Most common strategy for long term investing of registered vs unregistered accounts?

0
0

Hi there, I recently took over my TFSA and LIRA investments from a big bank portfolio manager. He had me invested in low risk bond funds for both of these types of sheltered investments despite the fact that my risk tolerance is pretty high – shame on me for not challenging it.

My inclination is to use the tax shield to buy REITs or Partnership shares (eg BEP) with pre-tax distributions and US dividend stocks to avoid withholdings and no dividend tax credits. I recall reading stories of people who sheltered very high gains inside their TFSA’s.

Assuming a healthy risk tolerance, I would be interested to know you opinion and what your sense of conventional wisdom is in this respect.

Marked as spam
Asked on August 29, 2020 11:22 am
3 views
0
Private answer

Thanks that’s very helpful - much appreciated.

Marked as spam
Posted by Robert Kunihiro
Answered on August 30, 2020 12:39 pm
0
Private answer

Hi there,

Everything you have mentioned 'makes sense'. It is important to note however, that everyone's tax situation is different and there are many different ways in which you can structure your investments. What 'makes sense' for one may note 'make sense' for another.

In my opinion, holding stocks such as REIT's and Partnerships (like BEP) in your RRSP/LIRA as it is much simpler for tax purposes. If you hold in a TFSA or non-registered accounts than you need to worry about witholding takes, and how the distribution is structured. Canadian REITs are find in a TFSA so long as their distributions don't include U.S. dividends as witholding taxes then apply on those. For simplicity sake, I hold all these types in my RRSP.

In general, investors tend to keep the US-based dividends in their registered retirement accounts to avoid the witholding taxes. US diviend investments held within the TFSA ARE subject to witholding taxes. They are also not recoverable - so they are either best held in non-registered or retirement accounts.

Another rule I follow - i hold my high-growth (strong conviction) stocks in my TFSA and my safer, long-term dividend stocks in my RRSPs. If you invest in high-risk stocks that can lead to big losses, then investors tend to hold those in a non-registered account so you can claim those losses against capital gains - think of these of speculative stocks that are high-risk, high-reward. In a TFSA or RRSP, you can't claim losses.

Hope that helps. However, in the end it all boils down to personal tax situation and risk tolerance.

Mat

Marked as spam
Posted by Mathieu Litalien
Answered on August 30, 2020 9:31 am