You’re a great employer! You’ve set up a benefits plan for your employees, but you may be exposed to unrealized liability. Many companies set up a benefits plan to protect their employees but is your employee benefits plan creating a liability for your company? Here are some potential situations that we come across that can potentially come back and blow … Read More
Is It Time to Think Differently About How We Arrive at Being Happy?
I’ve written in the past about what important role anti-depressants have played in my life. They had become a necessity for my functioning after Maddie’s death. I’ve written blog posts about the merits of anti-depressants. There comes a time when change is needed and time to explore alternatives. Anti-depressants are not without side effects. Anti-depressants are not a magic pill that … Read More
5 Reasons Why Benefit Plans for Business Owners Should Differ From Employee Plans
I walk into many privately-owned companies only to find out the business owners are set up under the same benefit plan as their employees. Should benefit plans for business owners differ from employee plans? In a word, Absolutely! It’s all too common that I see business owners having the same co-pay obligations as their employees. So if an owner goes … Read More
10 Reasons Why Benefit Advisors Miss The Mark with Small Business Benefit Plans
If you don’t know by now, I’m in the group benefits marketplace. I’ve grown my business by being transparent, accountable and acting as an advocate for small and medium-sized companies. I coach clients and their staff on the shared responsibility of having a group benefits plan and giving instruction on how to create a sustainable plan for years to … Read More
10 Simple Ways to Pay Less Tax Through Your Business?
This week’s federal government budget illustrated that the federal government might be easing off its assault on small business owners. They are moving forward with the proposal to eliminate the tax on split income (TOSI) for dividends paid to non-participating family members within a business. They have eased off on the passive investment income that a business owner can keep … Read More
Beware of These 5 Factors When Setting up Employee Benefit Plans for Bosses
If you’re responsible for the setup and administration of your company’s employee benefit plan, you may want to pay close attention to how you set up your boss on the plan. This specifically applies to business owners or shareholders of the business. Most don’t realize this, but group benefit plans work really well for employees, but the same doesn’t necessarily … Read More
What You Need to Know About Employee Benefit Plans for Business Owners?
Business Owners: An Important Guide to Employee Benefit Plans Business owners need to be aware of the vital parts of an employee benefit plan. Whether you manage the plan yourself or you have someone else within your business that acts as a benefits administrator, you need to be aware of some key elements that can reduce long term cost, create greater … Read More
Why Don’t You Want to be a Business Owner Without a Benefits Plan?
Should You Be Paying Personally for Health and Dental Expenses? In short, the answer is no. You can pay more taxes, but why would you? As business owners, the CRA gives us very few opportunities to do things in a tax-preferred way. Business owners are entitled to write off legitimate health and dental expenses through your business. There are a … Read More
Why a Business Owner Benefits Plan Needs to be Different
So you’re a business owner. You’ve worked hard to grow your business. You’ve got a loyal staff and want to make sure your employees have a great benefits plan. Does that mean that you should be on the same plan as your employees? It would help if you looked at business owner benefit plans. The nice part of benefits in Canada, … Read More