by Kornel Szrejber: Investor
As one of Canada's youngest retirees at the age of 32, and after becoming mortgage-free at 29, Kornel interviews the top financial experts in Canada to help you optimize your investments, reduce your taxes, and help you accelerate your journey towards financial independence and early retirement. He also shares his own experiences and lessons learned in investing and as an early retiree and member of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement to help you optimize your finances, specifically here in Canada.
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🇺🇲
Publishing Since
8/4/2014
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April 10, 2025
<p>Today I’m excited to have a panel discussion with some of the largest personal finance and investing personalities, here in Canada.</p> <p>Together they have over <strong>46 million</strong> views on YouTube (that’s more than the entire population of Canada), and in this episode, I thought it would be great to pick their brains on how they actually invest their own money, what types of investments do they actually buy? what specific ETFs do they buy and what type of investing style have they found to work best for them?</p> <p>They also ask me the same questions so you’ll get a pretty diverse view of the different options out there, for us Canadians, when it comes to investing.</p> <p>You’ll notice too that while some of our styles overlap, we do also diverge in a few areas, and so we also tackle what are the pros and cons of the different styles, allowing you to make an informed and more educated decision, on what is the best fit for you.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Saily Discount Link Mentioned in the Episode:</strong></span></p> <p>Get an exclusive <strong>15% discount</strong> on Saily data plans! Go to <a href= "https://saily.com/buildwealth">saily.com/buildwealth</a> or download the Saily app on your phone and use the code “buildwealth” at checkout.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Questions Covered:</strong></span></p> <ol> <li> <p>Let’s start by introducing the panel. Brandon, can you start by telling us a bit about yourself, your area of expertise, roughly how much you currently invest in ETFs, and tell us about the investing style or strategy that you’ve chosen for yourself.</p> </li> <li> <p>To kick things off, I thought it would be good to start with what I consider, one of the easiest investing styles to implement and get started with, while also being extremely effective, very passive, and low cost.</p> <p>Brandon, as you can probably guess, I’m of course talking about asset allocation ETFs which you mentioned is your preferred investing style. For anybody new to this, can you explain what asset allocation ETFs are, and then go into why you chose this as your primary investing style, along with the ETFs that you actually buy and why.</p> </li> <li> <p>Let’s open it up to the panel: Does anybody else here buy asset allocation ETFs? Why or why not? And if you do, what specific asset allocation ETF do you buy?</p> </li> <li> <p>Adrian, you like to buy the <strong>underlying</strong> ETFs, instead of just one asset allocation ETF. For anybody new to this, can you explain what that actually means, why you choose to invest in this way, and can you share specifically which ETFs you like to buy as part of this investing style.</p> </li> <li> <p>Let’s open it up to the panel: Does anybody else invest in this way, and if so, what are your favourite ETFs, and give us some explanation on why you chose them and this style of investing.</p> </li> <li> <p>Are there any negatives that you think are worth mentioning when it comes to this investment style of buying the underlying ETFs?</p> </li> <li> <p>Marc, so far our conversation has been dominated a bit by equities (the stock portion of the portfolio), but of course, fixed income is also something that most investors find to be a good fit, especially since not everyone can stomach having a 100% equity portfolio and dealing with those occasional 30% or 40% drops and just riding those out and not panic selling. You have some focus on fixed income in your portfolio which can help reduce that volatility. Can you take us through your thought process on having these types of investments, along with which ones you like and why?</p> </li> <li> <p>Thanks Marc. Would anybody from the panel like to add anything to the fixed income discussion? Are there any fixed income ETFs that you like to buy?</p> </li> <li> <p>Adriano, let’s talk about your investing style now. Yours is a bit different from the vanilla, total market, index investing strategy that most of us on this panel use. Can you speak to why you chose your particular investing style, the pros, the cons, who is it for, and do you have any favourite ETFs or other investments that you like to use as part of it?</p> </li> <li> <p>Let’s open it up to the panel: Do you have any questions, concerns or comments?</p> </li> </ol> <p><!-- notionvc: 661d6b49-4610-4f46-b067-735c8c6e7521 --></p>
March 27, 2025
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Today,</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">we’re going to</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">cover what you need to know from a tax, investing, and financial planning perspective as all our taxes become due here in Canada on</span> <strong><span data-preserver-spaces="true">April 30th, 2025</span></strong><span data-preserver-spaces="true">, and as we get well underway with 2025 in general.</span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">As you know, the government makes changes every year in these areas. The implications of these changes can have a pretty substantial impact on how much you pay in taxes, your net worth,</span> <span data-preserver-spaces= "true">and</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">what government benefits you are eligible to get, and how much you get.</span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">These can</span> <strong><span data-preserver-spaces="true">easily</span></strong> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">affect your net worth</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">in the</span> <strong><span data-preserver-spaces= "true">thousands</span></strong> <span data-preserver-spaces= "true">of dollars</span> <strong><span data-preserver-spaces= "true">every single year</span></strong><span data-preserver-spaces="true">, so it’s definitely in your and my best interest to know about these changes and get a</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">bit of a refresher,</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">so that we can all better prepare</span><span data-preserver-spaces= "true">,</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">and also take advantage of any opportunities that arise, like any benefits that we might become eligible for.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>A Big Thanks to Our Sponsors:</strong></span></p> <p><strong>Incogni:</strong> Get 60% off Incogni by using the link <a href="https://incogni.com/buildwealth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://incogni.com/buildwealth</a></p> <p><strong>PolicyMe Life Insurance:</strong> Proudly Canadian, get a no obligation quote at <a href= "https://buildwealthcanada.ca/policyme" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">buildwealthcanada.ca/policyme</a></p> <p><strong>ETF Market Insights and BMO ETFs: </strong>Catch the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ETFMarketInsights" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">latest episodes on YouTube Here</a>.</p> <p><strong>BMO Asset Allocation ETFs: </strong>I use these ETFs a lot, and they are the largest Canadian ETF provider. Why wouldn't you want to buy from a Canadian provider with your ETFs? You can see them and learn more here: <a href= "http://www.bmoetfs.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer">BMOETFs.com</a> </p> <p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>About Our Guests:</strong></span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">To help me with this episode, I have Certified Financial Planners Jason Heath and Paul McVean on the show. Jason is a popular returning guest on the show, definitely one of the more well-known and respected financial planners, here in Canada. Jason has been providing fee-only, advice-only financial planning since 2002, so over two decades. He is also a personal finance columnist for the Financial Post, MoneySense, and Canadian MoneySaver. He has a Bachelor of Economics degree from York University and holds the Certified Financial Planner designation.</span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">In addition to being a Certified Financial Planner, our 2nd guest, Paul McVean is also a Senior Tax Accountant, he is a CPA, and he’s a Trust and Estate Practitioner (a TEP), so definitely</span> <strong><span data-preserver-spaces="true">very</span></strong> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">knowledgeable, especially on the tax, and how to save you tax side of things where he has over 25 years of experience.</span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Jason and Paul are both fee-only financial planners here in Canada, which means they don’t sell any investments so there isn’t that potential</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">conflict-of-interest</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">that you see a lot of here in Canada where someone calls themselves a financial planner or a financial advisor, you think you’re getting a</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">good</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">financial plan and that they have your best interests at heart, but</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">really</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">they are just trying to get you to buy the investments that their firm sells so that they can earn a hefty commission.</span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">None of that here, we’re going for purely unbiased financial education in this episode with Jason and Paul.</span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">If you want to speak to Jason, Paul or someone from their team, you can reach them at</span> <a class="editor-rtfLink" href= "http://buildwealthcanada.ca/jason" target="_blank" rel= "noopener"><span data-preserver-spaces= "true">buildwealthcanada.ca/jason</span></a><span data-preserver-spaces="true">.</span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Jason and his team have been</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">increadible</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">educational contributors to the Build Wealth Canada Podcast for multiple years now</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true">, their</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">episodes are consistently some of the most popular on</span> <span data-preserver-spaces= "true">show</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true">, and I</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">did want</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">to give a big thanks to Jason as he has once again agreed to continue giving Build Wealth Canada listeners a discount</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true">, if you do</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">decide to work with them</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">when it comes to your</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">financial planning, optimizing your taxes, etc.</span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">A big thanks to Jason for that</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true">, and that</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">link again to speak to them to see if you are a good fit for each other</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true">,</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">and to get a discount if you do decide to work together is</span> <a class="editor-rtfLink" href= "http://buildwealthcanada.ca/jason" target="_blank" rel= "noopener"><span data-preserver-spaces= "true">buildwealthcanada.ca/jason</span></a><span data-preserver-spaces="true">. </span></p> <p><span data-preserver-spaces= "true">A</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true">nd now</span> <span data-preserver-spaces="true">let’s get into the show.</span></p> <p><span style= "font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces= "true">Questions:</span></strong></span></p> <ol> <li><span data-preserver-spaces="true">To kick things off, can you take us through any significant changes and things to keep in mind for 2025 when it comes to investing, taxes, and financial planning in general, here in Canada?</span></li> <li><span data-preserver-spaces="true">One other thing that I wonder about is the importance of tax planning. I get the impression most accountants are tax preparers, not tax planners. Can you talk about the difference and why it matters?</span></li> <li><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: The changes to the capital gains inclusion rate. This could have a major financial impact for many of us here in Canada, but I think there are also a lot of misconceptions of who this applies to and in what situations. </span></li> <li> <p>One very attractive headline that I see here in Canada from time to time, is that for 2025 for example, Canadians can receive up to $53,375 in eligible Canadian dividends tax free, if the investments are in their taxable investment accounts (and if they have no other sources of income). </p> <p>Some retired couples, and aspiring early retirees will then reason that combined with their spouse, they can each earn that $53,375 tax free every year, so $106,750 together. They can then just live off their dividends in retirement, pay no income tax, and never have to sell anything. </p> <p>This strategy has a lot of different caveats and very easy mistakes to fall into. Can you unpack this for us so that we are all aware of this strategy, but also understand its risks and limitations.</p> </li> <li> <p>While on the subject of dividends, one big consideration for Canadians is that when we receive Canadian dividends in our taxable accounts, those dividends can increase the speed at which we start getting clawed back on our government benefits like the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) and Old Age Security (OAS) for example (i.e. the gross up). </p> <p>One potential solution for this, is to use corporate class ETFs like HXCN from Global X for example (previously Global X was under the brand Horizons).</p> <p>What are your thoughts on these ETFs and can you give us your thoughts on the extra risk that we are taking on by using this type of structure where our dividends are essentially being turned into capital gains so that we don’t have to worry about these clawbacks as much? </p> </li> <li>For anybody new to this world of Canadian financial planning and optimization, can you take us through what an advice-only financial planner is (what you are), compared to a more traditional financial advisor title/role here in Canada?</li> </ol>
February 27, 2025
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