Financial Services for Business Owners and Professionals

If shareholders are among your business stakeholders, we can assist you to ensure that in the event of a shareholder disturbance, business will continue to operate smoothly. Unanimous Shareholder Agreements (USA) define when, why, how, to whom, and under what terms a shareholder must turn over beneficial ownership of shares to others. A USA typically outlines what will happen if a working shareholder is unable to perform his or her business responsibilities because of retirement (voluntary or involuntary), disability, or death.

A Buy/Sell Funding Agreement can supplement, or be used in lieu, of a USA. It is designed to ensure that partners or shareholders have the funds available to purchase the interest or shares of a disabled or deceased partner or shareholder. If this type of agreement is appropriate to your situation, your Wiegers Financial & Benefits advisor can help advise you accordingly. Advisors will also make insurance policy recommendations that could also provide the funding necessary under the terms of the agreement. 

Another retirement savings option is a Retirement Compensation Arrangement (RCA). Similar to an IPP, an RCA funds a business owner’s (or other key person’s) retirement but it is funded using various investments and insurance products.

Your Wiegers Financial & Benefits advisor can provide a recommendation about whether an IPP or RCA is an appropriate retirement savings option for you, and assist you in implementing the plan accordingly.

As a business owner, you’ve likely sacrificed – and will continue to sacrifice – a lot on a daily basis. It’s important to you to know that in the event of your death or disability, your business will either continue to operate smoothly under new management or ownership, or will close its doors, and an orderly transfer of assets to your beneficiaries will follow.

Wiegers Financial & Benefits, in consultation with a business succession specialist, will ensure that through careful tax, investment and insurance planning, your wishes for the future of your business will be met.

Your executives care about your company’s success, and they work hard for you. Executive Benefits are some of your best tools for helping look after them, and for going the extra mile to show you care.

1. Critical Illness Insurance – Quickly becoming mainstream insurance coverage. It helps with the financial burden of convalescence, private nursing, reduction of income, medical bills, and debt. You can add it as either a mandatory or optional benefit to your company-wide benefits plan.
2. Personal Spending Account – Provide your executives a pre-determined number of dollars each year that can be applied to whatever health and wellness-related expenses you are willing to cover.  A PSA is a great tool for adding flexibility and choice in your top performers’ benefits plan, and for meeting their diverse needs and interests.
3. Second Opinion Medical Services – Expands your executives’ healthcare options by providing access to medical experts around the world. This will help ensure that they get the correct diagnosis and can pursue the most promising treatment options wherever they are.
4. Personal Medical Care Insurance – Further enhances your executives’ healthcare and reduces their stress by finding the best doctors to help them, arranging travel, and reimbursing medical expenses.
5. Long-Term Care Insurance – Provide your executives with peace of mind knowing that if they become cognitively impaired or unable to perform basic activities of daily living, this insurance will pay a pre-determined benefit amount to help with the cost of in-home or facility care.
6. Key Person and/or Buy-Sell Insurance – Provides your business with compensation for losses as a result of the death or extended incapacity of a key member of your team or the termination of a partnership.
7. Disability Insurance – If your executives’ incomes are not fully insured under your group benefits plan or if you wish to enhance their disability coverage, you can purchase individual insurance to ensure that they can meet their financial obligations and maintain their lifestyles if they become disabled.  It’s another great way to help look after your top performers, and to let them know you care.

The ever-intensifying war on talent in Canada has forced employers to change the way they attract and retain great talent. A traditional group benefits plan (including Life and Disability Insurance, and Health and Dental benefits) used to help bolster an employer’s competitive position in the labour market but now, it is only the base of a desirable compensation and rewards program. Important now is providing a benefits plan that affords your employees with flexibility and choice in order to meet their diverse wants and needs. Important now is actively showing your team that you care.

Wiegers Financial & Benefits’ Group Benefits and Retirement Services Division has more than 110 years of combined experience helping our clients take care of their teams in a meaningful and impactful way. We are experts in custom-designing group benefit and retirement plans that are valued by even the most diverse teams, and that help motivate team members to stay.  We offer Health Spending Accounts, Personal Spending Accounts, Employee and Family Assistance Plans, Second Opinion Medical Services, and a wealth of other tools that enhance and add flexibility to the benefit plans employers already provide to help look after their teams.

Canadians are stressed about money. The 2021 FP Canada™ Financial Stress Index shows that 77% say at least one aspect of their finances causes stress, with younger Canadians and those without a financial planner, significantly more likely to say social planner, and significantly more likely to say so. 

Employers can show prospective and existing team members that they care by including a group retirement savings plan in their rewards and compensation program. An investment in your teams’ future financial security is a clear signal that you want to help support them over the long-term and into their retirements, and helps motivate them to stay.

Group Retirement Savings options include:

• Group Retirement Savings Plan (GRSP)
• Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP)
• Registered Pension Plan (RPP)Source: https://www.manulife.ca/business/group-retirement/plans-and-solutions.html 

Business owners are often faced with the dilemma of how to plan for their retirement when all other registered investment options have been maxed out. It is at this point that your Wiegers Financial & Benefits advisor can explore and explain other options, including:

• The use of life insurance as part of your retirement plan – not just your estate plan. By using modern applications of today’s insurance plans, a tax-efficient additional retirement income stream can be developed.
• Retirement Compensation Agreements – These are designed for high income earning business owners that can provide income over-and-above what is provided through traditional registered plans. By looking at your unique situation, we can determine if this type of plan is right for you.

Your customers and clients trust your expertise and experience to lead them down the right path.  You can trust us to do the same with your investment planning. At Wiegers Financial & Benefits, we give you confidence that you’re investing your hard-earned money in the right funds for you, and that you are maximizing your after-tax investment dollars.  And, we provide you peace of mind in knowing you have an actionable plan to help you accomplish your goals, and that you can modify the plan as your personal and professional circumstances evolve. 

Concerned about the fees you pay? Transparency is key in how we build relationships with our clients; you will always know what you are paying and what you can expect from us for it.

Estate planning is as important to financial plans as tax planning. Understandably, most people want to ensure the orderly transfer of their estate to their beneficiaries, and they want their beneficiaries to receive as much (and the government to receive as little) of the estate as possible.  For business owners, estate planning includes another critically important component. What do you want to have happen to the business you worked so hard to build? Do you have children who wish to take it over? Do you also have children who have no interest in the business but who you want to provide for fairly?  Our advisors are knowledgeable about all tax laws which govern the transfer of investment and other assets at death, and can determine the best way to structure your current holdings. We will also, if appropriate, advise you on the subject of living wills and powers of attorney and, at your request, refer you to a lawyer for more detailed estate planning.