Summer is quickly coming to an end and I hope you’ve been making the best use of the Summer so far. Tomorrow, I will be joining others here in Oakville for a multicultural festival organized by the Nigerian Community in Halton. So, I invite you to join me and many others to experience the food, music, dance and all the goodies from different cultures - Nigerian, the Caribbean, Asian, Spanish and other African communities. Enjoy this issue where I share some valuable insights for your Summer pleasures. Please remember to share this with everyone in your network: 1. What is a Perfect Investment? In this short video, I discuss my top 10 characteristics for the perfect investment/financial vehicle and I also evaluate different investment vehicles against these top characteristics. This video is an excerpt of the full video I shared with members of our Tax-Efficient Wealth Membership Network. 2. Why Business is a great tool for Wealth Building One of the tools I recommend in combating taxes is owning a business. Why? Because businesses in Canada pay one of the lowest tax rates, approximately 12% in Ontario compared to a marginal personal tax rate of over 50%. If you’re a full-time employee, you have very limited opportunities to reduce your taxes so starting a side business is a critical step in managing your overall tax exposure. In this video, I outline what it takes to start a business and also give you an opportunity to watch module 1 of this 10-module training I created to help you launch your profitable side business. To enroll, go here. 3. How Tax-Efficient Are You? One of the undesirable outcomes of earning a lot of income or making a ton of money is taxes. And no matter your position on taxes, one thing is certain - taxes impact your wealth. The good news is that we all have the opportunity to minimize taxes and achieve financial freedom. This is why I wrote the book, Tax-Efficient Wealth, to provide you with an easy-to-implement blueprint that will enable you to build and grow your wealth in a tax-efficient manner. After reading this book:
You can grab a copy of the book here and start your journey to tax-efficient wealth. 4. Where Is My Money? It is not uncommon to earn income and wonder why you don’t have a penny of it saved or invested at the end of the month. One of the major reasons for this is what we call lifestyle inflation. A concept where our expenses grow in line with our income as we are wired to live just like the guy or gal next door. Another reason for this, which is not always obvious, is the impact of taxes. Taxes and certainly lifestyle inflation can negatively impact your ability to build wealth. In one of the chapters of my book, Tax-Efficient Wealth, I share some of the main obstacles to building tax-free or tax-efficient wealth. One of the obstacles I discuss is taxes. If you ask most Canadians what their biggest expense is, they will most likely say it’s housing costs. However, I think taxes are likely your biggest expense. According to a recent report from the Fraser Institute, the average Canadian family spent 43.6 percent of their income on taxes in 2018, more than they spent on housing and other expenses combined. Can you imagine that? This is significant. The average family’s total tax bill at 44 percent is likely more than the amount they’re paying on housing costs each year. Get more details on this in this article, where I also recommend an exercise you can undertake now to get a sense of where all your money is going. 5. Four Common Excuses Why People Don’t Invest and How to Avoid them One of the best ways to build and grow your wealth is to invest, yet, many don’t invest. Over and over again, surveys done reveal a number of reasons why many Americans and Canadians don’t invest. And here are four common excuses: I Don’t Have Enough Money; I Will Invest Later; I Don’t Know Where To Start; and I’m Afraid I Will Lose Money. Read the full article here. |
This weekend we had the pleasure of seeing this incredible broadway show in Downtown Toronto, “The Lost Heros of Oro”. It’s an incredible story written and directed by Alinka Angelova. A story that shines a light on the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church which acted as the final marker signifying freedom for those slaves traveling to Canada. This story brings a unique part of Canada’s history to the fore. It is an intriguing history lesson wrapped up with a song. You will love...
For those of you involved with Charitable or Not-For-Profit organizations in general, it is important that you are familiar with many of the compliance-related changes that are currently effective for these organizations. In this issue of my Weekly Top 5, I invite you to join us for a FREE webinar next week on all you need to know about leading/managing a Not-For-Profit organization. I also share other valuable tips and resources in this issue. Enjoy and please remember to share this with...
I trust most of you are already off to a great start for the year. At GMS, we’re making some significant changes this year as I share in this issue. As part of this transition, we took a few days off to Puerto Plata in Dominican Republic as a team to plan and play in preparation for the upcoming tax busy season and the new initiatives we’re implementing this year. It’s going to be a busy year but we’re excited about the future of our firm and the clients we serve. I wish you a wonderful 2025...