Unfair or not, get ready for changes to the taxation of private corporations

“We see these approaches to managing people’s affairs through a private corporation as creating an unfair playing field……We’re trying to tighten these loopholes to make sure that it’s fair.” Doesn’t sound like taxes for small business owners are going down, does it?  The above is from federal finance minister Bill Morneau’s July 18 announcement outlining […]

Banning Investment Commissions – moving beyond “if” towards “how”

Yesterday the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) released a much awaited consultation paper, “Consultation on the Option of Discontinuing Embedded Commissions”.  We say “much awaited” half tongue-in-cheek!  Much in the same way that a large number of Canadians have no idea how or how much they pay for investment products / advice, we expect even fewer are […]

More big changes coming for Canadian investors – who will be the winners and losers?

Transparency, education and competition should drive better outcomes for investors.  Recent enhancements put in place by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have sought to better align the interests of investors and the investment industry that serves them.  Initiatives like the Customer Relationship Model are designed to increase transparency and to help investors make more informed decisions about […]

Canadian investor survey – encouraging and worrying at the same time….

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) just released its 2016 CSA Investor Education Study.  Some of the findings are encouraging while others are a little bit worrying.  There are clearly still key gaps in investor knowledge and behaviour.  For example while many investors rely exclusively on advisors for investment information and knowledge very few investors actually check […]

What’s in a name?

According to a 2014  Advocis sponsored  PwC report there are approximately 100,000 financial advisors in Canada (yes, 1 for every 350 man, woman and child).  Of those, 44% are insurance based, 33% non-bank dealer based, 13% bank based and 10% at full service brokers.  (The report only lists 450 “fee-only financial planners”). Business models run the […]

Fee transparency bad for investors? Unlikely….

Canadian securities regulators are currently going through the process of trying to reform our investment industry practices for the benefit of investors.  Specifically they are trying to address fee and performance transparency and are also thinking about implementing a “best interest” standard for financial advisors in Canada.  I know, the idea that advisors should work in […]