Ask a Planner

By Allan Norman, MSc, CFP, CIM on August 28, 2025
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

By Allan Norman, MSc, CFP, CIM on August 28, 2025
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

A financial planner explains some tax-saving strategies that Canadian retirees may not have thought of.

Both my wife and I are retired. My wife is 72 years old and I am 68. Our combined incomes are based on CPP, OAS, RRIFs and dividends (both from our non-registered investments portfolio and corporate dividends that we both get quarterly from a holding company that manages the corporate investments). We currently augment our cash flow from our non-registered accounts as needed, cashing some stocks and declaring the capital gains. We also donate on average $30K–$40K every year to our preferred charities.

The challenge that we have every tax year is to come up with the optimum balance from a tax efficiency perspective. We can increase or decrease the corporate dividends, capital gains and RRIF payouts at least for the next several years.

Any general guidance or accepted strategies would be helpful. It’s a nice problem to have, but it would be helpful to hear from a professional.

—Mike

Hi Mike, congratulations on your financial success and your desire to give to charity. You are right, it is a nice problem to have. I don’t think it matters how much money someone has; there are always issues. In your case it is tax, complexity, and maybe too many strategic options.

As a starting point, I like to look at the big picture to see where you are headed. This involves modelling all your current and future financial resources, including your cash flow and the activity in your holding company. This provides a clear picture of what you have today and gives you a general sense of your asset growth or decline over time, future annual and final taxes, and estate values. With that backdrop you can........

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