04/ Prosper
You've built a practice. Proactive planning helps you build real wealth.
Most lawyers who practise through a professional corporation are using it for the basics — tax deferral, maybe some retained earnings. That's a start. But a PC offers significantly more than most lawyers realize — and it adds layers of complexity when it comes to investment planning, tax planning, retirement planning, risk management, estate planning, and day-to-day financial management.
Most advisors see one piece of your financial picture. I work as a kind of Personal CFO for a limited roster of clients. I see how the pieces fit together, from the practice to the personal financial side — and I make sure everything and everyone is working together to further your goals. The opportunities that surface from a Personal CFO's bird's eye view of your financial life are often the ones your other advisors aren't really positioned to find. Integrity and empathy shape the way I work, and my aim is to bring clarity and confidence to your financial life and decision-making. Getting your financial house in order and keeping it that way provides an eye-popping return on your investment. My service calendar ensures all the boxes are checked and continuously updated across all the financial management domains — financial management, insurance and risk planning, tax minimization, investment planning, retirement readiness, and estate organization and planning— for both your practice and personal life.
I open my wealth counsel program once a year. Fit is important to me, and a sense of humour is mandatory. If you’re a busy professional and your financial life has reached a level of complexity that’s hard for you to manage on your own, and you are looking for an ongoing relationship with a trusted advisor, please get in touch. Fees are fixed, based on the complexity of your situation, and are generally around $10,000 per year for comprehensive wealth management services.
Proactive planning is what turns a demanding job into an asset and a legacy.
The most tax-efficient wealth building tool most lawyers aren't using is their PC.
How you pay yourself matters as much as how much you earn.
The flexibility to structure how you're paid is a massive opportunity — and most lawyers don't use it deliberately. Salary versus dividends. Timing of draws. Pension contributions. The way you structure compensation through a PC has a direct impact on personal tax, insurance eligibility, entitlement to valuable government benefits, and long-term wealth accumulation. Most of those decisions get made by default rather than by design.
Retained earnings sitting in the PC are an opportunity most lawyers miss.
Corporate-owned life insurance lets the PC accumulate wealth in a tax-advantaged environment. Premiums are paid with after-tax corporate dollars — taxed at a significantly lower rate than personal income. The policy builds cash value inside the corporation. At death, the benefit flows to the corporation tax-free and can be distributed to your estate through the capital dividend account, largely free of personal tax. For lawyers with retained earnings sitting in the PC, this is often the most efficient place to deploy that capital.
There's a pension option most lawyers don't know about.
For lawyers who qualify, an Individual Pension Plan through the PC provides higher contribution limits than an RRSP and creates a deductible funding obligation for the corporation. The contribution room depends on age and income history — which is exactly why this is a conversation to have sooner rather than later.
The decisions you make now determine your options later.
The PC wealth strategies you put in place today — how earnings are structured, how capital is deployed, how wealth accumulates — are what create real financial flexibility down the road. A practice backed by deliberate planning gives you options: to weather a difficult stretch, to step back on your terms, to walk away with something that reflects what you built.