No one likes thinking about their own death. And yet, the consequences of failing to plan for it can be devastating for the people you love most. Nowhere is this more apparent than in estate planning and specifically in the consequences of dying without a valid will.

For many affluent Ontarians, one of the most meaningful goals in their financial plan is not just sustaining their own lifestyle. It's ensuring that the wealth they've built has a lasting impact for their children and grandchildren.

When most people think about insurance in retirement, they think about life insurance — whether they still need it, whether to keep it, whether to cancel it. But two other types of insurance deserve equal attention at this stage of life: critical illness (CI) insurance and long-term care (LTC) insurance.

A spousal RRSP is one of Canada's most powerful — and most underused — tools for reducing retirement taxes. For couples heading into retirement with significantly different incomes, it offers the ability to shift future taxable income from the higher-earning spouse to the lower-earning one — permanently and legally.

Trusts are often associated with the ultra-wealthy or with overly complex tax schemes. In reality, trusts are practical, versatile, and widely used planning tools that offer meaningful benefits to a broad range of affluent Ontario families. For those with $1 million or more in assets, a trust may be one of the most powerful tools available for protecting, growing, and transferring wealth.