Keats, Connelly and Associates, LLC (KeatsConnelly) is federally registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). KeatsConnelly is able to advise clients in all 50 states.
Why Coordination is Important
As you prepare to cross the border, there are steps you may need to take with your accounts to prepare them for the move; making sure those steps are performed and performed in the correct order is critically important.
You may choose to leave your registered accounts in Canada for a variety of reasons, but coordinating the investment strategy in Canada with the US portfolio is the ideal scenario to achieve the maximum overall return. Failure to coordinate portfolios can lead to an improper asset allocation, which in turn can lead to an overall portfolio that is more risky than you can tolerate.
Investing for after-tax returns is always a good practice any time, and when you have cross-border tax issues, managing your portfolio for taxes become critically important. Having one firm that understands the cross-border tax issues and can manage the portfolio to choose investments most appropriate for before tax accounts, such as RRSPs and IRAs, versus investments that are most appropriate for after tax accounts, such as your non-registered/non-qualified brokerage accounts. Coordination of your accounts also improves your ability to maximize any potential foreign tax credits.
Scenarios Where We Can Help
- You are preparing to move across the border
- Assist you in the process of stepping up the basis in your accounts, for US tax purposes.
- Assist in the eventual transfer of assets so that the process is as hassle free as possible.
- Eliminate the hassles of you having to communicate with the custodian as to what needs to be done and in what order. We will also work with the custodian to assure the correct withholding.
- Determine if converting your IRA or 401(k) to a Roth, makes sense.
- You have moved across the border, but still have accounts in the other country
- Analyze your RRSP (and other registered accounts) to determine if the best strategy for your situation is to leave your accounts in Canada or withdraw them. If the analysis suggests withdrawal, determine the best strategy for withdrawal.
- Determine if rolling your IRA to an RRSP is a good idea.
- Coordinate your investment strategy across accounts and between registered/qualified accounts and non-registered/qualified accounts.