Business exit planning
You built the business. Now plan what it becomes.
For most owners the company is the largest asset they have, and a sale turns it into money that has to produce income for the rest of their life. The business plan has to flow into the personal plan. We plan the years before the exit and manage what comes after it, together with your attorney and CPA.
What does exit planning cover here?
- A personal plan that shows what the sale needs to produce, after tax, for your retirement to work.
- Buy-sell agreement analysis, and insurance to fund the agreement so a partner's departure does not force a fire sale.
- Key person analysis and coverage.
- Succession and exit alternatives: a sale to family, to employees, to a partner, or to an outside buyer, and what each one means for you.
- Coordination with your CPA on the tax structure of the sale and with your attorney on the agreements.
- After the sale, management of the proceeds with an allocation built for income first and for preserving what you built.
A conversation about your timeline, your partners, and what you want life to look like after the business.
We gather your personal and business financials and build the picture in planning software.
We model the exit paths and show you, in plain terms, what each one produces for you after tax.
You get written recommendations, shared with your attorney and CPA.
We carry out the personal side of the plan, and after the sale, manage the proceeds and review the plan with you on a regular schedule.
Earlier is better, and several years ahead is common. That gives time to fund a buy-sell agreement, put key person coverage in place, clean up the financials, and plan the tax structure with your CPA. If a sale is already close, planning still matters, because what happens to the proceeds decides what the rest of your life looks like.
A buy-sell agreement sets out what happens to an owner's share if that owner dies, becomes disabled, or leaves. Funding, often with insurance, provides the money to carry out the agreement. Without it, the remaining owners may have to borrow or sell assets to pay out a departing owner's family.
Yes. After a sale, we can manage the proceeds on a discretionary basis, with an allocation built around the income you need and the risk you are willing to take. The accounts stay in your name at an independent custodian, and our fee is based on the assets we manage.
