Blog

How Alberta clinic owners can set up group health and dental benefits for staff: who qualifies, the options, tax treatment and common mistakes.

Most physicians and dentists incorporate for one reason: tax deferral. That’s a good reason. But the decisions you make in the first twelve months of your professional corporation (PC) quietly shape your taxes, your insurance, and your retirement options for the next thirty years. Many of those decisions are made in a rush, between residency, […]

Almost every new physician and dentist hears the same advice in their first year of practice: “Incorporate as soon as you can.” It sounds like a tax-saving tool no high earner should skip. But for many early-career professionals, incorporating in year one adds cost without adding much benefit. The timing matters far more than most […]

Ask ten people what “retirement planning” means and you’ll get ten different answers. Some think it’s just maxing out an RRSP. Some think it’s a number — “I need two million dollars.” Some honestly think it’s something you deal with at 60, not 40. None of those are wrong exactly. They’re just incomplete. Real retirement […]

How a financial advisor is paid shapes the conversation you’ll have with them, whether or not it’s ever mentioned out loud. Understanding the difference between fee-based and commission compensation is one of the most useful things you can know before choosing — or re-evaluating — an advisor. How commission-based compensation works A commission-based advisor is […]

Most incorporated physicians and dentists think of life insurance purely as protection — something that pays out if something happens to you. Held inside a professional corporation, it can also play a role in tax and estate planning that’s easy to overlook. Here’s how that works, and where the limits are. Why hold insurance inside […]

Income splitting used to be one of the simplest tax advantages of incorporating a practice — pay dividends to a lower-income spouse, and the family keeps more after tax. The federal Tax on Split Income (TOSI) rules narrowed that considerably starting in 2018. Here’s what’s actually still allowed, and where physicians and dentists most often […]

For a physician or dentist, your income depends on your ability to physically perform your work — your hands, your back, your eyesight, your stamina during long procedures. That makes disability insurance one of the most important pieces of your financial plan, and also one of the most commonly under-addressed. Here’s what actually matters when […]

Searching for the “best” financial planner produces a lot of lists and not much substance, because “best” depends entirely on what you actually need — and what a physician or dentist needs from a financial planner is genuinely different from what most retail investors need. Here’s a practical framework for evaluating anyone you’re considering, including […]

If your accountant has mentioned setting up a holding company alongside your professional corporation, and the explanation left you more confused than before you asked — you’re not alone. It’s one of the more commonly recommended structures for incorporated physicians, dentists, and business owners, and one of the least clearly explained. The short answer Your […]