Category Advocacy
Fiduciary
Fiduciary In a nutshell In the simplest terms, a fiduciary duty requires the fiduciary to place the interests of the client ahead his own (or his employer’s or shareholder’s or anyone else’s). There are no shades of grey here: this is not about moral but legal obligation, it’s not about disclosing that you have a […]
Florida’s nonhomesteader snowbirds shafted again by new property tax Bill 381
Florida’s nonhomesteader snowbirds shafted again by new property tax Bill 381 In a nutshell Don’t let the reduced cap from 10% to 5% of nonhomesteaders tax value increase fool you. Florida’s new property tax related Bill 381 is pretty much a losing proposition for Florida’s snowbirds, compared to the already terrible status quo. Homesteaders (H) […]
Is the CPP low cost? No it’s not, but its existence can enable ultra-low-cost expanded-CPP or PRPP
Is the CPP low cost? No it’s not, but its existence can enable ultra-low-cost expanded-CPP or PRPP In a nutshell Current CPP cost is not low at 1.32% of assets (2010 fixed administrative costs=0.61% and investment related costs=0.71%) on an absolute basis, however on a relative basis it is much lower than what typical retail […]
LIF- What is it and why important for Nortel pensioners
LIF- What is it and why important for Nortel pensioners In a nutshell Ontario government announced that as part of the Nortel pension plan windup procedures the pensioners in this case will not be compelled to convert the (reduced) commuted value of their pension to an annuity, but will also have an option to choose […]
Longevity Insurance (Delayed Payout Annuities)
Longevity Insurance (Delayed Payout Annuities): Forget About Immediate Annuities- The Most Efficient Annuitization is 5-10% of Wealth Allocated to Longevity Insurance! Scott, Watson and Hu in their Pension Research Council paper “Efficient Annuitization: Optimal Strategies for Hedging Mortality Risk” prove what readers of this website have heard from me many times before (though expressed only […]
Pension or lump sum
Pension or Lump Sum? Reading Theo Francis’ “Pension tension: figuring out when to lump it” in the WSJ, reminded me of the time when I had to make the decision, about five years ago. For what it’s worth, I’ll later give you some of my rationale for choosing to go with a pension, rather than […]
OAS vs. Pension Reform
OAS vs. Pension Reform Much ink has been spilled in the past couple of weeks on unspecified planned changes to the Canada’s Old Age Security system. Experts, fear mongers, protesters, advocates and politicians have come out arguing for changes ranging from ‘no change at all’ the way to ‘doing away with the OAS system completely’, […]
Longevity Insurance
(Originally posted July 24, 2007) The uncertainty of one’s age at death, results in the biggest fears of retired persons, i.e. that they’ll run out of assets before they die. The risk of living too long constrains spending during “active” retirement years. Actually living too long reduces or eliminates the estate. A Longevity Insurance product, […]
Advocacy
Advocacy There are always shortcomings in the current state of affairs due to historical reasons (it made sense to be this way 30 years ago, but things have changed), vested business interests and/or political inclinations. It is important to identify what needs changing and what are possible solutions. It is up to us to expose […]
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