Selling a Business

Exit planning starts years before the sale

Successful business exits are planned long before a buyer appears. Starting early gives you time to clean up the financials, reduce owner dependence, retain key employees, and structure the business in ways that can dramatically change your after-tax proceeds. Whether your exit is a sale to a strategic buyer, private equity, a family succession, or an employee buyout, the groundwork you lay now expands your options later.

We help you understand what your business is realistically worth, what number you actually need for the retirement and legacy you want, and how to bridge any gap between the two.

Structuring a tax-efficient sale

How a deal is structured often matters as much as the headline price. Asset sales and stock sales are taxed differently, installment sales can spread gains across years, and qualified small business stock (QSBS) can exclude a substantial portion of the gain for eligible C-corporation shareholders. Charitable strategies executed before the sale — not after — can also meaningfully reduce the tax bill.

We work alongside your M&A attorney, CPA, and investment banker to evaluate deal terms through the lens of your personal financial plan, so the structure that gets negotiated is the one that serves you best after taxes.

Life after the sale: managing the proceeds

The wire hits, and suddenly a lifetime of illiquid net worth becomes investable cash — along with a new set of questions. We help you invest the proceeds around your objectives, replace the income the business used to provide, update your estate plan for a much larger and more liquid balance sheet, and think through what’s next: retirement, a new venture, or philanthropy.