Case Studies

In 2014, Mr. M was gravely ill. At the time, most of his assets were held in a sizeable RRIF account, with his three sons designated as beneficiaries. His existing will provided that each of his three adult sons would receive an equal share of his estate outright, but this no longer matched his wishes because he felt that two of his sons were not capable of responsibly managing a sizeable inheritance.

Mr. D was a terminally ill senior. He had named his daughter, Ms. M, to be a substitute decision maker for him in a POA. In early 2018, she contacted his investment firm and told the firm that her father had requested that she sell his mutual funds.

Mr. F had held his credit card, and a number of other products, with the bank for over 25 years. In early 2018, he noticed he had not received his credit card statement in the mail. He called the bank. He asked about the missing statement. 

Mr. P opened a managed account with his investment firm in 2012. He agreed to pay monthly fees. His advisor, Mr. A, carried out various option strategies in his account on his behalf. Options trading is a sophisticated, higher risk investing strategy. 

In early 2016, Mr. and Mrs. J noticed that their bank had not taken the regularly scheduled mortgage payments from their account. The couple had diligently paid their mortgage on time for the past 5 years. When they noticed the discrepancy, they immediately contacted the bank to address the issue.

Ms. G sold her home in 2015. She had no investment experience. She had recently been introduced to a financial advisor by a mutual friend. Ms. G decided to invest the proceeds of the sale of her home with the advisor’s firm.

Ms. K had a family RESP for her four children. She began withdrawing from the plan in 2009 as her children started to attend university.

Mr. S had his credit card for approximately one year. He made regular monthly payments online. Every month, he said he received an email notification that his online statement was available.  At that point, he would look at it and note the due date on which his payment was due.

In December 2010, Mr. B got a five-year fixed closed term mortgage at a rate of 3.44% with his bank. In 2013, midway through the term, the branch manager suggested switching to a “blend and extend” mortgage. This would reduce the interest rate by 0.22% but extend the maturity date to 2018.

In late 2014, Mr. and Ms. J inquired about a non-arm’s length mortgage (NALM) at their bank. A NALM is where you lend money from your registered savings plans or locked-in savings plans to yourself as an individual or as a co-borrower with someone who is related by blood or marriage.