Meanwhile…

While the missiles fly, Trump lies and markets wobble, life goes on.

Never let the big stuff dominating the news feed derail the personal stuff that truly matters. Staying healthy. Caring for your family. Keeping your finances in order and your love alive (not necessarily in that order).

Today, no war. Just practical stuff.

“Garth, I recall reading in one of your posts an article about having an executor manage the estate over family, in my case it would be the children,” writes Jeremy.

“They are grown up adults now and capable, but live in the West.  If my wife and I both die at the same time the estate would be on the east coast and consist of a house on an acreage, + several other large lots and a good amount of cash in the form of RRSPs, TFSA,s and non-registered funds. Any words of wisdom would be welcome.”

Sure thing. Don’t burden the kids. Do not make one of them the executor. An even bigger error would be to name them both (no consensus = no action). This is the single most common and potentially consequential mistake Canadians make when it comes to croaking. They choose a family member to administer their will because (a) it’s free and (b) they think they can trust someone to be professional, ethical and meticulous just because they’re a relative. Ha.

Why no kids – unless your spawn happens to be an estate lawyer or trained accountant?

As I have detailed here before, odds are your family members know diddly about this. Your death might come at an inconvenient time in their lives – work, careers, kids. They may be in another province, bringing a whole new set of administrative issues (and costs). They could predecease you. Or be indisposed. Or don’t care. Or merely incompetent.

Give this job to an entity, not a person. That way there’s professional management, attention to all details, consistency, timelessness, impartiality and a greater assurance your wishes will be carried out, devoid of a big burden on your family who (you hope) have been paralyzed with grief at your passing.

This entity could be a law firm. More usually, it’ll be a trust company or the trust division of a bank. All the big guys offer this service, as well as other financial players (including my corporate partner, Raymond James). They can be named as executor, or work to provide support services to someone you name to that role. They can also act as POA for personal property, paying bills, taxes or managing portfolios if you are unable or uninterested in doing so yourself.

An institutional executor will probably handle complex situations better than your child, such as blended families, privately-held businesses, dual citizenship filing requirements or out-of-province assets, like those properties. They’ll apply for probate, value assets, inform beneficiaries, pay taxes, manage financial assets, secure or sell properties, look after creditors, deal with pension plans (like CPP), keep records, set up and run trusts and dole out assets according to the provisions of the will.

For that, of course, you pay. Fees could amount to about 4% on the first million of estate assets, scaling down to 1% or so above five million. There’s typically an initial estate fee (maybe twenty grand) when the work commences. The good news is, you’re dead, so it’s easier to ignore the cost.

Now here’s George with a perennial question. Take monthly income the government is offering me, or wait until they offer more? In other words, apply for CPP at 60? Ore closer to the grave?

“It’s me from Kitchener,” he writes with a MSU. “I can’t praise your blog enough to my friends and relatives. We always appreciate the education and humour you bring to our lives!

“Question: I’m 57 and we have been discussing the pros and cons of collecting CPP early. Could you please enlighten us as to what needs to happen for early CPP to be beneficial?”

Recall that the public pension was never intended as a primary source of retirement income. If it is, you’ve failed financially. Nobody can live a happy life on CPP and OAS, unless you like penury and Kraft Dinner in rural Saskatchewan.

Yes, delaying public pogey payments until you’re 65 or older will increase the monthly amount received. That’s why the government does it – so you’ll delay taking benefits until closer to death, costing the treasury less. Therefore, take it early, if only for revenge.

More profound reasons are that you have no idea when you’ll expire, so the longer the benefit is postponed the greater the risk you’ll get less than your fair share. Also, you paid in for thirty years (or more), why not take money back as soon as you can, for as long as possible? Even more compelling is the reality you’ll be in better shape at 60 than at 80, so having extra money to spend on heliskiing and blondes is a benefit. And if you don’t need the cash flow, use it to fully fund a TFSA, sticking the pension money into growth ETFs and ending up with more than if you’d delayed taking the dough early.

Finally, consider that a certain unpredictable, delusional, eighty-year-old convicted felon and career grifter who recently set the Middle East afire and has a penchant for dictators, threats, conflict, war and paramilitary masked troops has sole dominion over the world’s biggest arsenal of nukes.

Waiting for anything could be a bad idea.

About the picture: “You may like this photo which I snapped on a visit to Guernsey, Channel Islands,” writes David from Nanaimo. “The royal golden Guernsey goat is the only animal with official royal status (granted by King Charles III in 2024).”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, email to ‘garth@garth.ca’.