The one thing influencers Steph & Den want you to know about retirement + MORE Apr 26th

Ask MoneySense
Are management fees within a mutual fund in a non-registered account deductible as carrying charges on my tax return?

—John

Tax treatment of mutual fund fees

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) allows taxpayers to claim carrying charges, interest expenses and certain other investment expenses as a tax deduction on line 22100 of a tax return. This includes fees paid for investments to be professionally managed, fees for certain investment advice, interest on money borrowed for certain investment purposes, and in some cases, fees to prepare a tax return.

However, to answer your question, John, mutual fund fees cannot be deducted on your tax return. Fees paid to an investment advisor who manages your investments, excluding commissions paid to buy and sell investments, are generally deductible. The deductibility of fees is limited to taxable, non-registered accounts, so it does not apply to registered accounts like registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) or tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs)…

There’s an interesting study on trends in cashing out retirement savings when American workers leave their jobs. The paper, “Cashing Out Retirement Savings at Job Separation,” is co-written by a Canadian, Yanwen Wang, associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. The study, which is fairly technical, is also featured in a more accessible version in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), “Too many employees cash out their 401(k)s when leaving a job” (March 7, 2023).

You’ve likely heard of 401(k)s, which were launched in the U.S. in 1978. They are employer-sponsored pensions equivalent to Canada’s group registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) or employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) pensions. All of these are tax-deferred vehicles that can be used to hold investments in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and similar assets. However, Canada and the United States differ in how retirement plans are treated on leaving jobs, so most of what follows applies mainly within the U…

Financial influencer couple Steph Gordon and Dennis Mathu (@Steph & Den) started making YouTube videos about personal finance for Canadians in 2019. Once they found their groove on social media, they left their corporate jobs—Steph was in human capital at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Den was a consultant at Deloitte—to become full-time content creators. 

“People sometimes think social media exists solely for entertainment, but there are so many informative things you can learn about for free,” Mathu says. “In our case, we share concepts that are usually complex and inaccessible in an easy-to-understand way.” Gordon says she hopes their followers will use their content “as a place to learn money basics,” so that they can do further research and then take the appropriate actions on their own. 

Read on to learn about their thoughts on why “retirement is a number”—not an age, how to avoid “lifestyle creep” and more.

Which financial influencers do you follow and why? 

Den: We follow Amon and Christina from Our Rich Journey on YouTube (they show how they were able to retire early by investing their money), Vivian from Your Rich BFF on Instagram/TikTok (who shares quick and relatable money tips for younger people), and Jeremy Schneider from Personal Finance Club on Instagram (who shares easy-to-understand infographics that make money concepts simple like we do)…