Weekly Wealth Briefing | Alphaspring Financial

📈 Market Highlights

RRSP Season Preview — and the Ceiling an RRSP Quietly Puts on Incorporated Owners

RRSP season officially opens in January, but the decisions that shape it are made now: December bonuses, year-end salary-versus-dividend calls, and how much corporate cash to leave in the company. For T4 employees, the RRSP is the workhorse — 18% of earned income, a guaranteed deduction, tax-sheltered growth. For incorporated professionals and owner-managers, though, the RRSP has a quiet ceiling: salary or dividends taken from the company set the limit, and the limit is capped. High-earning owners who pay themselves modest salaries routinely find their RRSP room covers only a fraction of the income they actually need to replace in retirement.

Business Owners: An IPP Is a Pension Plan, Not Just a Bigger RRSP

An Individual Pension Plan is a defined-benefit pension plan for one person — typically an incorporated owner-manager over 40 with T4 income. The distinction matters more than the label. Because the plan targets a retirement income goal rather than a contribution room formula, contributions are often substantially higher than the RRSP maximum, and they are deductible to the corporation. The plan also holds past service: years already worked for the company can be funded into the IPP, converting history into retirement assets with a current corporate deduction. Add creditor-protected status and a structure that pairs naturally with succession planning, and the IPP becomes less a tax trick than a retirement architecture choice.

The Funding Decisions That Can’t Wait for February

Two calendar facts make November the IPP decision window. First, past-service funding and current-year corporate contributions need actuarial and trustee work set up before the filing deadlines that matter — a plan started in November can capture this tax year; one started in February generally cannot. Second, the salary-versus-dividend decision for 2026 is made on the December payroll, and it directly sets next year’s RRSP room and IPP contribution capacity. Owners who wait until the RRSP-deadline rush in February are choosing from a shorter menu. This week’s briefing walks through how the pieces fit.

💡 Financial Tip of the Week

Before RRSP season, compare your IPP projected contribution room against your RRSP limit — for incorporated owners over 40, the gap is often substantial. If you’re paying yourself a salary through the corporation, your RRSP room is capped at 18% of that salary; an IPP is sized to a retirement income goal instead, which can mean much larger deductible contributions plus credit for past service. Ask your accountant for your 2026 T4 salary figure, your 2025 RRSP contribution room, and how many years you’ve been incorporated — those three numbers are enough for a preliminary IPP conversation. Want to see whether the math works for you? Book a free 20-minute consultation and we’ll run the comparison together.

🎯 Service Spotlight: Individual Pension Plan

Featured This Week

For incorporated owners, the corporation can be a retirement engine — not just a tax wrapper. Alphaspring Financial’s Individual Pension Plan service supports business owners across Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba with:

IPP feasibility — a preliminary look at whether the math works for your age, salary, and years of incorporation
Past-service funding — converting years you’ve already worked for your company into retirement assets with a current deduction
Contribution maximization — contributions that are typically substantially larger than the RRSP maximum, deductible to the corporation
Creditor-protected retirement savings — IPP assets sit outside the reach of business creditors in most circumstances
Integration with succession — an IPP pairs naturally with corporate-owned insurance and estate planning

🏛 Financial Consulting 📋 Individual Pension Plan 🏠 Reverse Mortgage 🛡 Life Insurance 🩺 Health & Dental ✈ Travel Insurance

📅 Upcoming Briefings

Nov 17 Life insurance that grows with your business: key person and buy-sell essentials Life Insurance
Nov 24 Group benefits season: what a 2–20 employee team should offer (and what it costs) Health & Dental Insurance

📊 Client Insights

Based on real visitor data from alphaspringfinancial.com · October 5 – November 8, 2026

263

Total page views

127

Total sessions

104

Home page views (most visited)

What this tells us: Engagement held at 40% of sessions this window while overall traffic moved with the season. The homepage led with 104 views, and the contact page stayed the standout for intent — 13 views with a 92% engagement rate, the strongest on the site, confirming that visitors keep arriving ready to start a conversation. The life insurance page held second place at 27 views, showing how a focused spotlight keeps earning attention after its week passes. The about page drew 20 views — often a pre-meeting research stop — and the pension page ran third among service pages at 15 views ahead of this week’s IPP spotlight, while the IRP page kept its steady drumbeat at 11 views. With RRSP season a few weeks away and year-end salary-versus-dividend decisions coming due, this week’s Individual Pension Plan spotlight meets incorporated owners exactly when the window to act opens.