Often, business owners are so consumed with working in their businesses that they forget to work ON their businesses.
Part of working on your business means planning for the future, and this planning should be an ongoing process.
From the start of your business to your ultimate exit, Consolidated Planning can help support this journey, regardless of your current stage.
In this article, we’ll help you understand what you can expect from a fee-based plan for your business, the four components to address, and how to maximize and protect the value of your business until your exit (and beyond).
What Can You Expect When Planning For Your Business With Consolidated Planning?
There are a lot of services you need to keep your business running smoothly and efficiently.
We’re willing to bet that, like most business owners, you have had pretty transactional relationships in the past when seeking the services you need for your business.
At Consolidated Planning, we believe planning for the growth and exit of your business shouldn’t be one of those transactional, single-focus relationships. It should be all-encompassing and coordinated. Here’s a look at what you can expect with a fee-based plan at Consolidated Planning:
#1 Data Collection
Our process for creating a customized plan that fits your business and personal goals starts with a meeting. Here, we will gather some basic information to understand your current situation. This data collection stage is a chance to discuss your goals and any concerns you may have for your future.
#2 Issues and Recommendations (Proposal of Engagement)
At this stage, we will share a customized proposal to address the issues and opportunities and give you an idea of some possible solutions. All issues identified here will be reviewed based on our initial conversations and experience working with business owners like you. From there, we will help you understand expected deliverables in detail, including:
- Important dates
- Employee data
- Corporate insurance
- Business financial documents and
- Business legal documents
#3 Strategy Meetings
Once we agree on planning for your business together, we can discuss in depth the issues/opportunities you face in your business and determine various strategies that may be available to address those specific issues and opportunities. As you can imagine, this is the most important phase of the process because this is where you have the chance to understand the potential results and implications of various strategies.
Since you know your business best, your feedback is critical. It will affect our final recommendations and result in a plan best suited to YOUR situation, expectations, and subjective goals.
These meetings are a great opportunity to include any necessary family members, key employees, or other advisors like your CPA or Attorney. Coordination and integration are important to your business plan.
#4 Implementation
Lastly, a plan is only as good as its implementation. Separate from the recommended solution, we are also available to assist with implementing the plan for your business. While there is no requirement or obligation to implement any aspect of the solution, Consolidated Planning is appropriately licensed in many of the relevant areas of business planning to provide solutions like employee benefits, various life/health/disability insurance funding solutions, non-qualified deferred compensation, 401k management, financial wellness for employees, and personal wealth management among others.
It’s important to note that, unlike a personal planning case, you can expect longer periods between these steps.
3 Ways We Plan For Your Business
Planning for your business is a multifaceted approach and includes four components.
#1 Protection
If your business is indeed your largest asset and primary source of cash flow, how confident are you that it is fully protected in case the unexpected happens? We know these scenarios aren’t fun to think about, but this could be anything from personnel issues like the unexpected exit of a key employee to an economic downturn. Without first protecting its value TODAY, you can’t begin to plan for tomorrow. Without essential planning, your primary income source and overall business value are at risk.
Together, we’ll develop the approach to protect the value of your business from the unexpected loss of owners and/or key people. This includes:
- Evaluation of your existing Buy/Sell Agreement and coordination with Exit Planning goals or
- Strategic Design of a Buy/Sell Agreement
- Recommendations for efficient funding solutions in the event of Death and/or Disability
- Recommendations for a stay bonus program in the event of a key owner’s death or disability
#2 Growth
If you’re like most owners, you realize that your business’s most valuable asset is its people. Once you’ve identified those key people in your business – those who have a disproportionate impact on your bottom line by using their specific knowledge, experience, and talent, we can create retention and incentive plans to support the growth of your business. These might include:
- Evaluation of existing compensation and benefits offerings for rank and file as well as top employees
- Strategic Design of a Retention Bonus plan linked to the desired Business or Exit Planning milestone
- Recommendations for efficient funding solutions to achieve desired Business or Exit Planning goals
- Strategic Design of Group Benefit offering for all employees
- Recommendations for efficient funding solutions to achieve desired Business or Exit Planning goals
#3 Coordination For Your Exit
As an owner, your biggest asset is your business, and your personal planning is intimately linked to its future value. We’ll ensure coordination with your personal balance sheet in preparation for the eventual transfer and sale of your business—planned or unexpected.
- Look at how cash flow will be derived to support your post-retirement income requirements.
- Analyse Legacy Issues, including Estate Tax Analysis, Estate Liquidity/Equalization, etc.
- Analysis of existing investment portfolio and recommended changes
- Analysis of existing insurance portfolio and recommended changes
Maintain Your Business Value By Adequately Planning For Your Business
If you’re hesitant about spending money to build and retain your business’s value, consider the potential costs associated with failing to plan for your business.
Without this coordinated and integrated plan, your business’s future value is at stake. Wouldn’t you rather monetize what you have built along the way?
To get started with the right plan that addresses your unique business position, chat with an experienced planning professional at Consolidated Planning to begin maximizing and retaining your business’s value.
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Exp. 12/2026
Guardian, its subsidiaries, agents and employees do not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. Consult your tax, legal, or accounting professional regarding your individual situation. The information provided is based on our general understanding of the subject matter discussed and is for informational purposes only.
This material contains the current opinions of James M. Matthews and Consolidated Planning only. These are not the opinions of Park Avenue Securities, Guardian, or its subsidiaries.
