Creating Opportunities : Canada Financial & Investment Advisors for High Net Worth Entrepreneurs in Toronto, Ontario

A few weeks ago, my colleague David Lloyd wrote about how much money is needed for retirement. Most people have a number in their head. Maybe it’s sufficient. The next question is, how do you make sure you meet this number?

As a business owner, you have a unique savings opportunity you may not even know about. It’s called an Individual Pension Plan.

Imagine for a moment, the federal government gave you the opportunity to create a corporate pension plan, just for you. A plan that would provide you with dependable income in retirement – much like that enjoyed by teachers or civil servants – funded by your corporation.

How would you design the plan? Maybe something like this?...

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One of the most common questions we hear from people is, “how much do I need to retire comfortably?”  And from those who are already retired, “do I have enough to support my spending for the rest of my life?”

It’s our job as wealth advisors to run the sophisticated and detailed analysis that provides the assurance -- or occasionally, the cold water dousing that says savings and spending habits need to be changed.

But for those who may be approaching retirement and wondering ‘how much is enough’, here is a very – and I'll stress very – rudimentary illustration of the amount of capital you'll need.

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I was given a lottery ticket as birthday gift at a dinner with friends on the weekend. The condition was that we would all share the pot. It was great value to dream for even a few hours of how life could change with $41 million.

Sudden wealth via the lottery, inheritance or selling a business can be life changing. In our business we see this first hand nearly every day. Unfortunately, for some people, the dream of financial freedom can actually turn into a nightmare.

Search the internet and you’ll find story after story of cash windfalls turning into personal downfalls, with some estimates that one third of all lottery winners are in serious financial difficulty or bankruptcy within just five years of winning!

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Maybe I’m basking in the Olympic glory and caught up in the national optimism, but I thought the federal budget(pdf) provided the right balance of belt tightening, cautious optimism and few tax changes.

The government recognizes the uncertainty of a sustained recovery, especially given the relative weakness in the U.S. The objective of balancing the budget over five years appears to be based on realistic GDP growth estimates. So much is dependent on the re-emergence of the private sector -- as government spending wanes and shifts from bricks and mortar to technological innovation.

Canadian entrepreneurs should welcome a move towards a “tariff-free zone” (the removal of all tariffs on production inputs for manufacturing) designed to bolster productivity although manufacturing would have liked an extension of accelerated tax write-offs on plant and equipment.

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For almost thirty years of my career, I’ve gained immense satisfaction from helping our clients develop sound tax and wealth management strategies. And I’ve been blessed to watch them enjoy the rewards of their disciplined habits through greater wealth, health and happiness.

So I was struck when I read the Globe & Mail piece on ‘the nine milestones of a financially sound life’ according to Moshe Milevsky, a university finance professor.  While a good deal of what Milevsky has to offer is sound, I would caution against adopting some of the recommendations in the article. Two subjects in particular caught my attention: income taxes and saving:

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