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From Numbers to Net Worth

• Stella Ram • Season 1 • Episode 21

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In this eye-opening episode of The Stellar Talk Show, we sit down with Terrence Marshall—a Chartered Professional Accountant, real estate investor, private lender, and top-producing Realtor who has helped clients close over $100 million in property deals.

Terrence brings a rare perspective to the table: one that fuses financial literacy with real estate strategy. Whether you're a new immigrant trying to navigate the Canadian tax system, a first-time buyer unsure about HST implications, or a new business owner looking to maximize deductions—this episode is your playbook.

We talk taxes, audits, real estate strategy, and legacy building—without the jargon. Just smart, real talk that could save (or make) you thousands.

✅ You’ll learn:

Tax mistakes new immigrants make (and how to avoid them)

What CRA looks for in audits (and how to stay audit-proof)

Tax-saving moves for first-time buyers

The truth about HST on new construction

Why real estate investors need accountants in their corner

If you’re ready to stop guessing and start building wealth with confidence—this episode is for you.

 #StellarTalkShow #TerrenceMarshall #NumberOneRealStoryTalkShow #NumberOneRealStrategyPodcast #NumberOneRealStoryRealStrategyPodcast #NumberOneRealStrategyTalkShow #CanadianRealEstate #RealEstateInvestingCanada #FirstTimeHomeBuyerTips #WealthBuildingStrategies #LegacyBuilding #RealEstatePodcast #CanadianTaxes #TaxTipsCanada #CRAAudit #TaxPlanningCanada #HSTCanada #FinancialLiteracyCanada #MoneySmartCanada #TaxSavingTips #NewImmigrantsCanada #CanadianBusinessOwners #PrivateLendingCanada #FinancialFreedomCanada #WealthWithPurpose #FinancialFreedom #CommunityBuilders #WealthWithPurpose #TorontoPodcast #FirstTimeHomeBuyers #ViralPodcast #InspireAndBuild #NumberOneRealStoryPodcast #NumberOneRealStoryTalkShow #NumberOneRealStrategyPodcast #NumberOneRealStrategyTalkShow #NumberOneRealStoryRealStrategyTalkShow

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[Music] Warren Buffett once said, "The more you learn, the more you earn." I would say that was instrumental. No, this conversation is very powerful and very very powerp packed with information. You know, being a first generation um Canadian and you know, my parents were immigrants and so they sacrificed everything to get me here. The power of knowledge. You have to learn and earn to be able to invest. Warren Buffett once said, "The more you learn, the more you earn." But here's the truth they don't tell you when you move to Canada. It's not just about working hard. It's about understanding the system and learning how to make it work for you. I am Stella Ram, your friend and your trusted award-winning realtor. I have lived your hustle and I'm here to help you rise, build, and thrive. So, if you're a new immigrant to the GTA, starting a business or buying your first home or just starting from scratch, stop scrolling and stay with us because today's guest, Terrence Marshall, isn't just a real estate advisor. He's a chartered professional accountant who's helped clients close over 100 million in real estate and save thousands of dollars in taxes. From avoiding the number one tax mistake new Canadians make to protecting yourself from surprise audits to strategies most first-time home buyers and business owners miss until it's too late. This episode is your financial playbook for building wealth the smart way in Canada. No fluff, no jargon, just straight talk on money, tax, and mindset from someone who has walked the walk. So grab your notebook, tag a friend, and hit that follow because this episode could be the one that changes your future. Let's dive in. Hi Terrence, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Stella. You're most welcome. Terren, you have mastered the financial literacy from a very young age. Tell me about your mind shift there and you know how you have started your journey in the financial literacy. Yeah. Uh when it comes to financial literacy, I think what was key for me was uh first I had a part-time job like very early on. So I kind of learned how to manage money and one of the first things my dad did actually was give me a supplementary credit card. So when I was 16, I had a supplementary credit card which was essentially a credit card that fell under my dad's account. Yes. And so I could use the card to like purchase whatever I needed, mostly essentials, right? My dad was like, "You can buy food if you want to." And I would pay the bill, right? So my dad would say, "Never let the bill get paid late because the interest on a credit card is super high, right?" So that that was kind of like the first probably tool that I had to kind of learn about personal credit and how credit cards work and how important credit is. Mhm. And then slowly as I shifted towards um university uh I remember um working as a lifeguard and a swim instructor. And then eventually I while I was working like my shift work as a lifeguard, I noticed one of the pool managers had his own swim school and I noticed that he was making good money. He was driving like a BMW. So I thought, "Oh, maybe like he's got to be doing something better with his business." Yes. So then when I was around 20 years old, I started a swim school on the weekends. So I started renting out school school board uh school pools uh using like permits and then I would run my own swim school on the weekends. Amazing. And then that essentially taught me that you don't need to trade your time in for money as much, but more so leveraging, you know, employees and being able to like running your own business allows you to then kind of amplify your earnings, right? So that was my first uh first instance as you know running like a business and then you know it kind of evolved from there because I was still in school and I was you know working towards co-op and with my business degree and so things just kind of naturally aligned in terms of like progressing from like working as an employee to then having my own business and then kind of still working as an employee while getting my CPA which then obviously added to my financial literacy even further because Then I started to understand you know not just about earning money but then also about how to save it from a tax efficient perspective. Yes. And then essentially becoming an adviser for people um in terms of like how to save their how to save money from a tax perspective and then how to structure their investments efficiently for tax purposes. And then today I essentially had a very natural transition into real estate because yes through that business um the swimschool business I was kind of generating small profits along with my employment income to then buy real estate. So I was putting deposits down on properties and building up a real estate portfolio without really knowing it at the time. It was kind of like my dad had one rental property and I thought that was really instrumental in how our family was able to build wealth. So I just went and thought, let me replicate this as many times over as I could. And so it transitioned from financial literacy to tax um to then building and buying assets, right? So that's kind of how I how I made it today. And then real estate sales just made the most sense because I just had such a passion for real estate by the time I I built uh my portfolio. No, I don't doubt that. I have to ask, so about this swim school, do is it still in operation or No, no, no. I don't operate the swim school anymore because to be honest with you during CO what happened was the school board had shut down uh the schools over the weekend so they kind of stopped permits and so I lost my swimschool income and then at the same time the last month in my CPA training uh they put me on a 30-day temporary hold so I kind of lost both my incomes within a week and then I had my real estate license and that was my third income I just got my CPA when they laid me off. So, I thought, you know what? Let me just jump into this full-time. So, it was like I said, like things have just naturally come into alignment and opportunities kind of presented themselves when one door closed and another opened and I just kind of um pursued pretty strongly and adapted and uh fortunately I'm I love what I do today and um then for real estate it's become so much more than that too. Yeah. No, I I can say that. That's amazing. Thanks for sharing your story of you know how you came from school to college to uni and now oh my god and but it seems like you started entrepreneurship at a very young age too. Yeah, I would say that was instrumental um in terms of being able to become a successful like self-employed uh business owner. when it comes to like entrepreneurship like even just being able to experience it uh like from such a young age with such a small business even just being able to like experiment in that with very low risk allows you especially at that age you can take those kind of risks right you don't have any liabilities you don't have um you know you have time which is probably one of your most important resources in the sense that if something goes wrong you can you always have the time to make it up and um that I think was instrumental as well as um the fact that I went to a self-directed high school built that independence on from like an early age. So it always felt like I was always trying to take on more independently and I think that also was a big part of it. Yeah. You wanted more for your life, right? So you just you just keep reaching achieving and more you know going on from there. So tell me like in this that journey that you had from your young u you know young terren to that entrepreneurship in the swimming school to then getting your CPA when did the wealth building mindset come in and how did that settle with you? Yeah honestly I didn't realize that when I was purchasing real estate maybe when I bought my first property I put my first deposit it was like probably around 21 so I didn't really think like oh this is my first step to building wealth. It was more so um I thought that this was going to be uh an asset, a rental property, but I didn't realize that wealth as a whole involves a lot of things. It involves, you know, assets and diversifying your assets, right? So, not just buying real estate because that was what my primary focus was at the time was just buying real estate and and unfortunately but fortunately, I recognize that today. So, I'm diversifying my portfolio a bit more. But then it also involves a good tax plan, right? So understanding like when those real estate assets or any other investments pass on to the next generation, have I structured them properly? Um or even just from year to year like how am I saving taxes on the income I'm generating? Right? So you need a good tax plan. And then you also need I feel part of a good wealth plan is life insurance, right? So that piece I kind of recently added to my wealth plan as well. So I feel like that inkling of understanding what wealth is is somewhat of a journey. Like it is because I'm still I find so young like at 30 years old like you're just learning about new assets and I think what you have to do is always be open-minded and listening to what the other investments out there are right and even recently right like I've come across Bitcoin and a lot of people might say like oh Bitcoin is silly bit but if you don't really have an open mind and you don't take the time to understand it how do you understand the problem that it's solving you you don't right and so you would never invest in it unless you understand it or believe in it and so you could miss out on that investment and so that's why like you know real estate is a great asset class sure I believe in it but there are other assets that you know like I said are part of a good wealth building plan but to answer your question precisely you learn I've been learning about wealth and I'll continue to be learning about what kind of creates like you generational wealth, right? Yeah, that's amazing. I that reminds me the Warren what Warren Buffett said, the more you learn, more you earn. So, you know, learning continues and you know that and that's how you keep Yeah. growing yourself, right? So, um I want to focus our conversation today uh in few different segments but so let's start with uh new immigrants to the Canada to Canada. So, when they come in, they want to have that fresh start. Um, what's one major tax or financial mistake new immigrants make in Canada often and how can they avoid that? I think a lot of new immigrants uh forget to file their taxes annually, right? So, filing your taxes is very important because number one, you want to stay compliant with the CRA, but number two, you could be possibly missing out on different credits and deductions available to you, right? So, for example, um the new Canadian dental healthcare plan, right? If you make under 90,000, you could be eligible for benefits, but those benefits cannot be deemed eligible until they are able to verify your income. So, the only way they can verify your income is by filing your tax return. GSTHST credits, right? Those usually come quarterly. The Ontario Trillium benefit, right? So, if you're paying um rent or you're paying property taxes on a principal residence, depending on your income, you can also get a benefit there. Um, you know, I could talk about the carbon rebate that's officially ended in April. So, that's not really relevant at this time. But, you know, if you were an immigrant in the last couple years and you didn't file your taxes, then you wouldn't get the carbon rebate, right? So, the way CRA looks at it, if you don't file your taxes, they don't know where your income stands, so they can't qualify you for those credits, so they don't pay those out. Yeah. Um, and so it's time value of money really because a lot of people, some of them, they're actually sitting in a refund. So, if you're not getting a letter from the CRA that says file your tax return, that's most likely because the CRA has your refund and they're just sitting on it. And obviously it's interest, right? So you could be investing that money and generating more returns and income on that on those funds, but if you don't file your taxes, you don't get your refund, you don't get those credits. And so that is something I think is is a big mistake that most immigrants make. Um I think another mistake that's probably um something that they don't do right away is maybe not working on their credit. So, opening up a bank account, opening up a credit card right away. Right away, right? Because until you take that step, you are not opening up a credit profile for yourself. And so, if you don't have a credit profile, then the lenders that want to loan or give you money or give you credit rather are not able to assess your risk because that's what your credit score does. It it presents, you know, a picture of your risk. So, if you're not if you don't have a credit card, usually you can start off with a Capital One, right? $300 credit card and you you you know, there's so many other like limits and things we could talk about. You know, don't exceed 30% of your limit, pay it on time, um and and so on and so forth, but getting your credit profile started, getting a credit card, and then establishing your credit. So then that way in the meantime while you're establishing permanent residency when that time comes around you have your credit you have your savings and everything in line to be able to purchase your first home if that's what you want to do. Exactly. Exactly. So having that right strategy by you right having the plan getting your credit score started by the time that you are in Canada right the next day go next day open a bank account because right now like a lot of the banks out there they are very open for newcomer bank accounts. um and getting that started and having the right people next to you like a a tax advisor, someone who can guide you in the proper way. Um absolutely giving you the guidance. And you touched on a good point. You know, the banks are open and flexible because the reason is is because, you know, usually when you're a bank customer, you're a bank customer for life, right? So for the banks, one of their target market is newcomers. They're all competing for those. And so, you know, if they can bring you into their ecosystem, you'll end up getting your mortgage from them. you'll save your RSPs with them and so you become a customer for life usually, right? Unless they do something to really upset you, but in general, banks are open and uh you might not get the highest credit limit. You might not get the best product right off the bat, but that's because they start you off slow and if you do the right things, we can talk a bit about that, right? Not exceeding 30% of your limit. So that's credit utilization. Um not being behind on your payments, right? that's mispayments and delinquencies. Um, also not closing accounts, right? Like keeping those accounts open for a long time to establish those credit histories and then opening up different lines of accounts. So even if you come as a newcomer and you take a car loan, it's not the worst thing because believe it or not, it actually establishes your credit pretty well. That's true. Um, but anyways, I don't want to, you know, go too far into that, but I think that's enough. Of course that know that's a good starter points to like you know you know have a look at you know where you are at on those topics so you can get started if you haven't already right yeah and you know because end of the day in Canada your credit profile is everything everything everything wherever you go you go to get a car for yourself you know a loan a credit card or buy your first home anything the credit score exactly right so if you don't have that it's like you don't have your blueprint here yet so definitely get that started there and um and I just want I also talk about uh when when entrepreneurs get into uh come into Canada especially GTA and they want to start their business. Um so is it different from someone that um who has been in business for a long time and who's just starting the business? What's the difference when it comes to accounting and taxing there? Yeah. So when you're a newcomer and you want to start a business, right, obviously you can do that in two ways. you can start a sole proprietorship or you can start a corporation. So that's essentially really the structure in which your business is operating. um when you start off a business right depending on the risk as long as there's not a lot of liability there I suggest most people to start off as a sole proprietor because if you're just first of all starting off the idea or it's your first couple years and you haven't you know found your customers you haven't generated considerable revenues then the administration cost of upkeeping a corporation will outweigh the benefits of having one right So, it's better to start off as a sole proprietor, get your business on its footings because all your income when you're a sole proprietor flows through to your personal tax return. So, when you start to generate income over and above your lifestyle expenses, so what I mean by that is if you're making 300,000, but you only need a h 100,000 to live, that means you only need to take a h 100,000 into your personal income and the other 200,000 can stay in the business and be reinvested in the business. And at that point, having a corporation makes sense, right? So, if you're making 300,000 and you're spending all 300,000, then you might as well still stay as a sole proprietor, right? Strictly from a tax perspective. Yes. You should get you should seek a lawyer's advice. you know, if the business activity you're in a exposes you to some risk or liability over and above, you know, your your tolerable risk and what you can probably assume uh, you know, in terms of like exposure to liability, then you might want to, you know, open up a corporation. Um, that you should speak to a lawyer about. I think as a sole proprietor as a newcomer and then you know some of the most important keys which is keeping your business expenses and your personal expenses separate right because at the end of the year your business income and expenses are reported on a separate section of your personal tax return and if you are still an employee for example cuz some people usually start as an employee and then start their business part-time and then transition full-time. So, keep your business income and expenses separate by opening a business bank account and running all of your income and expenses through there. That way, bookkeeping is easy cuz it's separate. Taxes are easy because it's separate. And then your personal income and personal expenses for your day-to-day life, keep that in a personal bank account. So, have your payroll direct deposits go into that account. your personal gas expenses and stuff come out of that account and then that way at the end of the year it's very easy in terms of bookkeeping. Uh you know once things start to get complex you'll want to get an accountant involved earlier but that is like bare bones advice to avoid any complications with uh you know audits and stuff like that. Yes. Yes. That's amazing. And um is there any any quick tax tips that you like to share with you know newcomers business owners? Yeah, for newcomer business owners, I think the most important thing is you want to understand the lateral of the latitude of deductions you can take, right? So, some people they don't understand that like gas is deductible. They understand that meals and entertainment is deductible with their clients up to 50%. Right? So, if you go out see your clients, 50% of your meals and entertainment, that's deductible. Any expense and I'll just generalize here. Any expense you could justify that you incurred for the purpose of earning business income is generally deductible. Right? So you just ask yourself pose yourself that question. Did I incur this expense in order to further my business and in order to make a profit? If that answer is yes, chances are you can deduct it. Right? So that includes like like I said gas, meals and entertainment, your supplies expense, office expense, any rent you pay for your warehouse, right? All of these expenses are deductible. And then one really important tip is that once your sales exceed $30,000, make sure you register for GST HST if what you're selling is taxable. Right? So not everything is taxable supply. What I mean by that is not everything you buy is taxed at 13%. But if you're in the business of selling something that's that's taxable supply, find out and make sure you register for GST HST number once you hit 30,000 and then start collecting GST on the sales and then also making a claim on the expenses. Right? So GST works in a very simple way. you collect GST on the sales and then on the expenses that you incur the GST you pay the government says you can net that against the GST you collect and then you only remit the difference right so I would even encourage people to register their GST early like from day one because then you can claim the GST and HST on your expenses against your collected GST because you're most likely going result in a refund because in your first couple years, if you're just starting business and you're incurring more expenses than income, then you're going to actually result in a refund, right? So, the government doesn't penalize you for registering early, but once you hit 30,000 in sales and what you're selling is taxable, it's mandatory. It's mandatory. That's amazing. This is valuable information you're sharing. Terrence, I want to um talk to you like this is not only the advice that you're sharing. is only not only for buying your first home in Canada, but also for like bigger opportunities in your business, like getting a business loan um to expand your business. You know, that income that you put on paper there is what's going to get you there, right? Correct. Correct. That's a very good point. Like I'm I was just talking about your personal income and your business income qualifying for mortgages, but your business income qualify you for operating line of credit, business loans, like whatever you need to be able to grow your business because at the end of the day, you need access to capital to then reinvest in your business to then grow your customer base, marketing, and everything else to then grow your sales and the cycle repeats. Right. So, Exactly. That's important. If you don't want your business to be stable and you want to actually grow your business, you need capital. Exactly. And so to just give some advice to like business, new business owners in Canada and if they're thinking about buying that property that they have been keeping an eye on. Um do you what's the best advice at this time? Do you think it's better to buy through their corporation or they should buy personal? So it depends for what purpose they're buying their property? Residential, right? Residential. And if they're buying it for their primary use as their principal residence or if they're buying it as a rental property, right? 99% of the time it makes sense to buy it personally because your primary residence um you know you're usually living there at least 5 10 15 years right depending on how many times you might upsize but usually you're at a place for like 5 to 10 years before you upsize and you know traditionally maybe not the last 2 years but traditionally the market increases and the value of your property increases and so by the time you go to upsize that property the principal Residency exemption is only available if you own your property personally, right? Or if you're a beneficiary of the property, but essentially if you own your property personally, you can take advantage of the principal residence exemption. So if you have a $100,000 gain, $200,000 gain in 5 years on your property when you go to sell, that can be entirely taxree, right? So if you have about a $100,000 or $200,000 gain that you accumulate in your primary residence, um that's completely taxfree, right? And that's traditionally been a very big mechanism for Canadians to build wealth, right, is their primary residence. And so that's something, you know, the government has uh uh I'm sure they want to tax it. I'm sure it's on their it's on their per on their, you know, mind. But if they were to do that, it would cause such a huge uproar. So, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. So, every person should take advantage of that, you know, with their primary residence. So, if you put that property in a corporation, you won't qualify for that. So, I don't I wouldn't recommend that. Um, and then, you know, even just putting a property, a rental property, for example, in a corporation in general, it goes back to the cost of upkeeping that corporation and if it makes sense, right? Unless you own a massive portfolio of properties and you're setting up a three tier structure and you have a property management company and a massive rental portfolio and I do accounting for, you know, clients like that, it makes sense for them. But if you just have one, two, three properties, I would just say keep it personal. It probably makes more sense. It's easier. Uh everything gets filed on one tax return and um uh it just makes more more sense. More sense, right? Okay. So, so that that that information brings us to talk about first-time home buyers in Canada. So, tell me is is there like uh tax tips for anybody who's thinking about buying their first home at this time? Yeah, so there's actually many of them and they've become very enhanced as of late. Um, funny enough, like about 2 years ago when the market was not two, it's probably been about four years now, funny enough, right? It's been so long, but um 2021, 2022, when the market was just ripping and things were getting so out of hand and the government was facing a lot of heat and pressure on first-time home buyers being able to afford a home. M so a lot of these existing measures which was the RSP firsttime home buyers plan and the um well the FHSA came out afterwards but let's just focus on the RSP first-time home buyers plan. Initially, that plan was to allow you to so if you go into your RRSP at any time, you withdraw money, there's going to be a 10% withholding tax immediately on withdrawal, and then you're going to face uh tax on that income that you pulled out at tax time. Okay. Okay. But what the RSP own buyers plan says is you can go in and take that money out for your for your first home without any penalty, without any withholding tax, without being taxed on it in the year of as long as it's used towards your first time home. Okay? That could be down payment, closing costs, whatever the case may be. Um, and then you have a a break after the second year, so no repayment requirement. And then you had 15 years to repay it back into your RRSP, right? Um so in recent years that has been increased to 60,000, right? So now it's not 35, it's 60 that you can go into, right? And that's pretty significant, right? If you're an employee and you have, you know, um an employee shares plan or whatever is investing in your RRSP plus any contributions that you've been making, um that can be withdrawn for your first time home, first home. Um, and another big thing to do with that is, you know, when you take when you don't even need to have that money sitting there, right? Like, let's just say your parents want to gift you money, right? What I do is I tell people, get your parents to gift you that money. And usually people have the contribution room. You need to make sure when you put the money in, you have the contribution room cuz if you go over the contribution room, you can you'll get penalized. Okay? So, you can check the bottom of your notice of assessment for your contribution room. Um, or your CRA, my account when you log in will have your contribution room. You take that gifted funds of, let's say, 35,000 or up to 60 if your parents are that generous. Put that money into your RRSP and at tax time, you're going to generate a significant refund as well. Yes. Because if you're working and you made money that year, let's just say for example, you're a high income earner, but for whatever reason, you know, you didn't have the savings for your first home, you made $400,000 or $300,000 that year, right? So the top 60,000 of that income is taxed at 50%. So when you put that 60 and let's just assume you have 0 in your RRSP, you put 60,000 in that was gifted. um that 60,000 will generate a $30,000 tax refund, right? Now you have that 30,000 tax refund plus the 60,000. So you can you have 90,000 to to play with, right, to put down as a as a down payment. Um so that's a big one. The second one that came out recently is the first time home savings account, FHSA. So that one is even better than the RSP because there's no repayment requirement, right? So that means you put it in, you get the same deduction as the RRSP, but you don't have to repay it back. So there's less of a liability, right? So what I tell my clients is exhaust the FHSA first, then the RSP because this one has less strings attached. Um, so FHSA though, even if you don't have the money to put in the $8,000 a year, so just to break it down, you're allowed to put $8,000 over 5 years to a total of $40,000. Okay, that started in 2023. Yes. But if we're sitting in 2025 and you didn't open the account in 2023, you lost the contribution room. So my first piece of advice would be even if you don't have the funds, go open the account because that is what allows you to have the contribution room. Oh, okay. Okay. So a lot of people don't know that. They go there, they think, "Oh, it's 2023. I can it's 2025 now. I can put 24,000 in." No. If you didn't open the account, the contribution group starts from the year of opening. So go open that account and then put in $8,000 and then do that for five years straight. that $8,000 if you're in the 50% tax bracket will generate a $4,000 refund on top as well. Right? So, recently I did this plan where we combined the FHSA, RSP, we generated about an extra $30,000 towards the uh home buyers uh for their first home down payment. That's amazing. That's amazing. So, having that knowledge or someone who has that knowledge next to you is what you need to have that score in your life, right? So, that's important. Um I want to also ask you like if anybody's listening right now and they're thinking okay I've been in the country um I have the savings right now I'm renting you know what it takes for me to make that move. So if they're thinking in that scale what do you think is the first thing they need to pay attention to to move from renting to owning to move from renting to owning. So first of all I think I think you know I always try to break it down to clients this way. You need three things to buy a home right you need savings or your down payment. You need good credit. Um, and you need the income to qualify. Yes. Right. So, the best thing you can do is make sure you're for your qualifications and education and skill level that you're in the highest possible income bracket, right? So, you know, um, develop your skills, go do an extra diploma, whatever the case may be. Try to get your income up because the higher your income, the more qualification you're going to qualify for, right? the more mortgage you're going to qualify for. And then the second thing I was saying was your down payment. Uh so your savings and your down payment. You want to leverage the tax strategies I was talking about the RRSP and the FHSA to get you to the down payment. Uh uh to get you to the down payment that you need faster, right? Because some people they have the income, they have a good credit, right? But then the down payment is what stops them. So, if you need to fast track the down payment to get in alignment with the other two things that you need, use the tax strategies to get you there faster. And if I can say something as well, um you don't necessarily need to buy your first home first, right? Like you can buy a rental property first. And a lot of people don't know this too, so I'm going to share it because um this was my most recent client. So he was like, "Terrence, I want to buy 10% down payment, but I can't because I already bought two rental properties in Sudbury." So he had bought two rental properties in Sudbury, cash flowing properties, and he was renting in the GTA. And then it was time where, you know, he wanted to buy principal residence with, you know, his his fiance, they want to get married, so they want to buy their principal residence. But people thought that, oh, because he bought his rentals, like he couldn't be a first-time home buyer. Not true at all. because when he bought his rental properties, he did not reside in them and he did not use any CHC financing and he didn't use his first-time home buyer land transfer tax credit. So, he paid full land transfer tax credit on those properties which allowed him even though he had already owned two properties to take advantage of all the first-time home buyer tax advantages. So, we got the land transfer tax rebate. We used the FHSA. We used the RRSP and we we went full out for um home first home. That's a good point that you're sharing because you're right. A lot of people don't know that when they say like, "Oh, I have an investment property." They think, "Oh, I don't no longer qualify for first- time home buyer." Yeah. Like your first home doesn't mean the first home you bought. It's the first home you principally reside in. Yeah. Right. But again, you can't then go and use your land transfer tax rebate on your rental property and then use it here, right? So, you got to be careful. Actually, that will that's not allegible. You're not allegible to use the $4,000 land transfer tax rebate on a rental property. You have to actually reside within the first 9 months of taking ownership of that property for the land transfer tax rebate to qualify to be eligible. That's that's valuable information you're sharing, Chance. Thank you. Um I want to also touch on your experience in private lending. I know that you do a little bit private lending as well and investing. Tell me a little bit about you know why that you chose that path. What what was the mindset there? Yeah, I think just like I said uh as as part of an evolving wealth strategy. Um I I kind of bought investment properties and then I was starting to you know being biased and being so in-depth in real estate and maybe not as open-minded to everything else. Um, the amazing thing about real estate is you can do so many things, right? There's so many strategies. So, one of those is private lending. Essentially, private lending is your essentially a short-term solution, right? Ideally, I I don't I don't participate in, you know, shark lending or like, you know, lending on loans that I know are going to default. That's really not my primary goal with it. really what it is and what it should be is a short-term solution for financing um until someone can get into a more long-term financing solution, right? So, let me break down what that looks like. For example, you want to build a garden suite in your backyard. A lot of uh banks maybe you don't qualify for the garden suite financing. So, you need to take a private loan to build it out and then rent it out and then have it stabilize before you can qualify for bank financing, right? In that scenario, you need private financing. So, I've loaned to a developer like short-term financing like that where, for example, they have a 4unit building on their lot and the fifth unit will be the garden suite. And so their long-term solution will be CMHC multif family financing, right? So they'll refinance once that property is built, the the fifth unit is built, the garden suite, but in the interim, they need the financing, they need short-term financing. And so because you're taking more risk, um obviously because the property is not built and and the val and and you know, there's no other solutions in the market. Yes. The interest rate is much higher on that type of financing, right? So like 12%. Yeah. And you're charging a lender fee as well. And so what this is meant to be is a more passive income stream as a real estate investor, but you need to make sure that you underwrite the loan properly, right? Like this market has shown private investors, private lending um investors that they are also susceptible to a loss, right? Because if cuz usually when you're private lending, you're lending in second or third position, right? So what that means is you're going in behind the other mortgages and so your priority is not as high when it comes to being paid out. And so when you underwrite the loan, you know, you take an appraisal that and and if you're going let's say 85% of that value, if the market drops 15%, then you know, you're going to be at risk, right? Because 5% is realtor fees when you have to liquidate a property, right? For example, if you go power of sale and then you have to go down the route of getting collecting and and calling the loan, you have to pay 5% to the realtor. Then there's legal fees, court fees, all these things. So, you have to keep a buffer and you have to underwrite in my opinion conservatively um depending on the environment, right? So, 2021 2020 capital was uh capital was uh abundant. People were underwriting loans left, right, and center. private loans are like $799, $699, right? So, um, and then when values drop, you can be very much at risk, right? I know there's a property very close to me that I was looking at. There's a second position loan for $400,000. That property's been on under power of sale for over a year. They just sold it. That second mortgage got completely wiped out. $400,000 completely wiped out on that property. Right? So, you just have to be, you know, mindful about what you're doing. But you know having that knowledge of course that is valuable I have to tell you you know this conversation is very powerful and very very you know it's power packed with information right so thank you very much for bringing that knowledge into the conversation today I want to ask you um with your accounting background uh what is the cutting edge advantage for yourself as an investor um I think as an investor one of the biggest expenses in your business as an investor will be taxes right? Um that affects your bottom line more than anything else. People will get lean on their expenses but not think about their tax strategy. So fortunately I'm in a position where I kind of you know think about that on a day-to-day basis and advising clients. I see get to see so many different situations. So what I try to do is you know balance um between real estate investment advice, tax advice um those priorities, right? So making sure that their investments are tax efficient and that all the tax benefits that are available in the marketplace are taken advantage of and also you know trying to mitigate and avoid any unintended tax consequences from certain actions right people usually they do something then they go see their accountant at the end of the year they find out about what the consequences my advice would be if you're about to do something and it sounds like you're you're going to have a profit maybe find out how what the impact practice from a tax advantage because sometimes you might not want to take that step if after you've accounted for that expense, right? So um and then there's the other opposite as well like where you have a loss and you you know there's no way to avoid it and that's the right decision but maybe you don't take that step because you think it's such a big loss but then you you're not aware that hey I can use this capital loss against any future capital gains that might make you more inclined to take that step or decision today. you know, face that loss, realize that loss today before the market gets worse. Um, for example, right, you might make a decision a little bit differently and that could turn out to be better for you if you know the full picture and you're advised from all aspects of the transaction, right? So, that's what I try to do personally as an accountant, as a realtor, um, and so on and so forth. Yeah. The power of knowledge, right? The power of knowledge. Exactly. Exactly. Um I just to conclude the uh conversation before our you know lightning round of course uh tell me a little bit about the legacy that you want to build for yourself. Yeah. Um I think the legacy that and that's something I've been more and more reflective on as I get older is you know you you you go through life you know you you uh you know you how do I say it? Like you kind of think about like the impact you want to have on people. That's what the definition of legacy is for me. And so when I kind of, you know, when I'm on my deathbed at the end of the day, I'd like to think that um, you know, the advice and everything that I'm doing has an impact on people in a positive way. Um, and so the way I look at that is through the day-to-day operations of my businesses. I'd like to think that people will think that I was compassionate in the way that I acted and I was um knowledgeable and and free flowing in the way I shared my advice and and and really helped them when they really needed it and was honest in the way I'm in the way I acted towards them. Right? That's those are like some core pillars that I tried to carry out in my life. So then that way at the end of the day I feel like whatever interaction I had with people they always thought like oh Terrence was there to help me or Terrence was there to um give me a helping hand. And that's why I feel like so many of the situations I end up dealing with are such difficult situations but I feel like they come to me um like not coincidentally but because there's a reason why I'm supposed to be there at that specific time to help this specific person. Um, and so I think the the day-to-day kind of looks like that, like building a legacy dayto-day, but then I think also, you know, being able to then use what you have and give that generously, right? So I do um, you know, I like I if I would have loved to, I would have loved to be a lawyer. It just didn't financially make sense for me at the time. But I'm really interested in it. So I do like proonal accounting for like the Tamil Bar Association, right? So that's just something I do to give back a little bit, right? Um because they kind of uh help up and coming lawyers in the Tamil community. So I do their accounting and tax proono. Um there's also um other situations, right, where you want to be able to as much as you could charge your full fee or as much as you could charge for something that your service deserves, you sometimes just do that on a pro bonal basis because of somebody's situation, right? Yes. So I I definitely come across that every now and then and so I'll definitely take that into consideration if that's right based on like where somebody's at. So I definitely take that into account. And then from a long-term perspective, what I'm trying to build is something um that my like I want to find I want my future generations to be a lot more um well off and and and be more considerate. of uh the the planet and and leave it in a better way than they found it. And you're able to do that when you're not so stressed about like you know the financial means of day-to-day living and so on and so forth. So I'm really trying to secure the financial future of my future generation. So whether that's my kids and their kids um and set up things in a way where you know being a first generation um Canadian and you know my parents were immigrants and so they sacrificed everything to get me here. So, I want to make sure I take full advantage of the opportunity that was presented to me to be able to set the the path forward for that generation and so that they are able to give back and leave an even stronger legacy because they're not so concerned about the financial aspect of things. they can actually look at um leaving an impact in other ways and using the financial leverage to do that in whatever initiative they feel is needed or they're compassionate about right. Wow. Wow. That's so that's kind of that's powerful ter that's powerful and it's also very beautiful because you know the way that you look at it giving back to the community as well your roots does matter right so I'm you know giving back to those um Tamil bar community to get them rised up and also securing the future generation and you know setting the stage for them that is very important so that's really really powerful yeah no I appreciate that I think you you think about it more and more as you get older, right? So, so you know, in your 20s, it's all about you're trying to get there, right? And then in your 30s, you're starting to think like, how do I how do I leave something uh or Keller Williams legacies, right? Like a legacy like worth living, right? So, most definitely. Yeah. It's different stages in life, right? Exactly. Exactly. Most definitely. Let's let's go to our lightning round. You know, you have you have been, you know, dropping like power bombs throughout the conversation. So, let's go here.

So when it comes to uh one tax term every newcomer to Canada should Google, what would that be? Uh FHSA. FHSA. FHSA, right? Um just Google FHSA, learn what it is, open an account, and be ready to contribute to that when the time comes. Amazing. Amazing. And the next one, personal home or investment property. What should you buy first? personal home or investment property. I would I would say investment property, but understand what investment property means, right? Understand it's not passive. Understand that you're going to be a landlord. You're going to have to deal with tenants and uh you know, fixing the property when things are called, but I have seen people do really well um with an investment property being purchased first. Reason being because it cash flows. Um, and I'll open that question a little bit more by saying it depends where you live, right? So, if you live in the GTA in 2020 when prices were so ridiculous where renting was much much cheaper than owning, it made sense to rent where you live and buy in secondary tertiary markets where you can cash flow. Now prices have settled down in the GTA so much where I would even say buying a condo in the GTA might even cost the same as as what it does to rent. very similar where the degree of difference might be your principal payown which in that case it's you know pretty much break even right yeah so look at it analyze your own personal situation but you know I would do a rent versus buy analysis based on where you live and then see if it makes sense to uh buy or buy investment or personal based on that hope that answers it yeah amazing and when it comes to T4 income or business income what's better longterm Um I am biased obviously. I think T4 income everyone has to start with but I think transitioning to any type of business income is better in the long term because the latitude of deductions available and you know the tax code is written to favor business owners. Why? because business owners take the risk needed in a in a capitalistic environment uh in order to employees, right? The government needs employees to be able to deduct payroll and be able to uh take source deductions which funds their coffers, right? So the more employees there are, the better it is for the government. So the government incentivizes business owners because they hire employees. But as business owners, you get so much more tax breaks. So, you want to transition your income to business income sooner because uh you're just uh you have so much more deductions available to you. But you also want to understand the risks that come with that. And you also want to make sure you take calculated risk, right? You don't want to put all your money into a business and not have a plan. And you also want to make sure that there is some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of getting to profitability, right? So that's right. Um, calculated risk is good. I find people start with the T4, they start their business part-time, grow it simultaneously, and then as soon as it's enough to cover their lifestyle expenses, transition to the business full-time. That's what I did. That's what I see a lot of people doing. That's great advice. So, what's one money lesson you wish you learned earlier? Uh, I think the one money lesson was so I bought my first home with none of the none of the benefits, right? So, I put 20% down and went all in. it all worked out cuz you know sometimes you don't want to overlever yourself but if you're a firsttime home buyer and you can put 10% down and leverage that um in a market where it makes sense to buy like the market we're in right now I think that's a big advantage right because you don't want to put all your capital into one asset and when you buy a property you almost feel like you're saving up everything just to put it into your property right so if you have the income and the ability to service the debt um put less money into your property, take advantage of the CMHC uh rules early and then continue to invest the other 10% that you would have put down into other assets. I would have diversified earlier. That's one thing because ear early on when I was in real estate, I was just looking only at real estate as an asset class. I wasn't looking, mind you, I didn't have the greatest run with stocks early and I was really young, so that turned me off quite a bit. But now I'm looking at diversifying everything all over again. Um, one other thing that I would do probably earlier is get a life insurance policy earlier because your premiums are much lower. Your health risk is lower. I mean, I got it now. It's not much of a big difference cuz I'm still relatively young, but I would have preferred to get that done a little bit earlier, too. Um, and that's a whole other strategy, but yeah, that just to keep it short. Yeah. The last question I have for you, what's your three-word formula for success? Three-word formula for success. I'm I'm such a bad guest. Stella gave me this question early and I didn't come prepared. Uh, three-word formula for success. I would say learn uh learn, earn, and invest. Learn, earn, and invest. Right? because it all comes down to keeping an open mind, learning about all the assets and investments available. Um, but you're not able to invest unless you earn at the beginning, right? So, you have to earn a good income and you have to save a decent chunk of it to be able to leverage it to invest. And um the last one I said was invest, right? Invest. Yeah. So, you got to be able to you have to learn and earn to be able to invest, right? So, uh I think investing is what creates wealth, right? So, if you plan to get ahead and you plan to escape the day-to-day life of the rat race, I guess is what they call it, um, you have to kind of know these three things, learn, earn, and invest. So, I'll leave it at that. Yeah, that's amazing, Terrence. You have actually brought a lot of knowledge to this conversation today. Yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah, it's very power packed. So, thank you very much for taking the time to share your valuable time with us today. And audience, I'm going to leave Terren's information in our bio on the comments below as well. So if you have any questions, call him directly. Um, and you know, be prepared to be amazed by the knowledge that he has to share with you to get you, you know, to your level that you want to get there. Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Stella. Wow. If you're like me, your brain is buzzing with clarity right now. From taxes to title transfers, from audits to opportunity, Terrence Marshall just broke down what every new Canadian business owner and first-time home buyer in the GTA needs to know. Because let's be real, building wealth in Canada isn't just about luck. It's about having the right strategy, the right guidance, and the right people in your corner. If something turns today made you rethink your approach or gave you that light bulb moment, do us a favor. Share this episode with someone who needs it. Subscribe. Drop your biggest takeaway in the comments below and follow us at the Stellar Talk Show for more real talk, real strategy, and real inspiration to help you build your future with confidence. Remember, you can't build a legacy on silence. So, speak up, show up, and keep learning because your story is just getting started. Thank you for listening in, and until next time, stay stellar. Thank you for spending your time with us on the Stellar Talk Show. We hope you found value in today's episode and gained insights to help elevate your lifestyle. If you enjoyed the discussion, please like, subscribe, and share it with anyone who could benefit. It means the world to us. Until our next episode, stay inspired, and I'll see you soon on our next Stellar Talk Show.