The inheritance problem

When the executor read out the terms of their father’s will, Julia and her two siblings just stared at each other in stunned silence. “We were completely shocked,” recalls the Vancouver marketing specialist. “My dad had done his best to control us while he was alive – now he was doing it from the grave.”

What they expected to be a simple three-way division of their dad’s considerable estate turned out to be a complex set of instructions, sending his adult children cap in hand to his executor any time they needed a little extra cash to cover unusual expenses such as new vehicles, home renovations or weddings. more...

Show me the money

Moving from early-stage financing to the public markets used to be a straightforward affair involving a time-honoured process of financing rounds followed by a listing on the stock exchange. But B.C.’s young tech- and knowledge-based businesses are finding that in the post-tech-crash era, the traditional rules of the game don’t apply. It’s time for a whole new playbook more...