Tim Borody and Brad Smith sit down to discuss one of the most emotional and complex secondary assets a family can own: the family cottage. While a recreational property builds decades of cherished memories, passing it down to the next generation without a proper plan can trigger massive capital gains tax liabilities and strained sibling relationships.

Protecting Your Recreational Property

• The Emotional & Relationship Risk: Tim and Brad explain why family communication must come first, outlining how unmanaged expectations around usage schedules, maintenance, and unequal financial situations between siblings can destroy relationships.
• Drafting a Family Cottage Agreement: Learn the essential elements of a formal written agreement—including usage rotation systems, cost-sharing formulas, buyout provisions, and dispute resolution mechanisms—to eliminate future hostility.
• Handling Deemed Dispositions & Tax Bills: Understand how the CRA treats a cottage transfer as a "deemed disposition" at fair market value upon the second parent's death, often creating an immediate six-figure tax bill even if the property is not sold.
• Using Permanent Life Insurance as a Solution: Discover how a joint-second-to-die permanent life insurance policy can instantly generate tax-free liquidity upon death, allowing the estate to pay the CRA without forcing a sale of the property.

Don't leave your family legacy to chance. Join Tim and Brad to get practical tips on how to start the conversation early, align your heirs, and keep your cottage in the family for generations to come.

Tim Borody is joined in the studio by mortgage broker—and newly certified yoga instructor—Julia Bernier for her third appearance on Your Life and Money. Recording in mid-July 2026, Tim and Julia explore the shifts across Canadian real estate, breaking down what fluctuating interest rates, market conditions, and alternative lending options mean for buyers, sellers, and homeowners facing renewals.

• A Buyer's Market Shift: Discover why the current real estate landscape is favoring first-time buyers, how conditional offers are making a comeback, and why sellers need realistic expectations in a cooling market.
• Decoding Interest Rates & Bond Markets: Julia breaks down the Bank of Canada's rate holds, how global trade uncertainties drive volatility in fixed rates, and why Canadian bond yields hold the secret to where mortgage rates are headed.
• Alternative Lending & Smart Renewal Strategies: Learn how to approach mortgage renewals 120 days out, and explore solution-based options—from "B-lending" for credit or separation scenarios to reverse mortgages for senior homeowners needing property repairs.

Whether you're shopping for your first home or looking to optimize an upcoming mortgage renewal, join Tim and Julia to gain the clarity and confidence you need to make informed decisions for your financial future.

Tim Borody and Brad Smith conclude their breakdown of the six pillars of comprehensive financial planning by digging into the strategies that determine how much of your wealth you actually get to keep. In this episode, they shift from daily asset management to long-term wealth protection, legacy design, and the immense power of family communication.

Protecting Your Wealth and Perfecting Your Legacy

• The Silent Partner of Tax Planning: Tim and Brad demonstrate how two people earning the exact same $100,000 income can pay dramatically different tax bills based on asset structure, and why true tax planning must span your earning, retirement, and estate years.
• Shifting from "Protection" to "Provision": Discover why trying to insure against every worst-case scenario will leave you cash poor, and how to ask the right questions about transferring risk so you are simply providing for what you cannot afford to lose.
• Finishing Well with Wealth Transfer: Learn the distinction between your raw financial assets and your true intergenerational legacy, the tax advantages of charitable gifting through an estate, and why communicating your wishes while alive prevents chaos down the road.

A cash flow blueprint or a simple portfolio review is not a complete financial plan. Join Tim and Brad for this conclusion to discover how integrating all six pillars creates a structure strong enough to support the life you truly deserve.