Business Planning
As job creators, idea innovators and wealth builders, business owners are by nature self-driven, responsible, take charge, make-it-happen people. Yet, in the rush of day-to-day business activities, many business owners become so engrossed in running their companies, they inadvertently put their personal finances on the back burner.
With much of their wealth locked into business assets, business owners need financial planning that understands and respects this reality. That’s why we initiate the planning process by focusing on your largest asset, your business, and use those strategies available to your business to help you achieve your personal financial goals.
Our specialized tools and plan design expertise incorporate buy-sell contingencies, business continuity issues, exit/succession planning, and executive benefits into our Business of Life™ plan which is designed to protect both family and business interests.
EXIT/SUCCESSION PLANNING
Growing your business is hard work. Passing it on shouldn’t be. You owe it to yourself to ensure that your business will continue to flourish after you leave. Proper planning can help provide long-term security for your retirement, your company’s future, and your family.
Laying The Groundwork
It’s never too early to begin planning for succession. An early start can help you develop an appropriate exit strategy on your terms and allows you the time to choose the right person(s) to eventually run your business.
A business succession plan can maximize your business’s value and secure your own financial future when the time comes to sell, transfer or wrap things up. When planned properly, your transition should be smooth both emotionally and financially, not just for you and your family, but also for your employees and successor.
Professional Guidance For Your Journey
Drawing upon our years of experience working with business owners, Scott Jones Financial serves as your financial advocate to assure that your experience is as smooth as possible. Through our membership in BEI, the nation’s premier exit planning organization, as well as our network of exit planning advisors, we guide you through a seven-step exit planning process, in concert with your accountant and attorney, to develop and execute a comprehensive exit plan built around your objectives.
KEY PERSON INSURANCE
Protecting Your Business Against Loss of Key Employees
The death of a key person can result in serious consequences for the business. Credit could be substantially impaired, or even worse, loans would be called if the key person was a cosigner. The loss of that “intangible asset value” represented by the key person may be greater than that caused by a fire, flood, or other catastrophe. 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.
Split Dollar Plans
Many companies design their Key Person coverage as a Split Dollar Plan which has the potential for enhanced tax treatment under the 2017 Tax Act. This is an arrangement between an employer and an employee to share the costs and benefits of a life insurance policy. These plans are widely used in gift and estate planning and can be an important part of the compensation package for key executives.
BUY-SELL ARRANGEMENTS
Protecting a Business Partnership
Buy-Sell agreements are intended to help protect the Business Owner’s relationships and rights during the significant events that might happen during his or her career. These events could be positive or negative, including retirement, buying or selling shares to a partner, selling to a third party, death, disability, divorce and many others.
Proper Funding Is Essential to the Agreement’s Effectiveness
It is important to document the desired outcome, but it is also critical to manage the written document and proactively allocate funds in a strategic manner. It is very possible to leverage the funds that are allocated so that they are able to be utilized by more than one of the buy-sell triggers. Scott Jones Financial can guide you in the process of developing and funding a buy-sell agreement suited to the needs of your business.
EXECUTIVE BENEFITS
Attract, Retain and Reward Key Executives
In today’s competitive business environment, key executives are a company’s most valuable asset. Competition to recruit, retain and reward top performers has grown to the point that traditional compensation methods are not enough.
Business owners and key executives face tax issues and retirement needs amid restrictive legislation that dramatically limits the amount of income that can be deferred or contributed to the company’s qualified retirement plan
For this reason, a growing number of companies are turning to additional forms of compensation such as nonqualified deferred compensation plans, split dollar insurance plans, phantom stock plans, and golden handcuffs, as well as disability and long term care insurance. Together, these tools can help recruit, retain and reward top performers while also benefiting the business owner’s personal balance sheet.
Objective Advice and Advocacy
As professionals with many years of experience in executive compensation strategies, our role is to serve as your company’s advocate—helping you define your specifications and compare existing programs with your current goals. We help you orchestrate the plan; assemble the required specialists; coordinate arrangements with your legal, accounting and internal advisors; and guide every aspect of your plan’s development.
Customer Relationship Summary (CRS)
