A note from our Chief Operating Officer

We Remain Open for Business
It remains business as usual at Newport Private Wealth, though not business as normal!

We implemented our Business Continuity Plan with most of our staff now working remotely. Under the province of Ontario’s Guidelines for Essential Services Designations released Monday, deeming financial services an essential service, we are keeping our physical premises open. We are staffed by a handful of employees who represent a cross-section of the firm’s operations and who can walk or drive themselves to work. We are practicing physical distancing – easy to do with 15,000 square feet of office space, which we had professionally deep cleaned on the weekend. We have daily check-ins by conference call to ensure everyone is healthy and ready to face the day.

I am pleased to report that our investment in technology and business processes is allowing our remote team to conduct business as usual (if usual included the occasional barking dog or sounds of children playing). We are keeping up the service levels you (and we) expect and we appreciate your understanding if occasionally our response times are slightly longer than usual.

More Time for Taxes
In addition to cleaning out closets, cooking and binge-watching your favourite series, you now have more time for tax preparation!

CRA has extended the deadline for tax filing to June 1, 2020. The deadline to pay off any outstanding balances interest-free has also been extended to August 31.

Newport and NBIN are on schedule with the mailing of tax slips, which you should receive by the end of March, barring any disruptions with our postal service.

More Flexible RRIF Rules
The federal government announced last week that minimum withdrawals from Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) will be reduced by 25% for 2020. The effective date and implications for withdrawals prior to the March 18th announcement date are in the process of being clarified. When we have information on the process for making these changes from NBIN we will be in touch.

Lastly and on a personal note, I have been involved with Newport since our founding in 2000. During this time, our firm has grown and prospered, and we have weathered many market storms and challenges. The one constant through all of this has been our people and their resilience in the face of change, their “can do” attitude and their commitment to you, our clients. I would like to thank our Client Service, Operations and Accounting teams for working tirelessly to keep up our service standards under trying conditions. We’ve committed to business as usual, not normal, and I couldn’t be prouder of our teams in rising to the challenge.