax later in life? How do you generally decide what to hold in which account? I know lots of this would be specific to the individual but some general advice/opinion would be appreciated.

Q: Pretend you just came into $20,000.00. You deposit it to your RRSP so you can take advantage of the reduction to your income and lower marginal tax rate. Without any consideration to the current portfolio, which stocks would you purchase today with growth and/or dividend income in mind OR would you wait for another market correction?

Q: I contributed to my wife's Spousal RRSP for several years, She is now working, can she now make contributions to this account or does she have to open a new RRSP?
Thank you
Cec

Q: In response to Donald, it appears ok to pay RRSP fees outside the RRSP as of right now. However, the CRA is currently reviewing this rule and says that may no longer be the case as of January 1, 2019. A Google search of "rrsp fees paid outside rrsp" will bring up many discussions on this topic.

Q: Hello 5i. Just wondered if you had seen the article on this topic in the Globe & Mail over the weekend. What it suggests is that dividends from US-listed ETFs held in an RRSP account are not subject to US taxes. However, the article states that this is not the case for dividends paid by Canadian-listed ETFs that invest in US stocks. In this case, dividends ARE subject to US withholding taxes, even if the ETF is held in an RRSP account. The article goes on to say that these taxes cannot be recovered. (Same situation would apply to mutual funds.)

Assuming the article got this, I'm not sure that all ETF investors are aware of this nuance.

Q: Hello Team,

I know you guys don't advise on tax questions but as simple as this one is no one seems to give me a straightforward answer. So, I hope you can help. Which of the following is right regarding RRSP contribution year for 2017:
1- 01 January 2017 to 28 February 2018 (14 months)
2- 01 March 2017 to 28 February 2018 (12 months)

According to an HR Block agent, it is option 1. According to a CRA agent it is option 2. I appreciate it if you are able to support your answer with a website reference from CRA?

Merry Christmas and Happy 2018!

Q: I tend to stay away from holdings that trade on US exchanges to avoid dealing with the withholding/reporting foreign tax rules. My portfolio needs an ETF with global exposure (mostly non-NA) Since there seems to be no good Canadian equivalent to VXUS, what type of trading account would you suggest to buy this ETF with the least/simplest amount of tax implication. Would the RRSP be completely exempt? Thanks.

Q: Hi Peter & team,

Over the years I have been focused on paying off my mortgage and putting the majority of any savings I have into my RRSP account and contributing into my child's RESP account. As a result, the RRSP account has over 80% of the savings that I have accumulated to this point while my TFSA and non-registered accounts total the remaining 20%. I finally have paid off my mortgage and I was wondering whether I should now be focusing on putting most of my money into the TFSA and non-registered accounts, so that the ratio between the RRSP/TFSA/non-registered accounts become more balanced? Is there such thing as a good balance between the 3 types of accounts?

Thanks for the wonderful work and all the insightful answers you provide.

Marvin

Q: For the RRSP and TFSA account , Is there any rule by CRA that you have to invest certain percentage of the portfolio in Canadian equities?

Q: Thanks for your great service.

I would like to know if I can extend for more than 2 years at old price or do you offer a lifetime membership.

I dont need more for next 15 years.

Please advise where is the best place to hold dividend-paying stocks ie Register or non-registered.

Is this a correct approach to hold growth stocks in TFSA and Registered. Dividend in Non-registered.

Thanks again

Q: I have a lot of cash in both of my RRSP's My overall portfolio is VERY diversified and I am only looking for ideas that make sense to put in my RRSP for tax reasons.

What 6 companies would you reccommend as making sense to put into an RRSP at this point in time.

I will be RRIFing in a couple of years, if that makes any difference.

Thanks

Sheldon

Q: Hi All at 5i! I am looking to initiate a position in my RRSP. Could you suggest a few names two income, two balanced and two growth that are of good value to buy right now. Cheers, Tamara

Q: I am considering the following: selling Royal Bank, BCE and CGI which are in my TFSA plan and then repurchase them in my RRSP plan and at the same time, sell my Amazon and Google which are in my RRSP and repurchase them in my TFSA. The basic reason is having the growth stocks in the TFSA. Does this make sense or are there any consequences?

Thanks,

Bob

Q: Hello,
I have an RRSP account that I have made 40% this year and it is now in cash of $45k. I want to just invest in something the prevents or keeps losses to a minimum due to stock market corrections for the remainder of the year. What would be your recommendation for this money be for safe keeping while generating some return?

Thanks,
Rick

Q: Comment: If it's not "fair" to pay taxes when you withdraw from an RRIF, it's not fair to avoid the taxes in the first place. The trouble we all have in calculating our net worth is we forget about the taxes! The tax deferral just doesn't work as well for those of us with high incomes in retirement. I expect there arr many who think that's a good problem to have!

Q: Being 73, I saved most of my life to an RRSP which flipped to a RRIF @71, with mandatory withdrawals. In the process of doing estate planning, and with the RIFF, being taxed @50% of withdrawals which is a difficult pill to follow. Initially I was withdrawing cash, however after further consideration, this year I transferred loss position "Crescent Point".
1. Would it be best to try and tsf everything before you expire and pay the tax.
2. When you tsf, is it best to tsf your losers initially, and then the winners.
3. I assume there is no other means of elevating the tax on RIFF.

For sure, RRSP are great during your working years, but never considered the tax burden after retirement. As an example if you have a 1 million RRSP after taxes $500,000.00 Does not seem fair
Look forward to your rely and thanks for your service
Rick

Q: My current holding in one RRSP consist of the following:ABT
CSW.A
FR
GUD
IPL
ITC
PKI
PLC
RIC
SIS
T
TLT.V
BEP.UN
BPY.UN
CSH.UN
TOY

What do you think of this setup? Is there any additions that you would suggest? My time horizon is 20 to 30 years. Cheers
seamus

Q: Hi 5i team,

I am trying to save to retire early or if the doesnt happen then just have much more saved when I do. I know I should max both TFSA for my wife and I, but how much %-wise should I put in a registered vs a non-registered? I'm stilll 14 years away from my ideal retirement date and about 24 from my latest. Right now I have about 30% of my total saving in a non-registered account, and have yet to max out my wifes RRSP but should I just put it all in a registered account then use just the TFSA for liquidity? I'm sorry if the question is not quite within the purpose of 5i, but I do value you guy' opinion highly.

Thank you

Q: Whenever I rebalance my portfolio, I find it somewhat troubling that I am treating a dollar in my RRSP account as equivalent to a dollar in my TFSA account or a dollar in my unregistered account. I am very near to the time when I will be converting my RRSP to a RIF and withdrawing mandatory amounts starting at 5.28% and rising in subsequent years. I will have to pay tax on these withdrawals and my marginal tax rate is not much below 50%. Moreover, I do not expect my marginal tax rate to change much over the remainder of my life. This means those withdrawals will be worth only about half as much to me after tax. Of course, when I withdraw a dollar from my TFSA or my unregistered account I get to keep the entire dollar. So I am inclined to treat a dollar in my RRSP account as equivalent to just 50 cents or so when I am totalling up my total assets and doing the rebalancing. Does this make sense to you?