Archive: March, 2010

Moosehead: brewing success through six generations

Posted By Kelly Willis, Editor On March 29th, 2010

i-bb68aa56d6e4c7b416b2af331d545cce-Moosehead beer.jpgThe Canadian Association of Family Enterprise GTA held its annual Family Business of the Year awards dinner on Thursday. What an inspiring evening of success stories from families who have overcome not only the usual host of market and competitive challenges, but real adversity and often personal tragedy to achieve prosperity and longevity for their companies. It was just the inspiration we all needed on a cold grey night at the end of winter at the end of a recession.

There were three presentations from award nominees (more about this in a future blog) and keynote address from Derek Oland, Executive Chairman and fifth generation owner of Moosehead Breweries Limited.

[read more >>]


Tags: , , , , ,

What to know before you IPO

Posted By John Garrow On March 29th, 2010

Last weekend, I finished reading Rod McQueen’s ”BlackBerry: The Inside Story of Research in Motion” and thoroughly enjoyed it. It got me thinking about one area devoted relatively little space in the book – the entrepreneur’s decision to go public.

Now, in 300 pages recounting the 25 year history of perhaps Canada’s most successful technology company, you may figure 20 pages is sufficient to devote to the issue of going public. For the record, Research In Motion (RIM) completed a private placement of $34 million to institutional investors in June 1996 (12 years after Mike Lazaridis had started the company) and then completed a full blown IPO in October 1997.

[read more >>]


Tags: , , ,

Winning the lottery – a dream for all; a nightmare for some

Posted By David Lloyd On March 22nd, 2010

I was given a lottery ticket as birthday gift at a dinner with friends on the weekend. The condition was that we would all share the pot. It was great value to dream for even a few hours of how life could change with $41 million.

Sudden wealth via the lottery, inheritance or selling a business can be life changing. In our business we see this first hand nearly every day. Unfortunately, for some people, the dream of financial freedom can actually turn into a nightmare.

Search the internet and you’ll find story after story of cash windfalls turning into personal downfalls, with some estimates that one third of all lottery winners are in serious financial difficulty or bankruptcy within just five years of winning!

[read more >>]


Tags: , , , ,

First aid for employee benefits plans

Posted By Kelly Willis, Editor On March 18th, 2010

This week, as reported in Investment Executive magazine, the Conference Board of Canada released results of a nationwide survey confirming what entrepreneurs have known for some time: the cost of providing employee benefit programs is rising unsustainably — 10% in the past year, roughly three to five times the rate of inflation.

What’s more, most businesses are wondering if they’re getting what they’re paying for. While 78% of survey participants said they have well developed benefits strategies, only 14% said they believe their programs are effective at meeting the objectives of the strategies.

[read more >>]


Tags: , ,

A window of tax savings opportunity — for how long?

Posted By David Lloyd On March 12th, 2010

CRA announced this week that it will maintain its 1% prescribed rate through to June 30th.

While that news didn’t make headlines, from a tax point of view it should have.

After RRSPs and tax deductibility of interest, I think a prescribed rate income splitting loan is the most effective way for wealthy high income earners to reduce their tax bill.

And a 1% interest rate offers an unprecedented window of opportunity.

[read more >>]


Tags: , , , ,

Mike Rose: positioned to profit from the great recession

Posted By Kelly Willis, Editor On March 8th, 2010

I blogged a couple of weeks ago about the entrepreneurial thinking of money manager, Tye Bousada in my post, How entrepreneurs — and smart investors – really succeed. I was inspired by a New Yorker article written by Malcolm Gladwell, entitled The Sure Thing.

The premise of the article being that successful entrepreneurs are not really risk takers, as the conventional view suggests. Rather, an entrepreneur’s strength is in “occupying a ‘structural hole’”, a niche that gives him a unique perspective on a particular market” and acting decisively to take advantage of it.

Here’s a related story of a seasoned entrepreneur who stands to profit from this great recession – not in spite of challenging economic times, but rather because of the turmoil and his ability to take advantage of it.

[read more >>]


Tags: , , , , ,

Interest rates – confused?

Posted By Peter Churchill-Smith On March 8th, 2010

You are to be forgiven if you are having a hard time trying to sort out all the conflicting news about interest rates and inflation. You’re not alone. Even the experts frequently disagree.

This is an important issue for entrepreneurs and investors as many of us borrow money – either personally or corporately (likely both!).

[read more >>]


Tags: , , ,