Should children be taught in school how to become wealthy?

Do you think schools should be teaching their students how to become wealthy? It is a teachable subject, just like driving a car?
Last week, our team visited a high school for Junior Achievement to talk about becoming wealthy which is actually achievable for every teenager who was listening in that classroom. There you have it...everyone who was listening. It was shocking to have rude comments made by the teens to the team.
Yup. Unbelievable. Unless you are a teacher...
Wealth, I believe, starts at home. Attitudes of these smarty pants kids starts at home.
Do you think they will be a client of a financial advisor in a few decades? When they had the privledge of hearing from client advisors who handle millionaires' money, they needed to realize the impact on their future lives. Most of our clients made that money themselves and also were teenagers but often their stories illustrated their dedication to learning.
When I calculate the cost of salaries and bonus of our team, plus their good will and energy put forward, I wonder about the worth of such an outreach program.
What do you think?

Pierre Ouimet and Jacoline Loewen

From our magazine, Unlimited, I read the views on teaching wealth in schools made by Finland's Minister of Education:

Dr Marjo Kyllonen is the Education Manager for Helsinki. Having devised the blueprint for the future of Finland’s school system, she is playing a pivotal role in driving these changes through. She is doing so because she sees the structure and aims of current education systems in the West as increasingly irrelevant and obsolete, relics of an Industrial Age that we started to leave behind a long time ago. She argues that we need to rethink our entire relationship to education to equip future generations with the tools they need to face the challenges to come.

Do you think we should give much priority to teaching children how to become wealthy?

No, I don’t think that’s the role of the school. Of course, we’d like everyone to have a good life and be successful. But the way you’ve put it makes me think of a world where individuals are looking out for themselves – a “me first” culture. My picture of future society is totally different – I think people need to have social responsibility and understand that no one is doing well if there are others in society who are insecure and suffering.

What should our legacy be to future generations?

It’s not only us and our kids, it’s our grandchildren and their children – if we want our little human “club” to survive in the future we really have to think: what is sustainable? And how do we teach that to our kids? Not only ecological sustainability – social sustainability, too.

If you could change one thing about the way politics on Earth works right now, what would that be?

My friend, the former NASA astronaut Ellen Baker, told me that when she was in space, she saw how beautiful our world is. And there are no boundaries. Go far enough away and Earth looks very peaceful, no borders. She said to me that our politicians should go and have a space-trip, to see how beautiful our planet is and make peace.

M&A Fee Guide: Industry Survey Results

Mergers and Acquisitions Fee Guide: Industry Survey Results and Findings.

The most comprehensive study on lower middle market Mergers and Acquisition advisory fees.

By: John Carvalho

Recently, Firmex and Divestopedia partnered to provide transparency into Mergers and Acqisitions  fee structures within North America. Their goal was to research fee structures charged for Mergers and Acquisitions by finance experts.

Currently, no mainstream published data exists that offers both buyers and sellers insights into average cost structures, what’s being charged and why. This survey actually is very much needed to help business owners understand why they need the services of finance experts beyond their accountant and what services the fees support.

Here is a link to the M&A fee survey report:

https://www.divestopedia.com/14/8102/sale-process/investment-bankers/ma-fee-guide-industry-survey-results-and-findings

If you want to get in touch with the author:

John Carvalho, CA, CBV, CF

President

Stone Oak Capital Inc.

www.stoneoakcapital.com

The survey ran from August through to the middle of October 2016 with 320 responses.

Are Women Entrepreneurs Changing How We View Wealth?

Are Women Entrepreneurs Changing How We View Wealth? Jacoline Loewen asks how investing is changing?
https://www.ubs.com/microsites/global-visionaries/en/visions/analisabalares.html

Are Women Entrepreneurs Changing How We View Wealth?

Xenia Bogarad, Lally Rementilla, Jacoline Loewen,
Leslie Gouldie, Elizabeth Suske, Maira Milanetti

Imagine my surprise when I looked at the UBS Unlimited social networking site and found the leading article was about my friend Vicki Saunders featured as the UBS Wealth Question – Are women changing the way we see wealth?  I was surprised because UBS has the choice to feature any successful woman around the world through the UBS  supporting women initiatives. They chose to shine the spotlight on a great Canadian entrepreneur - Vicki Saunders.

Vicki and I are on OCAD University's business catalyst advisory board together and we share a common interest in being passionate about supporting entrepreneurs. I have always admired Vicki's ability to get traction for female entrepreneurs. Just as UBS discusses in this article, Vicki is changing the definition of wealth with VC investing. Here is the UBS article talking about wealth and VC investing:

Vicki Saunders came to start the SheEO because she saw that current funding models for young women entrepreneurs were broken––not only were women receiving just 4% of venture capital, but economic models optimized for growth at the expense of everything else disadvantaged women. Here is an excerpt from the article:

“What I have seen is that from a VC [venture capitalist] point of view we look at women and see all the things that are wrong with them,” said Vicki when I spoke to her, before listing many of the gendered criticisms she’d heard while working in Silicon Valley: “women aren’t bold enough; women aren’t confident enough; women don’t take enough risks…” Vicki, however, turned the meaning of these insults upside down; what she heard instead was that women don’t overpromise on what they can deliver, that they do what they say they are going to do. Studies have shown that women often extract more value and profit from capital than men, giving Vicki the confidence to pursue SheEO.

Surveying the state of our economic system, Vicki argued it was time for a change. “What if we were optimizing for wellness, or for quality of life? We made up this current model, and it is no longer working for us, so we need a new one. Providing women with funds and a network is the best way to bring that about.”  

In my view, Vicki Saunders took the criticisms of women entrepreneurs and understood there is a flip side to look at women’s qualities. She had seen the perspective of many women entrepreneurs and this experience gave her the confidence. She is now helping women across the world create wealth. Women need to be the change they want to see and Vicki shows that my favourite saying is true - action speaks louder than words.

UNLIMITED* is a new venture powered by UBS, bringing together – from across geographies, sectors and backgrounds – a unique, global network of people in search of the answers to life’s big questions. By working in partnership with innovative content partners including Monocle, The Future Laboratory and VICE, UNLIMITED* will provide a completely fresh perspective on topics that are truly significant, through our distinctive curious approach.At UBS, this is what we do everyday. We work with an extraordinary group of entrepreneurs and investors, and we use our scale as the world’s largest wealth manager to help answer life’s big questions to ensure our clients succeed. You can also join Jacoline Loewen on Twitter @jacolineloewen

The Atmospheric Fund invests in Sustainable Businesses

TAF Board of, Directors: Jason Kotler, Susan McLean, Jacoline Loewen, Keri Diamond, Mik Layton 

The impact of investing in sustainable business is now asked about by investors. This has been the mandate for The Atmospheric Fund (TAF)  and its investments. The TAF mandate is to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto and GTA, supporting the City of Toronto’s target to reduce city-wide emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. TAF invests its endowment based on a Council-approved investment policy overseen by a blue-chip volunteer investment committee.

"Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, TAF was the brainchild of a City Council led by Mayor Art Eggleton which created the agency in 1991 and endowed it with $23 million from the sale of surplus City property. TAF has invested the capital ever since, using the returns to seed innovative projects, advance game-changing policies, and demonstrate and de-risk low-carbon solutions to help the City achieve its ambitious climate targets. The endowment has been invested three times over supporting over $50 million in community grants and investments and shaving $60 million off the City’s operating budget. All this at no cost to the taxpayer.

What are the two lessons Canada’s senior governments can learn from TAF’s success?

First, a strategic focus is essential. TAF produced Toronto’s first GHG inventory which revealed waste as a key source of emissions. As a result, Toronto became one of the first cities in the world to capture methane leaking from landfills and turn it into green power, simultaneously shrinking a major GHG source and creating a new revenue stream.

Second, seeing is believing. The adoption of new green technologies or programmatic approaches carries inherent risks that are more appropriately advanced by an independent innovation group like TAF. If a new initiative fails, municipal staff who champion the innovation may fear being sidelined. Pilot projects designed at TAF to test and verify results de-risked new technologies. Thus, a wide variety of advanced technologies have been adopted across the city, from industrial wind and solar electricity generation at Exhibition Place, to LED traffic signals, to electric vehicle adoption in Toronto’s fleets." Read the full article here.

Julia Langer, CEO of TAF, said it was wonderful to have so many current Board members of The Toronto Atmospheric Fund attend the TAF@25 celebration.  There were about 400 people in the room from the business, technology, finance, environmental and government sectors demonstrating TAF’s broad network. 

Sandra was an excellent emcee, and thanks to gamesmaster Mike Layton for making the carbon poker game a hit.  

Above all, thank you to the CEO of TAF, Julie Langer, who leads with passion but also great organizational ability.

Please find our TAF celebration press release here and see highlights from Twitter here.