Passing on Income Properties to Your Kids in Canada

Message from Tom & Nick

OK, we used a wide-angle mode on the iPhone camera for that picture.

So if we look a little warped, that’s the reason!

From top right going clockwise…that’s Kieth Pinto, Nigel Ito, Anthony Molinaro, Nick, and myself.

We just ended a Live Broadcast with Rock Star Members where we tackled questions on estate planning, interest rates, market trends, population growth, and more.

See our fancy “LIVE ON AIR” neon sign on the table? Yes, we’re big time.

These are recorded and shared on the Rock Star Inner Circle member site...so if you’re a member and missed it you’ll find it there.

During that chat, estate planning came up and it’s a topic that’s been coming up more and more recently.

Perhaps it’s a sign that we’re getting old, who knows, LOL!

We had dismissed this for a long time but it’s become obvious that it’s an important topic.

If you are buying rental properties and then hold them for a while…and then pass them on to your kids…you are going to be facing a major tax bill.

There are ways to plan for it using insurance policies.

In this week’s Rock Star Minutes, we explain this at a super high level:

​How to Pass Properties to Your Kids in Canada​

And the reason we’re saying our explanation is at a high level is this…

1. There are differences for people who are employed vs. self-employed.
2. There are different insurance strategies you can use…some can be leveraged fairly quickly which allows you to tap their cash values and invest the money. Others aren’t as flexible.
3. Not only is there tax to plan for but there is also probate tax (1.5% of your asset value). And there are ways to structure your holdings to minimize this.
4. You can pass on your properties before you pass away or after…both need to be planned for and both are going to incur some taxes.
5. There are ways to use “limited partnerships” to your advantage here as well. But this needs a tax planning expert. From our experience, many lawyers aren’t familiar with the importance of some of these moves. A lawyer who works with a lot of investors will likely be a useful resource to you.

There’s just no really easy way around this.

But by speaking to your accountant, life insurance professionals, and a good lawyer you can structure things to minimize the tax pain.

We’re now offering a class for Inner Circle Members on this exact topic that's taught by an insurance expert.

And we’ll be doing more podcasts on this going forward.

We’ll also be covering this at some of our live events as well.

Personally, I stuck my head in the sand on this topic for too long and luckily about 5 years ago we had someone we trust a lot force us to begin planning.

And we’re thankful we did.

Taxes and death and your estate…not fun topics at all, LOL!

But we can’t avoid them either. If you haven’t taken the time to think about this stuff then begin having the conversations now.

Speaking of negative things…

Has the real estate market found its footing yet or are there more price movements to come?

Remember, in the short term everything looks scary.

We lived through the 1990s which was horrible and involved 6 years of price declines.

We lived through the tech boom and bust, the 2007-2008 Great Financial Crisis, and the 2017 mini real estate correction, and we can tell you with certainty that it’s possible to survive it all.

When prices fell for 6 years in a row in the early 1990s, people told us real estate would never recover in our lifetimes, and yet here we are.

Nick bought a property in 2002 or 2001 for 140K, single-detached home in Hamilton, that is now worth close to a million dollars.

What we’ve learned is that you never buy for the price.

You buy for the fundamentals. What is the income/rent, what are the expenses, what are the population trends, what are the supply trends, and what are the interest rate trends?

All of those things matter together. The economy is a complex system.

When we almost lost everything in the 1990s, it was because we just focused on the price of properties and nothing else.

So if you’re solely focused on the price of income properties today, step back and look at the big picture, it’ll be very helpful.

That’s it for this week!!

Good times ahead!

And remember, it’s one life, it’s short…you may as well live it on your terms.

Tom & Nick