HIGH NET WORTH · PRIVATE WEALTH ADVISORY · EST. 2010

Premier wealth advisory for Ontario's most distinguished families.

Engineering clarity, control, and confidence for generations — across Canada and the United States.

Your wealth reflects decades of discipline, vision, and enterprise. That attention to detail deserves counsel built to the same standard.

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TRADITIONAL · SENATUS WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Arriving sooner, with confidence intact.

Remarkable investment outcomes, composed with the insurance architecture that preserves them.

Senatus Wealth Management composes portfolios and protection with the same discipline applied to the architecture itself. Investment mandates are engineered for remarkable, risk-aware compounding — designed to bring principals to the outcomes they are building toward sooner, and more completely, than the status quo permits. Insurance, for its part, is retained not as product but as the keel — the load-bearing instrument beneath the wealth plan, designed to open an artery of corporate capital for personal and corporate deployment, to reduce tax and fund estate liquidity, to secure corporate continuity, and to underwrite philanthropy and succession — all without surrendering control of the balance sheet, and yielding the quiet confidence that the family and the enterprise will stand through every transition. What results is not a collection of products but a coordinated instrument: capital that compounds with intent, and coverage that arrives precisely when it is required.

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25+
Years advising affluent families
1 in 4
Families with U.S. or multi-jurisdictional structures
50 bps
Average private client investment management fee
12%+
Historical 20-year average ROI across public & private asset classesPast performance is not indicative of future results.
RETAINED, PRIVATE OFFICE · SENATUS WEALTH PRIVATE ADVISORY

An experience beyond the ordinary.

The architecture of a family's wealth is as much a matter of considered process as it is of final outcome.

Behind the doors of the Senatus Private Office — a private room, entered by invitation only — the structure of your affairs is composed with the deliberate care it deserves. Within, senior advisors, tax and legal counsel, and specialist architects attend, in confidence, to the particulars of your family, your enterprise, and the horizon you are building toward — in service of the integrated architecture by which your wealth will be governed. From this table, the Private Office directs the coordination of tax, estate, corporate, and investment mandates, and extends to the broader concerns of the family: governance, succession, philanthropy, and the preparation of the next generation. What is offered, finally, is a seat at a table that cannot be requested, only extended — and counsel that, by design, is never duplicated elsewhere.

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95%+
Private-referral origination, exclusive to select families
3 Generations
of families served across our Traditional & Private Office engagements (avg. client tenure)
BY THE NUMBERS

A practice measured by calm judgement, family success, and remarkable results.

$2B+
Appreciating assets under consultation
45 Families
UHNW Canadian and cross-border Private Advisory relationships — by invitation; new access limited each year
$50M+
Typical net worth of families served under Private Advisory
60+
Specialist advisor bench, integrated under one mandate
12:1
Advisor-to-private-client ratio
≤ 24 Hour
Response time to client inquiries
WHO WE ARE

The private client wealth management nexus for Canadian and cross-border families, and the professional advisors who assist them.

Since 2010, Senatus Wealth has served as trusted counsel to some of Ontario's most distinguished families — entrepreneurs, professionals, and multi-generational stewards — whose affairs have outgrown the reach of isolated solutions and siloed advice. What they require, instead, is integrated architecture.

Family objectives, tax strategy, estate planning, corporate structuring, succession design, risk management, and investment oversight are coordinated within a single, considered mandate. Each decision is weighed, quietly and deliberately, against the continuity of the family enterprise it is intended to serve.

Senatus Wealth offices
Approach
ABOUT US · PRIVATE, SPECIALIST COUNSEL

Wealth, considered as a system.

Most families arrive to us well-served by capable advisors, each working with care within their own discipline — an accountant, a lawyer, a portfolio manager. What is often absent is a single point of specialist coordination, accountable not to any one file, but to the whole of the family.

Senatus delivers that coordination. We design the architecture, convene the specialist table, and remain the family's primary counsel over time — through transitions, transactions, and with the generations that follow.

ADVISORY

Integrated counsel across the architecture of a private fortune.

Each relationship is composed individually. The disciplines outlined below constitute the integrated mandate around which most engagements are structured, though additional pillars may be retained on a selective basis where circumstances warrant.

01

Tax-Efficient Wealth Design

Integrated domestic and cross-border tax strategy, including estate freezes, holding company structuring, and intergenerational transfer planning.

02

Estate & Succession Planning

Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and continuity frameworks designed to protect the family enterprise across generations.

03

Corporate & Trust Structuring

Domestic and cross-border corporate design, family trust architecture, and governance aligned with long-term objectives.

04

Investment Oversight

Independent supervision of portfolios and managers — mandates written for the family, not sold to the family.

05

Insurance Architecture

Personal and corporately-owned life insurance, disability, critical illness, corporate and liquidity strategies purpose-built for company, estate and tax outcomes.

06

Family Continuity

Governance, philanthropy, and next-generation preparation. Stewardship as an explicit practice, not an afterthought.

"Objective advice, delivered with precision is not a marketing claim. It is the architecture of specialized counsel itself."

Brett P. Nicholson
Founder & President · On the firm's founding principle
LEADERSHIP

Senior leadership. One table.

Over sixty specialist advisors operate under a single integrated mandate — led by an expert group who remain your primary captains.

Those presented here represent a measured portion of our counsel. The balance of our specialists serve in confidence, on behalf of families to whom discretion is the first condition of the relationship.

Recognized By
Forbes·Lexpert·Chambers·CPA Canada·BNN·The Globe and Mail·Financial Post
PERSPECTIVES

Thinking, written for principals.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Questions considered, before they are asked.

A selection of questions principals most often pose in our initial conversations. For matters particular to your circumstances, we invite a private introduction.

More than ninety-five percent of new relationships begin through private referral from an existing client or trusted professional. An initial, confidential conversation is the point of entry; no commitment is expected from either party until fit, chemistry, and mandate are clear to both.
Senatus Wealth advises a deliberately limited number of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth Canadian and cross-border families. Our clients are typically entrepreneurs, private business owners, medical and legal professionals, and multi-generational stewards whose circumstances have outgrown conventional wealth management.
A traditional engagement under Senatus Wealth Management Corporation centres on wealth management — investment and risk management. Our Private Advisory engagement extends the same architecture to the broader concerns of the family: tax, law, governance, next-generation education, philanthropy, administrative coordination, and the convening of the wider specialist table. Private Advisory is accessible through Senatus Wealth Private Advisory Inc.
Discretion is the first condition of every relationship. Client information is shared only after written consent has been provided, as necessary to deliver counsel, and only with professionals explicitly engaged on the family's behalf. Our systems, protocols, and culture are built around this principle. Discretion itself is an advantage that our clients insist on.
No — by design. To preserve objectivity over client capital, Senatus Wealth does not manufacture or manage investment product. We provide investment planning oversight, not management: designing the investment mandate, introducing and overseeing registered investment managers on the family's behalf, and maintaining advisory oversight of those managers over time. The distinction between planning oversight and product management is deliberate, and it is the condition under which objective investment counsel is possible.
The firm is compensated by the families it serves, on a transparent fee or retainer basis agreed in advance. Where investment or assurance solutions are implemented through regulated entities, any additional compensation is disclosed clearly. Senatus Wealth receives no referral fees from the specialists within its network, nor do they receive fees from us. Objectivity is not a claim; it is the structure of the engagement.
Private Advisory engagements are typically structured for families with a net worth of $25 million or greater, where the complexity of corporate holdings, cross-border interests, and intergenerational objectives warrants integrated coordination. Fit is discussed candidly in an initial, confidential conversation; the connection and the mandate — not the balance sheet alone — determine the relationship.
Yes. Most families arrive already well-served by capable discipline-specific advisors, who have referred their client(s) to Senatus. Senatus is designed to work alongside — not to displace — the family's existing counsel, serving as the coordinating architect who convenes the specialist table, aligns the disciplines, and remains accountable to the whole of the family over time. Where a specific discipline is absent or materially under-served, we can introduce trusted specialists from our network at the request of the family.
Each Private Advisory relationship is supported by a dedicated team of approximately twelve professionals, drawn from the firm's wider bench of more than sixty specialists. Disciplines represented typically include wealth advisory, tax, law, corporate and estate structuring, investment oversight, insurance underwriting, cross-border coordination, governance and succession. The composition is designed around the family, not assembled from a template.

The finest advisory relationships begin with understanding — shaped by clear and thoughtful communication, sustained by trust.

Senatus Wealth accepts a limited number of new family relationships each year, predominantly through private referral. If our approach resonates, we invite you to request an introduction.

Request an Introduction
hello@senatuswealth.com  ·  Ontario, across Canada and in the U.S.
FOUNDER, PRESIDENT

Brett P. Nicholson

Brett Nicholson established Senatus Wealth in London, Ontario in 2010 to serve high-net-worth families, business owners, and entrepreneurs. For nearly two decades, he has provided counsel to entrepreneurial families across Ontario, Canada, and the United States on tax-efficient wealth creation, capital preservation, liquidity design, and continuity.

He specializes in designing integrated wealth architecture by aligning capital, governance, risk, and succession to ensure strategies are structured properly, sequenced intelligently, and executed comprehensively.

Credentials & Affiliations

  • Guest Lecturer, Ivey Business School
  • Featured Presenter, Baker Tilly Canada Knowledge Forum
  • Guest contributor, BNN Bloomberg
  • Featured in The Hockey News (Sports & Entertainment)
  • Member, CALU
  • Author, Perspectives — Senatus Wealth's library for affluent families and advisory teams
  • Chair, For Peace of Mind, supporting London Health Sciences Centre

Connect

LinkedIn

TAX & BUSINESS LAW

Raymond G. Adlington

Ray Adlington is a senior tax lawyer advising business owners, affluent families, and multinational enterprises across Ontario and Canada on corporate tax, commodity tax, tax disputes, and strategic legal structuring. Over two decades, he has counseled Canada's most successful entrepreneurs and family-controlled businesses on taxation aspects of succession, corporate reorganization, and intergenerational wealth transfer.

He provides institutional depth to the firm's tax architecture, ensuring corporate structures, estate plans, and cross-border strategies rest on sound legal foundations and long-term tax efficiency. His practice encompasses private company reorganizations, estate freezes, shareholder agreements, and multi-jurisdictional tax planning for families with complex holding structures.

Credentials & Affiliations

  • Former President, Canadian Bar Association
  • Member, International Bar Association
  • Former Chair, Atlantic Provinces Economic Council
  • Named Lawyer of the Year, Trusts and Estates, by The Best Lawyers in Canada
  • Trusted advisor to multi-generational family enterprises across Canada
M&A, FINANCIAL ADVISORY

Cindy Wilson

Cindy Wilson coordinates private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic financial advisory matters for Senatus Wealth clients. She brings more than 25 years of experience advising high-net-worth individuals, investors, professionals, and business owners on complex transactions, strategic exits, capital structuring, and financially consequential decisions.

Her work emphasizes rigor, discretion, and precision, particularly where timing and structure materially influence outcomes. She is especially valuable to founders, families, and private business owners navigating liquidity events and strategic transition points. Based in Toronto, she has advised Senatus Wealth clients since 2014.

Credentials

  • CPA, CA
  • CFA
  • Bachelor of Science, University of Western Ontario
  • Bachelor of Commerce, University of Windsor
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Professional Services Team

Senatus Wealth maintains longstanding relationships with a network of tax, legal, estate, and succession planning specialists across North America. These professionals advise successful entrepreneurs, medical professionals, and professional athletes experienced in complex, multigenerational wealth matters.

Importantly, Senatus Wealth receives no compensation from these specialists, nor do they receive compensation related to client investment or assurance solutions, ensuring objective, coordinated advice aligned solely with client interests.

INVESTMENTS

Investment Management Team

The Investment Management Team designs and oversees investment strategies serving durability, liquidity, and long-term control. The team recognizes that for high-net-worth families, investing integrates with tax planning, corporate structures, insurance architecture, and estate strategies. Investment decisions operate within a disciplined governance framework prioritizing after-tax outcomes, risk management, and alignment with broader objectives.

The team emphasizes globally diversified, risk-aware portfolios designed to compound capital efficiently while preserving flexibility. Focus areas include downside protection, liquidity planning, and structural resilience, ensuring capital availability and preventing untimely forced decisions. Collaborating with advisory, tax, and estate planning professionals, the team serves as a core component of integrated wealth architecture.

RISK ARCHITECTURE

Insurance Underwriting & Risk Management Team

The Insurance Underwriting and Risk Management Team designs, implements, and oversees sophisticated wealth transfer strategies supporting broader wealth, tax, and estate objectives. The team specializes in advanced underwriting, risk assessment, and policy structuring for high-net-worth families, founders, and business owners with complex personal and corporate exposures, coordinating medical and financial underwriting and negotiating with insurance purveyors.

Insurance functions as a strategic risk and liquidity tool — protecting balance sheets, enhancing tax efficiency, funding succession and estate obligations, and preserving optionality during transition or uncertainty. Working closely with investment, tax, legal, and estate planning professionals, the team ensures coverage remains appropriate, competitively structured, and fully integrated into overall wealth architecture.

CLIENT RELATIONSHIP

Our Relationship with Clients

Senatus Wealth Management Corporation and Senatus Wealth Private Advisory Inc. (collectively, “Senatus Wealth”) provide wealth advisory, financial planning, insurance, and coordination services to private clients in Ontario, across Canada, and on a cross-border basis. The nature of our role, obligations, and compensation varies by engagement and is governed by the terms of each client agreement.

Where we act in an advisory capacity, our mandate is to provide strategic guidance, architect and coordinate wealth structures, and oversee the engagement of specialists on your behalf. Where we facilitate insurance solutions, we act as licensed insurance advisors under applicable provincial legislation. Investment advisory or portfolio management services, where provided, are delivered in accordance with applicable securities legislation and registration requirements. How we are compensated — whether by advisory retainer, asset-based fee, or insurance commission — is disclosed in advance under the terms of your client agreement.

Scope of Services

Senatus Wealth provides integrated wealth architecture, coordination, and advisory services. These may include tax-efficient wealth design, estate and succession planning, corporate and trust structuring, insurance architecture, investment oversight, governance frameworks, philanthropy, and family continuity planning. Services are tailored to each client’s objectives and circumstances. Not all clients will receive all services, and the absence of a particular topic from an engagement does not indicate that it is inapplicable to your financial situation. Where Senatus Wealth coordinates with external professionals — including accountants, lawyers, investment managers, or other specialists — we do not assume liability for the advice, services, or outcomes provided by those independent professionals. It is your responsibility to evaluate and act upon any external recommendations in consultation with your own advisors.

Entities Providing Services

Advisory and coordination services are provided by Senatus Wealth Private Advisory Inc. Financial planning, insurance planning, and investment oversight services are provided through Senatus Wealth Management Corporation, licensed under applicable provincial insurance legislation. Investment advisory or portfolio management services, where applicable, are delivered in accordance with National Instrument 31-103 — Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations — or through appropriately registered third-party firms coordinated by Senatus Wealth. The availability of specific services may vary by jurisdiction and applicable regulatory framework.

Cross-Border Coordination

Where clients maintain financial interests in both Canada and the United States, Senatus Wealth coordinates with qualified cross-border legal, tax, and investment professionals. Senatus Wealth is not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, or any U.S. state securities regulator. Cross-border coordination is consultative in nature and does not constitute advice under U.S. federal or state law.

Important Limitations

Senatus Wealth does not provide legal, tax, or accounting advice unless explicitly agreed in writing. Any discussion of tax planning, estate structuring, corporate reorganization, the Income Tax Act, provincial tax legislation, or pending legislative changes is educational and consultative in nature. It should not be construed as a legal or tax opinion, relied upon for reporting purposes, or treated as a substitute for independent professional advice tailored to your specific circumstances.

Information provided by Senatus Wealth — whether through meetings, written materials, presentations, or digital platforms — is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing contained herein constitutes a specific investment recommendation or an offer to buy or sell any security, insurance product, or financial instrument.

Senatus Wealth assumes no liability for positions taken or not taken based on discussions or materials provided during an advisory engagement.

PRIVACY

Privacy Policy

Senatus Wealth is committed to the highest standards of privacy and discretion. This policy describes how we collect, use, and protect personal information in connection with our website and our advisory relationships.

Information We Collect

We collect only information voluntarily provided through our contact channels — your name, email address, telephone number, and any context you choose to share about your circumstances — together with standard technical data collected automatically by our website (such as IP address and browser type) for security and site integrity.

How We Use Information

Information is used solely to respond to your inquiry, to deliver the advisory services you retain, and to maintain the confidentiality and security of the relationship. We do not sell, rent, or otherwise disclose client information to third parties for marketing purposes.

Disclosure

Information may be shared only with professionals explicitly engaged on your behalf, and only to the extent necessary to deliver integrated counsel. Disclosure may also occur where required by law, regulation, or valid legal process.

Security

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure; clients are encouraged to share sensitive information through the protected channels we designate.

Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information by writing to hello@senatuswealth.com.

Updates

This policy may be updated from time to time. The current version is always accessible from this website.

TERMS

Terms of Use

By accessing or using this website, you agree to the following terms. If you do not agree, please discontinue use.

No Advisory Relationship

Use of this website does not create an advisory, fiduciary, or professional relationship between you and Senatus Wealth. Such relationships are established only by written mandate executed between the firm and the client.

Content

All content is provided for general informational purposes only and is believed to be accurate at the time of publication. Senatus Wealth makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any information for any particular purpose. Content may be updated, modified, or removed without notice.

Third-Party Links & Materials

This website may reference or link to content published by third parties. Senatus Wealth does not endorse, control, or assume responsibility for the content, accuracy, or practices of third-party sources.

Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Senatus Wealth shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in connection with your use of, or inability to use, this website or its content.

Intellectual Property

All material on this website, including text, imagery, and design, is the intellectual property of Senatus Wealth or its licensors, and is protected by applicable copyright and trademark laws. No content may be reproduced, distributed, or republished without prior written consent.

DISCLOSURES

Firm Disclosures

Senatus Wealth operates as an independent private wealth advisory firm. The following disclosures are provided in the interest of transparency.

Independence

Since its founding in 2010, Senatus Wealth has operated independently. The firm is not owned by, controlled by, or affiliated with any bank, insurer, broker-dealer, or asset manager.

Compensation

The firm is compensated by the families it serves. Senatus Wealth does not receive referral fees from the professional specialists within its network, nor any compensation tied to the purchase, placement, or retention of investment or assurance solutions arranged for clients.

Scope of Services

Senatus Wealth provides integrated wealth advisory. Specific legal, tax, accounting, and regulated investment services are delivered by independently licensed professionals engaged under separate mandate, and clients should look to those mandates for the terms governing those services.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any forward-looking statements, projections, or planning scenarios presented on this website or within our materials reflect current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to change. Actual outcomes may differ materially.

Jurisdictions

The firm serves Canadian and cross-border families with interests in the United States. Availability of specific services depends on jurisdiction, licensing, and the nature of the mandate.