When you initially become a client of High Level Wealth Management, there are a few tasks required to get you up and running. After providing you with access to My High Level Wealth (our secure online client portal), we’ll start the process of creating your first financial plan, assessing your risk profile, determining a suitable investment portfolio for your circumstances, and developing an action plan to achieve your financial goals.
To start working on your financial plan, we’ll need documents and information from you. Below is a list of items we will want to discuss during your first planning meeting. The list is fairly long but it is meant to be comprehensive for a variety of financial circumstances and not all of the items will apply to you. The more information you can provide, the more comprehensive your financial plan will be, but don’t stress over tracking down every single item on the list. We can always add in more information to your plan when you have it. We view financial planning as an ongoing process, and we will work to refine your plan over time as more information becomes available or your circumstances change.
If you have any of the below items in a digital format, the best way to share them with your advisor is by creating a new document in My High Level Wealth and attaching one or more digital files. For paper records, please have the physical documents with you for your first planning meeting.
To reduce the amount of information you need to collect, you can authorize High Level Wealth Management as your Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) representative. This consent gives us read-only access to your prior tax returns, your notices of assessment, and your RRSP/TFSA contribution history. We will discuss this option in more detail as part of the new client onboarding process.
Personal
Basic information:
Legal name
Preferred name (if different from legal name)
Date of birth
Marital status
Address
Contact information
Social insurance number
Citizenship status
Income
Employment income
Your occupation and employer
Employment income (e.g. salary, bonus, commission)
Expected changes to employment income in the future
Taxable benefits received in-kind (e.g. employer-paid parking or health benefits)
Pension and retirement income
Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits (if currently receiving benefits)
CPP contribution history (if not yet receiving benefits)
Old Age Security (OAS) benefits (if currently receiving benefits)
Number of years resident in Canada since age 18 (if not yet receiving OAS benefits)
Details of employer pension plan (if applicable)
Details of individual pension plan (if applicable)
Other income
Rental property revenues and expenses
Annuities
Expected windfalls or inheritance
Savings & Investments
Bank accounts and savings products
Bank accounts (e.g. chequing, savings)
GICs (Guaranteed Investment Certificates)
Term deposits
Investment accounts
RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) including personal, spousal, employer-sponsored
TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account)
Non-registered
DCPP (Defined Contribution Pension Plan)
RRIF (Registered Retirement Income Fund)
RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan)
RDSP (Registered Disability Savings Plan)
DPSP (Deferred Profit Sharing Plan)
LIRA (Locked-in Retirement Account)
LRSP (Locked-in Retirement Savings Plan)
LIF (Life Income Fund)
Contribution and withdrawal history for registered accounts
RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) including personal, spousal, employer-sponsored
TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account)
RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan)
RDSP (Registered Disability Savings Plan)
Property
Details of property you own
Principal residence (current estimated market value)
Recreational properties (current estimated market value and original cost)
Rental properties (current estimated market value and original cost)
Other assets (e.g. vehicles, boats, RVs, jewellery, artwork, collectibles)
Debt
Details of debt you owe
Mortgage
HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit)
Credit cards
Student loans
Other
Insurance
Details of personally-owned insurance policies
Term life insurance
Whole life insurance
Universal life insurance
Disability insurance
Critical illness insurance
Details of group insurance policies
Life insurance
Disability insurance
Critical illness insurance
Mortgage insurance
Expenses
Providing information about your typical household expenses will allow for a more comprehensive financial plan. If you aren’t sure how much you typically spend, we can still create a plan based on the factors you do know.
Household budget (if one exists)
List of your typical living expenses and estimates of their frequency/amount
Other Documents
Tax documents
(Not necessary if we are authorized as your representative with the Canada Revenue Agency)
Last three years of income tax returns
Last three Notices of Assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
Financial planning documents
Financial planning documents from your previous advisor (if applicable)
Investment planning documents from your previous advisor (if applicable)
Legal documents
(We don’t typically need to see these documents but it is helpful to know whether or not they exist)
Will
Power of attorney
Personal directive
Corporations
If you are a shareholder of a private corporation, we will need additional information.
Corporation name
Listing of shareholders and their respective ownership stakes
Province of incorporation and taxation
Corporate year end
Details of any unanimous shareholder agreement(s)
Corporate tax account values such as RDTOH, CDA
Listing of corporate assets and liabilities (e.g. savings, investments, property, debt, shareholder loans)
Current earnings and expected future earnings growth
Expected corporate distributions (e.g. salary and dividends)
Trusts
If you are the settlor, trustee, or beneficiary of a trust, we will need additional information.
Settlor
Trustee(s)
Nature of the trust
Beneficiaries
Listing of trust assets
Legal and tax advisors