Business Owners

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:

1. How do you own your business?
2. Do you know what your business is worth?
3. What happens if there’s an unexpected tragedy?
4. Have you considered your exit options?
5. 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.

[Whitehorse Yukon sign]

[Coast Mountain Sports sign]

[Mary-Jane] Business is hard. It's hard.

I mean Craig and I are pretty good at taking risks in retail and we're pretty confident with the risks we take, but there are still risks.

[Craig and Mary-Jane RBC Wealth Management Clients Business Owners]

In the nineties, I was in our one of our stores it just before Christmas and I walked through the back rooms and looked at all the inventory and started to cry. I can still get teary about it was just like “oh my God. Are we going to sell all this stuff? Do we have the money for this?”

[Craig] RBC has been a game changer for us and what they've done, they’ve taken us to the next level.

We went to a meeting in Vancouver and there was a group of professionals there and we looked each other and we almost thought we walked into the wrong room.

It’s like, “all these people are here for us?”

We feel like a curtain has been pulled back and there is a whole set of resources that are available to us that we weren’t aware of before and they have done some financial planning for us that goes beyond simple financial planning, but kind of family planning, estate planning, succession planning, financial literacy- for children.

[Mary-Jane] That part is so important.

[Craig] We've got this detailed financial plan now, beyond a financial plan, it’s more like a life plan.

[Mary-Jane] Last year is able to buy a new a new horse. Now, I'm a crazy horse person and I was able to get this beautiful animal, and they're not cheap. I would advise no one to ever think it's an investment. Like it's really, really, a dumb way to spend your money, unless you love them.

[Jeff Glaicar, MBA, CIM, FCSI. Vice President, Portfolio Manager and Wealth Advisor RBC Dominion Securities Inc., RBC Wealth Management]

[Jeff Glaicar] Successful business owners sometimes don't know how successfully they have been.

When your financial means are there and we can do a road map to show that you can do that., you can go ahead and do something like MJ did, and she can only do it at a certain age and she's done it and it's the best personal dividend anyone could get.

[Mary-Jane competing at 1.10 metre Adult Amateur Champion, BC 2019]

[Mary-Jane] There’re no regrets, right? I was able to achieve something that was really, really, obviously, important to me.

[Craig] Part of the reason that we have the confidence to go and buy this very expensive horse is because, we had a plan.

[Mary-Jane] Yeah.

[Craig] Because of that plan, it let us do those kinds of things, without being concerned about it.

[Mary-Jane] And I don't feel guilty. I didn't feel guilty doing it.

[Craig] We weren’t spending our child’s inheritance.

[Mary-Jane] Or putting our business at risk.

[Craig] And it's happened because of planning and because of this relationship we have with the people at the World Bank.

[RBC Wealth Management logo]

[Classical music playing, as a ships horn sounds off]

[Wealth Management Dominion Securities logo]

[Greg Cochrane]

I'm the President/CEO of fourteen hundred-fifty Souls.

Not a lot keeps me up at night, except for fourteen hundred-fifty souls.

It's my job. My job to take care of you and your families.

We emigrated from New Jersey in the fifties.

My dad and mom were Canadian and my dad was a crazy entrepreneur too. So, we started with Royal bank back in the fifties. You can imagine it was our go-to bank.

When I got into my own business, the bank was always there for me.

I got into my first full-time business when I was twenty-nine.

Our Banker was World Bank, and I remember bouncing paychecks and going to our commercial Banker in London.

The fear of just, closing down was the most important thing. I would have done anything to keep us open because, I believed we could turn this around.

I felt embarrassed because I had screwed this up.

He gave me the best advice.

He said “so we could call your loan now, but I believe you're going to turn this around with your partners. Now, I need you to do two things.”

I said, “What’s that?”

He said “give me your credit cards,” and I open up my wallet. He cut them right in front of us! Our Royal Bank credit cards, cut them, right in front of us!

He said “no more credit. It's all cash.”

It was the best advice I ever got.

When we sold that business in ninety-seven, while we had accomplished a lot, we realized the material gains that we were looking for, we were looking for security for ourselves, and our families.

The bank and the team that we have, it's a complete team. Think about this, it's like a mini family office you have.

Those folks, they know, they know what our goals are.

Our private bankers, and our folks at PH and N, and at DS they know about our family nucleus.

The bank has become simplified for me because I just hand over most of the challenges we have, whether it's a trust, my will, my RCA, to extensive loan portfolios.

They give me peace of mind.

It allows me to do what I'm good at. I can't/I don’t want to run money. I want to build businesses.

In 1994, I wrote down my purpose in life, and my roles of my responsibilities. And I figured out what my purpose was.

I was help helping others get what they want.

I'm here to serve fourteen hundred-fifty people at DCM.

I'm here to serve my partner's.

I'm here to serve my family.

Sometimes you screw up, but if you have that North Star that says, okay, that's what makes you happy.

I think that’s important.

[Wealth Management Dominion Securities logo]