Specialized Wealth Services For Physicians

 

With long hours, busy schedules and extreme pressures, you need a dedicated team to manage your complex financial affairs and keep them streamlined and simplified. Our team can deliver valuable advice and services at every stage of your medical career.

 

Early career:

  • Articulate your short- and long-term goals

  • Pay down debt and manage cash flow

  • Build your portfolio and maximize other opportunities

  • Create your Wealth Plan and introduce you to specialists as required

  • Create your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA)

  • Manage income tax installments

  • Plan for major purchases or events such as your first home

  • Advise you on financial, professional and personal decisions large and small

  • Monitor your portfolio and Wealth Plan closely and adjust as needed

  • Design a plan to fund your child(ren)’s tuition – set up Registered Education Saving Plans (RESPs)

  • Discuss incorporation for tax efficiency in context of your overall Wealth Plan and manage the tax and estate implications.

    • A corporation is subject to a lower tax rate than individuals. You can potentially earn more active business income in your medical corporation.

    • After deducting operating expenses, the money left in the company is taxed at a much lower rate than your personal income. It also defers tax—you can retain that money and reinvest it to grow your portfolio.

    • We can manage your medical corporation, RRSP, various insurance policies and strategies, corporate accounts, real estate, and other holdings or financial components.

    • Our structured process ensures efficiency:

      • Your medical corporation receives payment and pays out expenses, including your salary.

      • We move your corporate savings out of your current account monthly.

      • When your salary arrives in your chequing account, we transfer your RRSP contributions.

      • Each month, all cash flows are completed without any human interaction.

      • This keeps things easy, ensures contributions are made in a disciplined manner, and minimizes the time you need to spend on your financial management

  • Introduce a Private Banker to provide nuanced and attentive service. He or she will:

    • Get to know you and build a long-term relationship with you.

    • Simplify your banking and take care of your day-to-day needs with white-glove service to save you time and money.

    • Offer you enhanced rates and lending opportunities in certain circumstances.

    • Help you manage debt effectively by offering:

      • Financial advice,

      • A BMO® Medical Student Line of Credit,

      • BMO® CashBack® Mastercard®,

      • BMO® Rewards® Mastercard, and a

      • Free chequing account.

  • Connect you with BMO lending experts:

    • A medical professional’s line of credit and credit cards at good interest rates,

    • Small business incorporation and tax planning advisory services,

    • Business mortgages, and

    • Capital financing and cash flow management.

 

Mid career:

  • Remain proactively positioned to navigate the ever-changing markets, taxation rules, regulatory reform and global financial conditions

  • Manage multigenerational wealth planning considerations, helping your sons and daughters learn how to invest and share access to our strategies, expertise and fees

  • Minimize tax at every opportunity and deploy tax strategies such as income splitting with your spouse and children

  • Leverage BMO Private Banking services to help you manage your personal, medical corporation and practice financial needs

  • Help you secure financing for your clinic

    • Capital injections, practice acquisition, renovations, building purchase, equipment and leaseholds

    • Leasing options

    • Equity take-outs as well as practice and business transition

  • Protect your practice against litigation risk

  • Ensure you are protected through whole life, critical illness, disability and/or malpractice coverage

  • Coordinate seamlessly with your accountant and lawyer to simplify money matters and we have partnerships with accountants who specialize in physician management

  • Minimize tax and diversify your assets using holding companies, private equity and real estate

 

Late career:

  • Determine what you need to accumulate to maintain your desired lifestyle in retirement

  • Review your Will, Powers of attorney, and insurance beneficiaries and ensure all the details are correct and up to date

  • Revisit your insurance coverage and consider whether to keep or liquidate your policies

  • Transition to an income-generating portfolio to ensure a steady stream of income for a fulfilling retirement

  • Arrange a tax-efficient estate to leave your family and charities the ideal legacy

  • Discuss practice succession plans and options:

    • Unlike traditional business owners, physicians cannot easily or objectively measure the value of their practice to transfer it to another clinician. You ARE your practice.

    • Together with experienced BMO business advisory and practice succession experts, we will help you decide how and when to retire and transition your wealth tax-effectively to loved ones and charitable organizations.

    • In addition, if required, we can help you to:

      • Find a graduating resident to take over your practice.

      • Store hard copies of medical records while searching for a locum.

      • Safely shred and discard medical record files after seven years.

      • Manage your electronic medical records.

 

Preparing to exit your practice:

  • Adapt your investment portfolio to focus on income generation to create a reliable stream of cash

  • Draft an exit strategy and succession plan

  • Review and fine tune your estate plan

    • Prepare for your parents’ death, children’s marriages, or other life milestones

  • Analyze the benefits of welcoming part-time associates as you move into semi-retirement

 

Approaching and during retirement:

  • Help you convert all your RRSPs to RRIFs

  • Review your cash flow to balance spending against income after taxes

  • Structure your investments to minimize your tax bill

  • Consider joint ownership and trusts for estate benefits

  • Amend your will and estate plan in light of life changes

    • Include new grandchildren

    • Remove spouses who may have left the family

    • Give tax-effectively to charities

  • Review your insurance needs

  • Examine your Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and pension details to help you decide when and how to receive the funds

  • Reduce Old Age Security (OAS) clawback