The Family BusinessCare Series, Level 100 Courses

FBC 101: A Work in Progress

The most consistent element of today’s business climate is change. Understanding business owners’ concerns and the way they think provides a competitive edge. A business owner must keep pace and learn to navigate the “Winds of Change”; so must that business owner’s advisors. Business owners must rely on their advisors to understand and survive the changes in Income Tax Reductions, Retirement Plan Rules, and Gift, Estate & Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Provisions.

Starting a Business: This is a daunting and financially risky decision. There is a need for research, professional advisors, creation of a business plan, and, of course, a business structure must be chosen.

Operating a Business: Red Tape will always be an obstacle. Boring or not, business owners must deal with government rules & regulations, accounting methods, and hiring considerations.

Expanding the Business: Financing an expansion, purchasing another business or assets of the business, going public, creating a new company or structure.

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FBC 102: Entity Choices

Choosing an Entity: Sole Proprietorships, Partnerships, Corporations, Limited Liability Companies.

Evaluating The Entities – This course surveys each business entity option. Multiple considerations dictate which choice of entity, for example: What are the business goals of the owner(s)? How does ownership, liability protection, capitalization, management, sale of the business, estate planning, taxation, and owner and employee benefits affect the choice of business entity? Learn The Entity Choice Matrix.

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FBC 103: Employee Benefits for All

Fringe benefits are usually offered by an employer to attract and keep good employees. The most popular plans are reviewed, for example: Qualified retirement plans, defined-benefit plans, defined-contribution plans, and simplified retirement plans. These plans must be non-discriminatory. Which plan may be best for a particular business is addressed by “Evaluating Retirement Plans” from the perspectives of business goals, cost, and complexity?

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FBC 104: Key Employee Benefits

Often entrepreneurs want to help employees, but want to disproportionately help themselves. Beyond fringe benefits, what methods are available to compensate and motivate key employees, including owner-employees on a discriminatory basis? For example: Deferred-compensation plans, stock bonus and stock option plans as well as life insurance as a benefit.

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FBC 105: Exit Strategies and Succession/Estate Planning

After years of hard work, planning, and sacrifice, owners find themselves frustrated with the limited perceived options at hand. Sale, disability, death, and retirement are eventualities that all business owners must face at some point. It is clearly best to plan for these events so that the desired result will be obtained while minimizing taxes. This course reviews succession planning, business valuation, selling to co-owners, selling to employees, giving to family members, selling to outsiders; and estate planning concerns.

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FBC 106: Attracting and Working with Business Owners

Business owners have their own special way of thinking. Often, a business owner’s most important “child” is the business. Many entrepreneurs spend the majority of their time with their business. This course surveys the different ways business owners approach their business and their planning. It is an essential dialogue and will assist professional advisors in approaching, working with, and counseling to close with business owners.

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