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17| W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,July 19,2018 w aterloochronicle.ca We listed our pervious home twenty eight years ago when Bob Perkes was known as Mr.Lakeshore! This April, we did not hesitate to list our current home with Bob and within five days our house was sold! List your house with confidence when selecting the professional real estate agent Bob Perkes. -Lise and Harry Merkel Bob Perkes sales representative OFFICE: 519-885-0200 CELL: 519-588-0121 email: info@kwtopteam.com web: www.bobperkes.ca PROUD REAL ESTATE SERVICE FOR 30 YRS Brokerage "Independently Owned and operated" • Free Blood Glucose Monitor & Teaching • Free Blood Pressure Check • Compounding Friendly Professional Team... where your total health is our goal! hours Mon.-Fri. 9am-7pm • Sat. 9am-4pm 519-747-0320 373 Bridge St. Waterloo www.thpharmacy.com As a father, mother or grandparent who has done well in life, you have probably considered giv- ing financial gifts to your adult children or grand- children while you are still alive instead of, or in addition to, providing an inheritance to them when you are gone. There are certainly benefits to do- ing that - for your benefi- ciaries ... and for you. For your family, you'll be giving them money when they most need it - to pay down a mortgage, to buy a larger house for a growing family, to pay for a wedding, to fund a post- secondary education or for hundreds of other good reasons. Your gift may also re- duce your family's annual tax bill. If you are in a top marginal tax bracket, and you give money to your adult children who are in a lower tax bracket, any income that gift generates will be taxable to the chil- dren at their lower rate. For you, there are no tax restrictions on gifts to children (or others) while you are still alive so you can see your beneficiaries enjoy your gifts and gain insights from how they use them. This may help you firm up an estate plan for fu- ture gifting. There are other finan- cial advantages to giving while living. Although there is no inheritance tax in Cana- da, the financial gifts you give to your children may lower the value of your es- tate, and also reduce or eliminate capital gains taxes on your property deemed disposed immedi- ately prior to your death. Any capital gain on the gifted property will be re- alized and taxable to you at the time of the gift, how- ever in many cases your marginal tax rate will be lower in retirement than in the year of your death. For your estate, it's not a universally good idea to avoid probate (the formal validation of your will and of the person who will act as executor of your estate) but gifting while living can reduce probate fees on your estate which can be high, depending on the province in which you live - for example, Ontario probate fees (called an Es- tate Administration Tax) top out at 1.5 per cent of an estate's value. Considerations Look carefully at all the aspects of giving while living, in- cluding: • Your current net worth and lifestyle re- quirements as they are now and as they may be in the future. • Future factors such as health risks that may strain your financial re- sources. • Ensuring your "early inheritance" of money or property goes to the right person(s) (especially im- portant in blended fami- lies). You want to give while you live and you want to have sufficient financial resources to last for your lifetime. That takes care- ful planning - so before putting a bow on your gift (s) talk to your profession- al advisor. - This column is provided by McEachnie Group Pri- vate Wealth Management. Contact Russ McEachnie, CFP, CPCA, CDFA, RRC, principal, at 886-2360, ext. 6241 or go to russmceach- nie.com. OPINION It can be better to give while you live Giving financial gifts before you go may have some benefits, says Russ McEachnie RUSS MCEACHNIE Column l MORE ONLINE Check out our range of social media channels serving up content from waterloochronicle.ca