Canadian Dental Care Plan Renewal Deadline Approaches

Know Your Client!   It’s a daily commitment and requirement, especially in the work that financial advisors do with their clients.   It’s imperative that you ask about any significant changes in their lives. Has there been a significant new event:   a move to take a new job or go to university, a marriage or divorce, a new birth, a disability or a death? And, in the case of income tested benefits such as the Canadian Dental Care Plan, (CDCP) do they qualify?  Did they file their tax return on time to get it?  Do you know the deadlines for doing so?  Do you know when coverage ends if your client now longer qualifies?

The vast majority of Canadians caring for sick and disabled family members are missing out on lucrative tax assistance and paying for expensive care costs out of pocket, according to a CIBC poll. Worse, only 12 percent of caregivers are accessing available tax deductions, credits, and benefits on their tax returns.

Entrepreneur Amanda McAskill, of AJM Bookkeeping and Business Services is a recent graduate of Knowledge Bureau’s Bookkeeping for Small Business course. She found herself re-energized by the course, and inspired to tackle her career goals. Here’s her story:

Nearly 90 percent of Canadians filed their tax returns online this year. Despite this, low adoption rates show that some of the CRA’s automated programs are missing the mark - at least so far - and may be failing to improve the rates of taxpayer filing delinquency.

How financially literate is the global population? Not very, according to two important reports, and that’s a big problem. There are significant economic consequences to this knowledge gap that underscore why financial education is essential for everyone.

Young advisors are the future of an industry that’s rapidly transforming, and Knowledge Bureau will be honoring an up-and-coming change-maker at November’s Distinguished Advisor Conference in Quebec City. Nominations for the Distinguished Young Advisor Award are being accepted until August 31, 2018.

Inflation has hit its highest point since February 2012’s 2.6%. It now sits at a lofty 2.5%, and is expected to hold steady until the second half of 2019. Poorly understood, inflation, together with high taxes and rising interest rates, is a great wealth eroder.