Resources

Lynchpin process questions we ask prospective clients:

Your goals:

1. Have any of your advisors ever prepared and circulated your personal discovery report to your other advisers for input?

Your existing corporate structure:

1. How old is your incorporated operating company? Has the share value ever been frozen?
2. Is there a holding company in place? Is it linked properly to your operating company?
3. Is there a family trust? Has it reached its midlife?
4. Does your overall structure link business wealth to your family in a tax efficient way?
5. Does your corporate structure protect your wealth from nuisance creditors?
6. Can your structure easily accommodate changing personal and business circumstances?
7.  When you decide to sell or transfer your business will your structure allow either option to take place tax efficiently?
8. Your retirement – will your structure provide you and your family with income in the most tax advantaged manner as compared to registered plans?

Your existing inventory of financial products:

1. Are you still using government savings plans such as RRSPs, RESPs, TFSA's?
2. Who owns your life insurance policies?

Your existing circle of advisers:

1. Have you ever met with all of your advisors in one room to discuss your goals and how to achieve them?
2. Who would you select as the lead advisor?
3. Your accountant – would you describe him as a historian or a forward thinker?

Your existing plans for management:

1. Do you provide any incentive programs such as DPSP's, group RRSPs?

Your existing plans for family members:

1. Do you have a Family Council? How often does the family meet?

Finally a teaser question for you:

Do you think some of your competitors might already have asked themselves these questions and have executed appropriate plans?

Links to People and Things

1. The Canadian Association of Family Enterprise, Nova Scotia

2. Progress Magazine

3. Sellability Score

4. Tom Dean's – Every Family's Business

5. MacKeen

6. Harris Tax

7. Patterson Law

8. McInnis Cooper

9. Jain & Company

10. Raymond Yuill

11. Ezza Lynch

12. Moneysaver Magazine

13. Canadian Taxpayer Federation

Our Core Beliefs:

  • The need for a "go to" advisor
  • Financial structure in place first before financial products purchased
  • All egos parked at the door
  • A detailed discovery precedes the planning process
  • Consistent planning momentum must be maintained
  • Plan accommodates changes in the environment

Reasons to Believe:

  • Exclusivity: we only work for business owners
  • Our proven Protect – Grow – Transition planning process mirrors the lifecycle of a typical business (Start up – Growth – Established)
  • Our experienced team of strategic planning specialists (almost 100 years)
  • Our raving clients (construction, automotive, manufacturing, heavy industrial, recreational)