We exist to help people.
Our approach almost always is:
1. Understand the client situation and its unique combination of complex factors.
2. Bring together the relevant experts and expertise.
Our clients sometimes think of our work as specializing in their unique situations. But we really specialize in thinking about and responding to complexity.
We cover a lot of ground in planning and wealth management. Precisely because we focus on building our expertise about experts and building vibrant networks of independent experts.
So very often, our answer is…
Plans for concentrated wealth need to blend three, key solution areas:
A business owner – thanks to the tax code – may have tremendous opportunities to reduce taxes and build wealth. These can include entity planning, tax credits, deductions, deferred comp, ESOPs, QSBS and more. Custom-built teams of financial advisors, CPAs and case-relevant specialists can maximize results.
When an ESOP makes sense, the benefits for business owners can include robust sale prices, new low-basis equity in the successor entity, and long-term capital gains tax deferral – even zero tax if held until death. A “Team of Experts” can work especially well for ESOPs – and for business exits generally.
Too often, estate planning and investing are treated as separate areas. That can mean needless taxes and risk. Collaborative, integrated planning can maximize both the wealth that can be enjoyed during your lifetime and your capacity to transfer wealth tax-efficiently to loved ones and charities.
Financial success means big tax challenges in estate and retirement planning that should be tackled together using all the necessary experts. Challenges such as:
Good planning liberates time for what’s most important.
Based on an in-depth analysis of your situation and objectives, a custom-built team of independent experts can mitigate both risks and taxes while helping to:
The Buffett-Munger approach lowers risk through the targeted acquisition of high-quality companies when they are priced fairly. While many planners favor constant rebalancing, we see that practice as a threat to the ultimate goal of compounding wealth. For clients with substantial assets, this disciplined pursuit of superior returns and minimized risk represents an ideal foundation for a long-term portfolio.
A strong business often earns much higher returns on invested capital than a portfolio of stocks. It’s a golden goose! We help owners fortify concentrated wealth, and prefer tools like advanced tax and financial planning, risk reduction, and limited, hyper-targeted diversification as ways to do that.
Multi-generation planning exposes the big risk of conventional asset allocation: Too much fixed income, allowing the erosion of wealth by inflation. Aiming to preserve and grow wealth for 40 years or more? Maximize investing in the stocks of consistently profitable companies, the engines of growth.
The focus of experts usually is narrow and deep – and isolated! Be intentional about building a genuine “Team of Experts,” specifically aligned to your situation. Or work with us and we’ll create a collaborative team and process that’s tailor-made to address your unique goals, risks, and opportunities.
Big lump sums are life-changing events. And sometimes missed opportunities. Rigorous tax and financial planning are the first priority, using this chance to enhance life, family, and charitable goals. This is followed by creating an investment strategy well-matched to the new financial objectives.
US tax law provides huge and varied opportunities to reduce or defer capital gains taxes. Engaging specialized CPAs, attorneys, and other experts early and proactively is critical. The best tax planning often happens in advance of a gain’s being realized, and sometimes before the gain is even created.
t depends. Many family offices, formal and virtual, are built around investments, and those are critical. But so is expert planning. How well tax, estate, and every other expert-planning area vital to you are integrated into the family office process is very important and that’s sometimes less than optimal. Finally, formal family offices have ongoing and complex compliance requirements-you’ll need management and processes that keep a family office continually aligned with legal and reporting requirements.
Taxes and death are certain. And taxes after death. And the persistent risk to assets from identity theft and cyber threats and accidents on your property. And from being underinsured. And…
Strategies you can use come from collaboration, collaboration that includes all the types of financial, legal and other expertise your situation requires.
Wealth-transfer-strategies that maintain control are as unique as client families. Design of trusts, family LPs and LLCs, and insurance structures are key elements. So are business succession and next-generation education in financial stewardship.
Team-based planning aligns wealth, asset protection, and risk management with purpose.
