Business Owners & Entrepreneurs

What is your path to financial independence from the successful company you created?

There are 3 general types of exits for closely-held business owners:

1.   Internal buyers

2.   An Intra-family sale

3.   External buyers

Our team has experience in guiding business owners and entrepreneurs through the process of starting, growing, managing and selling their businesses enterprises.  Growing a business is a difficult undertaking today as business owners must confront a myriad of tax laws and regulations while trying to effectively create products or services, manage their employees, develop and cultivate clients, and do so profitably.

Business owners often are too focused on their businesses to tend to their own financial needs, and they may also overlook key planning considerations that could help their business grow and prosper. Also, the livelihood of a business owner can be imperiled when unexpected events occur that adversely affect the bottom line of the business.  We seek to understand, provide perspective and give actionable advice.

Have you addressed the Five R's?

1.  Recruit 

Once you have identified the right candidates, does your firm have a compelling compensation package that includes the ability for employees to save for retirement?

2.  Reward 

How do you align employee activity with business goals and the company's mission?  Discretionary bonuses, profit-sharing contributions, and other variable compensation plans and "phantom stock plans" are considerations that can tie pay to performance and boost productivity and growth.

3.  Retain  

In a small business setting, it could take years to find or develop the executive talent needed to build the business to the next level. Executive talent is hard to come by, and it is even more difficult on the business when it walks out the door in pursuit of another opportunity.

When key executives are presented with a strong monetary incentive package, they are more likely to stay and utilize their talents where they feel appreciated and appropriately rewarded. Structured incentive plans or "golden-handcuffs" can help keep key executives in place and motivate them to higher levels of performance.

4.  Reverse

What are your doing to reverse the impact of progressive taxation on your business and family?  We often consider a combination of various strategies such asset asset location, tax-loss harvesting, gifting, charitable planning, qualified and non-qualified plans to defer, manage and reduce the impact of taxes on your bottom line.

5.  Retire

For many business owners, their business is their primary retirement asset. After many years of building a successful business they expect to convert it to an income for retirement by selling it. If they are relying upon the business as their sole means of retirement they run the risk that it may not attain the value needed to produce the needed income.

Businesses can fail. Businesses can lose value in certain economic cycles. The timing is not always right to sell a business. Many times the true value of the business lies in the talents and good will of the business owner who won’t be around to run the business after he retires.

Business owners today must prepare for retirement with the same level of diversification recommended for any retirement plan. Business owners have access to a number of qualified and nonqualified retirement plan options that can provide a cornerstone for their retirement income needs.  

We ask the right questions to help understand your situation, analyze the numbers, and present solutions so you can strike the right balance between liquidity and control in your business.

For more information on Business Owner Planning, please contact us today.