Most business owners spend years focused on building and almost no time planning for what happens after the sale. Running a business leaves little room for anything else. But the tax impact of a business exit doesn't wait for you to be ready. Between capital gains, ordinary income on certain deal components, depreciation recapture, and state taxes, you could lose nearly a third of your sale proceeds before it even hits your account. On a $10 million exit, that's around $3 million gone. Owners who start planning 2-5 years out could position themselves to keep significantly more. There's a better way, we can show you.

For executives and employees with significant equity compensation, taxes are the single biggest drag on wealth accumulation. RSUs vest as ordinary income, then gains are taxed again at sale. ISOs can trigger AMT. NSOs are taxed as ordinary income at exercise and capital gains at sale. PPUs are taxed as capital gains. Year after year, taxes eat away at the equity you worked so hard for. The employees who keep the most aren't just the ones with the biggest grants, they're the ones with a strategy. Most advisors never bring this up. We lead with it.

You didn't get to where you are without understanding how money works. But even the most financially sophisticated professionals can find themselves without a real strategy for what happens when the carry pays out. Between carried interest treatment, capital gains, and high ordinary income, the tax picture is a problem most advisors aren't equipped to handle. Without a plan in place, you could be leaving significant money on the table. The window to do something about it is open before the distribution hits, not after. You've optimized everything else. Your tax strategy should be no different.

Most people with a concentrated stock position know two things. It's a risk they should address and the tax bill from selling is going to hurt. You're overexposed and you know it, but every exit path seems to come at a cost. Whether you earned it, built it, or bought it early, the result is the same. Selling triggers a tax event that could cost you nearly a third of the position's value before it ever hits your account. On a $3 million position, that's nearly $1 million gone just to reduce your risk. It's a steep price to pay just to diversify into a safer position. Most people accept the trade off. The right strategy means you don't have to.

Real estate is one of the most tax advantaged vehicles out there. That's why wealthy investors love it. But what happens when it's time to exit? A 1031 exchange can kick the can down the road, but once you finally decide to cash out, a major tax bill is coming. A real estate sale creates two separate tax problems at once. Capital gains on appreciation and a separate tax on depreciation recapture. Together, they can take a significant bite out of equity that took years to build. Investors who get ahead of these problems keep significantly more. You built the equity. Make sure you keep it.

You spent your career doing everything right. Saving consistently, investing wisely, building a portfolio worth drawing from. But the moment you start pulling money out, the tax picture changes dramatically. Every dollar withdrawn from a traditional IRA or 401k is taxed as ordinary income. At the top brackets, nearly half of every distribution is gone before you spend it. Year after year, taxes quietly erode the portfolio it took decades to build. Most people accept it as the cost of retirement. There's a more tax efficient way to draw down a portfolio. We can show you how.