Financial News (4)

Business succession is one of the most complicated subjects that all privately held business owners are eventually faced with.

Business owners do not want to give up control. I recently heard a great comment from a former business owner, who finally at age 85 decided to sell to an unrelated third party: “I should have sold 15 years earlier!” In this business owner’s family, no one was interested in going into the business. But it is much more complicated when family is involved versus not. Either way, there are many reasons to wait. There are also many reasons to act expeditiously.

Below are some issues and approaches to consider when dealing with business succession. Your accountant or tax advisor and lawyer should be consulted before any strategies are implemented.

There are a variety of ways for high earners to reduce their current income tax liabilities, but they’re not all as obvious as taking your available deductions and maxing out your 401k contributions. After your 401k contribution has been maxed out for the year, one possible solution to further reduce current taxation is the Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation plan (NQDC).

This is a common topic that never seems to go away. From parents to grandparents, each year the questions arise: "How much am I allowed to give to my kids and grandkids? Should I set up a 529 plan? What are the limits on how much to give?"

Charitable giving has certainly changed in 2018. A new tax regime has been passed into law, called the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.” The main change that is relevant for charitable giving is whether (or not) you can still itemize your deductions on your income tax return. Why is that relevant? Charitable giving is part of your itemized deductions.

4Thought Financial Group is a level-fee fiduciary Registered Investment Advisor providing coordinated wealth management and financial planning services, involving four different areas: Investment Planning, Estate Planning, Fringe Benefits Planning, and Business Succession Planning. 4Thought Financial Group specializes in utilizing a unique strategic approach to achieve clients' financial goals, leveraging Multi-Method Investing^®, technology-driven quantitative analysis, and traditional financial planning services to redefine the traditional investing model.

4Thought Financial Group's executive team, Chief Investment Officer Jesse Mackey, Chief Executive Officer Brian Mackey, and Chief Financial Officer Martin Levine, outline the firm's unique wealth management and investment methodology, and other characteristics that set it apart from the rest of the pack, in this introductory video, with a transcription provided below.

An appropriate answer to this question may depend on several factors, including the specific objectives of the investor, the amount of investable assets, the expected direction of interest rate changes, and many others. But in the absence of such specifics, there are traits of different available bond investment vehicles with which all bond investors should be familiar, regardless of what market environment may be forthcoming.

While this list is not exhaustive, the following three potential investment vehicles may be used as the basic building blocks of the bond portfolio:

You wouldn’t ask an electrician to look at your leaky faucet, so why would you ask an investment manager what kind of trust to use to ease the burden of probate on an estate, or how to structure the buy/sell agreement for a business?