Words Viola van de Ruyt, Wealth Advisor, Vanderuyt Wealth Management Group
September feels a bit like New Year’s: it’s a great time to “get stuff done” before the end of the year. It’s enough time to dig in, but not so much time that you can procrastinate. We’ve got four months left, so what is the top of your list to get done?
Here are two financial ideas.
First. It’s a great time to improve your tax bill for 2025, by making a charitable gift. For most of my clients, saving on their tax bill is always top of mind. For many women, I have also witnessed their passion for charitable causes and they want to find ways to help. Some do this through volunteering, but others also want to support financially.
If you don’t have excess cash on hand, consider gifting an investment that has grown in value and would trigger capital gains tax if you sold it. You or your wealth advisor can make arrangements with the charity of your choice to make the gift in kind, get the tax receipt for the market value of the donation and CRA will waive the capital gains tax. A win for both you and the charity.
While the news cycle the past six months has been negative, the stock market has been strong so it is a good time to realize these gains and be supportive at the same time.
Second. While the markets have been strong, many investors do have investments that have not fully recovered from the rapidly rising interest rates of 2022 or a stock that hasn’t gotten back to its 2024 high. Consider Tax Loss Harvesting, which means you sell the investment at a capital loss and either use that loss against some capital gains now or take back up to three years against past capital gains you already paid tax on. If you can’t use the tax losses now, then carry them forward for a time in the future when you will have capital gains. An accountant or wealth advisor can advise you on how this strategy could benefit you.
www.violavanderuyt.ca
Viola Vanderuyt is a Wealth Advisor with National Bank Financial (NBF). National Bank Financial – Wealth Management (NBFWM) is a division of National Bank Financial Inc. (NBF), as well as a trademark owned by National Bank of Canada(NBC) that is used under license by NBF. NBF is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF), and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NBC, a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: NA).
