Divorce Financial Planning

A booklet titled Your Fresh Start: Financial Planning for Divorced Canadians, featuring an image of an adult and a child walking outdoors, offers guidance on financial planning after divorce.

If you’re going through a divorce or separation, our financial planners help you organize your finances during divorce, understand your options, and build a plan that supports the life you want next.

Why You Don’t Want a Tax Refund

A stack of dollar bills wrapped in metal chains secured with a padlock, symbolizing the importance of tax planning, set against a solid green background.

Canadians often see a tax refund (the balance owed or owing after the process of submitting your tax return) as a small victory at the end of the year—a “bonus” cheque from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) that feels like a reward for another successful filing of taxable income. In reality, a large refund is […]

A Guide to Charitable Giving in Canada

Two open hands are held up against a plain blue background, symbolizing charitable giving and generosity in Canada.

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank Canada’s charitable landscape is shifting. Fewer philanthropic Canadians claim charitable donations on their tax returns each year, yet total giving and the average donation have reached record highs—signalling a quiet concentration of generosity among a smaller group of committed households. For families with the […]

Estate Bond Strategy: Tax-Efficient Wealth Transfer in Canada

A black and white tree model, symbolizing tax-efficient wealth transfer, is enclosed in a glass dome, set against a solid bright green background.

Originally posted on June 18, 2025. Updated on March 5, 2026. There’s a common misconception that estate planning is purely a future-focused exercise. In practice, the right approach can improve tax-efficiency today. The estate bond strategy can do exactly that—surplus capital moves into an exempt permanent life insurance policy, where it grows with less tax […]

10 Things to Know About Dividend Tax Efficiency

A young plant sprouting from soil against a plain blue background, with roots and seed visible below the surface—symbolizing the growth potential of tax-efficient investing from the ground up.

“A stock dividend is something tangible—it’s not an earnings projection; it’s something solid, in hand. A stock dividend is a true return on the investment. Everything else is hope and speculation.” —Richard Russell — Richard Russell

What are the Tax Implications of Charitable Giving?

One person holds a wooden bowl with coins while another hand drops a coin into it, symbolizing charitable giving against a green background.

According to Statistics Canada, Canadians contribute billions of dollars to charity every year, more recently $10.3 billion in 2019. Most people don’t seem to be motivated by tax incentives to donate to a good cause. There is, however, no disadvantage to claiming charity tax credits when filing your income tax return: it is simple and […]