The first time I’ve heard of Jesse Itzler was at the Grant Cardone 10x Event earlier this year.
Erwin and I were so fascinated by his speech and I immediately ordered his New York Times Best Selling book, Living with a Seal and the book written by this seal, David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds.
Jesse Itzler is known for building his impressive life resume. He himself is a very accomplished entrepreneur and his networth is measured in the $100 of millions.
What is a life resume?
Before I talk about life resume, let’s put things into perspective using Jesse Itzler’s own theory.
My mom is in her late fifties and my dad is in his early sixties. They both live in Hong Kong and the average life span in Hong Kong is 84.
If they live to 84, there’re 24 years to go.
And…if I see them once a year, I will only be able to see them 24 times. ☹
This is assuming that I will be visiting them every single year.
I used to take my parents for granted, especially during my teenage years and the rebellious twenties. 😉
When you look at your life from the amount of time left, you have a different perspective of what you can accomplish. Priorities are changed.
I can only see them 24 times.
If I spend 2 weeks a year visiting them, that is 336 days, less than a year in total. ☹
You will see me visiting Hong Kong every single year.
This also means… assuming my kids will be the average bunch, that once they turn late teens, they would no longer be interested in hanging out with their parents.
I have exactly 10 years left to enjoy them, groom them the way I want to, and support them. Yep, only 10 years left!
Perspective is changed. Priorities are changed!
I am going to spend more time with these kids in the next 10 years.
Applying this perspective in life, Jesse Itzler added these experiences in his life resume:
- Co-found the world’s private jet company in his twenties and got his first few clients from giving them muffins
- Helped launch the coconut water company Zico and later sold it to Coca Cola
- Climbed the deadliest mountain, Mount Washington, in US in a weekend
- Ran 100 miles in a single day
- Hired a navy seal to live with him and his family for one month
- Lived with the monks for 2 weeks
- List goes on…
When he used the time he has left to prioritize what he wants to do, all the fear’s gone.
You only have so much time left, who cares about the naysayers? They’re not going to exist in 100 years, you’re not even going to live for another 100 years.
When I was in the YMCA Pine Crest camp last week, many people were on the standup paddleboard paddling around the lake.
Water and I usually don’t get along. I never learned to swim properly when I was young and I doubt I would ever be able to do it myself.
Naturally, I was never on a standup paddleboard before.
But they looked fun. 😉
So guess what, when I got the opportunity to go on one, I went without hesitation. I even took Bruce along with me.
He complained that I was going too slow, so he got off the board to help push me along. 😉 (This kid!)
I was very excited. So excited that I went back to the lake the next day!
I’m building my life resume, one thing at a time.
How are you going to build your life resume?
Now, onto this week’s topic – dividend sprinkling strategy.
In Canada, many small business owners and real estate investors use the dividend sprinkling strategy to help lower their personal tax liability with a corporate structure.
For a taxpayer who doesn’t have any personal income, you can receive around $30K dividend income from a small business corporation.
If you invest in the stock market and assuming that you have no other personal income, you can receive $50K dividend income from these publicly traded stocks and mutual funds, tax-free.
This is because the corporations you invested in already took care of the taxes for you.
You don’t have to pay a dime more!
Some smart business owners intentionally leave all the after-tax profit money in the corporation, spread out the dividend payout to multi-years, to lower their income taxes. This is splitting income with yourself.
When the strategy is applied evenly to multiple years, you can potentially save tens of thousands of taxes.
Say if you net $250,000 active business income in year 1, you pay 12.5% tax to CRA. After tax, you have $218,750 left.
If the owner is to draw out the entire $218,750 dividend income entirely in year 1, he would likely have to pay an additional $66K as personal tax.
But…with the dividend sprinkling strategy…
- The owner can draw out $30K in year 1, pay zero personal income tax.
- The owner can draw out another $30K in year 2, pay zero personal income tax in year 2.
- It will take him 7 years to draw down the entire net income earned in the corp.
Of course, it’s not always realistic to live off only $30K every year.
As a business owner, the key is to discuss the strategy with a professional accountant so you can legally minimize the amount of taxes you have to pay.
Happy Canadian Real Estate Investing.
Cherry Chan, CPA, CA
Your Real Estate Accountant
