Caring for Clients Newsletters

Caring for Clients produces and posts a quarterly newsletter to keep our clients and potential clients informed about current market conditions, tax tips, recent news and other money related matters.

April 2009

First Quarter, 2009

The current economic situation is causing many people to tighten their belts and to review their financial priorities. This might involve assessing spending habits and finding innovative ways to save. In addition, working to reduce your tax burden is always a practical method to increase savings. With the introduction of the Tax Fairness Plan, pensioners will have the potential to take advantage of tax-saving opportunities such as pension splitting and pension tax credit eligibility. Learn more right here about Turning Interest Income into Pension Income.

While some people are focusing on savings under these current economic conditions, others are finding opportunities to spend at a great discount. As property prices in the U.S. decrease dramatically, Canadians are finding enticing real estate prospects across the border. Prior to jumping into the market however, it is important to understand the implications of owning U.S. property and the potential estate tax consequences associated with a new home purchase. Beth Webel, tax services partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, offers some helpful tips to tune you up for your property search in her article, Cheap U.S. vacation property = big estate tax consequences.

In order to get your mind off of the economic news for a moment, why not try to focus on your health? The Siteman Cancer Center has come out with an innovative tool to assess your disease risk and provide useful tips to help you prevent them. Take a moment to Test Your Disease Risk.
You may have thought about safeguarding yourself against unforeseen health circumstances and if you have any questions about critical illness insurance or life insurance, please feel free to contact Rona at any time. She can provide you with product and pricing details.

On the topic of insurance, do you know someone who has been faced with high prescription drug costs relative to their income and who is looking for a way to cover these costs? The Trillium Drug Program was introduced by the Ontario Provincial government for this purpose. This plan may be beneficial, for example, to a person under the age of 65 who has been diagnosed with a critical illness and who has a low net income, making prescription costs unaffordable. For example, the daughter of a client of ours was diagnosed with cancer and is on medication that costs upwards of $5000 per month. As a University student, she has limited earned income, and we were able to introduce The Trillium Drug Program to them which provided her with thousands of dollars of support.

In closing, we would like to wish you a happy and healthy Spring season. Please let us know if you have any questions or if you would like to arrange a meeting.

Best Regards,

Rona, Clifford & Emily