Career professionals

A steady salary makes everything look fine on the surface. It also hides the parts costing you money: unused RRSP room, group cover that doesn't do what you think, and tax nobody's actively managing.

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Illustration of a working couple with a home and rising chart

I have a salary and a workplace pension. Isn't that enough?

A salary and a pension are a strong base, and you should be glad to have them. But they work on autopilot. They don't check whether your RRSP room is used, whether your group cover fits your family, or whether your tax is being managed. Those unchecked parts quietly cost salaried households thousands of dollars a year.

The fix is rarely a new product. It is usually coordination: the right contribution going to the right account, cover that matches your actual obligations, and a salary, pension and mortgage mix that someone reviews twice a year.

How much RRSP room am I leaving unused?

An RRSP, or Registered Retirement Savings Plan, lets you deduct contributions from your taxable income and defer tax until you withdraw. Every year you earn pensionable income, you build new room, and unused room carries forward indefinitely. Most salaried professionals we meet have years of room sitting untouched.

Unused room is missed tax relief at your highest marginal rate. In BC and Ontario, that rate reaches over 50 percent on top earnings. One catch: a workplace pension reduces your RRSP room through something called a pension adjustment, so your true number is on your latest notice of assessment, not a formula from your salary.

Bring yours to an assessment and we will read it with you. See how retirement planning works.

Is my group insurance through work actually enough?

Group plans are genuinely good value. Employers often pay part of the premium, everyone qualifies without medical checks, and the health and dental benefits get real use every year. We will never tell you to cancel one. Where group plans fall short is the amount and the fine print.

Life cover through work is often one or two times your salary. A family with a mortgage and children typically needs several times that. Disability coverage may stop paying at a set age or only if you cannot work at any occupation, not your own. And every bit of it ends the day you leave the job.

The usual answer is workplace cover as the base plus a personally owned policy you control. Life insurance, disability insurance and critical illness insurance pages each explain the gap in detail.

How do I save for my children's education?

An RESP, or Registered Education Savings Plan, is a government-registered account for a child's education. For every dollar you contribute, the government adds a 20 percent grant, up to $500 per child per year and $7,200 over the child's lifetime. That grant is the best guaranteed return available in Canadian saving.

Erin Peng has specialised in RESPs and children's insurance since 2018, and she sets these up more than anything else. Contributions grow tax-sheltered, and withdrawals for qualified education are taxed in the student's hands, which usually means little or no tax. Meet Erin to get one started.

Should I pay down the mortgage or invest?

Compare your mortgage's interest rate with the after-tax return you could reasonably expect from investing. Paying down a 5 percent mortgage is a guaranteed 5 percent return. Investing in an RRSP first can beat that, because the tax refund can then go straight onto the mortgage.

The honest answer depends on your rate, your comfort with ups and downs and your timeline. There is no single right order, but there is a right order for your numbers. We can work it out with you in one meeting.

What happens to all of this if I change jobs?

Three things at once: your group insurance ends on your last day, your pension gets a decision attached to it, and your RRSP and TFSA room stay exactly as they are. The coverage gap is the part that catches people, because a new employer's plan can take months to start and may ask medical questions in between.

Before you resign, check what your group plan lets you convert to a personal policy and what your pension is worth leaving, transferring or keeping. A one-hour review before a job change protects everything you built while salaried.

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What can coordinating the pieces change?

A detailed career-professional case study will be added here when the approved figures and story are ready.

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What else should you know before starting?

I already have a workplace plan. Why would I need an advisor?

A workplace plan holds one account. It does not coordinate your RRSP and TFSA room, your mortgage, your family's insurance or your taxes. We look at how all of those pieces work together.

Can you help me understand my pension at work?

Yes. We can explain what your contributions are buying, how a defined benefit pension changes your RRSP room, and what your options are if you change jobs.

How are you paid?

It depends on the work. Planning can be fee based, and insurance or investment arrangements pay commissions. We explain every cost before you decide on anything, and we put it in writing.

Do I have to move my investments to work with you?

No. If your current accounts fit your plan, we will tell you. The first assessment looks at what you have and where it makes sense to make changes, if any.

What happens in the complimentary assessment?

We spend 20 minutes learning what you earn, owe and own, and what you want your money to do. You leave with a clear picture of your gaps and what fixing them would involve.

What should your salary actually be doing?

Bring your RRSP room, group cover or mortgage question to a complimentary 20-minute assessment.

Book a complimentary 20-minute assessment Call us directly: 604-618-7365