Business owners engaged in pre-sale planning benefit from proactive advice as they consider a more thoughtful and comprehensive approach to achieving long-term financial success. Within that approach, there are five consistent practices—invest, borrow, spend, manage and protect—that, when followed, help families build, manage and sustain their wealth through generations and market cycles.

As a business owner evaluates whether to sell a business, maximizing after-tax proceeds is typically atop one's priority list. While significant, income tax planning should not occur at the expense of or in lieu of estate tax planning. With the federal estate and gift tax exemptions (currently $11.7 million per person) scheduled to be reduced by half in 2026, if not sooner, strategic estate planning in advance of a business sale may now be more valuable than ever.

Invest

Founders invest decades into growing their business with the objective to maximize long-term value. Similar to the stock market objective, "buy low and sell high," estate planning success means to "transfer low and sell high." Business owners who commit early to the intersection of estate planning and a strategic exit strategy may see the payoff for generations to come. When a business is sold, it typically occurs at a premium to the valuation an independent appraisal may have provided. This inherent appreciation creates a great opportunity for estate planning.