Reference no: EM133110781

At age 90, Dorothy is more physically active than some much younger people, hiking, skiing and boating over the trails and lakes of her rural Ontario home. She feels she could live to be 105 - so no wonder she worries about running out of money.

When her husband died a few years ago, he left Dorothy his defined benefit pension plus a stock portfolio that had risen substantially in value. But when her husband's long-time broker retired, Dorothy was adrift, her account transferred to a stranger in Toronto. Now, with almost half of her $1.8-million portfolio sitting in her bank account, Dorothy is looking for advice on investments, tax planning and estate planning.

"She has no one advising her on any of her accounts," her daughter Milly writes in an e-mail. "She wants to find the right balance for her age between simplicity and safety."

Dorothy's problem - not a bad one to have - is the substantial unrealized capital gain in her portfolio, which would trigger a big tax bill if she sells. She's thinking of giving each of her three children an advance on their inheritance "to lessen the tax burden in settling her estate" when she eventually dies.

Dorothy $29,000 a year in pension income, $11,700 in Canada Pension Plan benefits and $7,400 in Old Age Security, for a total of $48,100 before tax, indexed to inflation. How should Dorothy plan on giving her children some money, while also focusing on reducing her tax burden?