Creating Motivated and Hard-Working Employees Isn’t Hard

Creating Motivated and Hard-Working Employees Isn’t Hard

The success of any business can often be measured by the commitment and morale of its employees. When your team isn’t happy, productive, or inspired to work hard, your business will naturally suffer. How can you create motivated and hard-working employees? Here are a few ways to get them inspired.

Show Them You Trust Them

Micromanaging staff or smothering them with directions won’t inspire much confidence when they’re constantly being told what to do. Why? Because it shows a lack of faith in their ability to do a good job. So instead, flip the situation around by showing that you do trust in them. Give them a chance to take on more responsibility and prove themselves. When your employees have more autonomy, they won’t be so afraid to offer suggestions and work at their best.

Offer Incentives

Incentives are always a great way to create motivated and hard-working employees. When you reward someone for a job well done, that positive reinforcement will encourage them to continue performing well. It will also encourage healthy competition among other employees to work harder while keeping things a little more exciting at the office.

Support New Ideas

Supporting ideas offered by your employees is another simple, yet meaningful way to inspire them. Offering up suggestions shows that they actually care about the work they’re doing and ultimately, the success of your business. Even if their suggestions don’t pan out, offer your support and give it a try.

Keep Them Challenged

Boredom can crush the morale of employees, which is why it’s imperative to keep them engaged. You can do this by offering new tasks, strategies, and responsibilities that will keep them happy and motivated to learn and grow with your company.

Create an Enjoyable Work Culture

The relationship among staff is an integral part of any company’s success. When communication and collaboration are lacking, productivity drops. To nurture a more positive environment, keep things interesting in your workplace. Plan a happy hour, host office events, celebrate milestones, have lunch catered once in a while, or whatever else that will break up the monotony of the workdays.

Show Your Appreciation

Showing appreciation for your staff can go a long way for boosting morale and motivation in any company. Like everyone who’s ever worked, your employees want to feel appreciated and recognized. That’s why it’s important to show your gratitude by offering a simple ‘thank you’ and celebrating milestones — even if it’s a birthday or work anniversary.

Every business owner knows just how valuable a good employee is because they’re not so easy to find. That’s why it’s crucial to foster a workplace environment that lets your staff feel good and excited about getting up each morning and going to work. By focusing on simple steps like these, you can do just that while increasing their drive and productivity.

5 Components of Family Trusts You Need to Know About

5 Components of Family Trusts You Need to Know About

Considering setting up a family trust to protect your assets? It may be one of the wisest decisions you ever make. A trust can give you the power to deal with future financial risks and give you full control of your assets. Additionally, a family trust can also be used to take advantage of income splitting and corporate structuring opportunities. Let us show you the five components of family trusts you need to know about to gain the most benefits.

Trusts Require Three People

In order to create a family trust, you’ll need to have three people to fill the roles of Settlor, Trustee, and Beneficiary. The trustees will control the family trust assets, the beneficiaries will reap the benefits from the assets, and a settlor will set up the trust.

Trusts Don’t Need to Be Registered

Unlike other instruments, a family trust does not need to be registered anywhere. Instead, they are created by written deeds or trusts that are valid as soon as they are signed. This provides some privacy because it is not made public upon your death. A will, on the other hand, is on record and will make all your transactions and distributions visible to the public.

Trusts Allow You to Divide Assets as You Please

If you have shares in a company that you would like to leave to your children, a trust can give you the control you desire over how the assets are divided amongst your kin. For instance, with a discretionary trust, the trustees have the power to decide which beneficiaries are entitled to receive the capital of the trust and which are only entitled to receive the income earned on the trust.

Trusts Offer Potential Tax Benefits

Although trusts are taxed at the highest federal rates, plus a provincial rate, there are some potential income tax benefits of having a family trust as part of your corporate structure. They are particularly useful when you wish to take advantage of the tax splitting. Any income, capital gains, or dividends earned by the family trust can be allocated to one of the beneficiaries at their respective marginal tax rate. If you have adult children or a spouse who is in a lower tax bracket than the trust, you can income split to save thousands of dollars each year. Trusts can also be used to multiply your eligible capital gains exemption if you decide to sell your business.

Trusts are Useful When You Own a Business

Every person gets a one-time Capital Gains Exemption (CGE) in their lifetime to shelter up to $813,600 of capital gains. This relates to the sale of Qualified Small Business Corporation shares in an active business owned in majority by Canadians. By allocating the family trust as a shareholder in your business, the capital gains related to the shares owned could be allocated to the beneficiaries if the shares were sold. Each beneficiary in return could use their CGE and shelter the capital gains from taxation.

When you’re ready to create a wealth strategy to protect your assets and ensure your family is taken care of in the future, contact us at The Beacon Group of Assante Financial Management Ltd. We’ll set you up with one of our financial advisors to provide you with all the information you need and to outline the applicable rules for each province. We’re here to help you keep more of your money and grow your wealth well into the future.

5 Ways to Manage Secondhand Stress in the Family

5 Ways to Manage Secondhand Stress in the Family

If secondhand stress originating in your family is something you’ve been dealing with, it could be causing damage to your health and wellbeing without you even knowing it. Whether you’re getting caught in the middle of family feuds or you are left extinguishing fires, those negative vibes can latch on and get absorbed by your body. This can eventually fester into both physical and emotional problems for you, in addition to impacting your level of happiness. How can you prevent or avoid this? Here are some ways to help manage secondhand stress in the family and take better care to safeguard your own health.

Exercise Frequently

You’ve probably heard by now how important exercise is for maintaining optimal health. And, well, it’s true! There’s just no way around it — exercise is fundamental to improving your health and coping with everyday stress. Being active on a frequent basis not only lowers stress levels, but it also gives you a healthy way to release pent-up energy while setting a positive tone for the rest of your day (or the next). Start each morning off on the right foot by taking care of your body and mind first with physical exercise (you can exercise at any time, of course).

Meditate & Breathe

Another very beneficial way to help manage secondhand stress in the family is by meditating. Carve out ten minutes each morning or evening to sit, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Try to deepen your breath by inhaling as much as you can and exhaling all the way by pushing out your stomach. This helps to quiet your mind and lull it into a more peaceful state.

Alter Your Focus to Block Out Negativity

Sometimes, when a situation or conversation has occurred that’s upsetting, it can play over and over again in your mind like a broken record. When your mind starts to do this, recognize it and immediately change your focus by thinking of something positive that makes you smile. It could be your dog, your partner, or your upcoming vacation. Whatever it is, find something positive and happy to think of whenever your mind starts to wander off into a negative whirlwind.

Change How You Respond

Sometimes, how we respond to situations can drastically impact the outcome.  When your partner arrives home in a bad mood or if a family member is venting, take a moment to pause before you respond. Rather than biting back, try to be compassionate and offer some positive suggestions and words of encouragement instead. This can help calm them down while removing the power behind their negativity to influence how you feel.

Make More Time for Yourself

It’s important to take care of family, but it’s equally important to remember to take time to yourself. Make a point to carve out more time do things that make you feel good, like hanging out with friends. Spending time around those whose company you enjoy more frequently can help you manage your own stress and minimize the effects of your family stress.

If you’ve been struggling to manage secondhand stress from family, make sure to try these steps to protect yourself from the negative effects that it can have on your wellbeing.

5 Things to Teach Your Kids About Taxes Early

5 Things to Teach Your Kids About Taxes Early

There will come a time when your kids ask you how babies are made, why the sky is blue, and why they have to come home by curfew. One thing your kids probably won’t ask is about taxes — or at least not until it’s too late. It’s important to teach your kids about taxes early so they can be well prepared to file their returns and to create an efficient tax strategy. Not sure where to begin? Start with these 5 things every child should know about taxes.

Where Taxes Go

Taxes are a strange topic for children to understand because they can’t see where the money goes.  All they see is how much money is being deducted on their sales receipts or pay stubs, so they often struggle to understand the purpose of taxation. To best explain it, discuss the places and services where taxes are used for, such as for maintenance and upkeep of local parks, playgrounds, hospitals, roads, bridges, and schools. This will help them understand why taxes are essential and what they are used for without getting too technical.

The Different Types of Taxes

Children also struggle to grasp the different types of taxes that need to be paid. To help them become more familiar with the tax process, we recommend providing examples of all the various types of Canadian taxes, like the federal, provincial, and municipal government taxes on your income statement, the sales tax on a receipt, property tax on your assessment, and the tax to move goods across the border if you’ve ordered anything overseas. That way they can see exactly how tax is deducted and get a better sense of what to expect as they grow older and need to manage their taxes on their own.

The Impact on Earnings

It’s also a good idea to teach your kids about how taxes will impact their take-home pay before they receive their first pay stub. This will help prevent them from being caught off guard once they get their first paycheque and notice that it’s less than their hourly rate. Also, show them how to calculate all the deductions, so they know how to inspect their pay stubs in case of accounting errors.

All About Refunds, Payments, and Returns

When you’re working on filing taxes for your teenager, it’s also a great time to teach them about the process. Show your kids how to fill out the income tax return by using their paycheques and income report so they can get a clear view into the filing requirements. In addition, explain what happens if they underpay/overpay and what kind of tax breaks/penalties they could encounter.

Explaining taxes to your child is the easy part. Understanding all the tax implications when your child is a dependent, or when the Kiddie Tax applies, and what family tax breaks are available, can often be very confusing. Fortunately, with smart tax planning and a tax optimization strategy, you can increase your personal wealth and keep more money in your pocket. When you’re ready to improve your tax management strategy, contact us at The Beacon Group of Assante Financial Management Ltd. We know the ins and outs and how they can be applied to minimize the effects of taxation for you and your family.