Why We Plan

There has been an increase in the number of millennial business owners in today’s market. Times are changing and the demographics of business owners now span several generations beyond just baby boomers. Advisors need to learn how to work with these very different kinds of owners.

One of the most important skills an advisor or business owner can learn is how and when to appropriately scale a business. Scaling too fast or with the wrong team members can be detrimental to the success of the business.

John Brown, Founder of BEI, sits down with Stacey McMahan, JD, CLU, ChFC, Sr. Consultant, Advanced Designs at Pacific Life, at the 2021 BEI National Conference to discuss the ins and outs of defined benefit plans.

Stacey discusses the specific variables that are associated with a plan like this: the cost, the expected timeline, and the tax ramifications to keep in mind. She also highlights that the age and salary of your client plays a huge role in how the plan is developed. Although this is a complex plan and it can be difficult to construct, Stacey highlights how simple it is to decide if this is the right plan for your specific owner clients. Help your owner clients be prepared for the exit of their businesses as well as their retirement.

John Brown, Founder of BEI, sits down with Josh Curtis, Managing Director at Footprint Capital, to discuss the controlled auction process. Josh is an investment banker who has assisted many owners in finding the right buyer for the business.

In this podcast, Josh walks through the controlled auction process from start to finish. He discusses the different definitions of value amongst buyers vs. sellers, how to highlight the negative and the positive of the business on the market, and how he can help his clients find the best possible buyer. Josh notes that he does not just paint a rosy picture of his clients’ businesses. He highlights the flaws that a company might have because you must be honest to be able to find the right buyer. He also mentions that sometimes the higher bidder might not always be the best successor for a business.

In this episode of Why We Plan, John Brown, Founder of BEI, interviewed Craig Rubrecht, CEO and Managing Partner at Cornerstone Wealth, on the topic of building an Advisor Team. Craig has helped hundreds of business owners protect their personal wealth and prepare for retirement. However, Craig always felt there was a step missing in the overall planning process. The wealth management software and process his firm used in the past was not engineered for a business owner or planning for an exit.

Craig was able to identify that advisors typically experience gaps in the planning process and require expertise from other advisors. Building a team of knowledgeable, reliable advisors can be challenging and very time-consuming. Craig also notes that he is only able to compete with other firms in his industry because of the process he has in place, his team’s knowledge, the designations he has completed, and his diverse team of experts. Tune in to learn how to build your Advisor Team to build stronger relationships with your business owner clients.

Elizabeth Mower interviews Jamie Moore, Attorney at Law Offices of James L. Moore, on the topic of how he has broadened the conversation with his clients by implementing Exit Planning expertise into his Estate Planning practice.

Jamie has been a longtime friend and Member of BEI. Jamie didn’t feel like he was completing the planning process by just focusing on Estate Planning. His business owner clients would pass away, and the plan would fall apart because there were still so many unknowns. That is when Jamie found BEI and started expanding the conversations with clients. He now focuses on the three P’s of planning: protect, preserve, and pass along your wisdom. Tune in to learn how Jamie has implemented a well-rounded, compressive planning strategy for his clients which he likes to call empowered wealth protection planning.

How do you know the successor you choose is going to be a good owner? Just because someone is a good employee doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to be a good owner.

Jared Johnson, CEO of BEI, and Ashley Micciche, Business Exit & Retirement Advisor for True North Retirement Advisors, talk about the different exit paths an owner can take. Ashley highlights how she is still surprised by the lack of clarity owners have on their futures. Business owners are typically overwhelmed with the number of paths they can take when planning for the ownership transfer of their business. Tune in to learn how to coax the answer out of your clients on where they genuinely want to be in the next five to ten years and how you can help them prioritize and weigh their options.

Many business owners are unsure when they should start planning for their inevitable exit. The truth of the matter is business owners should start planning for their futures the moment they begin to create value in their businesses. This planning work will protect themselves, their family, their employees, and the business.

Elizabeth Mower interviewed John Dini, Founder and CEO of the ExitMap, at the 2021 BEI National Conference in August. John explains his coaching process and the trick and tips he has learned to successfully coach his clients.

John goes on to explain that the key to coaching is asking enough open-ended questions. He tells us that there is a lot that can be learned during the interview process, not just in your client’s responses, but also through their body language and during the silence between questions. When you ask enough questions, the proper exit path will often organically unveil itself.