William Barreca, CFP®

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is one of your most valuable assets in retirement But most people aren't optimizing CPP to its full potential This can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost benefits Here is a breakdown of how to get the most out of CPP:

I make sure to review every client’s tax return in detail It’s necessary to fully understand their situation and provide the best advice Your tax return tells a story: - Where your income is coming from - How tax-efficient that income is - What deductions and credits you’re using - How efficiently everything is working together - What planning opportunities are possible

People can go years thinking everything is fine Then we sit down and find a bunch of quiet mistakes Here are some of the top mistakes I see people making: - No plan for turning their savings into retirement income - Paying more taxes than they need to - Outdated or missing estate plan - Taking more investment risk than they think - Paying high fees without realizing

There’s so many garbage ETFs out there Remember that not all ETFs are passive with low fees And not all mutual funds have high fees with active management

@MarilynGladuSL Lol

Proud to be the newest member of our new Liberal Government.

@TheCADInvestor Exactly Investments are obviously important But so many people ignore taxes. And it’s so powerful

@willbarreca This is where a lot of people get it wrong. They spend all their time chasing returns and almost none thinking about structure. At a certain point, tax planning stops being a niche optimization and starts becoming a core wealth strategy.

Some of your biggest financial opportunities come from thoughtful tax planning: • RRSP contributions and strategic withdrawals • TFSA optimization • CPP and OAS timing decisions • Income splitting (spouses, family trusts where appropriate) • Corporate vs personal income decisions (salary vs dividends) • Holding company structures for business owners • Capital dividend account (CDA) planning • Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) on qualified small business shares • Capital gains deferral and realization strategies • Tax loss harvesting • Charitable giving using securities instead of cash • Individual Pension Plans (IPPs) for incorporated professionals

You’re right, a lot of people don’t have the right investment strategy However, all of these items can still add massive value in spite of a less than ideal portfolio And tax planning is a lot harder. You should have investments, tax and all of the other parts of financial planning locked down

Every item on this list is real. Every item on this list assumes the portfolio underneath it is doing its job. What if it isn't? What if the household is in a 60/40 that's lost to its own benchmark for a decade? The tax tail can't wag the portfolio dog — but the industry has spent forty years acting as if it can, because the portfolio question is harder and less billable.

@CameronBWilson I’m not sure how you can look at long term historical returns for buy and hold investors and label them as “terrible”

It’s not about the best days or worst days. It’s about managing risk and seeing when it’s heightened to capture and also avoid companies and sectors. Stocks had their worst quarter in year if your a balanced or index investor. We did not face that same fate and are positive as we aren’t passive. Imagine eating the same meal every day all your life no matter what you’re doing. Sounds efficient but it’s terrible. Long term.

"Buying the dip" assumes you'll recognize it in real time and act It assumes that you'll be buying at lower prices than if you'd just invested the cash whenever it became available to you The cost of being out of the market often exceeds the benefit of timing your entry

@CameronBWilson Suppose that's true... There's no way to reliably get in and out of the markets to only catch the best days So it's best to just stay invested and capture the market returns

@willbarreca Best and worst days are clustered together. Take a look at some research from the journal of portfolio management. Missing the best days is a lot about marketing from mutual fund companies that never want you to sell.

@CameronBWilson @CGWM_Muhs So no one ever said that every single person needs to be in a 60/40 portfolio Asset allocation is determined by risk tolerance, risk capacity, time horizon, which differs for every person That wasn’t the point of this post

@CGWM_Muhs @willbarreca Are you 100% in the 60/40? Last 9/10 advisors aren’t doing what they do for clients.

"The 60/40 portfolio is dead" Is there anyone out there who wants to explain what about it is dead?

@VTwin2011 @CGWM_Muhs It really depends on each individual 60/40 isn’t suitable for everyone But it’s not dead or broken like many financial companies are saying

@CGWM_Muhs @willbarreca Just my opinion but I'd say 100 percent equities is fine with a minimum 15 to 20 year time horizon. I don't think you need to start and stay 60/40. But transition to more fixed income once you only have 15 to 20 years left before you need the money is good though

@CGWM_Muhs See the email I got from an alternative product manufacturer that prompted this post

@willbarreca Exactly. On a weekly basis I get pitched on some kind of alternative strategy or whatnot that should be better than the 60/40. Even over the past 5 years (awful for bonds) I have yet to see their rationale.

Since Cathie Wood posted this howler on July 15th, 2020, $XOM has recorded a total return of +394% versus -20% for $ARKK

Everything is fine in Canadian life insurance regulation. Nothing to see here. insurancecouncilofbc.com/getattachment/…

@MarkMcGrathCFP @theRealKiyosaki I genuinely wonder if he’s trolling us at this point

Warren Buffer lmao Give it up man "Most of you know I bought my first 6 Bitcoin for $ 600, all the money I had and did not eat for days" Dude you were broke in 2010? 13 years after writing a best selling book on... Personal finance?? Biggest liar and grifter on this platform

MY APOLOGIES: In my previous X I quoted futurists Nostradamus’ 1500 and Edgar Caycees 1940 prediction that a global economic crisi would begin in 2026. A friend contacted me. He was upset with me because I stated I was going to richer during the 2026 crisis. His problem was he has never followed my X, as many of you have…. and he did not know you and I planned to get richer in a crash. For those of you who have been following my X you know my plan has always been to buy and hold “assets”the Fed, the US Goverment. and the banks can print… Those who have followed me for years already know I do not invest in stocks such as the S&P 500, US bonds, mutual funds ETFs, or save cash. I do not invest in anything the government, banks, or Wall Street prints. Those who follow me on X already know I KISS, Keep it Super Simple. I sell books I write all over the world, my Cashflow Boardgame available in over 50 languages. I raise and sell Wygu Cattle, I sell oil from my oil wells in Texas and Nortg , and I rent by the month 1500 rental units Purchased with debt, and I save real gold, silver, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. I started with nothing while still flying for the US Marinez and almost never sell. Like many of you, I had no money to start with…. But just bought small assets held for years and almost never sold. Most of you know I bought my first 6 Bitcoin for $ 600, all the money I had and did not eat for days. It did not take much brain power. It Did take plain and simple US Marine Corps stupidity, discipline, and close friends, not with money but with spiritual suppot. I could not believe 1500 Nostradamus called for a crash in 2926 and Edgar Cayce in 1940 called for crash in 2926. I do not know if their 2026 crash comes true…. Yet if it does come true, I am confident You and I will grow richer…. While millions grow poorer. Even Warren Buffer has sold billions in stocks, and sits in $35 Billions in cash waiting for S&P crash , waiting to buy priceless assets on sale. What are you doing? Rich Lesson on investing: investors who can see the future are the investors that get richer. The “Buy, hold, and pray,” crowd will be the biggest LOSERs. I continue to invest in assets the Fed and government and Wall Street cannot print. What are you going to do.? Follow the Buffets plan, go to cash, and prepare to buy real assets at real low prices…and get rich. Me personally. If a bank or Wall Street can print it….i don’t want. But that is just me. I love oil….real estate, golf, silver, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and food production. I like real. I hate fake. What are you going to? Don’t be like millions who will THINK….and do nothing? Trust this X makes a few points clearer.

You can split up to 50% of any pension income that qualifies for the $2,000 federal pension income credit with your spouse or partner In some cases, this can mean reducing the amount of OAS clawback

@MebFaber Because recency bias

Investing in the QQQs is one of the most nonsensical investments to make. Many mistakenly assume the QQQs are a tech fund (owns WMT, COST, etc) Pick 100 stocks *but only from one exchange* and market cap weight them. Why would you voluntarily choose to remove half of all stocks? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One of the biggest blind spots I see with business owners They focus on building the company But not on how they will turn that value into retirement income