Opportunity: Canadian Dollar Stabilizes, Somewhat

Things have started to turn around for the Canadian dollar in the second quarter of 2025. It hit a 22 year low in January of 2025. Investors and property owners, who have been swooning at the high burn rate in their travel plans and property maintenance abroad, may wish to consider recent more positive trends and consider some risk mitigation opportunities now that the dollar is stabilizing somewhat.  

Did you miss the May 24 Virtual CE Summit? You can still sign up for the Advanced Retirement & Estate Planning Update Course and access the live speaker recordings from the event. Plus, line up your educational calendar for the year with a CE Summit Event Pass and take advantage of the best available tuition rates!

Knowledge Bureau designates need 15 CE Credits by June 30 to relicence their credentials;  IIROC Cycle 9 ends on December 31, 2023 and Insurance Council licensing CE credits are due at various times throughout the spring.  That’s why Knowledge Bureau is offering 5 new CE options to help you meet your CE requirements before the deadline sneaks up!

Help your clients envision their plan for the three stages of retirement based on a holistic, values-based strategy and a consistent process for articulating and measuring a plan to its objectives. This will involve several different approaches to new conversations with clients as you help them set objectives for life, financial and economic milestones after work life. Expand your skillset to help your clients navigate retirement planning with the new CE Savvy™ Collection: Retirement Planning.

It’s now possible to contribute up to $8,000 per year to your new First Home Savings Account (FHSA), starting in 2023 – this year! Have you opened an account yet?  Some financial institutions are starting to offer the plan and it is a great way to save on a tax preferred basis for a new home.  It’s also important to open the account because no FHSA contribution room is earned until the year that you do.  Following is a checklist to review with your family members, or in the case of professional tax, bookkeeping or financial advisors, with your clients and their younger family members.

Canada Worker’s Benefit (CWB) is a refundable credit of up to $1,428 for singles and $2,461 per family which is received when you file a tax return and earn “working income”, a term that is not defined by CRA. There are other criteria, described below.  This provision deserves a refresh, because one-half of the CWB claimed on the tax return will be pre-paid for the following year in three instalments: July, October, and January.

Perhaps appropriately positioned after the April tax filing deadline, May is Mental Health Awareness month. Nearly 1-in-4 Canadians say money is their top source of stress, and the number of people who feel regularly stressed almost doubled following the pandemic. Good news: almost 1-in-2 Canadians seek advice from a financial professional and/or engage financial literacy to strengthen their financial knowledge, and that can help. Working with a Real Wealth Manager™ can be particularly effective. Here’s why: