Yatin Chadha hosts Sophie Cournoyer (FCIA, FSA, MBA, CFA) to discuss the retirement compensation arrangement (RCA).

The RCA is a lesser known retirement savings plan that can be relevant for incorporated professionals with substantial salary (T4 income).

Connect with me on LinkedIn or at [email protected]

We discuss:
1:08 - My intro to RCA
3:25 - our guest, conflicts on interest
4:40 - what is an RCA?
9:22 - differences between RCA and IPP
13:25 - basic features (governing body, creditor protection, tax deductions, tax deferral, buy back of past service, no impact on RRSP contribution room, considerations for income splitting)
16:53 - basic RCA structure (2 accounts: Investment account & Refundable Tax Account)
18:29 - basic RCA mechanics
20:13 - Sophie talks about eligible investments (very few restrictions)
21:28 - Example: depositing $50,000 into RCA - what happens
23:10 - Examples: what happens to interest income & realized capital loss in the investment account? 
24:18 - RCA tax efficiency (and inefficiency)
25:30 - potential benefit of RCA when retiring in low tax jurisdiction
26:18 - RCA and passive income rules
27:55 - RCA - any issues with excess returns?
29:15 - wealth transfers, what happens at death?
30:47 - RCA Cost - set up and maintenance
33:30 - what can go wrong with an RCA
35:15 - my summary (and room for DIY)

Yatin Chadha hosts Ron Haik, MBA, CFP, CIM, TEP, senior financial advisor at Nicola wealth.

This is the second episode on alternative investments, this time focusing on private equity.

Yatin and Ron discuss:

What is private Equity (PE)? (4:40)

Differences between investing in PE & public markets (5:08) 

Various (Nicola Wealth) funds (9:00)

Leveraged buy outs (11:45)

Credentials of (Nicola Wealth) fund managers (12:43) 

Evergreen structure (14:55)

Understanding returns (16:53)

Potential returns vs stocks (21:50)

Downside protection? (23:45)

PE investment time horizon (25:30)

How companies are evaluated (26:40)

PE investment example (28:04)

Risk/what can go wrong (30:23)

General advice (31:40)

Questions for PE firms (33:23)

Yatin Chadha hosts Dr. Kevin Mailo, an Emergency physician from Edmonton, AB and co-founder of Physician Empowerment. 

Physician Empowerment is a physician-led venture helping other physicians with burnout, practice management, and financial literacy. Check their website for upcoming courses (with CME): https://www.physempowerment.ca

Kevin has abundant experience in direct ownership of real estate and provides his insights on real estate investing.

Discussion points:
- introduction, Physician Empowerment (3:56)
- tackling $300000 of student debt (9:18)
- Kevin's summary of his real estate investments (12:25)
- real estate: active vs passive (16:35)
- finding tenants (26:17)
- using a holding company (29:55)
- evaluating real estate through the numbers (35:30)
- tax efficiency (44:38)
- what about downturns? (45:18)
- mistakes (51:02)
- variable vs fixed rates on your rental property (52:45)
- advice (53:55)

Kevin Mailo can be reached at [email protected]

Galen Nuttall, M.Ed, CFP joins Yatin Chadha to discuss financial literacy as it pertains to Canadian physicians.

One of Galen's top interests as an experienced planner is helping incorporated small business owners, including doctors, create their own pensions using their professional corporation.

Discussion points:

- survey part 1: 58% of Canadian physicians said they were confused about where to start with financial planning and didn't know who to trust

- survey part 2: 80% of Canadian physicians said they were not at all or only somewhat confident that they were using their corporation efficiently

- navigating various financial advisor designations (CIM, CFP, CFA etc)

- what questions to ask a financial planner

- the connection between financial literacy and wellness

- basic mechanics of corporation efficiency

- what Galen brings to the table.

Galen has many useful resources for Canadian physicians:
- website: https://www.galenhelpsdocs.com (includes financial literacy challenge)
- https://www.galenhelpsdocs.com/webinar (recent webinar for incorporated MDs, replay available soon
- YouTube Channel: Canadian whiteboard finance
- Podcast: A Clean Bill of Wealth

Dr. Yatin Chadha hosts Leanne Mamchur, CFA, CFP, FMA to discuss investment costs, this time focusing on exchange traded funds (ETFs).


Leanne has written an article on investment costs that can be accessed: 

https://woodgundyadvisors.cibc.com/Leanne-Mamchur/articles-written-by-our-team%20?lang=en_US

I begin by discussing a personal investment decision (ETF) from 2018 (begins at 2:40). I wasn't completely informed at the time, but it has fortunately worked out. Check out  http://beyondmdpodcast.com/?p=781 for full details.


Episode Interview Topics:
- MER, TER (7:40)
- bid-ask spread, practical considerations (10:00)
- swap-based ETFs, potential benefits, considerations (14:48)
- robo-advisors (22:40)
- alternative cost structures (beyond % of assets under management) (30:32)


For questions and topic suggestions, reach me at LinkedIn or by email:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/yatin-chadha-29074b109/
- [email protected]

Have you ever wondered exactly how much your investments cost?? Welcome to part 1 of demystifying investment costs.

This episode focuses on investment costs associated with mutual funds and will provide the fundamentals for the follow up episode that will discuss ETFs.

Dr. Yatin Chadha interviews Leanne Mamchur, CFA, CFP, FMA from CIBC. Leanne has 19 years of experience advocating for private clients. She is passionate about demystifying the cost structure in Canadian Wealth Management (and is in fact writing a book that covers this topics).

Please see links towards the end for Leanne's article (nicely summarizes investment costs) and bio.

In this episode we discuss:

- CRM-2 (client relationship model) and impact on financial industry

- Front-end load (initial sales charge), back-end load (going, going, gone!!!)

- MER (management expense ratio) and its components, including trailer

- What is the trailer? What services can it give you access to (coaching, planning, asset allocation, account structuring etc)?

- Various series of mutual funds (focus on series A, D, F, O), impact on MER

- TER (trading expense ratio)

- Factors influencing MER and TER

- How costs are disclosed


Leanne's article titled "Unraveling costs and creating change", which eloquently summarizes much of this content:

file:///Users/simaacharya/Downloads/Unraveling%20Costs%20and%20Creating%20Change%20-%20Confusing%20Web%20of%20Jargon%202/70645e5e-d4a7-11eb-a980-0cc47a792c0a_id_70645e5e-d4a7-11eb-a980-0cc47a792c0a.html

Leanne's bio:

file:///Users/simaacharya/Downloads/Leanne%20Mamchur,%20CFA,%20CFP,%20FMA/278e40f0-d4a7-11eb-a980-0cc47a792c0a_id_278e40f0-d4a7-11eb-a980-0cc47a792c0a.html

Dr. Yatin Chadha interviews his good friend, Arjun Saraf, CPA, CA, EMD, who is VP Finance and Mortgage Admin at New Haven Mortgage Corporation. 

The topic is mortgage investment corporations (MICs).  Arjun Saraf has more than 10 years of experience in the MIC space and is an expert on the topic.

https://www.newhavenmortgage.com/

This is the first of many episodes dedicated to alternative investments.

Discussion points:
- what is a MIC?
- MIC vs private mortgage lending, pros and cons
- understanding the borrowers
- investment returns
- distribution of returns, including DRIP (dividend reinvestment plan)
- withdrawing funds from a MIC, considerations
- risks of a MIC
- checklist of criteria when considering a MIC
- Covid-19 risks/considerations


Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or [email protected].

Dr. Yatin Chadha hosts Dr. Richard Sztramko, co-founder of Arya EHR (electronic health records).

Site: https://www.aryaehr.com/

Arya EHR is a rapidly growing Canadian health technology company focused on providing innovative and user-friendly EHR and telemedicine services for Canadian hospitals and clinics.

Richard Sztramko's fellow co-founders are:
- Dr. Sam Gharbi, general internist (BC)
- Dr. Richard Vandegriend, cardiologist (Royal Columbian Hospital)

There are many lessons and sources of inspiration from the success stories of our colleagues. Topics covered in the interview:
- Arya EHR: basics, services offered
- current issues facing EHR
- Vision and mission behind Arya
- How Arya can reduce cost and enhance efficiency
- Having a business idea vetted
- Process of establishing a team
- Financing a business venture
- Mistakes, lessons learned
- Balancing business with medicine and family life
- Advice for entrepreneurs

Dr. Yatin Chadha hosts Jean-Pierre Laporte (CEO Integris Pension Management Corp) to discuss the personal pension plan (PPP).

This is highly relevant and under discussed material for any incorporated professional/small business owner.

Discussion points include:
Review of basic IPP (individual pension plan) concepts

PPP account structure (3 accounts)
- Defined benefit account (DB)
- Defined contribution account (DC)
- Additional voluntary contribution account (AVC)

Age benefit of PPPs (no need to wait until age 40)
- ability to contribute to DC and AVC accounts before age 40

Additional tax sheltering advantages compared to IPP
- RRSP double dip
- flexibility in contributions through DC and AVC accounts
- ability to make contributions even when DB account is in surplus
- benefit/strategy of holding low yielding investments in the DB account (accruing special payments)
- benefits of PPP in wealth transfer/estate planning

Fiduciary oversight with PPP

Why the PPP is under discussed in personal finance

Dr. Yatin Chadha hosts Jean-Pierre Laporte, BA, MA, LLB, RWM, CEO at Integris Pension Management Corp to discuss Individual Pension Plans (IPP)

This is an under-discussed topic in personal finance and is highly relevant to all incorporated professionals.

The discussion includes:

General

- overview

- eligibility, ideal candidate

Funding and Tax Advantages

- work around for passive income rules

- increased contribution room relative to RRSP

- tax deduction for investment management fees

- access to additional investment instruments

- special payments

- terminal funding

- income splitting

- rolling over the RRSP into IPP

Limitations

- age

- cost

- diversification rules