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( 01 )Who We Help

For business owners —the company is the plan. Protect it like one.

Your business is your income, your retirement, and your family's inheritance rolled into one asset. Tanya builds the insurance layer that protects all three at once — with corporate dollars, wherever the structure allows.

( 02 )The Owner's Problem

Everything depends on one balance sheet.

Business owners concentrate risk in ways employees never do. Your income depends on the company; the company often depends on you; and your family's future depends on both. Insurance planning for owners isn't about a policy — it's about deciding, in advance, what happens to each of those dependencies on the worst day.

Ownership also gives you tools employees don’t have. Corporate dollars — typically taxed at lower rates than personal income — can fund coverage more efficiently. Corporately owned permanent policies may create Capital Dividend Account credits at death, potentially allowing tax-free capital dividends to your estate, subject to CRA rules.

The planning stack usually runs in this order: protect the people the business can't function without; fund the shareholders' agreement so the buyout is a certainty instead of a negotiation; pre-fund the tax bill your shares will create at death; and finally, use the corporate structure to move surplus toward your family efficiently.

Tanya has spent her independent career on exactly this ground — and she builds every owner strategy with your accountant and lawyer at the table, because a plan the whole advisory team designed is a plan that actually gets implemented.

Corporate insurance structures, premium funding, and CDA outcomes depend on your corporation's circumstances and current legislation, and must be confirmed with your accountant and lawyer before implementation.
( 03 )The Owner's Stack

Four layers of protection, in the right order.

( i )

Key person coverage

Capital that arrives when a founder, rainmaker, or irreplaceable operator dies — stabilizing payroll, lenders, and customers while the company adapts.

( ii )

Funded buy-sell

Insurance on each shareholder guarantees the buyout capital your agreement promises — the survivor keeps the company; the family receives full value.

( iii )

Share liability funding

Your shares are likely your estate's biggest tax event. Permanent coverage sized to the projection pays the CRA without touching the business.

( iv )

Corporate wealth transfer

Corporately owned permanent policies may route proceeds through the Capital Dividend Account — moving surplus to your family tax-efficiently, subject to CRA rules.

( 04 )Owner Blind Spots

Three gaps Tanya finds in most owner plans.

The unfunded agreement

A buy-sell that names a price but not a funding source. It works beautifully until the day it's needed.

Personal-only coverage

Owners paying premiums with expensive personal dollars while an efficient corporate structure sits unused.

The forgotten tax bill

Decades of retained earnings and share growth — and no liquidity plan for the deemed disposition those shares trigger at death.

Most owners in Grande Prairie, Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto haven't made these mistakes on purpose — they've simply never had one advisor look at the insurance, the corporation, and the estate as a single system.

( 05 )Common Scenarios

Owners Tanya builds for.

I

The solo incorporated operator

One shareholder, one family, one company that stops without her. The plan: corporately funded permanent coverage for the estate, CI protection for the living risk, and a CDA structure that eventually moves surplus home tax-efficiently.

II

The partnership

Two or three shareholders and a handshake understanding. The plan: a funded buy-sell with corporately owned policies, valuation logic agreed in daylight, and proceeds routed to complete the buyout without debt.

III

The family operating company

Founder in his sixties, one child in the business, two out. The plan: succession funding that pays the founder's tax bill, equalizes the non-successor children, and hands over a company — not a mortgage on one.

IV

The growth-stage founder

Revenue climbing, lenders involved, everything reinvested. The plan: key person and CI coverage that keeps the banks calm, convertible term where budget demands it, and a structure ready to grow into permanence.

( 06 )Common Questions

Owner insurance planning, answered plainly.

Should my policies be personal or corporate?+
If a corporation exists, corporate ownership is usually worth evaluating first — premium funding with corporate dollars is often more efficient, and the Capital Dividend Account pathway may apply at death, subject to CRA rules. But creditor exposure, the shareholders’ agreement, and where proceeds should land all matter. Tanya decides this with your accountant, not by default.
How much key person coverage does a business need?+
Enough to buy the company time: typically some multiple of the person's contribution to earnings, plus recruitment and transition costs, plus any lending covenants their death would strain. It's a business-continuity number, not a payroll number — and Tanya builds it from your statements.
What does a funded buy-sell actually look like?+
A shareholders’ agreement that sets the trigger and the valuation method, paired with insurance on each shareholder sized to their stake. At death, proceeds fund the purchase per the agreement — often flowing through the corporation and CDA. The survivor keeps control; the estate gets paid in full, promptly.
I'm reinvesting everything — can I start small?+
Yes. Convertible term coverage secures insurability and protects the downside now, with contractual rights to convert to permanent coverage later without new medical underwriting. It’s the standard growth-stage design, and Tanya prices the conversion pathway from day one.
Will Tanya work with my accountant directly?+
She insists on it. Corporate insurance touches tax filings, the CDA, and your shareholders’ agreement — strategies designed with your accountant and lawyer at the table are stronger and faster to implement. Bring them to the first call if you like.
( 07 )Where Owners Work With Tanya

Owner-focused advice, across three provinces.

Tanya serves business owners throughout Alberta — including Grande Prairie, Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, and Lethbridge — across British Columbia, including Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna, and Kamloops, and throughout Ontario, including Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga, Hamilton, and Kitchener-Waterloo.

foundation
( 08 )Begin The Conversation

Protect the asset everything else depends on.

One conversation about your company, your structure, and the three gaps most owner plans hide.

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()Book Your Consultation

Choose a time. The strategy hour is on Tanya.

Pick any open slot — the calendar is live. One relaxed, plain-language conversation about what you've built and what you want it to do. No cost, no obligation, no pressure.

  • Complimentary & no obligation
  • Virtual across AB · BC · ON
  • Evenings available
  • Your accountant welcome to join
30-minute consultation · Live availability
Licensing & Regulation. Tanya Michel is a licensed insurance broker serving clients in Alberta (regulated by the Alberta Insurance Council — Licence # [confirm]), British Columbia (regulated by the Insurance Council of British Columbia — Licence # [confirm]), and Ontario (regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario — Licence # [confirm]). Insurance products are issued by Canadian life insurance companies; features, values, and guarantees are governed by the terms of each policy contract. Tax outcomes depend on your personal circumstances and current legislation — always consult your accountant, lawyer, or tax professional before acting.