There are three time horizons when it comes to investing:
• Short term: e.g. Emergency fund, vacation
• Medium term: e.g. Home, Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP), Investment Properties
• Long term: e.g. Retirement
We’ll start with short-term investment options because you might need to access this money soon in case of an emergency or if you’re saving for a vacation. Therefore, your short-term savings should be easily accessible. The accounts you use for these are typically non-registered accounts or your TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account).
Your medium-term investments are focused on goals within 5 to 10 years. Examples include saving for the down payment of your home or paying for your child’s education.
To save for the down payment of your home, you would use a non-registered account, TFSA, Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) in some cases, and the new Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (FHSA – available from 2023).
Saving for retirement:
When it comes to retiring, you must have a plan to ensure you have enough money to last for your retirement years. If you fail to plan, you’ll spend your retirement years worrying about your finances instead of enjoying your time.
We consider including the following:
• The client’s current asset allocation
• The client’s risk tolerance, time horizon, and investment objectives
• The model asset allocation based on the client’s risk tolerance, time horizon, and objectives, and its expected annual rate of return
• The client’s expected annual rate of return on their investments
• The level of diversification of the client’s investment portfolio
• The cost and tax efficiency of the client’s investment portfolio