Every year in our business we lay out our goals for the upcoming year. During this process, we review the progress we have made toward our long term goals. Without a roadmap and clear goals, we will always move the goalpost.
I imagine you have gone through this same process with your company. Constantly wrestling between wanting to push your team to the next level while celebrating successes along the way.
Financial planning for business owners is a process to help you hit goals in your personal financial life.
As specialists in wealth management for business owners, our goal is to create, implement, and monitor your financial plan.
In this blog, we are going to look at the frameworks we use to secure your financial future without moving the goalpost.
Financial Planning for Business Owners
Financial planning is one of the simplest topics to understand but a difficult topic to execute.
When we work with business owners we break down financial planning into three areas.
Create
Implement
Monitor
Let's look at each.
Create
Creating a financial plan starts with you. We need to dive into what you value and want to prioritize. What questions are we thinking about when creating a plan?
What does success look like for me and my family?
Am I spending my time in areas that give me energy?
What will it take to allow me to be financially secure?
Each of these questions will provide unique answers and those answers will be our framework.
Let's look at an example.
"What does success look like for me and my family?"
Business Owner 1
"Success for me is passing our business down to my children. My goal is to run the company for the next five years. In the following five years, I plan to transition the business to my children."
Now let's contrast this with another answer we have seen.
Business Owner 2
"Success for me is spending more time with my spouse and kids now. I am burnt out and exhuasted. If possible I would like to sell my company in the next two years."
These two owners have a similar goal of exiting their businesses but will have different financial plans.
Once we have answers to these questions we can start to set our course with our goals. When we set these goals we want to use the SMART goal setting approach.
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time Bound
My encouragement to any business owner going through this process is there is no "right" answer, but there is one big mistake they must avoid.
Avoid This Big Mistake
When creating a financial plan there is one mistake you MUST avoid. That mistake is making it all about the money. Working with business owners has allowed me to see that money has a decrease in benefits after your goals are met.
The bills get paid.
The new car gets bought.
The kid's education gets paid.
The dream house gets built.
Don't hear what I am not saying. Many aspects of life require money, but if you make it the end all be all you will never be satisfied.
Once we have our goals set it is time to implement them.
Implement
The implementation of your financial plan will be more tactical than the creation. This is where we get into the nitty-gritty of how we will meet your goals.
During the goal-setting process, we will have determined a few of these basic questions.
What does it cost to live the lifestyle you desire?
What are you spending to live your life today?
How do you want to spend your time today and in the future?
How do you define winning in your business and personal life?
What is the range we can sell the business for (if applicable)?
Our goal is to provide optionality and clarity to your financial plan. Our team is going to run the analysis to help you answer these key questions.
How much money do I need to save annually to meet my goals?
How much money do I need to have saved to live my ideal life?
How will we meet my goals on my timeline?
What levers do we need to pull to win the game?
When we create this plan we use a combination of tools at our disposal, but the one business owners find the most helpful is our stress test. If you have run a business for any period of time you know things never go "as planned". There is always some variable you accounted for incorrectly.
We see the same occur for client's financial plans. This is why we stress test client's financial plans for these common variables.
What if I live longer than I expect?
What if inflation is higher than expected?
What if I decide I want to spend more money?
What if my health care costs are higher than I thought?
What if my portfolio returns a lower rate of return than expected?
This process gives business owners peace of mind that they have a roadmap that will allow them to have personal and financial success.
At Moment not only do we help you build the roadmap but we are the financial partner that implements it for you.
As you know any good plan comes with changes. That brings us to the last step of financial planning for business owners.
Monitor
Plans change.
This can go for anything in life. I think back to the first time I took my family to Disney World. We booked the trip in January. Where we live in the midwest it gets cold in the winter. This means every time we book a trip for the summer we are never concerned about the heat.
This all changes when you show up at Disney World in 95-degree Florida heat with three kids under six years old. I can distinctly remember telling my wife I don't care what it costs to eat lunch inside we have to get out of this heat.
The great thing about having a team that specializes in wealth management for business owners is that we get it.
We are here for those changes.
Typically these changes come in two forms. The changes in your control and the changes out of your control.
In Your Control:
Changes that are in your control are more fun to plan around than those out of your control. Let's look at these first.
You decide you want to spend more money now vs later in life.
You decide you would rather continue running your business vs selling it.
You decide you would rather spend more time with your kids and less time in the business.
When changes like these occur our team will perform a new analysis to ensure we make the necessary changes to keep you on track.
Out of Your Control:
These are the less fun things to plan around, but the reality is they happen. Everything isn't roses and rainbows and it pays to have a team in your corner that gets it.
Business valuations decrease in your industry.
A key partnership changes and affects the company's bottom line.
Your cost of goods sold increases due to inflation and it affects your profits.
Although no business owner ever wants these situations to occur the reality is that they do happen. Our job is to show you what these changes mean for your financial plan and provide you with the information to make an educated decision.
Business owners hire us to get the answers that they need and this is not always what they want to hear. This is where hard conversations have to happen. The important thing to remember in these conversations is that life is all about tradeoffs.
Here are a few examples of tradeoffs we have seen in the past.
Working less today with the tradeoff of spending more time with your family.
Making less today with the tradeoff of spending more time on projects that give you energy.
Working more today to meet your financial goals earlier in life.
These are three of the tradeoffs that we have seen when constructing a comprehensive financial plan for business owners. Our job as a financial advisor is to be the guide to help you create, implement, and monitor your financial plan.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our goal at Moment Private Wealth is to help you reach your ideal outcome. This is why we help construct financial plans for business owners. It isn't enough to know what tools to use but you need a team to help you implement.
If you are an entrepreneur who is concerned about your financial plan, schedule a call, and talk with a Moment founder.
Not sure what questions to ask, check out this video on 10 questions you should ask when interviewing a financial advisor.
Get in Touch With An Advisor
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some answers to questions I received frequently about this topic.
Are you a fiduciary? Moment Private Wealth serves clients as a fiduciary 100% of the time.
How does Moment Private Wealth make money? We are only paid in one transparent way, by our clients. We receive no kickbacks or participate in any profit-sharing arrangements. Our fees are simple, transparent, and clear for our clients.
How are you different than other financial advisors? We are specialists in working with professional athletes and business owners. We limit the number of new clients we take on. This allows us to provide unparalleled value and highly personalized service to professional athletes and business owners. We work as a team to service our clients. We believe in building a team of “A” players. This ensures our clients receive world-class tax, estate, insurance, and investment strategies. We focus on educating first, then executing.
Where do you hold my investments and how can I see them? Moment Private Wealth uses Fidelity Investments as a third-party custodian for our client investment accounts. As a third-party custodian, Fidelity safeguards and provides reporting to you and the IRS each year. Clients can also access all financial information via the Moment Private Wealth Client Portal.
How do you work with other members of my team? We believe in the power of the team. For most of our clients, their team consists of Moment Private Wealth, an accountant, an attorney, a banker, and an insurance specialist. We help our clients build out their team of individuals or work with existing partners clients have. Our goal is to ensure every family has a team of experts to protect their interests.
How do you choose investments for clients? As independent financial advisors, we can gather research and make recommendations based on all available options. We determine clients’ portfolios in partnership with some of the largest asset managers in the world. Each quarter, we have calls with teams of CFAs (Chartered Financial Analysts) to ensure our clients are receiving the most up-to-date strategies and recommendations.
What does your average client look like? Our clients are nearly all athletes and business owners. Our average client has a net worth greater than $5M. The strategies, solutions, and planning that we implement have a high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth client in mind.
Does Moment Private Wealth help you pay less in taxes? Taxes are going to be your largest lifetime expense. Our goal is to help you pay the least amount possible and never leave the IRS a tip. Our team of specialists understands this and works to reduce your taxes today and in the future.
Can Moment Private Wealth help business owners with succession planning? Yes, this is part of creating a roadmap for your goals. Having first-hand knowledge of selling a business will allow you confidence throughout the process. Many business owners get one chance to sell a business. Having a firm that can help is key.
Why should I consider hiring Moment Private Wealth? Great question! But first, let us explain why you shouldn’t hire us. If you’re looking for an advisor who will pitch shiny object investments or be a “yes man” you are in the wrong place. Why? Because we believe in being truth tellers and only giving advice that we take ourselves. The investments, strategies, and planning we do are all things our advisors do with their own money. If you are an athlete or business owner interested in things like lowering your tax bill, investing smarter, and finding a trusted partner we might be a good fit.
*Moment Private Wealth offers information on tax and estate planning that is general in nature. Tax and Legal advice are not provided by Moment Private Wealth. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation.
Comments