Rhea McFarlane - Business Owners

Build your business and personal wealth with expert advice

Owning and operating a successful company commands a lot of time and attention. Every day, you make critical decisions that affect the financial health of your business. So, you know how important it is to have the best possible services and products to help effectively manage your finances — we can help.

Our business owner solutions can be ideal if you need help:

Managing business and personal assets separately but efficiently
Investing, preserving and maximizing surplus cash
Designing a succession plan for a smooth transition
Creating diversified, tax-efficient income with the sale proceeds
Protecting against the sudden loss of a key employee using insurance solutions
Safeguarding personal and business assets from adverse events
Building employee loyalty with employer-sponsored retirement plans

10 key wealth planning decisions for business owners

Whether you’re already a business owner or thinking of becoming one, the decisions you make may have far-reaching impacts, not only for your business, but for you and your family as well. The business owner’s guide to wealth management follows the life cycle of a business, exploring 10 key decisions for wherever you may be on your business ownership journey, including:

What is the best structure for your business?
How can you reduce taxes?
What should you do with surplus cash?
What can you do to prepare for the unexpected?
Do you have an exit strategy or succession plan to transition into retirement?
How can you keep your business in the family?

5 key questions every business owner should answer

View transcript

Canadian business owners work hard and always keep the needs of their business top-of-mind.

But did you know that although 60% of Canadian business owners are over the age of 55, 91% don’t have a formal business succession plan in place?^*

It’s important for business owners to start early and think about key issues like:

Minimizing taxes;
Strategizing the transition of their business;
Planning for a comfortable retirement; and
Considering how to best transfer wealth to the next generation.

Asking yourself the following five questions can help you get started:

How do you own your business?
Do you know what your business is worth?
What happens if there’s an unexpected tragedy?
Have you considered your exit options?
And what does retirement look like?

Working through these five key questions with your team of advisors will help ensure you cover off all the key details when it comes to building an effective business owner plan.

*Statistics source: Canadian Federation of Independent Business, November 2012 report. Updated report and statistics (2018) available here: https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/sites/default/files/2018-11/Getting-the-transition-right-succession-planning-report.pdf.

This video is provided by RBC Wealth Management for informational purposes only. The comments contained in this video are general in nature, and do not constitute legal, investment, trust, estate, accounting or tax advice. RBC Dominion Securities Inc.*, Royal Trust Corporation of Canada, The Royal Trust Company, RBC PH&N Investment Counsel Inc., RBC Wealth Management Financial Services Inc. are affiliated corporate entities and member companies of RBC Wealth Management, a business segment of Royal Bank of Canada. *Member – Canadian Investor Protection Fund. Please visit www.rbc.com/legal/ for further information on the entities that are member companies of RBC Wealth Management. ®/TM Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under license. © 2020 Royal Bank of Canada. All rights reserved.

Build your business and personal wealth with expert advice

10 key wealth planning decisions for business owners

5 key questions every business owner should answer

Business owner's guide