Planning & consulting experts in business, retirement, estate, tax, investment and more.
Business Planning and Consulting
For most business owners, the business is their most significant asset, and the financial success of that business has an immediate impact on the economic security of the family. Without proper planning, you may have difficulty tapping the value of your business to support your retirement, or your family may lose the value of your business at your death.
Business planning focuses on issues specific to business owners and shareholders.
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Focuses on critical components of managing a business in the various stages of its life cycle. Common and controllable management issues include sales and marketing, cost/benefit analysis, controls, human resources, tax issues, asset management, and product development.
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Starting and running a business carries its own set of risk exposures and there are several factors that can impact how safe your personal and business assets are from risk. These include, but are not limited to: the type of business entity you choose, the state you choose to do business in, as well as how you manage your business, your human resources, and your taxes. Business risk management identifies your options for handling these risks.
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Focuses on both cash and non-cash approaches. The size and structure of the business significantly influences your compensation systems. Large businesses tend to provide owners with sophisticated and sometimes complex compensation formulas. Small businesses tend to adopt a more straightforward compensation approach. Examples of compensation include insurance benefits, qualified retirement plans, stock options, personal performance initiatives, and other tax-advantaged non-qualified plans.
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Focuses on the transition of a business from an existing owner to a new owner. While key factors vary extensively with business type and industry, there are some factors common to all business transitions, including the creation of a sellable business and the formulation of specific transition mechanics at time of sale. Additional succession planning issues include positioning a business for sale, determining valuation and terms, grooming senior management, and creating strategic alliances.
Retirement Planning and Consulting
Retirement planning involves evaluating your current financial standing and creating an accumulation strategy that will help to ensure a desired retirement lifestyle.
Because an individual's retirement years can span decades, retirement planning generally dominates other financial goals. A successful plan put into place during the wealth-building lifespan should address ways to maximize growth and tax-efficient distributions, as well as how to leave retirement assets to the next generation.
At the heart of any retirement plan is the distribution of accumulated assets. The correct distribution method will help to ensure that your retirement savings last beyond your lifetime with minimum shrinkage from taxes. From premature distribution options that allow access to retirement assets prior to age 591/2, to products intended to provide stable monthly payments for retirement, distribution planning is paramount to a successful retirement plan.
There are several ways to save for retirement:
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Qualified plans are employer-sponsored retirement plans such as 401(k)s and pension plans. While there are contribution limits and strict distribution rules, these plans are popular because of their tax benefits. Generally, employers will make participation even more attractive by matching all or a portion of an employee's contribution. It's important that you choose the optimum plan to benefit the key people in your company.
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IRAs are inexpensive, easy to establish and maintain, and also offer favorable tax incentives. They can be created by an individual or provided by an employer. Most people use IRAs to consolidate retirement savings that were previously held in employer-sponsored plans. Our process coordinates your IRA investments with your other savings plans.
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You may find that qualified plans, IRAs, and social security won't provide enough money to support your desired retirement lifestyle. By identifying your retirement gap, you can develop a strategy for personal savings invested outside of the traditional retirement vehicle.
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Business owners or executives may have access to other tax-advantaged retirement savings vehicles. Non-qualified executive compensation is a generic term used to describe a compensation arrangement that provides retirement income—and, in some cases, death benefits—to key employees of a business.
Estate Planning and Consulting
Estate planning creates a master plan for the management of your property during life and the distribution of that property at death.
For most people, estate planning will:
Gives more control over assets during life
Provide care when disabled
Allow for the transfer of wealth to whom and when wanted, at the lowest possible cost
Our process does not end with estate planning but coordinates your estate plan with your overall plans for your business, investments, insurance, and employee benefits.
Common estate planning issues addressed in the wealth management process include:
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Wealth transfer planning involves the smooth transition and distribution of wealth according to your wishes. With proper estate planning, you decide to whom, how, and when your assets will be distributed, as well as who will manage your estate or business. Special issues you may deal with are providing financial security for others, planning for children of a previous marriage, equalizing inheritances fairly, and retiring from your business. Wealth transfer planning also involves the management of assets during disability or incapacity.
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A major goal of estate planning is to minimize potential taxes without interfering with your other financial goals. If you give away wealth, during life or at death, you may incur federal—and possibly state—taxes. You can help protect the assets you transfer from excessive depletion by understanding these taxes and the various strategies you can use to minimize them.
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If you own substantial assets, creditor protection can be a concern. Creditors can come in many forms. An asset protection plan first identifies potential exposure and then identifies preventive tools and strategies to reduce exposure. Asset protection planning deals with ownership issues, liability insurance, statutory protections, special needs trusts, offshore and domestic trusts, prenuptial agreements, divorce, and business dissolutions.
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Charitable giving is motivated by both personal and tax incentives. Congress encourages charitable giving through tax legislation that can minimize your income and estate taxes. Charitable planning involves selecting the gifted property and charitable structure that will target your needs.
Tax Planning and Consulting
A major goal of tax planning is minimizing federal income tax liability.
This can be achieved by:
Reducing taxable income through income deferral or shifting
Deduction planning
Investment tax planning
Year-end planning strategies
Investment Tax Planning
Investment tax planning involves evaluating how to best position assets in order to minimize the amount of taxes you have to pay on an ongoing basis.
This requires year-round planning, and it begins with an in-depth understanding of the tax implications of various investments and investment strategies, including:
The treatment of wash sales
Tax-exempt investments
Gains and losses
1031 exchanges
Qualified dividends
Tax straddles
Tax-deferred investing
Passive income and losses
Mutual fund taxation
If you give away wealth, during life or at death, you may incur federal taxes—and possibly additional state taxes. These taxes include gift, estate, income, and inheritance taxes. You can help protect the assets you transfer from excessive depletion by understanding these taxes and the various strategies you can use to minimize them.
Tax issues are never far from the mind of the business owner, and it's likely that many of the decisions you make will be tax-based. It starts with the formation of your business and continues through the sale. Your choice of business entity, how you pay out profits to the owners, and your accounting decisions will all have an effect on your tax liability.
Some events in life—retirement, for example—come with tax considerations. Life event planning focuses on the impact of significant events on your life, as well as on the stages of your overall investment plan.
Contact us
Contact us today to discuss your Financial Service needs.
These are the areas we specialize in:
Tax Services - Small to Mid-size Businesses
Individual Returns & Consultation
Trust Returns
Accumulation Planning – Asset Allocation
Retirement Planning
Investment Tax Planning
Business Consulting & Planning