Your business is your biggest asset. Plan around it.
When you own a business, you're the CEO, the HR department and, more often than not, your own retirement plan. This lane is for business owners, whether it's just you or a growing team. The goal: a protected business, best people who stay, your own retirement on track, and a clear plan for the day you step away.
Does this sound familiar?
- Most of what you're worth is tied up in the business.
- If you, or a partner, were gone tomorrow, nothing is written down about what happens next.
- You've thought about selling or handing it down, but there's no plan and no date.
- Your best people could leave for a better offer, and you'd have little to keep them.
- You've been so busy building the business that your own retirement has had to wait.
None of that is unusual. Owners spend their time on the business, not on the plan around it. This lane is that plan.
Four parts of one plan
Protecting the business
- Key-person insurance, so losing someone critical doesn’t stop the business.
- Funding a buy-sell agreement, so a partner’s death, disability or exit doesn’t sink the company or the family.
- Disability coverage for you as the owner, and business overhead coverage that keeps the bills paid while you recover.
- Employee benefits and HSAs that help you hire good people and keep them.
Exit and succession
- A succession plan: who runs the business, who owns it, and when that changes.
- Passing the business to family, fairly, for the children who work in it and the ones who don’t.
- Knowing what the business is worth, working alongside a valuation specialist.
- Planning for the tax on a sale before you sign, not after.
Your own retirement
- The right retirement plan for your business: a Solo 401(k) or SEP-IRA if it’s just you; a SIMPLE IRA, 401(k) or safe-harbor 401(k) once you have a team.
- Turning a business sale into retirement income that lasts.
- Making sure the business isn’t your only retirement plan.
Executive pay and keeping key people
- Tax-efficient compensation for you and your executives.
- Executive bonus plans, deferred compensation and “golden handcuff” plans that reward your best people for staying.
- Kai-Zen, our leveraged life insurance strategy, for owners and key people who already max their retirement plans. A bank finances part of the premium, so more capital works inside the policy than your dollars alone would fund.
We're fiduciaries, so when we recommend something we're legally required to recommend what's best for you. And we work alongside your CPA and attorney, not around them.
One plan, the right specialists
Owning a business touches more than financial planning. When your plan needs a specialist, we bring one in from the Professional Financial Resources Group (opens in a new tab), the network of trusted professionals Bob has built since 2016. We coordinate the work, so you're not managing five advisors who never talk to each other.
- Tax and accountingTax preparation and year-round planning for you and the business, from a CPA.
- Business lawContracts, start-ups, trademarks, asset protection and succession documents such as a buy-sell agreement.
- Estate planningWills, trusts and the documents that pass on what you’ve built, and help through probate when it’s needed.
- Fractional CFOPart-time senior finance help with budgets, cash flow and forecasts, without a full-time hire.
- Mergers, acquisitions and appraisalsA professional valuation, and confidential help buying or selling a business.
- Banking and lendingCredit lines, equipment loans and financing for growth or a buyout.
- Business and personal insuranceCommercial coverage against accidents and injuries, plus home, auto and Medicare, alongside the life and disability protection we plan.
- Real estateBuying, selling or investing in property, including the building your business uses.
- Charitable givingWays to support the causes that matter to you, during your life or through your estate.
Members of the Professional Financial Resources Group are unaffiliated professionals. Oaks Financial Services is not responsible for their services, and an introduction is not an endorsement of any specific advice.
Start with the quiz
The Business Owner Blind Spot Check
Six quick questions that show where your business, and your own future, might have a blind spot, and a clear next step either way. Two minutes, no login to see your score.
Try it nowThe Business Owner Tax Leak Audit
Twelve questions that show where tax may be leaking out of you and your business, and which areas to raise with your CPA first.
Where your life and your business meet
Planning Retirement
Turning what you've built, including a business sale, into predictable, tax-efficient income.
Still growing?Building Wealth
Making the money you take out of the business work together, in the right order.
For foundersThe Legacy Vault
Preserve how you built it and why, in your own voice, for the family and the people who carry it on.
Try it nowFinancial Calculators
nine quick calculators to run your own numbers, from savings goals to Required Minimum Distributions.
Read the guides
What Is Key-Person Insurance, and Does My Business Need It?
What key-person insurance is, how it keeps a business running when an owner or key employee dies or can't work, and how to think about how much to carry.
BusinessWhat Is a Buy-Sell Agreement, and How Is It Funded?
How a buy-sell agreement decides what happens to an owner's share of the business, the two common ways to set one up, and why an unfunded agreement is only half a plan.
BusinessHow Do I Plan My Exit From My Business?
The four ways owners step away from a business, why the best exits start years ahead, and the steps that tend to raise what you keep.
BusinessWhich Retirement Plan Is Right for My Business?
A plain look at the SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, solo 401(k), safe harbor 401(k) and cash balance plan, who each one fits, and how the choice affects what you can save.
ProtectionWhat Is Leveraged Life Insurance?
What "leveraged" actually means for a life insurance policy, and where our Kai-Zen strategy fits into that picture.
ProtectionLife and Disability Insurance in Your 30s and 40s
What employer coverage actually covers, where it quietly stops, how much term life is enough, and why own-occupation disability matters in peak earning years.
LegacyWhat Would My Family Need to Know If Something Happened to Me?
The one page your family would need first: who to call, where things are, what they would need to know, and what you want handled first. Free printable.
TaxesRoth or Traditional: Which Should I Choose?
Choose traditional when your tax rate is higher today than it will be in retirement, Roth when it is lower, and some of both when unsure. How to decide.
FiduciaryWhat's the Difference Between a Fiduciary and a Non-Fiduciary Advisor?
A fiduciary must recommend what is best for you; a non-fiduciary only what is suitable. How the two standards differ, and how to tell which one you have.
The full libraryBrowse all 43 guides
The full libraryStraight answers
Do business owners need a different kind of financial plan?
Yes. When most of your income and net worth run through a business, your plan has to cover the business too. That means what happens if you can’t work, who owns it next, how you keep your key people, and how the business becomes your retirement income.
What retirement plan is right for a business owner?
It depends mostly on whether you have employees. If it’s just you, a Solo 401(k) or SEP-IRA usually lets you save the most with the least paperwork. With a team, a SIMPLE IRA, 401(k) or safe-harbor 401(k) lets you save for yourself while offering your employees a real benefit. Your income, your staff and the plan’s costs decide which fits.
What is a buy-sell agreement, and why does it need to be funded?
A buy-sell agreement is a contract that sets who buys a business owner’s share, and at what price. It applies if that owner dies, can’t work because of a disability, or wants out. Funding it, often with life and disability insurance, makes sure the money to buy the share is actually there when it’s needed.
What is key-person insurance?
Key-person insurance is a policy the business owns on someone it can’t run without, often the owner. If that person dies or can’t work, it pays the business. That money can cover lost revenue, hire and train a replacement, and keep the bills paid while the business recovers.
When should I start planning to sell or pass on my business?
Several years before you plan to step away. The structure and timing of a sale or a family transfer affect both the price and the tax. Many of the options that help need time to set up.
Do you work with my CPA and attorney?
Yes. We coordinate with the CPA and attorney you already have. If you need one, we can introduce professionals from the Professional Financial Resources Group, the network of specialists Bob has built since 2016.
Do you work with business owners outside Minnesota?
Yes. Every meeting is by video, so we work with business owners anywhere in the United States, and the first conversation is free.
Bob Ward and Andy Ward
This lane is run by both of us. Bob has spent over 40 years in senior planning roles, concentrating on tax, estate and distribution strategies for individuals and small businesses. Andy works with owners on long-term planning, including keeping key employees and how they're paid. You get both perspectives, and a firm built to outlast any one advisor. Read our full bios.
Start with one conversation
Tell us about the business and what's on your mind. We'll show you where you stand and what would make the biggest difference, no cost, no obligation.
No office to walk into. Just meet us from wherever you work.