Category: Foundations
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Estate Freeze Basics
An estate freeze caps the current capital gains tax liability of an asset expected to appreciate and transfers the growth in value to successors. Families use estate freezes to pass down assets to future generations such as kids and grandkids. Businesses also use estate freezes to transition ownership to family members and/or employees. Why freeze…
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Getting the Best from Your Accountants
Accountants can be valuable members of your financial team, but wealthy investors often get frustrated by their accountants or don’t use them to their full potential. This post offers some ideas about how to work with your accountants so they can become more valuable to your financial life. Accountants are Busy The first thing to…
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5 Threats Wealthy Investors Face and How to Overcome Them
Wealthy investors have many of the same fears as everyone else, the stakes are just higher when you’re rich. This post describes five common threats wealthy investors face and how to combat them. Cybersecurity We live in a world of many passwords and we share information with our professional advisors and bankers through e-mail and…
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Should You Rebalance Your Portfolio?
Rebalancing is the process of realigning the weightings of a portfolio of assets. Rebalancing involves periodically buying or selling assets in a portfolio to maintain an original or desired level of asset allocation or risk. This post will describe some methods to rebalance your portfolio, and consider alternative ways to think about the concept. Rebalancing Your Investment Policy Conventional financial wisdom…
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Updating your Will & Estate Plans
Everyone should have an up to date will & estate plan. If your estate is simple, its easy to write a basic holograph will or consult with a neighbourhood lawyer. But when you’re wealthy its important to ensure your estate plan considers a complex set of tax rules and supports generational wealth transfer. This post…
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Time is Money (and how to spend it)
If time is money, how would you spend your time when you have unlimited money? What would you do if you won the lottery or your business took off and you became wealthy? How would you live your life after you inherit wealth? Many people answer these questions by describing the ways they would spend…
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What Can Private Foundations Invest In?
What can private foundations invest in? There are many different rules governing how private foundations can invest their capital. So, this post describes some of the basic principles that might guide a foundation’s investment strategy. Steward the Endowment One of the main reasons to create a private foundation is to hold an endowment that may…
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How Do You Use Your Wealth?
The purpose of wealth is not for buying things, the purpose of wealth is for buying time. When you have financial freedom, how will you spend your time?
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Never Spend Money Before You Have It
Financial failure stalks wealthy families because most don’t have a wealth management process designed to protect their capital. This post describes a way of thinking that will protect your wealth and generate income from your investments to support your lifestyle. Live Within Your Means Early in my career on Bay Street I was introduced to…