Peter Guay

Are you an American living in Canada? If you are a US citizen, you have to file a US tax return every year, regardless of where you live.

December was a brutal month in stock markets. Those of you living off of your portfolio are probably asking: Will my portfolio keep going down like this? It always seems like markets ride slowly and steadily upward.

Décembre a été un mois brutal pour les marchés boursiers. Ceux d’entre vous qui vivent de leur portefeuille se demandent probablement si la chute va se poursuivre. Pourtant, les marchés semblent toujours progresser… lentement, mais sûrement.

Quel est le rapport entre faire un régime et posséder une maison? Eh bien, nos difficultés à suivre un régime ou à respecter notre plan d’entraînement sont en fait révélatrices des raisons pour lesquelles nous devrions louer ou acheter notre maison.

What do diets and owning a home have in common? Well, the way we struggle with diets and exercise actually says something about whether you should rent or buy your home.

Ce que le gouvernement de l’Ontario tente de faire dans le secteur des placements est scandaleux. On pense généralement que la réglementation est là pour protéger les investisseurs, mais ça n’a pas l’air d’être son objectif, ni celui des Autorités canadiennes en valeurs mobilières.

What the Ontario government is trying to do to the investment industry is shameful. We like to think regulations are there to protect us, but the current Ontario government and the Canadian Securities Administrator are doing anything but that. The last few months have been incredibly frustrating to watch as regulatory proposals come out that are clearly not in investor’s best interests.

Imaginez un instant que votre coiffeur, au lieu d’être payé par vous directement, était payé par le fabricant de fixatif pour les cheveux… Quelle quantité de cette gomme pensez-vous que vous auriez dans les cheveux en sortant de là? Je suis ravi de payer mon coiffeur chaque fois que je vais le voir, et de savoir que j’aurai la coupe que je veux!

The investment industry regulators aren’t willing to stand up and require the same for your relationship with your financial advisor. That’s a problem.

Le mythe : tout le monde se précipite vers les FNB, ce qui rend les marchés moins efficaces. L’argument : Plus de gens investissent en ayant recours à des indices et aux fonds négociés en bourse (FNB), moins il y a de personnes qui étudient les fondamentaux des valeurs boursières pour déterminer si les actions prises individuellement sont chères ou bon marché.

The Myth: Everyone is piling into ETFs, and that makes stock markets less efficient. The argument: The more people invest through indexes and ETFs, the fewer people there are scrutinizing the fundamentals of stock prices to figure out if individual stocks are cheap or expensive. That must make it easier to pick stocks, right?

I’ve talked about what Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing is, how to build portfolios with ESG factors, and how companies are rated. Now let’s talk about how ESG investing affects investment performance.

Les FNB provoqueront le prochain effondrement du marché! Vous avez entendu cela ici? Certainement pas. L’un des mythes les plus tenaces des placements passifs, c’est que les fonds négociés en bourse, ou FNB, et le recours aux indices provoquent des bulles du marché boursier.

One of the biggest myths about passive investing is that ETFs and indexing will cause stock market bubbles. The thinking is simplistic: since index funds have to buy all companies in the stock market, they have to blindly buy stocks whose prices have gone up, right? This makes stock market bubbles worse, right?

In my previous blog post, I talked about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing, why investors are interested and the different ways to implement it in your portfolio. This naturally raises the next question: how rigorous is the ESG research and does it actually differentiate and reward good from bad behavior?

There are some serious misconceptions about active management and index investing which I’d like to walk through with you today. I’m going to hit you with two really staggering numbers about the US stock market, then explain what each of these data points imply for active and passive investors.

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) has gained attention thanks, in part, to the bad behavior of several multinational companies and the desire for investors to align their portfolios with their personal values.

Many of the reflexes that we innately have were very helpful when we were faced with predators in the stone age like saber-toothed tigers. But it turns out that evolution hasn’t prepared us well for facing the market economy.

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) has gained attention thanks, in part, to the bad behavior of several multinational companies and the desire for investors to align their portfolios with their personal values. Think of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal or Uber’s poor corporate governance and data breeches.

La question que tout le monde se pose est la suivante: êtes-vous en mesure de choisir des fonds qui vont battre le marché d’ici un an ou deux et faire des profits? 

The question on everyone’s mind is: are you able to pick funds that will beat the market in the next year or two and make a profit? Short answer? No.

Nous allons remonter dans le temps afin de revoir une notion fondamentale pour comprendre l’efficience des marchés boursiers.

This discussion begins in 1906, at the Plymouth County Fair in England. Sir Francis Galton walks by a contest, where participants are asked to guess the weight of an ox. There are over 800 guesses; some from butchers and farmers, and many more from men and women with no expertise to inform their guesses.

Ceux d’entre vous qui suivent mes vidéos depuis un moment savent que je parle beaucoup d’impôts et de planification. Je vais maintenant me pencher sur les placements, en commençant par le débat sur l’investissement passif et l’investissement actif.

For those of you who’ve been following my videos for a while, you’ll know that I talk a lot about taxes and planning. Now, I’m going to turn my attention to investing, starting with the debate between passive and active investing.

La plupart des articles sur les finances personnelles analysent le pour et le contre des REER et des CELI. Mais si vous avez des enfants et que vous vivez au Québec, je pense que vous devriez cotiser d’abord à un REEE!

Most personal finance articles debate whether to prioritize saving in your RRSP or TFSA account first. But if you’ve got kids and you live in Quebec, I argue that you should be contributing to your RESP first!

Dans mon dernier épisode, j’ai parlé d’utiliser sa maison pour emprunter de l’argent afin d’accroître rapidement son épargne-retraite. J’ai abordé certaines des conditions importantes et le mécanisme de cette stratégie. Aujourd’hui, je parlerai des pièges dont vous devez vous méfier si vous allez de l’avant avec cette stratégie.

In my last blog, I spoke about borrowing against your home to turbo-charge your retirement savings. In this post, I’ll go through some of the pitfalls you want to watch out for if you do decide to go ahead with this strategy.

Si vous êtes comme moi, vous vous êtes disciplinés à rembourser votre hypothèque au fil des ans, et le marché immobilier à Montréal semble enfin prendre du mieux. Ça nous place dans une bonne situation parce qu’on a un patrimoine qui s’est accumulé dans la valeur de nos maisons.

You bought your dream house, you stuck to your mortgage payments and now you have some equity built up in the value of your home. But is there a way to better leverage your assets to improve your bottom line?

La légalisation est une réalité au Canada et on entend toutes sortes d’histoires au sujet d’amis qui ont fait beaucoup d’argent avec des titres du cannabis. Trop beau pour être vrai, n’est-ce pas? À certains moments l’an dernier, certaines plateformes de courtage à escompte étaient tellement encombrées par les ordres de clients voulant ces actions qu’elles ont dû fermer temporairement.

Legalization is happening in Canada and pot stocks are on the rise. At times last year, some of the discount brokerage platforms were so bogged down with customer orders for these stocks that they had to shut down temporarily.

L’investissement socialement responsable (ISR) gagne en popularité depuis quelques années et il est facile d’en comprendre les raisons. Vous vous trouvez à investir votre argent et à bâtir un patrimoine en alignant vos placements sur vos valeurs personnelles.

L’investissement socialement responsable (ISR) gagne en popularité depuis quelques années et il est facile d’en comprendre les raisons. Vous vous trouvez à investir votre argent et à bâtir un patrimoine en alignant vos placements sur vos valeurs personnelles. Mais en quoi consiste l’investissement socialement responsable et comment pouvez-vous être sûrs que vous investissez d’une manière éthique? 

Socially Responsible Investing has been growing in popularity in recent years and it’s easy to see why. You get to invest your money and do good by aligning your investments with your personal values. But what exactly is Socially Responsible Investing?

I’ve talked about income splitting through a corporation before in this series, but things have changed! The Federal Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, revealed some new rules and I want to discuss if and how the new changes could affect you, your family, your business and of course, your taxes.

J’ai déjà parlé dans cette série du fractionnement du revenu au moyen d’une société, mais les choses ont changé! En décembre dernier, le ministre des Finances, Bill Morneau, a annoncé de nouvelles règles.

After much fear and trepidation, the changes to private company taxation were much less punitive than expected in the latest Federal Budget. What Finance Minister Morneau had originally proposed to do back in July of 2017 was heavily watered down

Les changements apportés par le dernier budget fédéral à l’imposition des sociétés privées étaient attendus avec beaucoup d’appréhension, mais ils sont beaucoup moins punitifs qu’on le craignait. Les mesures que le ministre des Finances, Bill Morneau, se proposait d’adopter en juillet 2017 ont été largement atténuées.

It’s usually right around that time when you think you’ve got a handle on your situation that new tax guidelines are put in place. That is what happened this past December with the Voluntary Disclosure Program but don’t worry, I’ll take you through those changes.

La planification fiscale a ceci de particulier, les règles changent assez souvent. On croit avoir bien compris la situation et c’est précisément à ce moment-là que de nouvelles directives sont mises en place. C’est ce qui s’est produit en décembre dernier avec le Programme des divulgations volontaires (ou PDV), mais ne vous en faites pas, je vais vous expliquer les changements.

Vous avez sans doute entendu parler des « Panama Papers », puis des « Paradise Papers » à la fin de l’an dernier. Des millions de documents ont mis en évidence les pratiques fiscales offshores de grandes entreprises et de personnes très riches, dont la reine d’Angleterre et plus de 3 000 personnes, entreprises et fiducies canadiennes.

You have probably heard about the Panama Papers, and the Paradise Papers late last year. Millions of documents revealed the offshore tax practices of vast corporations and very wealthy individuals including the Queen of England and more than 3,000 Canadian individuals, corporations and trusts.

Dans ma dernière vidéo, j’ai parlé du patrimoine familial et du régime matrimonial par défaut au Québec, la société d’acquêts. Si vous l’avez raté, suivez le lien ici. Dans la présente vidéo, je vais vous parler de l’autre régime matrimonial, la séparation de biens.

The non-default regime in Quebec is known as Separation as to Property. Under the Separation as to Property regime, each spouse remains the exclusive owner of their property, administers the property alone and assumes responsibility for their debts subject to the family patrimony rules.

En quoi consistent les régimes matrimoniaux? Eh bien, un régime matrimonial énonce les règles de gestion des biens et des dettes accumulés pendant le mariage et de leur répartition en cas de divorce ou de décès de l’un des conjoints. Il existe essentiellement deux régimes matrimoniaux au Québec : la société d’acquêts (le régime par défaut) et la séparation de biens.

What are marriage or matrimonial regimes? A matrimonial regime sets the rules for managing property and debts accumulated during marriage and how they will be divided in case of divorce or if one spouse passes away. There are essentially two marriage regimes in Quebec.

Let’s talk about relationships. Don’t worry, this isn’t turning into a ‘Dear Debbie’ series… In this three-part series, I want to discuss the different types of officially recognized relationships in Quebec and how they can affect your finances.

Let’s talk about relationships. Don’t worry, this isn’t turning into a ‘Dear Debbie’ series… In this three-part series, I want to discuss the different types of officially recognized relationships in Quebec and how they can affect your finances.

They say the best time to buy a car is during the fall when the new models come out or at the end of the month when sales associates and dealerships are looking to hit their targets. I say the best time to buy a car is after you’ve done all your research.

On dit que le meilleur moment pour acheter une voiture, c’est à l’automne, quand les nouveaux modèles sortent sur le marché ou bien à la fin du mois, lorsque les représentants et les concessionnaires essaient d’atteindre leurs objectifs de vente.

On dit que le meilleur moment pour acheter une voiture, c’est à l’automne, quand les nouveaux modèles sortent sur le marché ou bien à la fin du mois, lorsque les représentants et les concessionnaires essaient d’atteindre leurs objectifs de vente. À mon avis, le meilleur moment pour acheter une voiture, c’est quand on a fait toutes ses recherches.

We all know that cars are not an investment, no matter how much horsepower they have or how slick they look. Carfax reports that cars lose 10 per cent of their value the moment you drive it off the lot, and on average, will lose another 10 per cent by the end of the first year.

In my last post, I spoke about keeping your financial house in order, going over the documents you need to review and update every year to stay on top of things. There will be lots of changes in 2018 as these new announcements are written into law.

Dans ma dernière vidéo, j’ai parlé des tâches financières courantes, ainsi que de la révision et de la mise à jour de vos documents importants, pour que vos affaires soient toujours en ordre. Aujourd’hui, je vais vous donner quelques idées de choses à faire afin de réduire votre facture fiscale pour 2017 vu que l’année tire à sa fin.

It’s that time of the year. No, not tax time, I mean the holiday season. You’re probably thinking of family get-togethers, great food or even a winter getaway but there’s one more thing I want you to do: it’s a little financial housekeeping.

Flow-through share donation plans are promoted by financial services companies that specialize in these plans such as Peartree Financial and Oberon Capital among others. They are commonly based on corporations in the oil & gas, mining and renewable energy sectors. This is part three of my donations series.

À ce moment-ci de l’année, on songe souvent à aider des personnes qui n’ont pas autant de chance que nous. Les Canadiens donnent beaucoup : selon Statistique Canada, 15 % d’entre nous font des dons à des organismes de bienfaisance et ensemble, nous donnons en moyenne 9 milliards de dollars par année.

Lorsque vous commencez à travailler, vous pouvez sans doute vous contenter d’effectuer votre planification financière « en solo ». Il suffit de connaître quelques règles générales. Au fil du temps, votre carrière prend son envol.

In my previous post I talked about how the tax credit works when you make a cash donation. As we work through this series, I’ll be discussing other donation options and the associated tax credits. Today, we’ll take a look at the tax advantages of donating shares from your portfolio or land for conservation purposes.

This is the first in a three-part series on donations, focusing at the tax advantages of making donations, specifically cash. Canadians are very giving, according Statistics Canada, 84% of us give to charity and together we give an average of $9 billion dollars a year. That’s pretty amazing.

What I haven’t talked about is the tax treatment of these plans. Unlike RRSPs, contributions to an RESP are not tax-deductible.

Did you know that the average student debt load in Canada is $27,000? As thoughts turn back to school, here’s one more thing I want you to think about: how are you going to pay for your child’s university education?

If you have more than one child, and they’re not at a Quebec subsidized daycare, it’s likely to be cheaper to hire a nanny to take care of them, after all taxes are considered. Beware though, it is complicated. So be ready to deal with a significant amount of admin to do so!

Daycare is expensive, even here in Quebec where we’re fortunate to have a subsidized program. But if you have two or more children, hiring a nanny can be less expensive than putting them in daycare. In today’s post, we’ll take a look at the pros and cons of hiring a nanny.

Sandwiches are a great invention. You can hold them in one hand, there’s no end of ingredients you can use and when it comes to your business, a trust sandwich is a great way to protect your assets.

As a father of two, I never thought having a family could actually save me money. If you’re a lawyer or doctor and you’re considering incorporating your practice, involving your spouse and adult children in the process can do just that.

I know, I know. The last thing you want to hear about is taxes. After all, the tax season just wrapped up and you’ve paid all your taxes, so why am I still talking about them?

Over the years I’ve also been asked a lot of questions by doctors and lawyers. The most frequent question I get, is whether they should incorporate their practice. The short answer is, yes. It’s a great idea because there are many advantages.  

In today’s post, let’s keep up that momentum, by going over the three key documents that make up a solid estate plan at any stage in your life. These are: your will, your power of attorney and your mandate.

Do you have kids or maybe have one on the way? Most of my friends who are married with kids think that if they die without a will, their spouse will get everything. To make matters worse, the Curateur Public in Quebec gets involved any time a child under age 18 inherits more than $25K.

I introduced the notion that your financial interests may be best served when you achieve good balance between being engaged in your financial planning, without having to handle all the details all by yourself.

The more successful you are in your career, the wealthier you become. But more money also means more complicated financials. Eventually, they become more than you want to manage on your own, until you reach a point where your personal finances are best served by a “Do It Together” approach.

January and February have been trying months for investors. Stock markets around the world have continued to decline. It is the longest decline (7 months) since the financial crisis ended in March 2009. This inevitably leads investors to ask, “Are we going into another 2008?”.

What’s the difference between your financial life plan and your IPS? Your financial plan is more about the “who” and “what” pieces in your life: What are your life goals? Who do you want / need to support financially? What are your assets and debts?

In an unprecedented display of openness and transparency, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently released his ministerial mandate letters to the public. These letters contain the top priorities that he expects each Minister to accomplish during the 42nd session of Parliament.

I emphasized that an ideal client/advisor relationship helps you concentrate on the details that contribute to your financial well-being and ignore the ones that do not. But where do you begin? How do you make sure those details come together to create a better life for you and your family?

We’ve all heard of the DIY or Do It Yourself approach. Whether it’s building a new deck or changing the oil in your car, DIY can be rewarding … as long as it’s an activity you enjoy. When it comes to managing your finances, I prefer a DIT or Do It Together approach.

Many headlines have appeared in the last week about China’s decision to reduce the value of their currency, the Renminbi, by 6% over a period of three days. The People’s Bank of China directly intervened in the market for the Chinese currency.

While much of the world frets over the future of China and Greece, it is a good time to step back and look at how this might (or might not) affect your portfolio. We don’t pretend to be able to predict how events will unfold in these two areas, but we can keep your portfolio risks measured and reasonable regardless of what happens.

After a strong start to the year in January and February, markets have leveled off in the last few months. For the first five months of 2015.

Merriam-Webster defines ‘hedge’ as “something that provides protection or defense.” For many investors, hedge funds conjure the same impression: If I buy a hedge fund in my portfolio, I will protect my portfolio from bad markets. Unfortunately, that statement simply is not true.

With the recent fluctuations in the market, the level of anxiety among Canadian investors has inched upwards. Markets worldwide have been volatile in December and January, but the Canadian market has been more seriously shaken, with particular damage coming from energy and material stocks.

As the current taxation year is coming to an end, there are many opportunities to reduce your tax burden by giving to the causes you hold dear