For incorporated professionals, physicians, dentists, and business owners, personal wealth and corporate wealth are inseparable. GFI Canada builds integrated strategies that protect the company, retain key people, extract profits tax-efficiently, and prepare for the eventual transition — whether to family, partners, or a strategic buyer.
Financial guidance from our advisors is provided at no direct cost to you. Product-specific fees or costs, where applicable, will always be disclosed clearly.
Business financial planning coordinates the personal and corporate sides of an owner's finances: protecting the company against the loss of a key person, funding a shareholder buy-sell agreement, using corporate structures tax-efficiently, planning succession or sale, and making sure the owner's own retirement does not depend entirely on the business.
Comprehensive strategies tailored to Canadian families, professionals and business owners.
Most private Canadian businesses have no formal succession plan — which is why so many are sold under duress or wound down at retirement. A proper succession strategy identifies the future owner (family, partner, employee, or third party), values the business, funds the transaction (often with life insurance), and prepares the tax structure years in advance so the seller keeps more of what they built.
If a founder, top salesperson, or lead engineer dies or becomes disabled, the company can lose customers, lending relationships, and momentum overnight. Key-person insurance provides the corporation with a tax-free capital injection to recruit a replacement, cover lost profits, and reassure lenders during the transition. Premiums are typically paid by the corporation.
A properly drafted and funded buy-sell agreement determines what happens to a shareholder's interest at death, disability, retirement, or dispute. Life insurance is the most common funding vehicle: on death, the policy pays the surviving shareholders enough to buy the deceased's shares from the estate at a pre-agreed price — cleanly, without litigation and without draining working capital.
Permanent life insurance owned by a Canadian-controlled private corporation grows tax-sheltered inside the company. On the insured's death, the death benefit less the policy's adjusted cost basis is added to the Capital Dividend Account, allowing the corporation to pay a largely tax-free capital dividend to the estate — one of the most powerful wealth transfer tools available under Canadian tax law.
A well-designed group RRSP and health-benefits plan is one of the strongest retention tools a Canadian small or medium business can deploy. It reduces turnover, improves recruiting, and provides employees with insurance and savings at group rates. Our advisors build plans that fit the company's budget and administer smoothly for owners without a dedicated HR team.
For owner-managers earning T4 income, an Individual Pension Plan (IPP) can allow contributions substantially higher than an RRSP, all fully deductible to the corporation. Combined with corporate class investments, corporately owned insurance, and disability coverage, IPPs form the core of executive compensation strategy for many incorporated professionals.
Business owners often have highly variable income — strong years, quiet years, and one-time liquidity events. A disciplined cash-flow strategy smooths corporate distributions, funds personal and corporate retirement, and prevents CRA surprises. We build these plans in coordination with your accountant.
In the three to five years before a business sale, small structural changes can save the seller hundreds of thousands in tax — purification for the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption, family trust planning, share reorganizations, and insurance-funded estate freezes. Waiting until an offer is on the table almost always leaves money on the table.
Statistics from Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, CLHIA and other authoritative sources.
Source: ISED Canada Key Small Business Statistics, 2023
Source: CFIB Succession Tsunami report, 2023
Source: CFIB, 2023
Source: CRA, Government of Canada 2024
Gather corporate structure, shareholder agreements, loans, guarantees and current policies.
Assess reliance on individual owners, employees, customers and the eventual sale value.
Review proposed strategies with the company's accountant, lawyer and licensed advisor.
Free 45-minute consultation. Guidance from our advisors is provided at no direct cost to you.
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The consultation is free and our guidance has no direct fee. Insurance premiums or product costs depend on your business and the people covered, and are shown before you decide. Legal or accounting work is billed separately by those professionals.
Book a Financial ConsultationMost clients meet over secure video calls. In-person meetings are available at our Vancouver office at 320 Granville Street, Unit 820. Service depends on each advisor's provincial licensing.
Products are offered by individually licensed advisors, not by this website. Advisors may be compensated by financial institutions or product providers.
Clear, plain-English answers from our LLQP-licensed Financial Professionals.
Whether you're protecting your family, planning for retirement, growing your business, saving for education, preserving your estate, or building long-term wealth, our licensed GFI Canada Financial Professionals are here to help you create a personalized financial strategy tailored to your goals.