Aaron Hector, R.F.P., CFP, TEP

It's been 8 months since @TIERWealth was launched. We're a little different than most of our competition in the wealth management space. Actually, we're a lot different. Here are 5 (of many) things we do that set us apart: 1. Credentials. Our team is qualified. We have top tax credentials (CPA, CA), top investment credentials (CFA, CIM, FRM), top estate credentials (TEP), and top financial planning credentials (CFP, R.F.P.). 2. We don't only do tax planning. We file tax returns. That means less gets lost in translation from the plan, to implementation, to preparation. 3. We have tools that others don’t—because we built them. Examples: A tax instalment calculator that helps us advise how much you should remit to CRA, and when—especially when your tax situation is different now than it was in the past. A corporate executor cost comparison tool. If you’re considering a corporate executor in your Will, we can show you what the various providers would charge your estate. OAS/CPP tools that visually show the optimal year to start benefits based on different longevity scenarios—and depending on whether you spend or invest your CPP/OAS once you receive it. 4. We do the extra things. Like: Helping you decide which investments to donate to charity to get the best tax outcome—then completing the paperwork and sending it to the charity. Charging TFSA fees to non-registered accounts, because small details like this add up over time and keep more money compounding without tax friction. Asking our snowbird clients how many days they spent in the U.S. each year so we can complete and file Form 8840 (Closer Connection Exception) and reduce the risk of being treated as a U.S. tax resident. Getting authorized to access a client’s CRA account to confirm instalments—then remitting the payments to CRA on their behalf, so they don’t have to think about it. 5. We focus on your estate, and your heirs. We prepare custom estate flow charts that show exactly what will happen if you die—for each and every asset and liability you have, big or small. It’s not just arrows—it’s numbers. And we update those numbers every single year, so our clients always know what would happen. Oh...and we do the regular things too. TIER Wealth Tax | Investment | Estate Planning | Retirement Planning Our name is what we do. If you want to learn more, set up an introductory meeting through the link on our website. tierwealth.com

I recently joined estate lawyer Gordon VanderLeek on the Estates Made Simple podcast all the details about beneficiaries and successor holders (for all account types). (Yes - there was enough nuance and detail to make two episodes) We cover why the box you tick on a bank form matters, how a successor holder designation can keep a TFSA intact for a surviving spouse, and how RRIFs and FHSAs are treated after death. We also discuss the tax mismatch that can divide blended families and the most common designation mistakes we see. Have a listen! Episode 1 and 2 are both out now.. Apple and Spotify links are below: Apple Podcasts - Episode 1: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcas… Apple Podcasts - Episode 2: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcas… Spotify - Episode 1: open.spotify.com/episode/0Ju… Spotify - Episode 2: open.spotify.com/episode/3Ap…

1. A successor holder designation allows a a surviving spouse to receive their deceased partner's TFSA while maintaining the money inside a TFSA type. 2. A beneficiary designation allows the surviving spouse to receive the money from their deceased partner's TFSA, but as cash (no longer as a TFSA). 3. When a TFSA holder passes with a Will that says their spouse receives everything, but they didn't name their spouse (or anyone else) as a successor, nor as a beneficiary... then the spouse still gets the TFSA money (after probate)... but of course it's no longer inside a TFSA account type. So generally, rank the above as 3-Good, 2-Better, and 1-Best. When dealing with scenario 2 or 3, the surviving spouse (in combination with the executor, if they are not the same person) can correct the situation to essentially make the end result similar to the result of a successor holder designation, so that the survivor can still get the deceased's TFSA money back into their TFSA. To do this, the deceased's TFSA proceeds are withdrawn and then (no later than Dec 31 of the year after death) the survivor makes a contribution into their own TFSA. To ensure this works properly, CRA form RC240 must be completed and filed with CRA no later than 30 days after the "special contribution" is made. The result is that the money ends up in the surviving spouse's TFSA, similar to what the result would have been if a successor had been made in the first place. This does not use the survivor's personal contribution room as it is considered an exempt contribution. New for 2026: The above RC240 approach previously had been limited to the value of the deceased's TFSA as of their date of death, so if the account grew in value after death, only the amount up to the value on death could be rolled into the survivor's TFSA.... however, after January 1, 2026 the rules have changed to allow this exempt contribution to include post-death growth in the deceased's TFSA. This is a welcome change that makes corrective measures a little more compassionate and flexible for a survivor.

If Melissa sounds like you, spend a few minutes to look around. You could find a lower plan in the amount of time it takes you to post about your expensive one on X. From a happy Koodo customer.

Spend a bit of time on our blog and you might learn a trick or two. Below are four that are relevant for the end of the year, and especially so if you give to charity (including US charities) or are thinking about retiring soon.

Remember that your medical expenses don’t have to be a calendar year. Any 12 month claim period that ends in the current tax year can be claimed. So, for example, for your 2026 tax return you could choose Jan 2, 2025 to Jan 1, 2026 and use that for your 2026 medical claim. Or Oct 25, 2025 to Oct 24, 2026. Of course most will choose January 1, 2026 to December 31 2026. You can’t use the same period for more than one tax year, so if last years tax return reported receipts up to December, you can’t choose a claim period that starts earlier and double up on the same amounts on two different returns. I’m saying this now because if you had a larger expense at the end of last year, but it wasn’t quite enough to hit the annual threshold where it counted, you could try and accelerate certain expenses at the end of 2026 to tuck it into the same 12 month period. Getting close to the threshold but not quite every year is a waste if you understand the timing of expenses (where there is flexibility, like new eye glasses) can get you an extra 20+ percent off that you could easily miss if you aren’t thinking this through in advance.

The 2027 indexed figures are calculated, with an unusual amount of depth for those who care to know how things work. Fifty-five federal figures in total - mapped out - and published about a month earlier than you'll see them otherwise.

The CPI data is in for September 2026... and that gives us the entire dataset to calculate the annual index rate that will be used to move many tax and financial planning figures from 2026 to 2027. That figure is now locked in. The index rate is 2.6%. A full blog has been written for @TIERWealth with all figures that we can determine right now. It will be published as soon as it goes through our internal review process.... so watch for that in the next week, but for now, here are a few teasers: - The OAS clawback threshold moves from $95,323 to $97,801 - The TFSA limit for 2027 is confirmed at $7,500 - Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) moves from $1,275,000 to $1,308,150 - Federal Tax Brackets (beginning of each bracket noted) - 20.5% bracket moves up from $58,523 to $60,044 - 26% bracket moves up from $117,045 to $120,088 - 29% bracket moves up from $181,440 to $186,157 - 33% top bracket moves up from $258,482 to $265,203 Stay tuned for more at tierwealth.com/blog

A friend of mine sent me a message and called me out saying "Bro make a commitment. None of this "dollar or two" BS. Fine. I'm confident it will be $97,801 exactly.

I estimate the OAS clawback threshold for 2027 will increase from $95,323 to $97,801 (plus or minus a dollar)

I sent a client an email recently on a multi-child RESP withdrawal plan. The report sent showed why we were recommending what we were doing, and compared it to three other logical drawdown paths (one of which was taking the full ‘no receipt’ EAP max each year, which I had suggested we do last year). I told them in hindsight we would have made a different recommendation last year, but we’ve improved our thinking, and with improvements comes different advice. Continual improvement means you have to admit that you could have been better in the past… but that’s a lot better than not giving better advice simply to stay aligned with what you’d suggested before.

There is a door that’s still open today for financial planning firms to attract a lot of business while providing non-personalized “everyone gets the same rule of thumb advice.” I estimate that the door is going to slam shut on them relatively quickly if they don’t evolve and figure out how to customize their advice…. Because the people I know and respect are figuring out how to do things at a much higher and more customized level. Like many industries, the raw computing power that’s at our fingertips to run scenarios and simulations is expanding all the time.

Calgary advisors who are curious about Q Wealth and advisor incorporation in general... Q-Wealth is hosting an after-hours this Thursday, Oct 22 from 6pm to 9pm at The Ampersand. Free food and drinks, and good conversation. youtube.com/shorts/ezFbseXIK… via @YouTube

Kind of odd that when you find an error in a tax publication from a very respected large national firm and you privately reach out to one of their leaders (who is named on the publication) to inform them you caught an error, that they don't reply. Wouldn't you want to know?