Insurance and Financial Planning for Ontario Business Owners

• Buy-sell funding: If you have partners, your shareholder agreement says what happens to an owner's shares if they die or become disabled. Life and disability insurance can provide the money to actually carry it out, so the surviving owners can buy the shares and the family is paid fairly.
• Key person coverage: If losing one person would hurt revenue, client relationships or your line of credit, key person insurance gives the business money to recover, replace them and steady the ship.
• Business overhead coverage: Keeps paying the rent, staff and fixed costs if you're off work because of illness or injury.

We've seen first-hand how having this in place can be the difference between a business that survives losing a partner and one that doesn't.

• Corporate-owned life insurance: When a corporation owns a policy and receives the death benefit, much of it can generally be paid out to shareholders tax-free through the capital dividend account. It's one of the most effective ways to move money from the company to your family.
• Executive health and critical illness coverage: The business can own coverage on key people, giving them financial support at diagnosis while keeping the plan inside the company.
• Estate equalization: If one child is taking over the business and another isn't, life insurance can help make things fair for both.

Incorporated owners have options most employees don't. Depending on your age and income, an Individual Pension Plan (IPP) may let you set aside more for retirement than an RRSP allows, with contributions deducted by the company. Group benefits and retirement plans can also help you attract and keep good people. We work with specialist partners to design and run these, and we stay your main point of contact throughout.

The best business plans are built together. We work alongside your accountant and lawyer so the insurance, the shareholder agreement and the tax planning all fit.