Liquidity event planning: the personal side of the deal.
Liquidity event planning prepares a business owner for the sale of their company: the taxes, the structures that must exist before closing, and the plan for what the money does afterward. It is the personal side of the deal, not the business side, and most of it has to happen before the wire hits.
Before, during, and after the sale.
What should happen before the sale?
Two things run in parallel. The business gets ready to be sold, its books and its people structured so the company is at its most attractive. That work belongs to your M&A advisor and CPA; we can help you find them if you do not have them.
Our work is everything on your side of the table. First, a team: a planner, a CPA, and usually an M&A professional, each watching a different part of the deal. Second, a real plan for the ranges of outcomes. What if the sale does not happen? What if the number comes in lower than you expect, or higher? Planning those scenarios before the letter of intent helps make the later decisions calm instead of rushed.
Some of the most valuable moves only work ahead of time. Certain trust, estate, and insurance structures have to be in place before the sale to do their job. After closing, those doors are closed.
What happens during the deal?
We do not negotiate with your buyer. We model what each version of the deal means for you personally. Seller financing, equity rollover, an earnout paid over several years: each one changes your taxes, your income, and your risk in different ways. Our job is to show you which terms are worth trading and which should be non-negotiable for your plan, so you walk into every negotiation knowing what the numbers mean for your life.
What should the first 90 days after the sale look like?
Slow. There may be a small number of time-sensitive moves with tax deadlines attached, and we handle those. Otherwise the cash stays in cash while your emotions settle and the plan does its work. Speed is not your friend after a sale. When that much money becomes available, the pressure to move fast usually comes from everyone but you. Foundationals first, then a methodical build toward the full allocation.
The tax bill is the biggest single variable.
For most owners, the sale is the largest tax event of their life. Depending on how the deal is structured, proceeds can land as capital gains, ordinary income, or both, and the difference is rarely small. There are established strategies to defer or reduce what you owe, and nearly all of them work better the earlier they start.
We bring the strategy ideas and model the outcomes. Your CPA confirms how each one applies to your return and files it. That division of labor is deliberate: you get planning that is ambitious about ideas and conservative about compliance.
Anchored Wealth Advisors does not provide tax or legal advice. Consult your tax professional.
After the sale, your wealth gets a new job.
Most owners sell into retirement, which means the proceeds have to do what the business used to do: pay you. Building that income is risk management. Some sources are steady and contractual, others trade certainty for growth, and every one of them carries its own tax treatment. Balancing risk and tax across those income streams is the name of the game, and it is the difference between an allocation and an income plan.
The goal is simple to say and worth planning for: working becomes a choice when money is not a deciding factor in how you spend your time.
Start with the guide.
The Liquidity-Event Readiness Guide walks through what to put in place in the 12 to 24 months before a sale, in order.
Selling a business, answered.
- When should I start planning for the sale of my business?
- Earlier than feels necessary. Twelve to twenty-four months before a sale is the honest window, because the structures with the biggest impact, including certain trust, estate, and insurance planning, have to exist before closing. Some options simply expire the day the deal signs.
- What is the biggest financial mistake owners make when they sell?
- Not addressing taxes ahead of time, then meeting a tax bill they did not see coming. The second mistake is not financial: having no plan for what daily life looks like after the sale, and no next thing to work toward.
- Do you help sell the business itself?
- No, and you want that boundary. Your M&A advisor runs the deal and your CPA handles the return. We plan your side of the table: deal terms as they affect you personally, taxes in coordination with your CPA, and what the proceeds do next. If you need M&A or CPA relationships, we can make introductions.
- What should I do with the proceeds right after closing?
- Less than you think. Beyond a few time-sensitive moves with tax deadlines attached, the cash can stay in cash while the plan gets built. A methodical first year beats a fast one.
- Do I even need an advisor for this?
- Be honest with yourself about two questions. Do you want to run this yourself or with help? And are you willing to learn the complexity that comes after a transaction, from private investments to insurance structures to philanthropy? Owners who want to do that work themselves can. Most decide their time is worth more elsewhere.
One conversation, before the clock matters.
If a sale is anywhere on your horizon, the most valuable planning window is open right now. One conversation tells you what belongs in it.