Case Studies: Business Owners
Case Study 1
After several years as our clients, one spouse decided it was time to leave her job and career to start her own business. Not only did this decision impact their financial life plan, but it also called for further planning for business structures, compensation setups and life insurance.
By keeping the focus on what they were trying to achieve, we assisted with building her business plan and setting goals for the business and future growth in alignment with their personal financial objectives.
When a new partner was brought in several years later, we helped guide discussions on new planning opportunities—buy-sell agreements, life insurance on the partners, and health spending accounts for each of them—all while we continued to update and monitor their plan, and adjust as the business changed and grew.
Case Study 2
When dairy farmer “John” heard that his son really did want to one day take over the family farm, John was both proud and nervous. While he was proud to hand off the farm to the next generation, he quickly realized he had no idea how to do so successfully—especially since John’s daughter wouldn’t be part of the transition.
We helped John and his family navigate all the implications of business transfer including tax and legal. But we went beyond that to also help John understand and consider his son as the next owner, and that sometimes an owner does not make a good manager (and vice versa—a good manager does not make a good owner), and helped John identify his son as a good manager, a good owner, or both.
We also identified the key areas needed to provide for a successful transfer, such as strong family communications and a flexible plan while managing risk. Strong family communication was key, especially for those not directly involved in the business transfer. Since John’s daughter would not be involved in the family farm after the transition, John and his wife wanted to honour their daughter while knowing that fair is not always equal. We were able to guide a financial planning process that was flexible, actionable and built around strong family communications. This gave the family the clear roadmap they needed to complete a successful transfer of stewardship from one generation to the next.