EP345 Exit Lessons from Across the Atlantic
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
Episode Summary: Canada's Employee Ownership Trust legislation is relatively new. The UK's has been in place since 2014. In this episode, host crosses the Atlantic - virtually - to sit down with Christine Nicholson, a UK-based exit strategist who has spent her career founding, selling, and helping others exit businesses. Christine brings 12 years of firsthand perspective on what happens when EOTs work, when they fail spectacularly, and what separates the two. The conversation covers the three phases of exiting a business (the day-to-day, control, and ownership), why the EOT structure has been...
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EP344 Canada's Largest Employee Ownership Trust (Inside Taproot's Transition from ESOP to EOT)
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
What happens when a company that is already employee-owned realizes its ownership model is not built for the next chapter? In this episode, host sits down with Michael (Mike) Fotheringham, CEO of Taproot, and Robert MacDougall, Board Trustee. Taproot is a 42-year-old national social enterprise with 775 employees and over $65 million in annual revenue. They unpack how and why the organization became Canada's largest Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). Taproot's journey runs from its founding by a laid-off public servant in British Columbia, through a management buyout that created an ESOP with...
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EP343 After the Exit - Identity, Reinvention, and the Next Chapter
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
What happens after you sell the business that defined you? In this episode, host sits down with Candace Sutcliffe, who spent nearly 20 years building The Chef's Paradise (CA Paradis) - a 104-year-old Ottawa retail institution - from employee to president to co-owner, and then made the bold decision to sell to Quebec-based industry leader Doyon Després and step into a corporate executive role. This is a candid conversation about what it actually looks like to navigate a multi-generational business transition: the operational preparation, the culture clash considerations, the identity...
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EP342 How SheBoot is Solving the 2% Problem
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
Host: Colleen O'Connell-Campbell, Wealth Advisor, RBC Dominion Securities Guests: Sonya Shorey (CEO, Invest Ottawa), Jennifer Francis (Chair, Capital Angel Network), and Julia Elvidge - Co-founders of She Boot Episode Summary: Only 2% of venture capital flows to women-founded companies - yet women start roughly 15% of all companies. In this episode, Colleen sits down with the three co-founders of SheBoot, a national nonprofit that is tackling this gap from both sides of the table - making women tech founders investment-ready and mobilizing women angel investors to fund them. What...
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EP341 Cash Confidence is the Missing Piece in your Exit Strategy
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
Revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity. Cash flow is sovereignty. In this episode, host sits down with Melissa Houston - CPA, business finance coach, fractional CFO, and author of âCash Confidentâ - to explore why so many business owners are working hard but not building wealth. Melissa shares her mission to close the business financial literacy gap, particularly for women entrepreneurs, and explains how a few key changes in pricing, expense management, and cash flow can completely change a business's trajectory. The conversation covers the emotional side of money (including both Colleen's...
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EP340 The Pension Playbook
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
Episode Summary: Forget everything you thought you knew about pension plans being just for government workers. In this episode, pension lawyer Jean-Pierre (JP) Laporte, Pension Lawyer and Founder, Integris Pension Management, joins host to share a series of powerful, real-life case studies showing how registered pension plans - including Individual Pension Plans (IPPs) and Personal Pension Plans - are quietly and dramatically transforming the wealth trajectories of incorporated business owners across Canada. From a 73-year-old founder who saved his family $4 million in a single phone call, to...
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EP339 The ABCs of IPPs and RCAs
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
In this episode of The Cash Rich Exit Podcast, host sits down with Muneer Feeroze and Clark Steffy of Canadian Benefits Associates to unpack two powerful retirement tools for incorporated entrepreneurs: individual pension plans (IPPs) and retirement compensation arrangements (RCAs). Together, they walk through where these plans can outperform an RRSP, what âtax smartâ really means in practice, and the operational realities founders need to understand before setting anything up. In this conversation, they cover: Who an IPP is for, and when it starts to beat an RRSP Muneer...
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EP338 IPPs 101 (Ontario Edition) - A Practical Guide for Ontario Business Owners
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
Host breaks down the basics of individual pension plans (IPPs) for Ontario incorporated business owners and professionals. She explains what an IPP is, who it fits best, and why it can be a powerful tool for turning corporate success into predictable personal retirement income as part of a cash rich exit strategy. Episode overview If you are incorporated in Ontario, this is a practical primer on how an IPP works as a defined benefit pension plan set up by your corporation. Colleen covers why IPP contribution room can outpace RRSP room after age 40, how contributions are...
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EP337 Fun Frank Advice 2025 - The Annual Montage
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
Itâs time for an annual tradition on The Cash Rich Exit Podcast: the Fun Frank Advice montage. In this special episode, host curates a fast-moving mashup of âwisdom, wit and wonderfully unfiltered momentsâ from this yearâs guests. Itâs designed to be easy to consume when youâre driving, between meetings, or out for a walk. This montage is both a recap of the year and a highlight reel of the mindset shifts, practical realities, and straight talk leaders wish more founders heard earlier. Colleen also shares a key message that anchors the show: every business owner...
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EP 336 Why you Wonât Sell Until youâre Personally Ready
The Cash Rich Exit Podcast
âToo Much Money Chasing Too Few Good Businessesâ - Candid Insights from M&A Veteran Chad Morissette This episode dives deep into what actually drives a successful business sale - from the emotional readiness of the founder, to internal due diligence, to navigating PE firms and family offices. Key Highlights Chadâs journey from tech entrepreneur to M&A specialist The difference between Main Street vs lower middle-market businesses Why personal readiness is more important than business readiness The 2-year preparation window that can make or break a deal ...
info_outlineEpisode Summary: Forget everything you thought you knew about pension plans being just for government workers. In this episode, pension lawyer Jean-Pierre (JP) Laporte, Pension Lawyer and Founder, Integris Pension Management, joins host Colleen OâConnell-Campbell to share a series of powerful, real-life case studies showing how registered pension plans - including Individual Pension Plans (IPPs) and Personal Pension Plans - are quietly and dramatically transforming the wealth trajectories of incorporated business owners across Canada. From a 73-year-old founder who saved his family $4 million in a single phone call, to a lawyer who discovered his pension was exempt from departure tax when relocating abroad, these are stories of what happens when the right strategy meets the right advisor. JP also breaks down the seven tax deductions available through a registered pension plan, the 2020 Ontario regulatory changes that removed the biggest barriers to entry, and why the only thing standing between most business owners and better retirement outcomes is awareness.
Key Takeaways
Since December 8, 2020, Ontario eliminated provincial registration requirements for connected persons, removing mandatory contributions, locking-in rules, and provincial fees - a major change for business owners.
Registered pension plans offer up to seven corporate tax deductions, compared to the single annual RRSP contribution - including past service recognition, higher annual contributions (up to ~30% by age 64), special catch-up payments, investment management fee deductions, loan interest deductions, and terminal funding contributions for early retirement.
Family business owners can add children to the pension plan once they are employed, creating a multigenerational wealth transfer vehicle with no 21-year deemed disposition rule (unlike family trusts).
Business owners holding passive investments inside their corporation can sell capital properties to fund the pension plan, offset the capital gain with the pension deduction, and generate tax-free capital dividends - creating a "corporate TFSA" effect.
Pension assets are exempt from departure tax when a business owner becomes a non-resident of Canada, and cross-border pension income is taxed at just 15% under most tax treaties (versus 25% for RRSP withdrawals).
Upon death without a spouse, pension plan assets can be split among multiple beneficiaries (including charities), with each taxed only on what they receive - a significant income-splitting advantage over RRSPs.
Pension plan assets enjoy creditor protection in Ontario, unlike RRSPs held outside of insurance companies.
Ideal Candidates: Family business owners with multiple generations, C-suite executives earning high T4 income, and incorporated professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants, pharmacists).
If you are an incorporated business owner
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An IPP can be a tax smart retirement engine for the right incorporated owner, but it comes with rules, admin, and costs that need to be understood up front.
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You can fund with more flexibility as you age, but access is not as instant as an RRSP unless you plan for wind-up timing and implications.
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The structure can support creditor protection and estate or succession planning in ways many founders do not consider early enough.
Book a one on one Wealth Gap Analysis with Colleen OâConnell-Campbell to pressure test whether your personal plan is aligned with your exit and retirement strategy.
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The Cash Rich Exit Podcast is brought to you by OâConnell-Campbell Wealth Management at RBC Dominion Securities.
All opinions expressed by the host, Colleen OâConnell-Campbell, and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of RBC Dominion Securities.
This podcast is for informational purposes only before taking any action based on information in this podcast you should consult with a qualified professional.
Colleen OâConnell-Campbell is a Wealth Advisor at RBC Dominion Securities, a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.