Ferguson Financial Planning of CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd.

06/22/2026

Two couples. Same $10,000 goal. Different result.

Situation:
Both households want $10,000 per month after tax in retirement.

What they did:
One couple is portfolio-heavy with no work pensions. In the example, they have about $1.4M invested, a paid-off home worth about $1M, about 75% of maximum CPP each at age 65, and full OAS. Their combined floor is only roughly in the high $3,000s per month before tax, around $4,000 give or take.

Another couple is pension-heavy with modest savings. They have 2 defined benefit pensions totaling about $7,000 per month before tax, and the key detail is that the pensions are indexed. Add CPP and OAS over time, and they can get surprisingly close to the same lifestyle goal without needing a massive portfolio.

What happened:
The first couple needs the portfolio to create most of the cheque early on. Taxes and withdrawal sequencing matter a lot.
The second couple needs less from investments, but still has risks around survivor income and future tax stacking if pension income and RRIF income pile up later.

What they changed:
They stopped asking, “What number do we need?” and started asking, “Which income source is doing the heavy lifting?”

The principle: the same retirement goal can produce very different plans because the mix matters more than the headline number.

If you’re in this situation:
- Map your guaranteed income floor first.
- Then identify what your portfolio actually needs to do.

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06/19/2026

Stop planning from the lump sum.

Start planning from the income floor.

Why it matters: a retirement plan usually feels clearer when you begin with the money that shows up more or less no matter what. In the video, that meant CPP, OAS, and pension income. That stable base tells you how much pressure your portfolio actually needs to carry.

A lot of people go the other way. They fixate on the portfolio first, then treat guaranteed income, taxes, inflation, and timing as side details. That can distort the whole plan.

STOP: assuming all retirement income works the same way.
A flat pension, CPP, OAS, TFSA withdrawals, and RRIF withdrawals do not behave the same way over time.

START: identifying your monthly floor first.
Ask: what income is stable, and will it rise over time or stay flat?

CHECK: whether that floor is indexed.
A non-indexed pension of $5,000 per month can feel very different at age 80 than it did at age 66, even though the deposit never changed. If the income stays flat, your portfolio may need to become the inflation top-up.

Apply this today: if you wrote out your retirement paycheque line by line, which parts are stable, and which parts are doing the inflation heavy lifting?

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06/16/2026

Deferring tax can cost more.

What gets missed in this case study is that “delay it as long as possible” can create 2 separate tax problems instead of solving 1.

With a $750,000 RRSP and about $1,000,000 of unrealized capital gains, you are managing 2 tax schedules at the same time. The RRSP becomes fully taxable income when money comes out. The non-registered account creates tax when gains are realized, and often again on the final return through a deemed disposition.

The principle is simple: tax deferral is not the same as tax reduction.

Do this instead:
- Pick a target income band for most years instead of trying to pay the least tax this year.
- Use low-control years carefully: if there is room in that band, consider filling it on purpose with RRSP withdrawals, realized gains, or both.
- Judge the plan across many returns plus the final return, not just this year’s tax bill.

A useful question to ask today: am I actually reducing tax, or just pushing income into the years where OAS clawback and forced withdrawals are more likely?

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06/13/2026

Stop avoiding taxable income.

Start shaping it.

Why this matters: in this case study, the expensive outcome was not “paying tax.” It was letting income lurch from low to high with no plan. A few quiet years can feel efficient, then later RRIF minimums, OAS, pensions, dividends, and realized gains stack together in the same years.

A simple framework:

STOP:
Stop judging every decision by whether it lowers this year’s tax bill.

START:
Start managing to a target income band. The video called this a tax thermostat. You choose a range that feels reasonable for after-tax cash flow and avoids creating avoidable problems.

CHECK:
Check which source of income best uses the room you still have this year:
- RRSP withdrawals reduce future forced withdrawals.
- Realized gains reduce the tax backlog in the non-registered account.
- TFSA withdrawals do not increase net income, so they do not create OAS clawback.

Apply this today: if your income is lower than usual this year, are you using that room intentionally or wasting it?

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06/10/2026

The years after work stops and before CPP, OAS, and RRIF minimums are fully in motion can be some of the most useful planning years you will ever have.

In that stretch, taxable income is often lower than it will be later. That creates room to draw from your RRSP, realize gains, or fund spending from the right account before government benefits and forced withdrawals start stacking on top. What closes the window is simple: OAS begins at 65 unless delayed, CPP starts whenever you elect it, and RRIF minimums eventually become mandatory. Once those income sources are in place, you usually have less control.

The quiet years in your 60s are often the years with the most planning leverage.

If you are retired or easing out of work, map out the years between your last employment income and the start of CPP, OAS, and RRIF withdrawals. Then decide, year by year, whether those are the years to draw down some RRSP assets, trigger a planned capital gain, or bridge spending from non-registered assets instead of waiting for forced income later.

If you are 60 to 67 and your income feels unusually low right now, this is the exact situation to pay attention to. It often does not stay low for long.

06/07/2026

“I’ll leave the RRSP alone as long as possible” often feels disciplined.

In retirement, it can create the future tax bill.

The mechanism is straightforward.

If you avoid RRSP withdrawals in your 60s because you want the account to keep growing, that larger balance eventually has to be converted, usually to a RRIF by Dec. 31 of the year you turn 71.

After that, minimum withdrawals apply whether you need the cash or not. At 71, the RRIF factor is 5.28%. At 72, it is 5.40%, and it keeps climbing. On a large account, that can produce taxable income you did not actually need, which can push you into higher brackets and increase OAS clawback exposure.

Sometimes, the default is not always the safer choice.

06/06/2026

Before you chase a retirement number, check this.

Check #1: Your real after-tax lifestyle target.
If the goal is $10,000 per month after tax, that is not the same as needing $10,000 of gross income. The planning starts with what needs to land in your chequing account.

Check #2: Your rough before-tax range.
In the video, a simple starting point for many retired couples in Ontario at this lifestyle level was that the effective tax rate can land in the mid-20%-ish range. Very roughly, $10,000 per month after tax may mean something like $13,000 to $14,000 per month before tax as a planning target.

Check #3: Where the income is coming from.
$10,000 from a TFSA is different from $10,000 from an RRSP or RRIF. Same spending. Different tax result. That changes how much gross income you may actually need.

One common mistake: people skip the tax layer, look only at the account balance, and then wonder why spending feels tighter than expected.

Apply this today: write down your target monthly spending after tax, then ask what gross income would actually be required based on where the withdrawals will come from.

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06/04/2026

Two people can have the same portfolio and still get very different retirement results.

Take this example: One person starts CPP early, coasts on RRSPs, and then runs into larger RRIF withdrawals later. The other spreads taxable income more evenly over time and is better positioned to keep OAS from getting clipped. The assets may be the same, but the sequencing is different.

That difference can change future tax brackets, benefit recovery, and how much flexibility you still have in your 70s.

In retirement, the order of income decisions can matter as much as the investments themselves.

Take your projected retirement income and run it year by year, not just as one average number. Include CPP start age, OAS start age, RRSP or RRIF withdrawals, pension income, and any capital gain or one-time payout.

Then ask: am I smoothing taxable income, or am I pushing more of it into the years when I have the least control?

If you already have a pension and a large RRSP, this contrast is especially relevant because stacking income later happens faster than most people expect.

05/26/2026

Estate planning is not only about having a will.

A good starting point is understanding what you own and how each asset is legally owned. Bank accounts, investment accounts, registered plans, real estate, business assets, insurance policies, and trust assets may all be treated differently depending on their ownership structure.

We’ve shared a new CI Assante article on our website that explains why verifying asset ownership is an important first step in estate planning.

Read the article here:

Here’s a look at financial decisions for a couple without children across several components of wealth planning, including investments, insurance and estate planning.

05/22/2026

“Probably fine” is not a retirement number.

It usually means you haven’t measured the real gap.

Here's a tip: Your plan gets clear when you calculate the after-tax gap, then gross it up for taxes.

Next time you’re about to ask, “Do I have enough?”, you should ask, “What’s my after-tax spending target, and what’s the gap after CPP and OAS?”