You have a small window of opportunity between the time you retire and the time you start your Canada Pension Plan.

I call them the Golden Years.

In these Golden Years, you can accomplish several retirement goals.

You can:

How?

According to the National Institute of Aging, only 1% of Canadians defer their CPP benefits until age 70.

That’s a shocking payoff given its huge payoff.

And one of the benefits is that you’re able to withdraw your pension and RRSP income faster while you’re not collecting CPP or OAS.

This makes it easier to stay in a lower tax bracket and pay less overall tax on your savings.

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RRSP and Pensions have a sneaky death tax that many Canadians don’t understand.

When you die, taxes have to be paid. RRSPs and defined contribution pensions have to be fully redeemed.

And when you fully redeem these registered accounts, all of it has to be counted as income for that year.

So instead of paying this tax, you can draw down your taxable accounts quicker and reinvest into your TFSA to protect your money from future tax.
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A unique benefit to the TFSA only is that married and common-law partners get to name each other as successor holders.

Naming a successor holder allows the surviving spouse to inherit their partner's TFSA and maintain their tax-free growth without affecting the surviving spouse’s contribution room.

If the government didn’t provide this feature, the surviving spouse would have to take this money in cash and find a new place to invest the money tax-free.

Hint hint, one such place does not exist.

So be sure to set-up your TFSA properly by naming a successor holder first, then your beneficiaries.

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If you’ve been blessed with having too much money, consider this gifting strategy.

This strategy works best when you and your spouse's TFSA are both maxed and you don’t need the money.

This especially works if you have a non-registered investment you’re paying tax on.

Gift the money to your children so they can invest in their TFSA.

Whether your children get the money now or in 20 years when you pass, it shouldn’t make a difference to you.

What does make a difference is keeping the tax man out of your pockets.

One way to do that is taking your non-registered money and investing it in your children's TFSA.

All you have to do is fill out a gifting form and the contribution can be made.

There are downsides to consider:

If neither of these are concerns for you, then start sheltering that tax-free growth with the next generation.

Finally, my favorite TFSA strategy of them all. Be aggressive with your TFSA investment choices.

The idea here is that you don’t need the money ever.

So why not invest it in a manner that grows it to the largest inheritance possible?

With our retirement funds, like pensions and RRSPs, we want safety and consistency with as much downside protection from market corrections as possible.

But if your TFSA isn’t part of your retirement income needs, then put the pedal to the metal “floor it” until the day you die.

This allows you to leave the largest possible legacy with your funds without having to worry about your estate paying additional tax on the growth.