Financial advisor for oil and gas professionals

Financial planning for engineers, operators, trades, land professionals and executives in Canada's energy sector. Kaetyn St. Hilaire, CFA, plans for the way oil and gas careers pay: rotations, large bonuses, commodity cycles and pension decisions after a layoff, for clients in Calgary and across Canada.

Energy careers are built on cycles. Good years can be very good, and the plan has to carry you through the years that are not.

Bonuses tied to commodity prices and production can swing from year to year. Treating base salary as the budget and the bonus as savings keeps spending from rising to a peak year. A bonus your employer pays directly into your RRSP, within your room, can go in without tax withheld.

Camp and rotation workers often receive board, lodging and travel at a remote or special work site. When the Income Tax Act conditions are met, those benefits are not taxable; when they are not, they show up on your T4.

Severance is taxed as a retiring allowance. Only service before 1996 qualifies for a tax-free RRSP transfer, so most packages are taxable when paid. Using your own RRSP room, timing the payment and holding a cash reserve sized for a long search soften a downturn.

When your salary, bonus, share awards and often the value of your home all depend on energy prices, your investments should not add to that bet. Diversifying across sectors and countries is a deliberate hedge against the industry you work in.

Mergers and layoffs mean many energy workers leave pension plans long before retirement, often more than once.

Leaving a defined benefit plan usually means choosing between a pension later and its commuted value now. The tax-free transfer to a locked-in account is capped by the Income Tax Act; any excess is paid in cash and taxed that year unless you have RRSP room to absorb it.

An Alberta LIRA can be converted to a life income fund, and at that point up to 50% can be unlocked once into a registered account you control. Interprovincial pipelines and other federally regulated employers follow the federal Pension Benefits Standards Act, where the unlocking rules differ.

The cash paid above the transfer limit is taxed as income in the year you receive it, often a year that already includes severance. Unused RRSP room can absorb some or all of it, so the timing is worth a conversation before you sign.

When companies merge, DC plans and group RRSPs often move to a new provider and a new fund lineup. Check where your money landed and how it is invested, rather than leaving it in whatever default the new plan chose.

Leaving at 55 means funding a decade or more before CPP and OAS. Drawing RRSP and LIF income in those low-income years, at a bracket you choose, often lowers lifetime tax.

Restricted and performance share units often have different rules for retirement, resignation and termination. Knowing which applies before you leave can be worth more than the final bonus.

Contract engineers, project managers and land professionals often work through a corporation. With several clients and real business risk, income is taxed at 11% in Alberta on the first $500,000. Working full time for one operator under its direction risks the personal services business rules.

Alberta probate fees are capped at $525, so the estate plan is less about probate and more about beneficiary designations on registered accounts, the tax on RRSPs and RRIFs at death, and wills that match the plan.

Kaetyn is a Calgary-based financial advisor who works with high earners and medical professionals, particularly physicians and dentists navigating the financial complexities that come with high-income careers. He focuses on actionable strategies: the salary-dividend mix inside a professional corporation, RRSP and TFSA contributions, and a long-term investment plan.

A complimentary, no-obligation conversation about your pension, your bonus and your goals, and a clear explanation of how we can help.