You built the company. Now stop handing so much of it to the CRA.
Thompson & Pollock Wealth Inc. builds one coordinated plan for incorporated trades businesses — corporate tax strategy, crew retention, risk protection and an exit that actually pays you. Independent, Oshawa-based, serving Ontario and New Brunswick.
- A written plan for the money sitting in your corporation
- Benefits and pensions that keep journeymen from leaving
- Protection if you, or your best lead hand, goes down
- An exit strategy that uses the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption
Limited roster — applications reviewed personally by a partner
If you own a trades business, you already know these
Every owner we sit down with is dealing with some version of the same five problems. None of them show up on a job cost sheet — they show up ten years later, in what you actually keep.
"Just leave the money in the corp."
That's not a plan — it's a deferred tax problem growing quietly. Retained earnings with no strategy get taxed inefficiently on the way out and can disqualify you from the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption on sale.
You can't keep good techs.
Every journeyman you lose costs you months of productivity and a recruiting fee. A wage bump is the most expensive retention tool there is — benefits and a group pension cost less and stick harder.
The company doesn't survive you being hurt.
In the trades, one back injury ends the earning years. Without key-person, disability and critical illness coverage in place, the payroll doesn't stop but the revenue does.
No buy/sell agreement with your partner.
If your partner dies, divorces or walks, you can end up in business with their spouse or their lawyer. Undocumented partnerships are the single most common structural failure we find.
No idea what the business is worth or how you get out.
Most owners get one shot at selling. Buyers pay a premium for clean structure and discount hard for mess. Structure decided three years before the sale determines what you net.
Cash flow swings and you're personally on the hook.
Personal guarantees on equipment, lines of credit and leases mean a bad season doesn't just hit the corp — it hits the house.
How we fix it — in that order
We don't sell products off a shelf. We run a sequence, and every step builds on the one before it.
- 01
The fit review (30 minutes, no cost)
We listen first. What you own, what you owe, who depends on you, and what you want the next ten years to look like. We tell you honestly whether we can move the needle.
- 02
The full financial picture
Corporation and personal, together. Retained earnings, shareholder loans, T5018s, WSIB exposure, equipment financing, RRSP/TFSA room, real estate, and what your family would actually receive today.
- 03
Tax and compensation strategy
Salary versus dividends, Individual Pension Plan, capital dividend account, holding company structure. We model the ten-year difference in dollars so you can see the decision, not just hear it.
- 04
Protect the operation
Key-person, disability, critical illness and life coverage sized to the actual business — plus a documented buy/sell agreement so partner exits are decided before they're emotional.
- 05
Retain and reward the crew
Group benefits and a group retirement plan or DPSP that competes with the big shops recruiting your techs, at a cost that beats a wage increase.
- 06
Build the exit
Clean the structure years ahead of the sale, purify the corporation for the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption, and plan the succession — family, foreman or third-party buyer.
What you get as a client
One team, one plan, everything coordinated. No handing you off to three different providers who never speak to each other.
Written financial plan
Corporate and personal, updated as the business changes — not a PDF you read once.
Corporate tax strategy
Built with your accountant, in dollars, so you can see the ten-year effect of every choice.
Independent insurance shopping
We're independent. We shop the full Canadian market for life, disability, critical illness and key-person coverage.
Group benefits & group pension
Retention plans priced for shops with 3 to 100 employees.
Investment management
The Optimize Private Client Program — family-office-style management for corporate and personal assets.
Will & Power of Attorney preparation
Included as part of the plan. Most owners we meet either have nothing or have a will from before the company existed.
Succession & exit planning
Structure, valuation conversation, LCGE purification and the buyer conversation.
A partner on the phone
You get people who answer. No call centre, no rotating junior advisor.
Why owners in the trades come to us specifically
Johnathan Pollock, our Managing Partner, is the Amazon best-selling author of The Entrepreneur's Toolkit — and, more relevantly, he has started, scaled and successfully sold multiple businesses of his own. The conversation about bringing a foreman in as a partner, financing a fleet refresh, or selling on a vendor take-back is one he has lived, not one he read about.
We are independent. We are not captive to one insurer or one fund company, so we shop the entire Canadian market and recommend what actually fits your shop.
Our roster is deliberately limited. Every application is read personally by a partner, and we turn away work we can't genuinely improve. That's why the clients we do take get answered on the first ring.
Straight answers before you apply
- I already have an accountant. Why do I need you?
- Your accountant reports history. We build the forward plan — how money leaves the corporation, what it buys, how it's protected, and who gets it. We work alongside your accountant, not instead of them, and we'll happily sit in on the year-end call.
- What does it cost?
- The fit review and the plan conversation cost nothing. If you become a client, we're transparent about exactly how we're paid on each product before you sign anything — no hidden trailers, no surprises.
- My season is brutal. When would we even talk?
- Evenings, early mornings, video, or in your shop. We work around trade hours because most of our clients are on a truck by 6:30am.
- How big does my company need to be?
- Most owners we take on are incorporated and doing $500K+ in revenue, but the real filter is whether you're building something and want to keep more of it. Apply and we'll tell you honestly.
- What happens after I apply?
- A partner reads your application personally. If we think we can add real value, we reach out within five business days for a 30-minute introductory call. If we're not the right fit, we tell you straight and point you toward someone who is.
Apply for a fit review
Tell us about the business. A partner reads every application personally and responds within five business days — with a straight answer either way.
Referred by an existing client? Use the referral path instead — referred families are reviewed first.
Prefer to talk? 905-243-6328