K4 Financial

06/10/2026

I’ve seen this post a bunch over the last few weeks, so I figured we could have a discussion about it.
It turns out, in Canada, we actually have something that addresses this issue. We have something called The Basic Personal Amount.

The idea behind it is that it costs everyone a certain amount to live, so no matter how much money you make, there is a basic personal amount of income that we can earn before we pay any income tax.

Federally, this amount is $16,452, unless you earn over $258,000, in which case you can only earn $14,829 before you are subjected to Federal income tax.

Now, each province also has their own tax brackets and sets their own Basic Personal Amount, so for example, Alberta sets their rate at $22,769 before you have to pay the provincial tax rate. Whereas Ontario set their rate at $12,989.

Obviously no one in any position of power is going to listen to me, but I have made the argument (since Covid), that the government has concluded that the basic amount of income that a Canadian citizen needs is $2,000 per month. This is based on what they paid out in CERB benefits and is close to what is provided to Canadian retirees when you add up CPP, OAS and GIS payments.

We could definitely argue that this isn’t enough for an individual to survive and it doesn’t account for the inflation* that we have endured in the last 6-years, but I would at least argue that the Government is well aware that it costs at least $24,000 per year to survive, so it should be easy to make the argument that they should increase the basic personal amount up to $24,000 per year.

*For reference, $24,000 in 2020 would be worth approximately $28,800 today.

I, for one, would definitely be on board with the idea of aligning the Basic Personal Amount with the amount that the Canadian government agrees is what we need to live on.

05/05/2025

I had an idea last night and maybe it’s something that the Canadian government could consider to help parents and grandparents help their children and grandchildren as more young people are struggling to be able to afford a home and save for a down payment.

If you know anything about me, you would know that I believe that parents should be encouraged to help their children out, as times are very difficult for the younger generations, while many people in the older generations have more money than they will ever need, which is not being used to stimulate the economy.

One main issue is that a lot of the money is within the RRSP and RRIF accounts that the retirees do not want to withdraw in large chunks, because it will trigger a large tax bill.

What if the government allowed parents and grandparents to withdraw a specific amount of money, tax free, from their retirement accounts in order to use it for a down payment for their children or grandchildren?

I always like to warn parents who are wanting to help their children though. If you’re going to gift large sums of money to your family, please ensure that this will not negatively impact your own retirement plan. Sometimes you just don’t have enough to be able to help without hurting your own future.

If you think this is a decent idea, please share. If not, that’s ok too, it was just a thought as I try to propose ideas that will make life easier for more of us.

Cheers,

12/22/2023

Now it’s time. Hope everyone has a wonderful break! You all deserve it.

11/11/2023

10/04/2023

My favourite place to work on a nice night. Hopefully, if times get easier for small businesses and individuals at all ages, I can make my outdoor work zone a little more user friendly.

08/17/2023

Another day on the sunny streets of with the K4 Financial street team.

06/29/2023

This sucks. I’m obviously a culprit in this, but how can’t National Geographic make it, even if it’s all digital?

06/07/2023

Not exactly the news any of us wanted to hear today. If you are worried about how this will affect you, let us know and we’ll see if we can help you plan accordingly. [email protected]

05/19/2023

Sometimes my job is super stressful and gives me major anxiety, but when I do get to make a real difference by helping my clients, it makes all of the hard days worth it.

05/03/2023

Team photo. Thanks to for the shoot.