Client is 55, single, and behind on retirement savings. A case-study in pre-retirement mortgage planning.

I have a client - let's call him Ted - who recently reached out to me to do some mortgage planning.

New housing mortgage policies are coming into effect (again) and leaving many Canadians unclear about how their finances have been affected. The Government of Canada is introducing these new rules in two phases. This article is a quick summation of how you may have been affected. First, however, to understand the new rules it is important to understand the classification of mortgages and the previous rules. 

I received a call from a prospective client the other day trying to figure out how to purchase and mortgage finance a property in Tulum, Mexico. He and his wife's goal was to purchase a property just south of Cancun for their ultimate retirement in 15 years. Meanwhile, they would rent it out and the question was, can the mortgage interest be tax deductible on a foreign investment property?

Gerry is all smiles now.

When Shauna and Gerry called me, they were paying almost $2000/mo rent + utilities and desperately wanted to buy their own home and quit paying rent, but just couldn't seem to get on track for a mortgage approval.  Now they are interviewing prospective tenants.

In this article, the discussion is an overview of the Re-Advanceable Mortgage and the Smith Manoeuvre, a technique or option to make your mortgage tax deductible and create access to incremental funds for investment (or any) purposes.