NWF (Capital Ideas for Business Owners)

is a financial advisory company operating in Ontario, Canada, regulated by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario under license# 05087631, as well as several self regulating associations, including the FPSC, IRBC, and Advocis.

NWF is in the long term savings industry. We study the question: “Where should I keep my savings?” We seek capital guaranteed, higher yielding, tax advantaged and low cost financial products for our customers to replace GICs, Investment properties, and long term bonds held to maturity.

NWF is in the loan consulting industry. We research the question: “How can I reduce my bank payments?” We teach our customers to reduce their dependence on banks, using their own capital. Our consulting helps borrowers to implement alternative methods to finance purchases and investments.

Products
NWFIN: Non registered savings and loans products
RFIN: Registered savings and loans products

Core Philosophies
EVA Economic Value Added
Infinite Banking Concept

Selling: not Selling Out

Now that that’s out of the way you also deserve to hear that I draw a hard line between selling you products and selling you out. Here are a few things I won’t do for money:

- I won’t sell you a suit that doesn’t fit: The last time I bought a suit I took a good look at the universe of choices and found anything from $150 suits from Moore’s Warehouse at Carlingview near Pearson Airport, to $3,500 and up at Stavros in Yorkville. In the end I felt most comfortable choosing Brown’s on Queens St West, which specializes in clothing for short men. When I visited the store all the clothes were indeed for short people and the tailors were in fact short men. I am a bit over 5’7″, so I actually felt quite tall there! I felt they understood my situation and chose their products accordingly, and I was satisfied to start a long term relationship as their customer.

I feel the same way about my specialization in business owners. My own business is a small business corporation, and I myself have to make decisions about issues such as the small business deduction, bonusing down, the lifetime capital gains exemption, the use of holding companies, the capital dividend account, when to freeze the estate, trusts, and many others that are familiar to small business corporation owners throughout Ontario.

Appropriate solutions are so important to me that if in my professional judgment there is no fit between what you want and what I can give, I will not take the engagement. I got a call from Nick, who owns a medical tourism business. Nick wanted me to arrange financing for a transplant operation, secured by the promise of a future OHIP reimbursement. I described to him how NWFIN (my insured retirement program based savings and loan system) worked and explained why I couldn’t do that job for him. A straight up guy deserves an answer up front without waiting and wondering whether I’m willing or able to do business.

- I won’t take the supplier’s side against you: A footwear manufacturer hired me to build a program to finance retirement for himself and his wife. He and she ended up with similar savings programs, but using different financial products because the best deal for him was from another financial supplier.

There is no position called “Sales Representative” in NWF. The position is called “Customer Representative”, because I want everyone to know whose side we are on. NWF’s job is to find a funding solution to you and your business’s challenge, then assemble a list of suppliers and products for you to choose from. NWF processes are designed to make suppliers compete against each other for your business.

- I won’t endorse someone whom I think can’t help you: I have a really hard time finding people who I can trust to look after my affairs. I have been though 4 bankers in the last 5 years, and I’ve had a really hard time finding an accountant I like. You have been through the same thing so I know that you don’t want to see a list of names without references. So let’s make a deal: I promise to endorse only people or products which I think would be helpful to a business owner, if you promise to send me comments about them, both good and bad. The bad ones get voted off the island, so to speak.

- I won’t sell your private information to others: When my wife Elvia was pregant with our son Carlos we went to a maternity store in Eaton Centre. On payment they asked for name and contact information which we trustingly gave. Soon afterwards we began receiving phone calls, letters, and emails targeted towards couples expecting a baby. We could only presume that the maternity store had sold our names to a list broker who then sold their list to businesses selling baby items. We felt betrayed, sold out. I don’t want you to feel that way so I promise you that we will never sell your information.

- I won’t make you try something I haven’t tested: Suze Orman is a popular author and talk show host on personal finance. A friend told me once that she admits to not following her own advice. That leaves me a bit hollow, because I actually use the methods, processes and products that I recommend to clients. I’m quite happy to show you my own programs to fund Carlos’s college education, Elvia’s and my retirement, and the capital needs of my business, and you can decide for yourself whether this is something that you’d like to try.

- I won’t ignore you after I make a sale: I’m not always available, and even when I am, my time can get expensive. But just as Tiger Woods, at the top of his game, still seeks professional coaching, so too do you need regularly scheduled coaching meetings to keep your funding programs on track. Changes in your objectives, circumstances, in the economy, the law or other external factors will require attention that NWF commits to give to you and your business.

- I won’t forget my homework: I am not a patient man, and nothing annoys me more than spending time having to learn to trust someone who turns out to be less than competent. I take some comfort in the fact that the world is not changed by patient people, and I guess that you would not have created your business if you were content with the world as it is. You demand expertise practically as applied to your situation, and if what you are seeking has a savings and loan aspect to it I may be able to help you with some expertise that is very difficult to find elsewhere.

NWF has deep specialist knowledge in an area of finance called leveraged life insurance, a savings and loan process which reduces the amount you pay in tax and bank interest. NWF applies that knowledge to Ontario business owners needing to fund business expenditures and retirement.

There are other experts in leveraged life insurance, but they but they tend to be employed by the Life Insurance companies, and understandably will try to sell you the products of their employer, whereas NWF prides itself in its knowledge of the pros and cons of each product choice and its ability to provide options to business owners.

- I won’t ignore reality: I feel, as you do, a bit betrayed by the financial services community in light of the crash of 2008.

It is intimidating that all those clever Bay Street finance professionals with all their higher education and experience could not protect their own savings. let alone the savings of their customers. To me this is like hearing about a world champion swimmer drowning: it evoked this alarming doubt “if a professional couldn’t figure it out what chance do I have?”

I can tell you why it happened. Its a bit sad. Everyone on Bay Street knew that the bull run that began in the 80s was coming to an end, but nobody wanted to leave the party too early, because they might forego some profit. It’s sad because their recklessness with our money destroyed the life savings of so many business owners. It’s sad because governments are borrowing trillions in order to stabilize the world economy, and this is debt that our children will have to pay.

I work early in the morning, and when my boy Carlos gets up he walks up to my desk and and climbs straight into my lap without a word and cuddles up. So trusting, so secure that in Daddy’s arms he will be protected. I don’t want to be reckless with his future.

If you and I ever sit down to have a conversation about money you will find me outlining a philosophy that is grounded in reality. There is no free lunch, no magic bullet, no get out of jail card. I’ll tell you the hard truth about what it takes to create a savings program that you won’t be embarrassed showing to your children. I’ll show you a way to fund your business and your retirement that could save you (in the long term) a dollar of tax for every dollar you put in.