Jacoline Loewen

April 2, 2011

Why the era of top secrecy for the Federal Reserve should end

The US FED is a privately owned bank. It will only disclose what it wants to.
No-one including the US president will be able to get what info they want out of them. Even the US treasury is run mostly by former Goldman Sachs employees. It's a revolving door. They don't call it Government Goldman for nothing.
Doesn't matter anyway. All shall be revealed in a few months when QE2 runs out. The FED has become the lender of first and last resort. 70% I'll say again 70% of treasury purchases are coming from the FED. They are in effect printing massive quantities of digital dollars.
The US is in trouble either way it goes. If QE ends the economy collapses, if they continue, the dollar collapses. The pyramid scheme of money creation is coming to an end.

Why the era of top secrecy for the Federal Reserve should end - Telegraph

Ireland still hasn't fixed its broken banking system – Telegraph Blogs

The larger financial system is still a worry.

Ireland still hasn't fixed its broken banking system – Telegraph Blogs

April 1, 2011

Business is not easy

Being committed to business is hard

"There is a reason so few companies and people make it: It's not easy. Be honest with yourself. What price are you willing to pay to make the business work and be successful? Would you sacrifice your time, your family, your friends, your golf game, your entire social life? I am not advocating that you should, but you have to ask yourself if you are prepared to," says Robert Herjavec.

This is what my business coach says to me all the time. I agree with Robert - it is the struggle of business that is so hard and to be a good entrepreneur, you must develop that tenacity to keep going. Tenacity is the element of entrepreneurism which although DNA can determine this, you can also be trained to deal with stress and bad times to get back to the more profitable situation.

What business awards should be celebrated?

Awards for business are coveted by many but Tom Deans has a problem with CAFE and the way they celebrate the longevity of a family business. Tom thinks that is giving the worst possible message to family businesses. Even worse, Tom says,

"These awards are like stabs through the heart of family business owners"

Here's more of Tom's view:

It’s time for family business organizations to celebrate something more interesting, positive and inclusive and give awards that put multi-generational wealth creation on an equal footing with multi-generational wealth preservation. And if family business institutions don’t want to go down this road then maybe it’s high time that the M&A industry supported its own set of family business awards.

Here’s my list of new awards for everyone to consider.

Liquidity Event of the Year – Inside Sale: Awarded to a business owner who works with his or her children to sell their business inside the family. (I don’t call this multi-generational – I call this a fresh start based on risked capital).
Liquidity Event of the Year – Outside Sale: Awarded to a business owner who works with his or her children to sell their business outside the family.
Redeployment of Family Capital Award: Granted to the family that reinvents itself by helping the next generation pursue businesses they’re really passionate about.
Family Business Philanthropy Award: For the business owner who works with his or her family to use the proceeds of their life’s work to fund extraordinary good works to benefit their community, country and planet.

Read more at Tom Deans Every Family's Business

March 29, 2011

M&A Activity in Canada

Do Canadians fall apart in the mergers and acquisitions space? Have they missed getting out into foreign business acquisitions too? Not according to information on performance last year:

Canadian Mergers and Acquisition activity increased for the third successive quarter in Q4 with 302 transactions worth approximately $52 billion. This represents an increase of 12% in the value of deals announced while the number of announcements increased by 9% over the previous quarter. The Canadian banks and pension funds announced numerous transactions that contributed significantly towards increased cross-border Mergers and Acquisiton activity and a consistent pace of mega deals (deals valued in excess of $1 billion) in the quarter.

Some interesting aspects of the Q3 results included the following:

Four of the five major Canadian banks announced large acquisitions for a total of $14.4 billion; three of the four acquisitions were of foreign businesses.
Almost all of the major Canadian pension funds announced transactions for a total of 12 transactions worth $8.8 billion.
Bucking a long-term trend, the value of Canadian-led acquisitions abroad exceeded that of foreign-led takeovers by a ratio of 2.5-to-1
Activity in the mega-deal segment was unchanged from the previous quarter at 9 transactions; total value of mega deals declined slightly from $28 billion in Q3 to $25 billion in Q4
The Real Estate, Oil & Gas and Industrial Products sectors were the key drivers of M&A activity in Q4 representing 59% of the overall transaction volume

For more Mergers and Acquisitions information, please see our website: http://www.loewenpartners.com/

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WEALTH

The question every wealthy person asks themself is "What does wealth mean to me?" The full and rich answer can take years to come to full light. In the meantime, money needs to be managed.in order to focus on wealth preservation and risk mangement.

In particular, we understand the entrepreneur and busines owner who has gone through transition and is now managing their sudden wealth. We assist them gain insight into their values and goals. From this foundation, we look to achieve a diversified portfolio with room to please their risk appetite, but also ensuring wealth for their family.

We build and execute your wealth strategy:

- Establish meaningful objectives
- Design up tailored portfolio strategies
- Select measurements to assess performance
- Culture of an open-mind

Our advice and process will intrigue you and help you:

-Work toward reaching your self-defined life goals
-Measure your progress to make better decisions
-Create a system that revolves around you, your family, your community

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Invited as expert on BNN The Pitch, CBC, Dragons' Den and published by National Post, Globe & Mail, Leadership, Business Entrepreneurs, The Journal, Women's Post, as well as author of three books.

Money Magnet by J. Loewen - Book Review

The feedback we have had about using the steps in Money Magnet is that business owners are surprised by how simple it is to understand, how much more money they can invest and earn and how shockingly few of their lawyers and accountants were aware of the benefits.

- Get factual case studies about the power of succession planning with strong life style goals. Do you want to retire rich - then understand the ROI of your business compared to the ROI of an investment portfolio.

- Know why selling your business is not the first option.

- Learn the Four Brutal Questions every Business Owner needs to know to attract investors.

- Find out how to know how much you need to fit your business, your lifestyle and your goals for wealth.

Other books by J B Loewen:
The Power of Strategy
Business e-Volution

See Jacoline Loewen on BNN TV Show The Pitch

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SERVICES

For 150 years, people have been trusting UBS to manage their wealth. We provide investment advice based on critical thinking and thoughtful research once we fully understand what you want to accomplish. Together, we create an all-encompassing strategy for your investments, estate and tax planning, risk management, and borrowing.
Our Focus: We build custom investment portfolios and wealth management strategies that draw upon UBS's global knowledge.
Our Clients: We work with individuals, families, and organizations with investable assets greater than $2,000,000
Our Services: At a minimum, you can expect quarterly performance reviews, ongoing investment management, and comprehensive Estate and Tax Planning services
Our Fees: Our typical all-inclusive tax deductible annual fee ranges between 1% - 1.5% of the money you invest depending on complexity
Our Process: We apply a prudent approach.

Rick Spence, National Post, review

"A lot of business people still have trouble with the concept of strategic planning. They wonder who should do it, and what it's for. I just encountered a great explanation of strategy. It comes from a book, The Power of Strategy by Jacoline Loewen.

"I think that strategy is very similar to the search for the Holy Grail. Renowned knights traveled great distances and overcame severe hardship in the struggle to find this sacred relic, the chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Finally, Sir Galahad was the one who discovered that the Holy Grail is, in fact, within us. There is no right or wrong answer -- it is the journey that provides the learning, not the Holy Grail itself.

In strategy, it is the process of people going through the questioning and thinking that ingrains the strategy into their everyday actions, not the plan itself."

You can read a much longer excerpt from Loewen's book at

post by Rick Spence, Canadian Entrepreneur