Wealth Management

Voted #6 on Top 100 Family Business influencer on Wealth, Legacy, Finance and Investments: Jacoline Loewen My Amazon Authors' page Twitter:@ jacolineloewen Linkedin: Jacoline Loewen Profile
Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts

August 17, 2020

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.

March 22, 2019

What job do you want your money to do?

Business Transition Forum and speaker, Jacoline Loewen
When an owner of a business sells, it is a challenging time as they go from being the smartest guy in the room in their business, to being a money manager.

These owners find it tough to trust a wealth management expert, even if they are asking the most important question:

What job you want your money to do?

To have that fancy car, that new home with the best furniture, that golf club membership, that cottage in Muskoka,, that home in Costa Rica?
Or is to educate your kids, support a charity, gift to your alma mater or for scholarships? Or to invest into the VC community?

One question I do not hear being discussed with enthusiasm is how can the wealth take you to retirement and beyond?  The latter question is rarely examined early in the sale of business process. It can be more appealing to have to go to the dentist, it seems.

Sudden wealth does happen for business owners, people inheriting wealth and the notorious lottery winners. There are popular strategies used by those gaining this sudden wealth.

Fire Hose Strategy

One of my top prospects sold his trucking company a few years ago and has been all over the place with managing his cash outflows. Probably managing his wife and grown up offspring was the hardest. as they were spending money using the fire hose strategy. He just called me all excited because he had just figured out that he only needs dividend strategy.

"So I don't touch the capital, live off the dividend and if you get 5% interest, you are fine.  The market is going up 90% of the time, and I get a check every month."

I was frustrated that my conversations with him had not unearthed that central and very core point about managing wealth.  Needless to say, he has not become my client.

We are actually doing a highly complex business of wealth management and along the way, this entrepreneur had got the message from his own networking because that is what he trusts.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey Strategy 

What seems blindingly obvious to you, often is not the full answer or even close to the possibilities. If you are relying on your golf buddies or YPO Forum to figure out your wealth management, you will not be getting a full picture of what your could really achieve for you. Your strategy is to go forward blindly and put the tail where you hear your friends telling you to press that pin.  When you take off the blindfold, you discover your buddies did not do a good job of guiding your guesses and also, they don't need to care.  You need to care.

What job do you want your money to do?   What is your money for? It can be difficult to get going and it is helpful to think about these questions to prod, push and poke your thoughts. there is no correct answer.

  1. What gets you out of bed in the morning,  What would get you out of bed?
  2. Do you think globally or locally?
  3. Are you concerned with making a difference? Where? With your family?  Or with the community or with a large internet audience?
  4. Are you impulsive or considered?
  5. How much control do you have over your time?
  6. How much money do you need monthly?

Use my coupon to get a discount to the Business Transition Forum. 20% discount  you can share with your network using the code jloewen20
   
The Business Transitions Forum<https://businesstransitionsforum.com/> (BTF) is a multi-city conference for business owners seeking expert insights for how to approach the most monumental decision in their company’s journey. Whether their objective is to grow, sell or buy, BTF will give them the tools to enhance the value of their business. Our 2019 Spring line-up includes BTF Atlantic (April 2-3), BTF Edmonton (April 15-16) and BTF Toronto (May 28-29).

   


August 13, 2018

5 lessons can we learn from Bezos’s rise to become the richest man

Interesting to learn that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will become the world’s richest person this year, or next. After yet another fantastic report of results, and yet another boost in the company’s share price, Bezos is $5 billion away from the Microsoft founder Bill Gates and likely to overtake him soon.
From my view, I remember when Amazon was just starting and seemed an interesting but not a sure thing on the stock market. I sold my Amazon for AOL back in 1999. I was wrong! 
To learn that Bezos is now passing Bill Gates means that there are lessons to learn and Bezos shares his views. I am interested in how the title of richest person (that is tracked and legitimate) sets a role model for entrepreneurs and business leaders around the world.
After all, if making more money than anyone else doesn’t tell you they are doing something right, it is hard to know what might. 
So what lessons can we learn from Bezos’s rise to the top of the pile? In brief: That you should 
  1. Think big, 
  2. Innovate furiously, 
  3. Ignore failures, 
  4. Forget about obsessing over profits, and 
  5. Avoid major acquisitions. 

Those are 5 pretty good guidelines for any business heading into the 2020s. 
In the past five years, Amazon’s share price has more than quadrupled, rising from US$220 to more than $US900 as the company powers into new industries and markets. He has already overtaken Warren Buffett and Amancio Ortega, the Spanish founder of Zara owner Inditex, to become the world’s second richest. 
Join social media conversation on Twitter @jacolineloewen
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Jacoline Loewen, MBA, ICD.D, is a best selling author and expert in Wealth Management. She is Canada’s leading wealth, legacy, founder and family business finance expert. Ms. Loewen's clients are entrepreneurs who transition from focus on business to managing their money. She helps overcome common wealth creation issues while optimizing investments in order to manage and nurture significant wealth with confidence.

January 7, 2018

Top 10 Questions for Families with Wealth

Family is important.
We can agree with that sentence as family relationships nudge, bump. poke at our course in life. You have heard the quality of your life is determined by the quality of your relationships. I would add, "family relationships." Many factors shape family relationships and money is one of them. Both when it is abundant and when it is scarce, money is key in shaping family relationships.
Money and its impact causes problems in family relationships. Who gets the money? Who receives the information about the family's wealth? Who actually has the control over that wealth - is it really family wealth or one person's wealth?
Tough questions that many choose to skip with resulting drama that fills movie scripts but also real lives.
Money also brings the opportunity to discover what money means to a family. It can be an open discussion to discover how a family can work together and clarify their thinking about the purpose of the money.
Family
What is money's purpose? What does money mean to the family?
Rather than divide the family, money can have a beneficial affect on bringing together a family and have a surprisingly beneficial effect on family dynamics. Relationships can be cemented.
In fact, the hardest issues facing families are usually not the money but the family relationship based and family based. You can begin to set a positive family dynamic by asking yourself questions and your family members these probing questions about finances and philanthropy.
In my experience, there are questions to get the process started. You can pose these top ten questions to each of your family members. What is most important is to listen and observe how family members respond is more important than the answers.

  1. What challenges do we face in regards to our family and to our money?
  2. What is our vision for our family's future?
  3. What is our family's definition of success?
  4. What principles will guide our decisions about asset allocation?
  5. What has been our experience of the family working together?
  6. How do we prepare our children to steward a financial inheritance?
  7. Should we bring our son or daughter in law into the conversation on finances and philanthropy?
  8. What are our core philanthropy interests and how did these become so important to us?
  9. How may we enable the next generation to create a shared dream with a family foundation while also fulfilling the founder's vision?
  10. How do we promote a togetherness while also promoting the individualism of each family member?


What do you think of these questions? Are there any more that you would add?

October 4, 2017

Billionaires share one characteristic: They were not born billionaires.

The following is an excerpt from the Bloomberg Markets article titled How UBS Became Home to Half the World’s Billionaires

By Elisa Martinuzzi and Joel Weber | October 3, 2017

BLOOMBERG MARKETS: Almost half the world’s billionaires bank with you. That’s a distinct set of clients. What have you learned from them?

SERGIO ERMOTTI, CEO of UBS Bank: It’s always fascinating to hear how they became so successful. When you look at billionaires, many of them share one characteristic: They were not born billionaires. I was in Asia recently, where I met a few, and they have quite impressive stories. It feels like the American dream, only it’s no longer just in America. The main lesson for me is that with passion, focus, vision, determination, you can do a lot.

BM Which trait most stands out?

SE You see a lot of passion for what they do. And the same level of focus. It’s quite clear that it’s not all about money. Of course some people care about that, but at the end of the day, they enjoy what they do.

BM How much time do you actually spend with clients?

SE Not as much as I would like. The most interesting discussions are actually when we are fortunate enough to bring them together. We organize events where our clients can get together. It’s also a way for them to foster a level of cooperation, of getting to know each other—which is important for business regardless of UBS being involved or not.

BM You’re like Tinder?

SE At these events we are a kind of sophisticated speed-­dating organizer, sure. It adds value for our clients. Take Art Basel. The idea is that people attend because they share a common interest, a passion. And while attending the events, maybe they start to talk about other issues or opportunities.

BM What did you think of UBS before you got here?

SE I thought it was an incredible franchise with almost 150 years of history that had survived a dramatic moment. My predecessors had stabilized things, but it was not clear yet what the path was going to look like going forward. I’ve always been impressed by the fact that, as bad as things got here, only 2 percent of clients closed their accounts. I figured the franchise and the quality of the people who are able to retain the clients during such a crisis must be extremely high. My view was, I want to be a part of this.
Bloomberg Markets: How would you describe your business today?

SE We are the undisputed global leader in wealth management. We think that this is a huge advantage. It’s a very fragmented market still. And if I look at our position and the growth expectations of wealth creation, which is expected to be twice as high as GDP, we should stay focused on doing this. Sell-side analysts, rating agencies, and the media still consider us an investment bank. I find it totally ridiculous. If you look at where our business comes from, we are basically the world’s most expensive investment bank and its cheapest asset manager.
BM What advice did you get when you arrived here?


Jacoline Loewen and team
SE Some competitors were telling me, “Shut down the investment bank; we’ll serve you.” They wanted to grab flows and build out their business. People also told me to sell Wealth Management Americas. My popularity would have soared, especially in Switzerland; UBS wouldn’t be where it is today; and I doubt I’d still be here. That was a defining moment—to say, These are businesses we can turn around. It was a good reminder that the consensus is not necessarily the right thing to do.

BM Was there a company, maybe even outside your industry, that you looked to for inspiration?

SE Not for strategy. But when I joined, I said I wanted UBS to be the Apple or the IBM of the financial-services industry: from glory, to near-death, and then back to glory.

Read Full article here
Follow on Twitter @Jacolineloewen

August 27, 2017

How to build wealth fast

We all know that automating a monthly deposit to our nest egg bank account is a proven method to build wealth. It's fairly painless as you do not notice the withdrawals and you rapidly adjust your lifestyle. Pretty quickly, your wealth does grow, particularly if you choose lower risk investments with a decent interest rate?
How about something more specific?
I like the table below that shows monthly savings rate with interest earned. It is over a 25 year period which my not serve your needs but will be good to show your adult children to inspire them to at least start with the automatic monthly savings to their TFSA.


August 2, 2016

Why Every Entrepreneur Needs a Mentor

Having just spent the past few weeks in the company of entrepreneurs, some at the beginning of their careers and most at the height of their success, I notice the one feature they have in common.  They have sought out a mentor.
Jacoline Loewen with Alumni of The Next 36
I was invited to The Next 36 reunion BBQ organized by Chenny Xia and caught up with the alumni who were mentored throughout their program. During our conversations, it struck me that as a result, these young women knew how to reach out for mentoring, they understood the high value of having a mentor and they knew it was not a waste of time but rather a way to catapult ahead. Kate Wallace talked about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s controversial book "Lean Forward".  Sandberg's written advice was her way of mentoring on a large scale and she dedicated a full chapter to mentorship. She lists Larry Summers as her most important mentor.
No matter their paths to success, accomplished women can usually agree on one thing: That somewhere along the way, they found a mentor (or more) who boosted their career immeasurably. "It was serendipitous that I met my mentor. I was searching for employment and what came of it was one of the most influential people in my life," said Danielle Smith, graduate of The Next 36 and mentee of Claudia Hepburn, who helped to found The Next 36.
Many famous people had mentors: Self-made billionaire, Oprah Winfrey was mentored by celebrated author and poet, the late Maya Angelou. Alexander the Great was mentored by Aristotle, Warren Buffet was mentored by Benjamin Graham, and Warren went on to mentor Bill Gates.
Of course, the best fiction has stories of mentorship; some of my favourites are Luke Skywalker learning The Force with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mary Poppins showing Jane and Michael Banks how to break all the rules. Instead of staying safely inside, Poppins had them dancing on the rooftops with chimney sweeps. As a young girl, I took in this encouragement to "Lean Forward" - aka the Mary Poppins way.
How Will You Reach Out for a Mentor?
If you have an early stage company, you could try Futurepreneur. Futurpreneur Canada and Spin Master Corp. set up the Spin Master Innovation Fund created by Ronnen Harrary; to bring financing, mentoring to 10 entrepreneurs each year. Over the past six years, the Spin Master Innovation Fund has helped 42 businesses launch.
For women: The WXNWisdom Top 100 Mentoring Program matches high-performing female leaders with influential mentors.
If you are a business founder who has achieved the sale of your company, you can get mentored about how to invest your sudden wealth. Smart entrepreneurs get that concentrating all of their money back into Canadian-based investments may be only one choice to build long term financial wealth.
If you would like to find out more about how Canadian entrepreneurs are investing with UBS Bank (Canada) please get in touch. I can discuss with you the results for the entrepreneurs who choose to manage their wealth with us.


Jacoline Loewen is director of business development of UBS Bank (Canada) and can be reched at jacoline.loewen at ubs.com  She is also author of Money Magnet: How to Attract Investors to Your Business. You can follow her on Twitter @jacolineloewen

Why Every Entrepreneur Needs a Mentor

Having just spent the past few weeks in the company of entrepreneurs, some at the beginning of their careers and most at the height of their success, I notice the one feature they have in common.  They have sought out a mentor.
Jacoline Loewen with Alumni of The Next 36
I was invited to The Next 36 reunion BBQ organized by Chenny Xia and caught up with the alumni who were mentored throughout their program. During our conversations, it struck me that as a result, these young women knew how to reach out for mentoring, they understood the high value of having a mentor and they knew it was not a waste of time but rather a way to catapult ahead. Kate Wallace talked about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s controversial book "Lean Forward".  Sandberg's written advice was her way of mentoring on a large scale and she dedicated a full chapter to mentorship. She lists Larry Summers as her most important mentor.
No matter their paths to success, accomplished women can usually agree on one thing: That somewhere along the way, they found a mentor (or more) who boosted their career immeasurably. "It was serendipitous that I met my mentor. I was searching for employment and what came of it was one of the most influential people in my life," said Danielle Smith, graduate of The Next 36 and mentee of Claudia Hepburn, who helped to found The Next 36.
Many famous people had mentors: Self-made billionaire, Oprah Winfrey was mentored by celebrated author and poet, the late Maya Angelou. Alexander the Great was mentored by Aristotle, Warren Buffet was mentored by Benjamin Graham, and Warren went on to mentor Bill Gates.
Of course, the best fiction has stories of mentorship; some of my favourites are Luke Skywalker learning The Force with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mary Poppins showing Jane and Michael Banks how to break all the rules. Instead of staying safely inside, Poppins had them dancing on the rooftops with chimney sweeps. As a young girl, I took in this encouragement to "Lean Forward" - aka the Mary Poppins way.
How Will You Reach Out for a Mentor?
If you have an early stage company, you could try Futurepreneur. Futurpreneur Canada and Spin Master Corp. set up the Spin Master Innovation Fund created by Ronnen Harrary; to bring financing, mentoring to 10 entrepreneurs each year. Over the past six years, the Spin Master Innovation Fund has helped 42 businesses launch.
For women: The WXNWisdom Top 100 Mentoring Program matches high-performing female leaders with influential mentors.
If you are a business founder who has achieved the sale of your company, you can get mentored about how to invest your sudden wealth. Smart entrepreneurs get that concentrating all of their money back into Canadian-based investments may be only one choice to build long term financial wealth.
If you would like to find out more about how Canadian entrepreneurs are investing with UBS Bank (Canada) please get in touch. I can discuss with you the results for the entrepreneurs who choose to manage their wealth with us.


Jacoline Loewen is director of business development of UBS Bank (Canada) and can be reched at jacoline.loewen at ubs.com  She is also author of Money Magnet: How to Attract Investors to Your Business. You can follow her on Twitter @jacolineloewen

April 30, 2016

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 connectivityThe 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 StanleighJulien FavrePhaby UtomoMatthias Kluser, Stephanie Baldouf, Quinn Lawson, Bill HennessyTed Graham, Burzin Contractor and Andre Perey.

December 29, 2014

More Women reaching the Billionnaires List

There is a strong showing of women making it to the Billionaires' List, and not all through the old fashioned way of death of a spouse or divorce.
Forbes has the list and tech is the foundation of the wealth of oly two of the women. I thought there would be more. Here it is:
Women make up 10% of global super-rich and 172 women, 25% more than in 2013, are in renowned club of billionaires.
 From the Facebook executive who told women to "lean in" to get ahead at work, to a Nigerian oil tycoon and a British online gambling entrepreneur, a record number of women have entered the global club of billionaires.
A total of 172 women, up 25% on 2013, have made Forbes' 28th annual billionaires' list. Women now make up 10% of the global super-rich.
Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, with a personal fortune worth more than $1bn (£600m), becomes one of the highest-profile new entrants to the Forbes list, joining Meg Whitman of Hewlett-Packard as the only other female tech billionaire.
According to Forbes, a record number of 42 women broke into the list for the first time, although only 32 female billionaires (1.9% of the total) built their own fortune, rather than inheriting it from a parent or husband.
The world's richest woman is Christy Walton, who shares a $36.7bn chunk of the Walmart fortune, edging out one of L'Oréal's principal shareholders, Liliane Bettencourt.
One of the top UK entrants is Denise Coates, the British online gambling queen who, along with her brother, owns Bet365. Coates was at school when she started working as a cashier in her father's betting shops and has amassed $1.6bn in personal wealth.
Fiercely private, she has escaped almost all press attention in the UK despite Bet365 taking almost £20bn in bets and making £150m in profits in the year to March 2013.
In a rare interview two years ago, Coates told the Guardian how she has, on occasion, had to correct some people who had assumed that her father, a well-known businessman, ran the company. Her business, which employs 2,500 workers, mostly in Stoke-on-Trent, made a £150m profit last year, even after swallowing £31m of losses from Bet365's controlling interest in Stoke City football club
Coates, who owns half the business, received pay and bonuses of £5.4m, as well as her share of £15m in dividends. Even after these payouts the company had a further £430m in cash reserves on the balance sheet. In the past five years, Bet365 has paid out dividends totalling £130m.
A total of nine women feature in the top 85.

Jacoline Loewen
Jacoline Loewen
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacolineloewen

October 26, 2014

What to do a few years before selling your business

When his father was 67 years old, an unforeseen financial crisis forced the succession. Patrick Bermingham, Bermingham Construction, knew his father did not have the appetite to fight for the company’s survival; in one moment, his father shook his hand and Patrick was put in charge.
“My father was the supreme leader, but after that handshake, he never questioned my decision making.” Stepping into a precarious financial situation meant that Patrick had to make rapid decisions and get a plan for survival.
“I needed money. I bought a new suit from Harry Rosen. I got on a plane to Japan. I sold a patent. It enabled me to stabilize the business,” he says.
Then he set his long-term plan which meant looking at the hard truths.
Patrick needed a family succession plan, but knew that his children were much too young to take over. He could also see the valuation was too low to sell the business. He eventually decided to transition the business to outside owners by allowing the employees to buy shares , and not to do succession planning for the next generation of the Bermingham family.
When it comes to the family finances, structuring existing money can be done several years before a sale of a business or any other significant liquidity event. Trusts can be structured more favourably in times of low interest rates and low valuations for company stock.
At the time of Bermingham’s low valuation, when a sale is not possible, it may be suitable to transfer ownership in the family business to a trust at favourable terms. You can allow for a more tax effective transfer of ownership than during times of high interest rates or high stock valuation.
Patrick decided to do an estate freeze for his family. Then Patrick began the transition process by allowing employees to buy shares in the company. The company’s debt-equity ratio was still too high though, and the company needed more investment capital. Again, Patrick brought in experts to help organize and manage a partnership with private equity.
Eventually, after four years, the company was bought back from the private equity firm. When it came time to sell to a world class, strategic corporation, a few years later, Mr. Bermingham said the company was polished from all the steps taken along the way. “The secret of transitioning your business is that it is a long term process. You hedge your bets and maximize your value by buying and selling and then buying back parts of the company. It is not something you do suddenly.”
By, Jacoline Loewen, column
special to the Globe and Mail.