Keeping Your Beneficiaries Current

Every spring day brings us closer to warm summer afternoons, perfect for lounging on the deck or at the lake with a cold beverage and our favorite reading material. Instead of that hot new best-seller, why not dust off your insurance policies and investments for your reading pleasure? They may not be on your book club's reading list, but it is critically important to ensure that you are aware of who you have, and who you should have, listed as your beneficiaries on these instruments, so that tax savings can be achieved and costly litigation can be avoided.

When you buy life insurance or set up your RRSPs, pensions and Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs), you are asked to name a beneficiary or, in the case of a TFSA, a successor-owner.