How can we invest $200K to produce income?

Warren Baldwin, vice-president of T.E. Financial Consultants, has the answer.

Warren Baldwin 8 May, 2003 | 1:00PM
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Dear Expert:

My wife and I, ages 69 and 68 respectively, held a $200,000 mortgage that came due on Aug. 2, 2002. At present, we have re-invested this money in treasury bills at a low rate of return. Is there a better investment at a better rate for us? We do not have a pension plan, but we do have approximately $250,000 in RRSPs that are in mutual funds, mostly equities. Our condo is mortgage-free, as is our cottage. Our problem is cash flow: can you offer us advice on how to generate some immediate income?

Expert Answer:

Before addressing your question about income, I feel I must comment on your general investment structure. Your portfolio is essentially "backward" from a tax-effectiveness perspective. In general terms, one should have higher-taxed income (such as GICs and other interest-producing investments) inside the RRSP and tax-favoured income (such as equities that produce dividends and capital gains) outside the RRSP.

With tax-favoured investments inside the RRSP, you are simply increasing the tax cost on any income and capital gains achieved from this part of the portfolio. You need to review your investment structure and correct the situation before worrying too much about income.

You should consider moving the equities that are presently inside your RRSP to a non-registered portfolio, and switching the cash (treasury bills) into the RRSP. You can then use the cash that is available in the RRSP to invest in a well-managed bond fund that does not charge excessive management fees. (Such a swap of assets out of the RRSP is not taxable, nor should there be much cost, if any, to complete these transactions.) I do not suggest investing in mortgages, since this can be quite a risky area that most investors fail to gauge correctly.

You can then live off some of the income produced by the non-RRSP assets and occasionally redeem some bond-fund units and withdraw the resulting cash from the RRSP to produce additional income. Moreover, as your wife is age 69 she will be required to convert her RRSP to a registered retirement income fund (RRIF) or a registered annuity by the end of this year anyway, and you will need to do the same next year. The bond fund units could be transferred to a RRIF, which are structured to produce an accelerating stream of income as time goes on.

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No statement in this article should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell securities or to provide investment advice or individual financial planning. Morningstar Canada does not provide specific portfolio advice and recommends the use of a qualified financial planner when appropriate.

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Warren Baldwin

Warren Baldwin  

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