Retirement Planning with CDIC

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So you are spending less and less time dreaming about retirement and more and more time planning for it.  It’s a good place to be, but you may have some concerns over finances.  Knowing if your money is safe is a good start to relieving some of that anxiety.

The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) is the federal agency that exists to protect the savings of Canadians in the event their bank fails or goes bankrupt. If you have an eligible account held in Canadian dollars at a CDIC member institution, you are automatically insured up to $100,000. It’s true that Canadian banks rarely fail, but they have.

As Canadians approach retirement, often their risk tolerance changes.  Protecting the money they have becomes as important as making it grow. To be sure that your hard-earned money would be safe if your bank went bust, take a minute to review how different types of eligible deposits apply to you and your retirement plans.

To help, CDIC has developed an estimator app that will calculate deposit insurance in four easy steps. The app is free and available in Apple, Android, Windows and BlackBerry stores.

The first thing you will note is that while CDIC insures deposits up to $100,000, not all deposits are covered.

Eligible deposits insured by CDIC

It’s equally important, if not more so, to know what deposits are not covered by CDIC.

Accounts and products NOT insured by CDIC

Each of the following categories is insured separately for up to $100,000 for the eligible deposits they hold therein.

So how is this information particularly relevant to those considering retirement?  A few things to consider…

1)  Personal Accounts/joint accounts – If you’re looking to maximize your CDIC protection, it’s good to remember that deposits held in one name are protected separately from those held jointly.  That is to say, if you have personal deposits, your spouse has personal deposits, and you own deposits jointly, you would have coverage of up to $300,000.

2)  Trust Deposits – CDIC insures trust deposits separately from deposits held personally by the trustee or the beneficiary. In this instance, the deposits are separately insured per beneficiary not per depositor.  So a trust account in which your five grandchildren have an equal share could be protected up to $500,000.

3)  Spousal RRSPs – CDIC insures eligible deposits held in an RRSP separately from other eligible deposits. In the case of a spousal RRSP, the contributor and the owner are different people.  Eligible contributions are added to other registered deposits in the name of the spouse or common-law partner for whom the plan is established – and not with  the contributor’s deposits.

4)  Foreign currency – If you are a snowbird or considering becoming one, it is important to remember that CDIC does not insure foreign currency, including US dollar accounts.

Talk to your financial advisor or financial institution about deposit insurance, or visit cdic.ca. Take responsibility for your money and keep it safe in your retirement.

 

For full details, visit cdic.ca.