28 ways to pay less tax + MORE Apr 2nd

The federal government is changing the way it accounts for its employees’ pension plans — a change that would indicate the plans have a nearly $100-billion deficit. The government says the move will have no impact on Canada’s finances or the viability of the plans. But that doesn’t stop Canada’s 17 federal unions from worrying that […]

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(Creative Commons/401(K) 2012)
Long-time money manager and deep value investor Francis Chou recently released two letters to investors. The first was addressed to clients in the U.S. and the second was geared to Canadians. But they both cover similar ground and I’m going to focus on the Canadian offering today.
Chou is an interesting value investor for several reasons, but most people are attracted to his long-term track record. Chou Associates, his flagship fund, largely invests in U.S. stocks and has gained 10.2% annually over the last 15 calendar years. By comparison, the S&P 500 climbed 2.7% per year over the same period. (Both figures are in Canadian dollar terms.)
His Canadian-focused Chou RRSP fund climbed 10.0% annually over the last 15 years. It also handily beat the market because the S&P/TSX Total Return index advanced only 6.2% annually over the same period.
The gains include fund fees (MERs), which currently stand at 1.8% annually for both funds. But it is important to point out that Chou has provided fee rebates in the past when he thought his performance wasn’t up scratch, which is really quite extraordinary…

What’s better than retiring?

Retiring, and still collecting your paycheque.

That’s the arrangement that former CIBC chief executive Gerry McCaughey and former chief operating officer Richard Nesbitt have with their employer, and between the two of them, they will collect $25.2 million in post-retirement pay.

McCaughey left his job on Sept. 15, 2014, but will continue to be paid as the bank’s CEO until April 30, 2016. In that time, he will have earned $16.7 million.

That’s despite the fact CIBC is already paying a new CEO, Victor Dodig, who earned $7.1 million in 2014. And he’ll likely earn much more this year, as he only became CEO in the last quarter of last year.

COO Richard Nesbitt also left on Sept. 15 of last year, but he will continue to be paid until Oct. 31, 2015, and in that time he will have made $8.5 million.

Not bad for sitting on a private beach in St. Kitts or working two hours a week on the board of some Bay Street company, or whatever these guys are doing these days…