Where are You in Your Entrepreneurial Life Cycle?

Do you know what stage of the entrepreneurial life cycle you and your business are currently in? Most entrepreneurs have no idea, but it’s an essential business detail to consider. If you know what stage you’re at, you can use the information to determine when to push for more growth, when to keep your finances tight, or when it’s time to sell or exit. To help you get the most out of your business, read on to find out where you and your business sit in the entrepreneurial life cycle.

Stage One: Growth

During the growth cycle, you’ll be looking at ways to expand your operations and move your business forward. In this stage, your company is likely not very profitable just yet or is trying to multiply.  This means you’ll be attempting to get new contracts, meet new clients, and build more capital. In this cycle, you’ll also have to spend significant time marketing and promoting yourself through multiple channels, taking on more high-risk, high-reward projects, and maintaining the confidence needed to push your business to the next level.

To stay afloat, you’ll need to find ways to invest in your business to accommodate the growth, whether it be through seeking additional loans or hiring new staff members. These mechanisms will help ensure your company is both stable and profitable.

Stage Two: Stability

During this stage, your business is becoming more established and is generating stable returns, but you’ll need to stay focused in order to keep your finances tight and avoid falling into debt. Luckily, there shouldn’t be a shortage of financial options if you need them but it’s wise to make sure that you don’t push further than expected.  Stay realistic about your levels of success during each phase; if you attempt to overextend yourself, you’re likely to make a mistake.

It’s crucial at this stage more than ever to have a professional on hand who you can seek advice from and who will put in place safety nets to weather any shortfalls. Remember — it only takes one big speed bump to push your business off the “stability rails.”

Stage Three: Fine Tuning

At some point in your entrepreneurial cycle, you’re bound to hit a roadblock that puts your business at risk.  When this happens, it can feel as if everything is crashing down around you. That’s why it’s incredibly important to stay level-headed, stomach the risk, and do some fine tuning to get your business back on track. In order to do so, you may have to surrender some of your equity or take on some options that carry a higher level of risk than you are used to.

Stage Four: Exiting

Eventually, every entrepreneur will reach a point when they’re ready to retire, sell the business, or walk away. That’s where succession planning comes into play. A good succession plan can make sure that the transfer or liquidation of your business goes smoothly, that your legacy is protected, and that your family and stakeholders receive financial security.

No matter where you are in your entrepreneurial life cycle, it’s important to plan for your future by making sure you have an exit strategy in place. When you’re ready to get serious about your financial future, reach out to us at The Beacon Group of Assante Financial Management Ltd. We will leave no stone unturned to create the best tax, compensation, and succession plan that is tailored for you, your business, and your family.

4 Things You Can Do Every Day to Lead a More Fulfilling Life

Your habits are what define your life. Whether it’s hitting the gym each morning or binge-watching Netflix each night, every reoccurring decision you make equates to how you choose to spend your time and energy. Without taking time to decide consciously what direction you want to go in, life can quickly end up slipping by leaving you feeling unfulfilled and unhappy.

The good news is, if you’ve been feeling dispassionate about your current lifestyle, it’s never too late to start leading the life that you want. To help you make a change, here are a few things you can do every day to lead a more fulfilling life.

Prioritize Your Time

Time is really all we have and, unfortunately, many of us are guilty of taking it for granted. The reality is that it’s our most precious asset. When you don’t take the time to prioritize, reflect, and make space for the things that you enjoy or care about, it’s easy to slip into an unfulfilling rut without even realizing it. That’s why it’s so important to take control of your time. Before you begin your day, spend some time the night before planning out the day ahead so you can carve out time for the things that matter most to you: spending time with your family, planning space for creativity, or setting time for personal improvement.

Practice Discipline

Maintaining discipline is no easy feat but it is necessary, both in your personal and professional life, to keep you accountable. Mastering the art of discipline takes time, which is why it has to be continuously practiced every day. Being able to incorporate more of this into your day-to-day life helps create more structure for accomplishing your goals and discovering the best side of yourself.

Strive to Improve Constantly

If you’re not growing, you’re stagnating and no one enjoys the idea of staying in the same spot several years from now. Striving to improve just a tiny bit each day can equate to giant leaps of self-improvement over the course of even a few months; it forces you to continuously learn, self-reflect, and grow. No matter if you are looking to improve in your work life or your relationships with your family, aiming to improve each day will always lead to a more fulfilling life.

Remind Yourself of Your Life Plan

Another thing that you should be doing every day is to check in with your life plan. Without even a basic roadmap of your future, how can you expect to get where you want to go? The same goes for life. Without being conscious of your everyday habits, decisions, and direction, it can be very easy to land in a spot that you didn’t want or didn’t expect. So keep up with your life plan. Map out as best you can your 5, 10, and 20-year plan to help build your future and start thinking about your unique wants, challenges, and goals. This can help you pave a prosperous future for both you and your loved ones.

The beautiful and sometimes harrowing thing about life is that no one is going to tell you how to live it. It’s up to you — and you only — to take action for yourself and build the future you want for you and your loved ones. Just remember — you’re never alone in life. Everyone around you is going through the same general experiences you are, so take comfort in knowing that we are all in this game together.

What to Do When Your Sweetheart Retires Before You

Not every couple is lucky enough to retire at the same time. In most relationships, partners will retire in different years, creating a sudden shift in home dynamics. It’s even likely that your spouse may decide to return to work for financial reasons or to maintain health benefits (which can be a test for any marriage). When one spouse is sleeping in while the other is getting up to go to work, the gap in retirement timing can make things complicated and create an unbalance in priorities. So, what do you do when your sweetheart retires before you? Here’s what:

Communicate

It’s important to know what retirement means to you and your partner. If you’re planning to put in a few more years of work and your partner is looking forward to travelling the world, you will likely have a conflict. To ensure it’s mutually satisfying, you need to talk it out so that each person can voice their opinions and concerns before the adjustment period begins. During the discussion, you should both ask important questions like “what do I want to do during my retirement?” and “can we afford to both retire at the same time?” or “what changes to our responsibilities can we make to create balance in our relationship?” By finding common ground, you can avoid any feelings of resentment and find ways to support each other through this challenging yet rewarding transition.

Plan the Timing

It’s important to decide who should retire first and how the loss of income and health plan will impact your lifestyle. For instance, living on one paycheck instead of two might require you to sell the home and relocate, which can cause strain on the other spouse’s employment situation. It might even make more sense for one person to work a couple of extra years so you can retire together. Becoming clear on timing can help to ensure that you and your spouse make the best decision for your future together.

Clarify Your Roles

It’s unlikely that your retirement dream involves doing all the household chores, shopping, and running around during the day, but if you retire first, that’s likely to be the case. This sudden shift in dynamic is why many couples experience tension during this phase. If your spouse doesn’t currently participate in household duties like shopping and vacuuming, they’re likely not going to be looking forward to these when they retire. It’s important to clarify these roles now so that you both can ease into the transition without becoming bitter along the way.

Create a New Routine

When one spouse is no longer working, it’s bound to upset your regular routine — it’s best to work out a new schedule that will allow you to spend quality time together when you’re both at home. Having a shared bedtime and planning nighttime activities together can ensure that your marriage will remain a healthy one for the remainder of your days.

If your sweetheart retires before you, it’s essential to be clear on your expectations and goals. In doing so, it will help support your personal mental health and shared relationship well into the future. Remember, your retirements should be exciting —practice positivity!

5 Investment Strategies Which Can Lower Your Taxes

Are you tired of paying through the roof in taxes? Let us show you some simple investment strategies which can lower your taxes and put more of your money back in your pocket.

Defer Your Taxes

One way to lower your taxes is to defer them into future years. The reason to do this is it’s smarter to pay taxes when you’re in a lower tax bracket during your retirement years. Deferring also puts the control of when you pay the tax in your hands and not the CRA’s. One way to take advantage of tax deferrals is by investing in your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). With an RRSP, you can contribute up to the allowable yearly amount and grow your money tax-free — you’ll only have to pay the taxes when you pull out the money, thereby paying those taxes at a presumably lower tax rate.

Make a Spousal Loan

Another investment strategy designed to lower your taxes is to make a loan to your spouse (who is in a lower tax bracket) to buy investments. The loan has to be issued at the CRA’s prescribed interest rate, but then it can be used to invest in stocks, real estate, etc. You’ll still have to claim it as income and pay taxes on it, but it will be taxed at a much lower rate. Plus, you can also deduct the interest, so it’s a great way to save on your taxes.

Divide Your Taxes

Income splitting can help you spread your income among more than one taxpayer. Although the government has historically been tough on income splitting, making it illicit for couples to pool their income, there are still strategies available to take advantage of dividing your taxes. For example, you can legally participate in pension splitting, invest in your spouse’s lower-income RRSP(s), or engage in CPP retirement savings splitting without being penalized by the CRA. You can also reduce your taxes by creating a corporation or partnership to earn business income or to pay family members through the business.

Buy Stocks with no Income

If you purchase stocks that do not pay a dividend, you won’t have to report investment income each year. The idea here is to hold the stock as long as possible, because once you sell it, you’ll have to pay capital gains on the stock. Luckily, you can defer these too. For instance, you can defer capital gains tax by owning a small business. Anyone who owns a qualified small business is entitled to an $800,000 capital gains exemption upon the sale of the shares. This amount can be claimed by any family member involved as long as they’ve held shares in the company for at least two years.

Invest Where it won’t be Taxed

When you’ve met your RRSP and TFSA contribution limits for the year, you’ll have to find another place to tax shelter your money. Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can park your money to experience income growth without being taxed yearly. One of the easiest ways to avoid taxes is to buy a primary residence. As the value of your home appreciates, the money will grow over time, tax-free.  This is just one of the many ways of investing without being taxed.

To find out about more specific investment strategies which can lower your taxes, talk to one of our expert advisors at The Beacon Group of Assante Financial Management Ltd. today. We’ll show you exactly how you can save thousands of dollars each year on your taxes through strategic planning and tax optimization.