Services for Business Owners

Succession planning allows you to retire from your business in your own time and on your own terms in a way that’s profitable and peaceful. Stepping down from your business can be complicated, and it’s our goal to ensure the process is implemented smoothly. Our team will help you determine how to prepare the company to be transferred to family members, key employees, an outside party, or even a charity. We’ll recommend specific financial strategies and objectives to execute your business succession plan as efficiently as possible. When you plan well, it can help you retain personal financial security, maintain harmony among family members and employees, and achieve the maximum value for your business.

Key person life insurance offers a death benefit to compensate an employer for the loss of one of its most valuable assets—a key employee. This compensation is often used to aid operation costs and maintain stability of the business for employees, customers, and creditors. This benefit also helps protect against losses in sales, growth, and credit due to the loss of a key employee, and it can be used to assist with recruiting and training a replacement. If your business depends on the knowledge and experience of a principal executive or employee, we can help you identify the best way to ensure your business and employees are protected in the unexpected.

A buy-sell agreement is a legally binding contract between co-owners that governs the purchase or sale of their business if one co-owner dies or leaves the business, whether by force or by choice. The agreement stipulates how and to whom the business can be sold. A funded cross-purchase buy-sell agreement leverages life insurance to help fund the purchase of the remaining share of a business in the event that a co-owner dies. The life insurance payout is used to help the existing owner buy out the deceased owner’s share (typically from the deceased owner’s spouse or other family member, or from creditors).

Deferred compensation is a written agreement between an employer and an employee in which the employee opts to have part of his or her compensation withheld by the company. The withheld compensation is then invested on the employee’s behalf and distributed to them at a predetermined point in the future. Deferred compensation plans can be a beneficial tax strategy for the employee, and they allow employers to attract and incentivize top talent. Our firm provides guidance and funding for deferred compensation plans to help you optimize your benefit strategies for the benefit of your company and its employees.