Business Owners
Planning for Business Owners
Tax-aware exit, liquidity, and retirement planning for business owners preparing for the next chapter.
Business owners are the most under-served household in financial planning. The wealth is concentrated in one illiquid asset. The tax exposure is enormous. The personal balance sheet is intertwined with the business. And the planning decisions that matter most happen years before the exit conversation starts.
We work with owners across the whole horizon — peak operating years, pre-transaction structuring, the exit itself, and the 30 years of post-exit life that follow. We coordinate with M&A counsel, transaction CPAs, and investment bankers. We do not replace them.
The work changes shape across the owner lifecycle. While still operating, the focus is personal balance-sheet diversification, retirement plan optimization, and laying the groundwork for tax-efficient structures that need long lead time. In the 18 to 36 months before a transaction, the work shifts to pre-exit structuring — QSBS qualification, installment sale terms, charitable strategy, entity choice. After the exit, the work is post-liquidity portfolio design, multi-year tax planning, and a complete reset of the household's risk profile.
Each phase has a different planning focus and a different set of mistakes to avoid. The thread connecting them is a coordinated household plan that does not break when the business does — or when it suddenly does not.
Where We Help
- Pre-exit tax structuring and QSBS planning
- Charitable strategy ahead of a liquidity event
- Personal balance sheet diversification while operating
- Retirement income design from concentrated business proceeds
- Estate planning coordination with business succession
- Family wealth education and next-generation planning
Our Services
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Frequently Asked Questions
I'm not selling for another five years — is it too early to plan?
No, it is exactly the right time. Most of the highest-leverage tax structures (QSBS, installment sale terms, charitable trusts) require multi-year lead time. The earlier the planning conversation starts, the larger the planning surface area.
Do you handle deal-side advisory or just household planning?
Household planning. We coordinate with your M&A counsel, transaction CPA, and investment banker — we do not replace them. Our seat at the table is how the deal flows through your personal balance sheet, your tax return, and your retirement plan.
Do you work with owners who have already exited?
Yes. Post-exit households face a fundamentally different planning problem than they did while operating, and most exited owners are under-planned at the moment when planning matters most. The first year after a liquidity event is the most important planning year of the household's life.