The number of financial products which allow tax deductions is limited. The most popular remain the recognized modes of saving (RRSP, RPP, IPP, etc). They are still the strategic cornerstones of saving for retirement.

Fortunately, there are more financial programs and legal strategies to defer taxes and thus allow a greater enrichment. For example:

Family trusts
Testamentary trusts
Spousal rollover
Estate freeze
Life insurance
Planned giving

But why defer taxes rather than pay them now:

1. Inflation erodes the value of money each year. How much was a luxury car worth 20 years ago? Wouldn't it be easier today to pay for the price of 20 years ago? It is the same phenomenon with deferred tax: to use future dollars to pay taxes at today’s price.

2. You can invest the money that you did not send to the two governments, although you will eventually have to pay taxes. In the meantime, you will have made a profit on your investment.

We live in a system of graduated income taxes -- the more income you earn, the higher the rate of tax you will pay. But if it is possible for you to divide your earned income between several taxpayers, the total tax will be lower because it will be the sum of lower taxable incomes. There are several programs and strategies that make it possible to split income between various taxpayers and thus reduce the marginal rate of tax. For example:

Spousal RRSP
Splitting income with your spouse
Capital gains in the hands of minors
Family trust

Each strategy will be selected according to the needs, the financial ranking and tax rate of each client following the financial planning process.