Management

In our last article, we discussed Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation (NQDC) plans as a tool to compensate key employees for achieving long-term goals. One component of such plans is the fact that they are frequently unfunded and legally considered an unsecured promise to pay. Nonetheless, both plan sponsors and recipients often want a funding mechanism to set aside assets, manage cash flow, or hedge the liability. In addition, employers typically want conditions under which they can rescind ...

Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation (NQDC) plans are a powerful tool for incentivizing and retaining key employees. They offer virtually unlimited flexibility in methodologies, objectives and rewards to suit a company’s strategies and goals. What is “unqualified?” Quite simply, NQDCs are discriminatory. Some owners shy away from that term, but discrimination isn’t automatically illegal. Illegal discrimination in the workplace is when an employer or manager treats an employee unfairly due to their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 ...

It’s hard to have a business conversation today without someone invoking “the Big Picture.” The 24-hour news cycle runs on urgency, outrage, and uncertainty—and it needs a constant supply to keep attention locked in. The result? Everything sounds like a crisis. Wars. Tariffs. Sanctions. Inflation. Interest rates. Cyberattacks. Political standoffs. Supply chain disruptions. If you own a business, you’ve probably asked yourself at least a few of these questions recently: Will my raw material costs spike again? Should I ...

Since 2013 I’ve updated this piece about the underappreciated and forgotten boss of A Christmas Carol, Mr. Fezziwig. I hope that you enjoy it. Merry Christmas! Last week was the 182nd anniversary of the publication of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (December 17, 1843). The immortal words of Ebenezer Scrooge are ingrained in the memory of the entire English-speaking world. I’d venture to guess that “Bah, Humbug!” can be correctly identified as to the source and ...

If you’ve been a business owner for a long time, you’ve lived this shift firsthand. Many Baby Boomer owners started out alone—just an idea, a customer, and a willingness to take a risk. Hiring that first employee was a milestone. Now, years later, some of those same businesses employ dozens or even hundreds of people. And every one of those people comes with rights, protections, and obligations that ultimately land on you. As a business grows, so does ...

This is a cautionary tale for business owners—one that’s “based on a true story.” The facts are real, although the exact sequence of events might raise questions if the IRS were to take a closer look. A small business owner received a $1,000,000 offer to sell his company. He had already been thinking about retirement, and the chance to cash out felt like a perfect opportunity. His original plan had been to sell the business to ...

One of the most common sales pitches you might hear from someone claiming to help you “enhance value” goes something like this: “I’ve reviewed your company and believe it’s worth $4.2 million today. With the right planning, it could be worth $7.7 million. Would you rather exit with $4.2 million or $7.7 million?” That’s not really a question—it’s a setup. Of course, no business owner would willingly choose the smaller number. But the real issue isn’t which ...

When Fear Dictates Decisions I can’t. We won’t. I shouldn’t. Sound familiar? These thoughts creep in as your business grows. You’ve overcome a lot already—taking that first leap, pushing through uncertainty, making tough calls when the stakes were high. But now, you have something to lose. The fear of getting it wrong can paralyze progress.

Financial planners use the term “holistic planning” frequently. It’s meant to indicate that they consider the client’s short- and long-term life goals and the future they visualize. According to Fidelity Investments Holistic Wealth Planning is continuous and considers two dozen aspects of client wealth objectives. The Valuation Reality Gap Only one of those aspects is ownership of a business. This raises the question “If a typical business owner has 50% of their net worth in a business, ...

Occasionally, we run into what I call “Battling Assets.” That is when an owner is drawing a comfortable income from the business, but it is arranged in a way that denigrates the business value, the value of the asset, or both. Here are three true case studies for examples. Under-optimized Real Estate Two partners operated a beautiful campground. The acreage was along a river, and despite rapid suburbanization in the area, the bluff on the opposite bank prevented ...