1. Are You Considering Ways To Minimize Your Taxes?

If you’re considering ways to minimize your taxes and build wealth in a tax-efficient manner, then you should make plans to join me at this year’s Tax-Efficient Wealth Summit coming up on Saturday, June 21st. This is an in-person live event in Mississauga that will give you the opportunity to connect with others just like you and potentially build new relationships in a great learning environment:

• I will share some tips on how you mange cash flow and plan to build wealth in times of uncertainty.
• Aravind will share 5 key planning tips to save taxes and keep more of your income for retirement.
• Wesley will reveal the framework to move from high income to wealth.

This will be an amazing event that will put you on the right track as you build tax-efficient wealth. You can get all the event details here.

Feel free to bring a friend or family member with you to the event. The more the merrier. I look forward to meeting with you soon and hosting you at the event.

2. The Battle Is Daily…Are You Prepared?

One of the reasons life is both interesting and challenging is the unpredictability of the daily battles we face, whether it is related to work, parenting, our faith or other relationships we have. Those who thrive prepare (emotionally and mentally) for the best and worst case scenarios. I was reminded of this when I came across this beautiful quote in my inbox recently:

“The most important battles must be fought anew each day.

Exercising today does not render tomorrow’s workout unnecessary.

Supporting your spouse today does not mean you can mail it in tomorrow.

Learn to love the endless nature of things and life gets easier.”

Yes, coping with life gets easier when you learn to love the endless nature of things and to live in an unpredictable world. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, shares insightful quotes like this weekly. Consider subscribing to his weekly emails for tips on cultivating winning habits. Check it out here.

3. Where Is My Money?

It is not uncommon to earn income and wonder why you don’t have a penny of it saved or invested at the end of the month. One of the major reasons for this is what we call lifestyle inflation. A concept where our expenses grow in line with our income as we are wired to live just like the guy or gal next door. Another reason for this, which is not always obvious, is the impact of taxes. Taxes and certainly lifestyle inflation can negatively impact your ability to build wealth. In one of the chapters of my book, Tax-Efficient Wealth, I share some of the main obstacles to building tax-free or tax-efficient wealth. One of the obstacles I discuss is taxes. If you ask most Canadians what their biggest expense is, they will most likely say it’s housing costs. This may be right for some. However, if you have high income, taxes are likely your biggest expense. According to a recent report from the Fraser Institute, the average Canadian family spent 43.6 percent of their income on taxes in 2018, more than they spent on housing and other expenses combined. Can you imagine that? This is significant. The average family’s total tax bill at 44 percent is likely more than the amount they’re paying on housing costs each year. Get more details on this in this article, where I also recommend an exercise you can undertake now to get a sense of where all your money is going.

4. Seven Skills That Will Help You Create Wealth

Recently, I listened to the BiggerPocket podcast episode 614 with guest Codie Sanchez. She shared some great insights on why you should buy rather than build, particularly when it comes to businesses. It was an interesting episode for those interested in owning businesses. In one of her recent Instagram posts, she shared these 7 skills that will help you create and build wealth:

• Understand Leverage: If you understand early how to get investor money, bank loans or OPM (Other People’s Money), you will 10x your wealth. In my book, Tax-Efficient Wealth, leverage is one of those accelerators to wealth that I discussed.
• Find Off-Market Deals: Whether in real estate, small business, jobs, clients, etc. majority use the public domains like MLS, Zillow, indeed, bizbuysell, etc. The pros go to the source and find opportunities before they become public. So, you have to learn to build relationships with owners or great agents who can send you deals before they become public.
• Learn to Analyze Opportunities: Can you tell whether a business is a good business or not? Do you know how to value a business, project future cash flows, etc. If you learn this skill, you’ll never be hungry.
• Mindset Shift: Rather than concluding that something will not work, train your mind to instead ask…”how could this thing work?”. With the right mindset, you will see opportunities where everyone else sees fear.
• Master Opportunity Cost: Most people waste their time on low return tasks like emails, coffee meetings, etc. Learn how to say “no” to the low return work and only do the high ROI (Return on Investment) work.
• Use Arbitrage: There is a trade called risk arbitrage that made many hedge fund managers wealthy. It was buying stock pre-merger and selling it when the merger was announced. Look for price dislocations (aka, arbitrage) in everything you do and take advantage of them.
• Be Decisive: At the end of the day, you have to take action. It’s better to make a decision than no decision. It’s all about decisions. Become better at making decisions and you will 10x your bank account.

5. Why Excuses Will Hinder Your Freedom

It’s easy to make excuses and we are all familiar with them. I can’t attend a conference because I don’t want to fly or because it is too expensive; I can’t buy real estate because it is too expensive; I can’t save because my income is low; etc. You must realize that excuses will hinder your ability to make meaningful change in your circumstances. You cannot stay where you are and expect to change your life. Make a commitment to yourself today to stop making excuses. Rather, challenge yourself on how you can overcome excuses. You need to get around the right people, the right thinking, the right energy if you want to change your life.