In this week's edition

This week’s main focus was Budget 2024, with the feds hiking the capital gains inclusion rate and raising the lifetime capital gains exemption. The measures will be effective on June 25. Learn more about these and other changes from tax expert Jamie Golombek as he hits the highlights from Tuesday’s budget.

One budget followup item was the Department of Finance’s planned consultation on the definition of qualified investments for certain registered plans. The qualified investment rules “can be inconsistent or difficult to understand,” the budget said, due to their many updates since being introduced nearly six decades ago. Find out what the feds are considering in the consultation and how clients could be affected. And for your convenience, we’ve assembled all our budget coverage in one spot.

It’s no secret that Canada’s tax system encourages clients to shift investment assets to lower-income family members, writes columnist Kevin Wark, and the federal government addresses that shift with the long-standing income attribution rules. Wark recently provided a refresher on the rules, highlighted exceptions and explained how life insurance can be an effective planning strategy.

Fallout from title protection in Ontario continued this week, as the Canadian Institute of Financial Planning sued FP Canada for $1.2 million, alleging breach of agreement and trade libel. After regulatory approval of CIFP’s Chartered Financial Planner credential in March, FP Canada issued a statement saying consumers could confuse the designation with the Certified Financial Planner designation that FP Canada oversees, and criticism on social media of CIFP’s credential was vehement. No matter your viewpoint, we can likely all agree on one thing: This isn’t how title protection was supposed to be.

The first home savings account can be a powerful tool for clients to save for a down payment. Critical to getting the most out of the plan is understanding what counts as a qualifying home under the rules, both when a client opens an account and when they want to make a tax-free qualifying withdrawal to buy or build a home. Help your client understand the rules by sharing this client-friendly article with them.

One advisor who emailed me this past week about title protection and credentials said he rises above the noise to focus on what’s important: “I do good work.” Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of every advisor. A column this week suggested that advisors require a Hippocratic Oath to do no harm, given conflicted compensation and a lack of a fiduciary standard. Do you operate from a first principle of “do no harm,” and how has that played out in your practice? Maybe you refuse to sell certain products or serve certain clients or accept certain referral arrangements. Let me know your take on the idea behind a Hippocratic Oath and what it means to you.