Business Succession Strategies
In the whirlwind of day-to-day business activities, business owners often find themselves temporarily losing sight of the grand vision they initially set out to achieve. As your company blossoms and evolves, it’s vital to stay focused on your priorities so that your business endeavors remain aligned with your long-term personal goals and objectives.
With decades of experience working closely with passionate business owners, we can help ensure both your business and personal financial success.
- Strengthening Personal Finances and Building Wealth:
Many business owners become so engrossed in running their companies, they inadvertently put their personal finances on the back burner. This may occur if most of their liquid assets are tied up in the business. However, to achieve financial independence and build personal wealth, it’s important to make personal savings a priority. By working with our team to prepare regular financial reviews, and taking follow-up action as needed, you can help develop and strengthen your personal financial position. - Retaining the Company within Your Family:
If your company is operated by more than one family member, you may wish to keep the business in your family. In this situation, it’s important to learn about transfer tax issues and develop a business succession plan that will help secure your long-term goals and objectives. - Developing an Exit Strategy:
Picture a future where your small business is not only successful but also marketable. Crafting a thoughtfully designed “exit” strategy ensures that you’re prepared, whether you choose to divest voluntarily or face unforeseen circumstances like disability or loss. It’s all about securing a future where the value of your business matches the financial freedom you desire. - Preparing for Retirement:
Many tax-deferred, qualified retirement savings vehicles such as Simplified Employee Pension Plans(SEPs) or 401(k) plans are available to business owners and their employees. The size of a company, as well as the ages and salaries of its employees, often determines which type of retirement plan is best in a given situation. In addition, non-qualified plans allow business owners to provide selective benefits for themselves, as well as their key employees. - Protecting Your Business Against Loss of Key Employees:
All business success is dependent on its men and women whose knowledge, leadership, judgment, or connections are what make things happen profitably. The death of a key person can result in serious consequences for the business. When insuring a loss through death, Key Person Life Insurance can provide an important source of revenue replacement. Further, the insurance can be designed to accumulate reserves that may be used ultimately for retirement, a termination replacement, or the retraining of successors. - Protecting a Business Partnership:
If a business partner dies, a Buy-Sell Agreement protects the business and remaining owners from inactive, uninformed, and potentially dissident shareholders and helps consolidate control in the hands of the agreed upon group. Additionally, it helps fix the value of each owner’s business interest. From the viewpoint of the heirs of a deceased business owner, a buy-sell severs their dependency on the surviving owners and the economic fortunes of a business that has lost a key person.