The Hazards of Wealth

 If you are an entrepreneur and are smart about your wealth, you will be interested in Jacoline Loewen and her interviews in “Becoming Seriously Wealthy.” Jacoline shares conversations with entrepreneurs and stories of their financial journeys.  In this excerpt from her book, Jacoline explores the hazards of wealth.

Jacoline Loewen is a leader in the high performance wealth management arena. She has invested over 25+ years in entrepreneurship, finance and wealth management, having written several best seller books, including Money Magnet, (John Wiley) publisher).

Two weeks ago, I enjoyed a lunch with a former client at his private residence, looking across his sprawling lawn to the horse paddocks and fields. When I worked for a family office, I convinced this entrepreneur to partner with private equity. After six years, and much hard work, he succeeded in that entrepreneur dream where he sold his business and became wealthy beyond his financial goal set ten years back. 

I was curious how the sudden wealth had impacted his life and asked, “Now that you are a few years along from your sale, what is your big insight? We all think sudden wealth is wonderful but what are the risks? Do you think there are hazards to wealth?”

He laughed, “It's similar to winning the lottery.  It is wonderful and it is a shock to your life, your family, your friends and peer group. The question no one is going to ask you is ‘How are you going to replace this self esteem?’ You've been up Everest and back. Now what are you going to do for thrills and fun?”

My friend then commented, “Do you notice how many entrepreneurs buy an airplane? They have all this hunger for life, for adventure, and now that they have the money, buying a plane and learning to fly seems like a very good idea.”

The CAA reports that the most dangerous pilots statistically likely to have accidents or catastrophic incidents are those pilots with one hundred hours of experience, but less than five hundred. Jack McLeod, Skye Finance, who sold aircraft to entrepreneurs says, “Generally, this group gets bored with pre-flight checks and take short cuts to ‘show off’ to friends and family, feel nothing about flying inclement weather and are not too familiar with flying on instruments alone. Experience and hours are all important.”

My entrepreneur friend had been part of the Strategic Coach program run by Dan Sullivan which uses the Kolbe personality and skill assessment tool.  Apparently, the Kolbe test shows that it is common for entrepreneurs to be quick to start, but to not carry through with attention to rigorous and systematic detail.  He said, “Entrepreneurs learn how to fly initially, but soon skip through the tedious fifty-point check lists prior to flying and overlook the weather conditions. How many tragic tales do you know of entrepreneurs crashing their planes with loved ones on board? Remember the young Kennedy who crashed his plane at night, with his wife onboard?”

Thankfully, most entrepreneurs have been shown to be astute enough to recognize flying is not their skill set and to hire an experienced pilot. The entrepreneurs recognize that while they were talented at their skill set, flying and getting licensed takes time and attention they do not really want to dedicate.

Flying yourself, rather than hiring a pilot, is a terrible way to risk your future. It's misguided, risky and unfortunately, a common first foray into travel by former business owners.

The reality is risks, such as flying planes in poor weather, Black Swan events, pandemics and disasters are all out there. In the finance world, this risk is called beta . A beta of 1.00 is at the market level. If it's 1.5, it's approximately 50% more risky than the market. If it's 0.30 then it's 70% less risk.

When you run with entrepreneurs, risk is rarely mentioned. It's about returns. Winner takes all. Beta does not factor.

As you decide how to look after your wealth, you may want to be the person making all the calls. I have watched many entrepreneurs over the years. Don't fool yourself into believing you can call the risks. I would advice an entrepreneur with new wealth to ask if you want to spend your time checking on your money? Will your family be at risk if you are doing the decision making? What is the worst case scenario for your wealth? Above all, can you do a better job than the professionals with all of their time dedicated to understanding how to grow and keep wealth? Do you have their technology, their experience , their global view of the world, their ability to overcome country bias and the knowledge of beta which is harvested from overseeing your peers’ wealth?

Very much like the skills of the pilot , the skills of managing wealth are increasingly complex. Ensure you have the experts and, the world's best at wealth management .

 

Interested in risk-testing your portfolio? Please email me at jacoline.loewen@ubs.com

If you would like to read more of the series Becoming Seriously Wealthy, please email me at jacoline.loewen@ubs.com  

Twitter: @jacolineloewen

Praise for Money Magnet, J.B. Loewen

"Every ambitious private business owner should understand the role of investors and how to attract them. Money Magnet is an indispensible guide to the process."
—Austen Beutel, Chairman and CEO, Oakwest Corporation Ltd.

2 Changes to Estate and Tax Law in Ontario

The recent changes to Ontario estate law and U.S. tax law might impact families with wealth. These 2 new changes are worth reviewing:

1. For those of you with multiple wills (used commonly to avoid Probate) should review their Wills. A recent decision, Re Milne, rendered a Primary Will void because it contained a commonly used provision that gave the Trustee discretion to determine what assets to include in the Primary Estate. As a result, multiple wills are only valid if the assets that comprise each of the Primary and Secondary Estate are defined with sufficient certainty. This decision is currently applicable in Ontario, but it is possible that it could be applied in other provinces.
2.  U.S. citizens in Canada may be impacted by the changes to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, specifically the global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) tax. U.S. GILTI tax is relevant for any U.S. Shareholder owning 10% or more of a controlled foreign corporation (i.e. a Canadian Corporation with US shareholder). U.S. Shareholders in that situation may have a one-time 15.5% tax, plus they must include in income such profits in excess of a 10% return annually on depreciable tangible assets owned by the corporation whether or not a distribution is made to the U.S. Shareholder.

 

Clients with wealth need to know you see their needs first

We are striving to talk to clients the way they think about their money, not the way we do. Many advisors jump into talking about themselves, how they have been doing their role for 20 years and so forth.  This does not give the client ease of mind.  The client wants to know that you see them and you understand their special circumstances, not that you are shoehorning them into a standard "solution".

Clients feel their money “has a job to do” – to help them develop and educate their children, care for their parents, fund their businesses and homes, spin out a monthly cash flow, etc. In our client relationships, we are focused on helping our clients achieve their desired outcomes – offering the right capabilities, removing complexity and truly listening.

Our clients have their best practices in managing their wealth. This mutual sharing of knowledge has developed the wealth management practices over the past 150 years and this is a responsibility we take very seriously.

35 ReasonsToronto Tech is Booming

 Invitation to UBS Bank (Canada), Wealth Management, Technology Invitation

WHY 35 REASONS?

In a stunning year for Canadians in the technology industry, 2015 brought many success stories.  

We thought we would add more spark to the tech industry this year by bringing together a room of 35 like-minded tech entrepreneurs and investors as guests of UBS Bank (Canada). 

Sure enough, the energy flowed.

OUR PARTNERS: 

We were delighted to partner on the Technology Networking Evening withPwC Technology and The Entrepreneurship Society, as well as Blake, Cassels and Graydon.

OUR GUEST SPEAKER:

A special thank you to Randall Howard, Verdexus portfolio investments, who stepped in as guest speaker when Drew Green, Indochino, was unable to attend. Randall  is a senior serial technology executive committed to building the leading technology firms in Canada. Randall shared several critical take-way point for the evening:

1. Focus: When Randall and the founding group of his succesful tech buddies donated a large sum of cash to get Communitech off the ground, they did not have any idea how big it would get. Randall said, "It took a group of committed individuals to make the technology industry thrive in Canada." 
2. Important Partners on the Journey: By coincidence, in the room was the investment banker who figured out a new financial structure to raise the capital for Randall's first tech company. The banker was a Waterloo engineering graduate too. There were many Waterloo graduates in the room. They certainly have figured out the secret sauce for producing winners. Randall emphasized how the profesionalism of the banker made the big difference in his career.
3. Giving back: Having reached the heights of success in his business life, Randall is now focussed on giving. He has won Angel Investor of the Year which really underlines how seriousy he takes helping the emerging Canadian entrepreneurs. Randall is particularly interested in social impact investing and along with his corporate and university board responsiblities, he sits on boards of arts and drama groups too. 

The Fourth Revolution: The theme of the evening was the next stage of techology. Julien Favre, UBS, shared with our guests the white paper on the theme of this year's World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 20-23. The white paper is entitled Extreme automation and connectivity: The global, regional, and investment implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It outlines:

• A brief history of the four industrial revolutions that have taken place since the late 18th century.
• It also explores the potential economic and investment consequences and likely regional winners and losers.
• If you also want to read the white paper - You can read the UBS White Paper HERE...

A special thank you to Sean Stanleigh, Julien Favre, Phaby Utomo, Matthias Kluser, Stephanie Baldouf, Quinn Lawson, Bill Hennessy, Ted Graham, Burzin Contractor and Andre Perey.

How do you select a financial planner when you sell your business?

When you sell your company and all of a sudden, you have millions to invest, it can make you quite giddy. All of a sudden, your long last relatives will appear on your doorstep asking for a loan or an investment. Your niece will want you invest in her new app which is "brilliant".  Suddenly, you can access wealth manages who need you to have more than $2million to open an account. These wealth managers are the elite of financial planners.

Financial planners advise clients on how best to save, invest, and grow their money. They can help you tackle a specific financial goal—such as giving you a macro view of your money and the interplay of your various assets. Some specialize in retirement or estate planning, while some others consult on a range of financial matters. At the very least, they should find out about your family.

Don’t confuse planners with stockbrokers — the market mavens people call to trade stocks. 

Financial planners also differ from accountants who can help you lower your tax bill, insurance agents who might lure you in with complicated life insurance policies, or the person at your local bank urging you to buy their off the shelf mutual funds.

Anyone can hang out a shingle as a financial planner, but that doesn’t make that person an expert. They may tack on an alphabet soup of letters after their names, but CFA (short for certified financial planner) is the most significant credential. A CFA has passed a rigorous test on the specifics of personal finance. CFAs must also commit to continuing education on financial matters and ethics classes to maintain their designation. The CFP credential is a good sign that a prospective planner will give sound financial advice. Still, even those who pass the exam may come up short on skills and credibility. As with all things pertaining to your money, be meticulous in choosing the right planner.

Their firm is important. Some small planner make you pay dearly. They are smart but you end up paying more as they still have to place orders for your portfolio and they will have to pay a fee and pass that along to you.