The
Smart Canadian's Guide to Building Wealth
2. Taking Wisdom From Successful Canadians
I
have always been fascinated with quotations—those short nuggets
of wisdom that can sum up, express and illuminate life, love, money
and thoughts on any number of topics.
One
of my favourite quotes came from someone I met as a teenager when
I took a job on a farm in Lucan, Ontario. Fred Lewis is a very successful
man who has amassed great wealth through land ownership and poultry
production. When I asked him what he attributed his success to,
he told me this one simple thing that I’ve never forgotten:
“If you want to be successful, just make the right decisions
every day.”
Sounds
easy enough, but it’s hard to do. However, if you really thought
about what you should and shouldn’t spend money on every day,
over time you couldn’t help but be successful. For this book
I wanted to find out if there were any words of wisdom that wealthy,
accomplished Canadians could pass on to the rest of us about success
in their lives. I asked them to think about a quote, short story
or piece of advice that they could share with others that might
help them be successful. Some wrote back with advice about money
and others about choosing the right career, while still others spoke
of the importance of giving back to the community once they became
successful. All of the comments are interesting and informative
and I thank everyone for taking part.
Not
everyone I contacted was interested in providing a quote, but in
true Canadian fashion they were polite as they declined. Representatives
for Celine Dion said she was too busy singing in Las Vegas (and
I’m sure she was). Keanu Reeves was on some far-flung movie
set, but his assistant assured me he was honoured to be asked. Movie
director James Cameron was underwater in a submarine somewhere,
but passed along his best wishes. The rep for Paul Shaffer of The
Late Show with David Letterman said contractually Paul wasn’t
allowed to, but that he was pleased he was included in any list
of successful Canadians. I never did hear back from Prime Minister
Paul Martin, but with the kind of year he’s been having that
was to be expected.
Something
also happened that caught me by surprise. I wrote a letter to one
well-known, successful Canadian whom I thought I might hear from,
but didn’t. I ran into him at a function in Toronto some time
later and he was embarrassed to say that he might be famous and
successful but that unfortunately he wasn’t very good with
his money. “I would be a hypocrite if I tried to give other
people financial advice,” he said. Another person I sent a
letter to later told me, “If you want financial advice, ask
my ex-wife. She’s got all the money.” To me this was a
bit of a wake-up call that while it may appear you are successful,
your bank account could be near empty. This is, of course, true
of how many Canadians are living today.
• • • • •
One
of my favourite quotes that I received came from Alberta Premier
Ralph Klein. In a province rich with resources he has led a government
that has its fiscal house in order. It’s also Canada’s
only province that doesn’t have a provincial sales tax. Klein
compares running a province to running a household.
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Albertans
have a long-standing reputation for being fiscally conservative,
and that tendency has always been reflected in my government’s
approach to handling the province’s finances and
spending taxpayer dollars. If I could share one piece
of advice with Canadians interested in becoming wise
consumers and saving money, it would be this: When my
government first began working to get Alberta’s
fiscal house in order, we quickly realized that the
province did not have a revenue problem; it had a spending
problem. We spent years paying off deficit and debt
and Albertans had to sacrifice to get back into the
black. My advice is simple: never spend what you do
not have. It is far better … to put off a purchase
for three months until you can afford it than to spend
the next six months paying it off. Do not line the pockets
of your bank; line your own!
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• • • • •
Canadian
rocker Sass Jordan, who topped the music charts throughout the 1980s
and ’90s, is now a judge scouting new talent on the hugely popular
Canadian Idol. Jordan comes across as a very caring person, so it
was no surprise that she had some good advice to pass on to Canadians
who want to get ahead. (I especially like the “buy pre-owned” line,
Sass!)
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In
my opinion, the wisest investment you could ever make
is in yourself. Whatever attracts you as a career, invest
in that. If you are drawn to a particular career, invest
in educating yourself about it, everything about it.
The knowledge you accumulate will pay off huge dividends
as you age. Use one credit card, and one only. Pay it
off every month. Ownership is key as well, unless it
is something you are prepared to pay for as a form of
convenience. Buy pre-owned as much as possible while
you build your wealth. You prosper once you believe
that you can.
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• • • • •
Who
would know more about money than a CEO of a Canadian bank? John
Hunkin was president and CEO of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
until he stepped down last year. He told me the key to financial
success was to save and save early.
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If there is one piece of financial advice I would give
people, it would be to save and invest as early as possible
in life. Thanks to the magic of compound interest and
the track record of equity investment growth over the
mid to long term, this is the best single move that
one can make.
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• • • • •
CTV’s
Lloyd Robertson is Canada’s most trusted news anchor and in case
you didn’t know it, he’s also a very nice guy. I asked Lloyd if
there was anything he could pass on to the average Canadian regarding
finances, and he told me that he learned the value of money early.
Robertson was born during the Great Depression and his father instilled
in him that he should hang onto any job he might get, work hard
and save his money.
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I can recall that my first job was after school and
Saturdays at the Dufferin Market in my hometown of Stratford,
Ontario. I delivered groceries on a bicycle and stocked
shelves. One early spring day, with a big box of goods
stacked in a cardboard box on my bike’s carrier, I went
spinning out of control on a patch of black ice and
smashed onto the roadway. I picked up a couple of bruises
but, more importantly, the groceries spilled all over
the street and a large glass bottle of Javex broke in
a hundred pieces and the smelly liquid oozed its way
through the celery, apples and potatoes. Twelve dollars
worth of supplies, a lot of money in the late 1940s,
was completely ruined. There was never any question
that the money would come out of my pay. Since I was
making about $4.50 a week, it took me three weeks to
pay off the store. It was a lesson learned in the true
value of the dollar.
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• • • • •
James
(Jimmy) Pattison is a Vancouver-based entrepreneur who is the chairman,
president, CEO and sole owner of the Jim Pattison Group, one of
Canada’s largest privately held companies. Growing up he sold
magazine subscriptions and garden seeds door to door, and while
attending university he washed cars and worked at a used car lot.
He worked his way up to owning a car dealership, which then turned
into 13 dealerships. He eventually expanded his empire into transportation,
communications, food products, packaging, real estate, financial
services and the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums. His company
currently has a net value of $5.2 billion and employs 26,000 people
in 48 countries—not bad for someone who started out selling
garden seeds door to door. I asked Pattison what advice he could
give the rest of us to be successful.
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I have never met anyone who was successful at anything
who didn’t work extremely hard. If you are going
to be a good violin player you have to practise. If
you work hard and force yourself to save money early
in life, then I don’t think you can miss. But you
have to want it to succeed. It has to come from within.
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• • • • •
Galen
Weston and his family have a net worth of about $8.7 billion, second
only to Kenneth Thomson and the Thomson family, who have a net worth
of $22 billion. Weston runs the food empire George Weston Limited
and owns Loblaw Companies Limited, the largest food retailer in
Canada. He oversees more than 10,900 supermarkets operating under
the Atlantic Superstore, SaveEasy, Dominion, Maxi, Provigo, Fortinos,
Loblaws, Zehrs, No Frills, Valu-Mart, Extra Foods, Your Independent
Grocer and The Real Canadian Superstore banners. I would guess that
Weston is a sailor and I thank him for this bit of advice, which
he must call on when there are storms on the horizon in the boardroom.
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Tis the set of the sails and not the gales that determine
the way they go.
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• • • • •
He
may not be the financially richest man in Canada but Philip Mahr
with World Vision is definitely one of the richest in spirit and
one of the most impressive people I have ever met. When I traveled
to Uganda with World Vision to take part in a project to renovate
a centre where children of war would be rehabilitated, Philip Mahr
was in charge of ensuring our group was kept safe and that we got
the job done. Mahr has traveled to more than 75 countries around
the world, helping eradicate poverty and bringing about a better
standard of living for the world’s poor. I remembered this
quote from Mahr as he spoke under the hot African sun about the
people he has met in his travels around the globe.
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I’ve traveled the world and I’ve seen greedy
rich people and generous poor people. I’ve also
seen generous rich people and greedy poor people.
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• • • • •
One
of my favourite paintings is one called Pancho by Canadian artist
Ken Danby. You may be more familiar with At the Crease, the famous
painting of a goalie standing in front of a hockey net, waiting
for the action to happen. That print is hanging in tens of thousands
of homes across Canada. Danby is one of this county’s greatest
artists and I was pleased that he agreed to pass on some advice
to help his fellow Canadians.
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As an artist, my focus is always on the creation of
my work and the means to achieve it. Therefore, I must
also remain aware of my ability to financially sustain
my efforts by thinking ahead, rather than simply month
by month. As a result, my commitments are planned at
least a year in advance, knowing what can be successfully
achieved in that period. I never use credit cards for
borrowing—only for convenience and record keeping—so
the monthly balance is always paid without incurring
interest. My philosophy is that every day is a learning
experience, as is every painting that I create. Therefore,
my best work will always be my next, which is the only
criteria that can attempt to ensure my future.
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• • • • •
Moses
Znaimer is the internationally known Canadian broadcaster who helped
change the television landscape with the launch of Citytv in Toronto.
He is responsible for the creation of MuchMusic, Bravo! and MusiquePlus,
as well as many other television channels and productions. He has
been in the forefront of television programming, developing shows
and talent. He is not just a broadcaster but also an entrepreneur,
quitting the CBC to start up Toronto’s first UHF station, Channel
57, in 1972, now known as Citytv. Znaimer’s distinctive visionary
style is now being copied across the country and around the world.
When I asked Znaimer for advice for the average Canadian, he said
to be the boss, do something you love and eventually you will make
money at it.
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In my opinion, the most important thing is autonomy.
Bosses live longer. It’s a fact. So my advice is,
forget the job. Start something for yourself; something
that expresses you in the sense that you’d be doing
it even if it didn’t make you lots of money. Whatever
it is, stick with it, suffer as you must, but know that
the problems will eventually yield and you will get
rich in spirit as well as in stuff. Remember, it’s
important to make money as well as things. That proves
that someone other than you cares for the work. But
it’s equally important to make things, useful things,
as well as money, because financial jiggery pokery soon
leads to business and social sterility.
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• • • • •
Alex
Trebek, the host of the popular game show “Jeopardy” is
a proud Canadian who hails from Sudbury, Ontario. He’s a busy
man but did take the time to fax me this quote. (I’ll take
how to be careful with money for 100, Alex.)
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Pay off your credit cards every month and be careful
when asked to invest in large projects.
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• • • • •
Jim
O’Connell with Report on Business Television is a former international
correspondent with CTV and as host of ROBTv interviews top newsmakers
of the day about breaking business stories. O’Connell gave
this advice for Canadians who want to get ahead:
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Embrace your work and life with enthusiasm and integrity
and always remember, attitude is everything.
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• • • • •
Jeff
Healey is a Canadian artist who has an international reputation
as a guitarist and singer. Born with a rare form of cancer called
retinoblastoma, he was blind by the age of one. He received his
first guitar at age three and learned to play it lap-style because
his hand wasn’t large enough to grip the guitar’s neck.
A Juno Award winner and Grammy nominee, Healey does charity work
including representing The Canadian National Institute for the Blind
and running its annual golf tournament every year since 1993. He
now concentrates on jazz and tours the country with other accomplished
jazz musicians. I spoke with him by phone when he was touring western
Canada.
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It almost seems the more successful you become the more
debt you have. My grandmother survived with very little
money and no credit cards. But this seems to be the
way our society has gone. The way we have set ourselves
up is that debt seems to be part of our lives. Car leases,
no money down, no payments for a year, it just seems
to be part of our society and it’s a very easy
trap to fall into. We are all in this together. Everyone
has debt. My best advice is to buckle down, work hard
and get yourself a good accountant.
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• • • • •
Alexander
Shnaider is a soft-spoken Toronto billionaire who, despite his enormous
wealth, tries to remain low key; that is, as low key as he can be
while driving $400,000 sports cars, flying in his luxury jet and
buying and selling steel mills in Europe. Russian by birth and Canadian
by upbringing, he is the director of the Midland Group. Shnaider
is currently bankrolling development of the Trump International
Hotel & Tower, a $500 million, five–star, 68-storey development
in the heart of downtown Toronto. He also spent $50 million to buy
a Formula One racing team. Not bad for a guy who as a child stocked
shelves and mopped floors in his parents’ deli. What advice
does this self-made billionaire have for the rest of us?
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My keys to success can be summed up with the following
simple truths: Work as hard as you can while you still
can. Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done
today, as tomorrow always brings new challenges. Always
seek to improve. And finally, stay true to your word—it’s
the most valuable asset you possess.
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• • • • •
Ed
Mirvish, or “Honest Ed” as he is known, is one of Toronto’s
most interesting characters. A charismatic person who loves the
media and public attention, he has a rags to riches story. Mirvish
came from a poor family and had to share his bathroom with up to
50 people during his childhood. What began as a small store in 1948
grew into Honest Ed’s and now takes up a Toronto block. He
now also owns several theatres in Toronto, including the Royal Alexandra
Theatre, which was built in 1993 for $22 million. The first time
I met Mirvish was at one of his turkey giveaways, which I covered
for CTV early in my career. I asked Mirvish what advice he would
pass on to Canadians trying to get ahead.
I
would say if you ever have the urge to make money don’t
fight it, it’s not all that bad. In many of my
public addresses over the years young people would often
ask me, how can they succeed? Are there still opportunities
to become successful and make money? My answer was and
is “Find something you enjoy to work at, something
that interests and motivates you, work at it diligently
and you will succeed. With the technology we have today
there are more opportunities to succeed than ever before.
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• • • • •
Allan
Slaight is the executive chairman of the Standard Broadcasting Corporation.
The son of a veteran newspaperman, he is a radio pioneer now in
Canada’s Broadcast Hall of Fame. Slaight has a long history
in the broadcasting business, beginning as a reporter/announcer
and working his way through the ranks of news director and general
sales manager to eventually become vice-president and general manager
of CHUM-AM/FM. Standard Broadcasting Corporation Limited is now
one of the largest privately owned multimedia companies in Canada.
At the Juno Awards in April 2005, the Canadian Academy of Recording
Arts and Sciences honoured him for his never-ending dedication to
the Canadian radio industry. When I asked Slaight for advice to
help the average Canadian, his answer was short and to the point.
Surround
yourself with the right people so there are many slaps
on the back and no kicks in the arse.
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• • • • •
I did
a story on beer wars in Ontario and interviewed an impressive young
entrepreneur, Manjit Minhas, President of the Lakeshore Creek Brewing
Company. At 24 years old she is taking on Canada’s traditional
big brewers, bringing new, competitively priced beers to market
to compete against Canada’s major brands. The company she started
in university now does $30 million a year in business. I asked her
what advice she had for the average Canadian.
As
a consumer we have been branded to the nth degree.
In my estimation we pay 30% to 40% more for brand
name products that are somehow supposed to make us
feel cool, sexy or just plain smart. If buying a brand
name product means having the assurance of buying
a product that proves to have a good cost-to-benefit
ratio, lasts longer, looks better, tastes better,
etc. then I am all for brand name products. But this
isn’t so all the time, so I cannot understand
why Canadians buy these brands of beer from companies
that spend hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising
to convince consumers that these beers will attract
people of the opposite sex, make you patriotic or
help you join a hip crowd. Remember, just because
you pay more does not mean it is a superior product;
it just means the company makes more profit margin.
If consumers followed this simple principle it would
keep millions of dollars in their pockets.
If
possible, never borrow money from a bank or any other
individual because it will give you a false sense
of how much money you have and are making, never mind
the high interest rates you will have to pay back.
If you only spend what you have in cold, hard cash,
you will never be in debt or spread yourself too thin.
Also, remember each penny counts because they are
the ones that add up to dollars, so watch your costs
very closely.
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• • • • •
Ted
Rogers is the hands-on leader of the media empire Rogers Communications
Inc., which has controlling stakes in Rogers Media, Rogers Wireless
and Rogers Cable. In 1960, while still a student, Rogers bought
Toronto radio station CHFI—the first FM radio station in Canada—for
$85,000. Rogers broadcasting operations now include 43 radio stations
across Canada, two multicultural television stations in Ontario
and an 80% interest in Sportsnet and The Shopping Channel, as well
as interests in countless other enterprises including the Rogers
Centre in Toronto, formerly known as SkyDome. While Rogers is clearly
a business icon, when I asked him to share financial advice with
his fellow Canadians he wanted to speak about the importance of
charity.
One
of the things I am most passionate about is individuals
and business supporting the community. I began early
when I didn’t have a lot of money but I really
thought it was important. I started a scholarship
fund at the University of Toronto in honour of my
father, 35 years ago, with a few hundred dollars.
I added to it year after year and slowly built it
up so we could afford two annual scholarships. And
obviously we’ve made significant contributions
lately.
You,
your family and your business exist in a community.
Our community supports and encourages you—we
must give back to it and it doesn’t always have
to be money. Give your time! Become passionate about
your community.
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• • • • •
While
many of these successful Canadians are now household names, most
started with little, and it was only their tenacity and sheer determination
that propelled them to the top of their careers and professions.
Their success has brought wealth not only to them, but to countless
others who have been able to benefit from their vision. I wanted
to speak with them because too often, people assume that the successful
and rich are that way because it came easy to them. That’s
almost never the case and even those born with a silver spoon in
their mouth must manage their wealth carefully or what they have
can be lost in a generation. I have always felt it was wrong to
blame poor people for being poor, and I believe it’s also wrong
to blame rich people for being rich. Not all us of can attain the
greatness that some of these Canadians have been able to achieve,
but it does show that hard work and perseverance pays off. Their
advice is inspiration to us all and I thank them for their words
of wisdom.
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