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As more Canadians take charge of their financial future, personal savings, investments and assets are increasingly being used as a mainstay of retirement income or as a means to "top up" income from other sources.

Co-ordinating your Investments

To supplement your retirement income, you may be able to significantly increase your after tax cash flow simply by arranging where your assets are held. Holding interest bearing investments such as GICs, and bonds in registered accounts, and investments that earn dividends and capital gains in non-registered accounts is one strategy that may help you to increase your cash flow, improve tax efficiency and minimize or eliminate the Old Age Security (OAS) clawback repayment.

A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) allows income and capital gains to grow tax-free and is therefore a good retirement planning vehicle. During retirement, any surplus that is withdrawn from a registered account or extra income from non-registered assets can be considered for contributions to a TFSA to take advantage of tax-free growth.

Home Equity

Home–owners nearing retirement can use their home as a source of income. Some options to consider include tapping into the equity of your home–an RBC Homeline Plan^® could be the solution–or, negotiating a reverse mortgage. Alternatively, you could consider downsizing your home and saving the difference from the sale for your retirement.

Other Personal Assets

You may have other sources of income to help you through retirement, including:

• income from rental property
• business assets
• liquidation of personal assets such as cars, vacation properties, boat, etc.