You have spent thirty or forty years accumulating. The portfolio worked. It grew. But the job it did on the way up — compounding, riding out the dips, never touching the capital — is not the job it has to do next. Starting the year you retire, the same portfolio has to produce income, survive a bad market in exactly the wrong sequence, and do it tax-efficiently for twenty-five or thirty years.
Most portfolios are never re-engineered for that shift. They are simply carried over. Before you cross that line, here are seven things worth checking — questions a good review answers plainly.
1. Asset allocation vs. your actual risk capacity
The classic mistake near retirement is holding the allocation that got you here rather than the one that carries you through. A 70/30 mix that felt fine at 52 can be a genuine problem at 64, when a drawdown no longer has a decade to recover.
- If markets fell 30% the year you retired, could you still fund your spending without selling equities at the bottom?
- Does your mix reflect your capacity to take risk (your income, timeline, and other assets) — not just your tolerance for it?
2. The total fees you are really paying
Most people can quote the advisory fee. Far fewer know the all-in number, because the fund MERs sit underneath and rarely appear on a statement. On a $1.5M portfolio, the difference between paying 1.0% and 2.2% all-in is roughly $18,000 a year — every year, compounding against you.
- Add your advisory fee and the MERs of every fund you hold. What is the single all-in percentage?
- Are you paying active-management fees for holdings that simply track an index?
3. Tax efficiency and asset location
Which account holds which asset matters as much as which assets you own. Interest and foreign dividends are taxed harshly in a non-registered account; Canadian eligible dividends and capital gains are treated far better. Poor asset location quietly costs affluent households thousands a year.
- Is your interest-bearing income tucked inside your RRSP/RRIF, and your tax-preferred growth in the TFSA and non-registered accounts?
- Is your TFSA — your most valuable long-term shelter — doing the work of a savings account, or holding your highest-growth assets?
4. Concentration risk
Concentration is how comfortable portfolios become fragile ones. It hides in a single winning stock, in employer shares, in one sector, or in a home and rental property that together dwarf the financial portfolio.
- Does any single position, or your former employer's stock, make up more than 10% of your investable assets?
- Once you count your home and any rental property, how much of your net worth actually sits in real estate?
5. Income and drawdown plan — sequence-of-returns risk
Two retirees can earn the same average return over thirty years and reach very different outcomes, purely because of when the bad years arrive. A poor market in the first few years of drawdown, while you are also withdrawing, does damage that a later downturn never would. This is sequence-of-returns risk, and it is the single largest hazard of the early retirement years.
- Do you hold two to three years of spending in stable, liquid assets so you are never forced to sell equities in a down market?
- Do you have a written drawdown plan — which account, which holding, in what order — or will each withdrawal be improvised?
6. Withdrawal order and CPP/OAS timing
The order you draw down accounts, and when you turn on government benefits, can shift your lifetime tax bill meaningfully. Deferring CPP raises the payment about 0.7% for each month past 65; deferring OAS raises it 0.6% per month. Drawing modestly from an RRSP in your low-income early-retirement years can reduce the forced RRIF minimums — and the OAS clawback — later.
- Have you modelled deferring CPP or OAS versus taking them at 65 — and does the deferral actually fit your health and cash needs?
- Are you drawing down registered accounts early enough to avoid a large, highly taxed RRIF later?
7. Estate, beneficiaries, and currency exposure
The details that get least attention often cause the most disruption. A beneficiary designation from a decade ago can override your will. And a portfolio heavy in unhedged U.S. or global assets carries a currency exposure most people have never deliberately chosen.
- Are the beneficiary designations on every registered account current, and do they match your will and your intentions?
- How much of your portfolio's value moves with the Canada–U.S. exchange rate — and is that exposure deliberate?
A short illustration
Consider a hypothetical couple, both 63, with $1.8M across two RRSPs, two TFSAs, and a joint non-registered account. On paper, the portfolio looked healthy. A review surfaced three things: their all-in cost was near 2.1% once fund MERs were counted; their interest-heavy bond funds sat in the taxable account while their TFSAs held cash; and 22% of the equity portfolio was in a single former-employer stock. None of these were visible on a monthly statement. Each was fixable. These figures are illustrative only — your own picture will differ.
What this means for you
None of the seven items above requires you to change advisors, buy anything, or move a dollar. They are simply the checks a portfolio should pass before it takes on the harder job of funding a retirement. Most portfolios pass some and fail others. The value is in knowing which.
Arrange a Second-Opinion Portfolio Review
A Second-Opinion Portfolio Review with BlueSky is exactly what it sounds like: an independent, fiduciary read on the portfolio you already hold. We are not bank-owned and have no product shelf to push, so there is nothing to sell you at the end of it. You send us your current statements; we run the seven checks above plus a full fee and tax-location analysis; and we walk you through what we find in a straightforward conversation. No obligation, no product pitch. If your portfolio is in good shape, we will tell you so.
To arrange yours, call (416) 930-5550 or email contact@blueskyic.com and ask for a Second-Opinion Portfolio Review. It is complimentary, and it is confidential.
This article is general information, not individual investment, tax, or legal advice. Please speak with a qualified professional about your own circumstances. BlueSky Investment Counsel Inc. is a registered portfolio manager.