Background

Nancy and Ken are in their early 50s and have two adult children, Justin (23) and Evelyn (19). Nancy is the CFO of a public company. Her compensation consists of a salary, employee stock options and restricted stock units (RSUs). Nancy has accumulated a significant number of shares in the company and recently sold some of her shares resulting in proceeds of about $5 Million. Nancy plans to sell the remainder of her shares in the next 3-5 years for approximately $10 Million (based on today’s valuation of her company) and retire. Ken is an artist and homemaker without any taxable income.

Discovery

Although Nancy and Ken were initially concerned about understanding Nancy’s compensation as well as developing a retirement plan, we also learned they:

• Plan to renovate their home in Toronto for $1 Million and plan to purchase a cottage for $1-2 Million in the next few years.
   
• Want to transition their wealth to their two children upon their passing but worry about the best way to transition such a large sum of money.
   
• Are considering making a $1 Million donation to their favourite charity but aren’t sure of when to make the donation - during their lifetime or on their passing.