Business Planning

As a business owner, you never have the luxury of ‘missing the forest for the trees.’ You have to constantly keep one eye on the big picture, and the other on day-to-day minutiae. After all, your and your family’s financial security hangs in the balance.

And this fact can feel particularly pressing when you consider that most start-ups don’t survive past their first year, let alone thrive, according to a June 2021 report by the Harvard Business Review.

The biggest thing to remember is that a failure to plan is a plan to fail. Without strategic, goal-oriented business planning, your success – and your family’s livelihood – depends entirely on chance.

What Is Business Planning?

Business planning is the process of exploring and detailing strategies for effectively starting or growing a business. You may also be familiar with the idea of a “business plan,” which is a document detailing everything from long-term strategies to daily operations

This process is about so much more than creating a list of steps for getting from Point A to Point B. In our opinion at Asset Advisory Services, strategic, forward-thinking business planning is the best way to take hold of the reins and stop feeling like your business runs you.

Thinking now about details like risk management, retirement, asset distribution, and succession planning can save you and your family quite a bit of stress down the road.

How Does the Success of My Business Impact My Family’s Economic Security?

The success of your business directly impacts your family’s economic security in many ways, such as:

Income and profits

At the end of the day, a successful business generates more profit and revenue than a struggling one. This becomes increased income – and financial stability – for you and your family.

Stability and long-term security

When your business is thriving, it’s less likely to struggle with downsizing or other financial issues. This translates to long-term security and consistent economic support for your family.

Accumulated wealth

Business success means you have far more options for both investing and saving. Strategic reinvestment, for example, can help you build wealth over time. This, in turn, can be a safety net during an economic recession.

Education and healthcare

As a profitable business, you can offer support for your children’s tuition – no matter their aspirations. Plus, paying for comprehensive insurance and healthcare will no longer keep you up at night.

That’s not all. A 2019 National Library of Medicine study found that entrepreneurship can have a positive impact on your relationships, your children’s sense of self-worth, and even their future business success.

Now you know what business planning is – and more importantly, how it can impact your family’s economic security. The next question on your mind likely relates to which business planning services are best for your specific industry and goals.

Our advisors will guide you through the following four cornerstones of an effective business plan, plus any other specific details relevant to your business.

Risk Management

In terms of business planning, risk management means identifying, assessing, and mitigating any potential risks to your business’s finances. While it’s not possible to ever know what the future holds, you can still take steps to avoid and minimize negative outcomes.

For example, trends today come and go faster than ever before. If your business operates in an extremely competitive market that’s subject to these trends, that presents a huge financial risk.

Simply failing to adapt fast enough or not anticipating a shift in demand could be disastrous.

We believe being aware of risks specific to your business – and more importantly, effective mitigation strategies – is what we do best. When you work with us, we identify these financial risks and help equip you to make informed decisions.

Retirement Planning for You and Your Employees

Retirement planning for you and your employees involves creating strategies to help ensure financial security, both for you as a business owner and for your employees once they retire.

The best way to do this is by building your savings and investments while leveraging tax advantages. This allows you to hire and retain talent, which can in turn help your business grow, and ultimately increase your revenue that much further.

Best of all, we’ll offer bespoke advice on maximizing your tax advantages, such as making tax-deductible employer contributions to your employees’ 401(k) plans. This is just one example of how you can create a business with happy, productive employees while minimizing your tax burden and saving for your own retirement.

Distribution of Assets to the Owners

Distribution of assets to the owners refers to allocating profits and/or assets to business owners, partners, shareholders, and/or members. This typically takes the form of dividends or distributions.

These are a return on investment, providing access to the value created by your investment. But in practice, handling this aspect of business planning by yourself can be quite complicated.

For example, there are quite a few tax laws related to the structure of distributions. We’ll work with you to help optimize everything and minimize potential tax liabilities—for both your business and the owners.

Furthermore, we can monitor your asset distribution strategy while you focus on your priorities. Whenever it’s prudent to adjust, we’ll inform you of the opportunity and any potential risks or drawbacks.

Succession Planning

Succession planning is creating a strategy for transitioning both leadership and ownership of your business to the next generation. Making these decisions now—before they’re urgent—helps ensure that your business has long-term viability.

Whether you ultimately retire, choose to depart, or elect to change the leadership in some other way, there are likely to be quite a few questions.

Everyone will indeed want what’s best for the business. But the issue is, most people have their own idea of what that looks like. And deciding at that moment who’s ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ can have long-term ramifications for your business’s livelihood.

When you choose Asset Advisory Services for your business planning needs, we’ll walk you through the various details that come with succession planning. From keeping everything compliant with the IRS to maintaining your client and investor relationships, you’ll have our experience to draw from.

Are There Any Tax Implications Associated with These Aspects of Business Planning?

Yes, there are several tax implications associated with these aspects of business planning.

With risk management, one good example is losses to your business. Losses due to unforeseen events—like natural disasters or theft—may be eligible for certain credits or deductions. But in other scenarios, the losses may not qualify. You may face excess business loss limitations on your taxes, too.

Consider Gift and Estate Taxes

It's also vital to be aware of things like gift and estate taxes during succession planning. Lifetime exemption amounts and annual gift tax exclusions will be major considerations.

The truth is, tax implications come with just about every decision related to business planning.

When you work with one of our wealth advisors, you can feel confident knowing we’re aware of these tax implications and keeping them in mind throughout all of your business planning.

What Professional Advisors Can Help Me with These Different Aspects of Business Planning?

Our professional, experienced wealth advisors here at Asset Advisory Services would be happy to help you with these different aspects of business planning. Our founder, Curt Francisco, created Asset Advisory Services in 1980 specifically to support people like you with these needs.

Today, we have more than 75 years of combined financial planning experience. Our team has the skills and certifications to not just help you with the hurdles, but also assist you in reaping the maximum benefit from your business.

We specialize in addressing the details you might miss. You see, it’s true that the U.S. Small Business Administration offers several free business planning resources and guides. The thing is, general tips are rarely specific enough to actually help you mitigate exposure of your personal assets—let alone teach you to tap the true value of your business.

That’s why we believe that working with one of our knowledgeable, focused professional wealth advisors is the most effective path forward. You need someone who will offer support based on your unique goals and needs, and that’s exactly what we do.

Focused on Your Bigger Picture

Asset Advisory Services helps cut through the chaos by concentrating on your family’s most meaningful goals. Let’s start today.

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