Exiting Your Business, Protecting Your Wealth: A Strategic Guide for Owner's and Their Advisors

Written by John Leonetti-attorney, wealth manager, merger and acquisition associate, and fellow exiting business owner in his own right-Exiting Your Business, Protecting Your Wealth will guide you in thoughtfully planning out your exit options as well as helping you analyze your financial and mental readiness for your business exit. Easy to follow and essential for every business owner, this guide reveals how to establish an exit strategy plan that is in harmony with your goals.

Table of Contents:
Preface. Introduction. PART ONE: PREPARING FOR YOUR EXIT. Chapter 1: Exiting Your Business Is A Process, Not An Event: Don't Limit Your Exit Strategy Planning With What You Don't Know. Business Owner Marketplace. Notes. Chapter 2: Setting Your Exit Goals. Write It Down. Adjustments to Your Business. Is There a Financial Gap that You Need to Address? Do you Live Out of Your Business? Being Liquid: Income Replacement After the Exit. Measuring the Gap. Growing Your Business with Your Exit in Mind. Special Note on Family Transfers. Employee Transfers. In Closing. Review. Chapter 3: Are You Ready to Leave: The Mental Game of Business Exits. You Are Your Business. The Conditioned Mind. It's You Against You. Are You Addicted to Your Business? Clear Thinking. Plotting the Point. Case Study: Bill Brown's Failed Exit-Lessons Applied and Learned. Analysis and Insights. Written Exit Strategy Plan. Review. Chapter 4: Which Type of Exiting Owner Are You? Identify Your Readiness, Learn Your Exit Options. Understanding Valuation. Four Types of Exiting Owners: Which Quadrant Are You In? Our Owner Bill. Overall Review. Exit Options Available. Business Valuation and the Range of Values Concept. Internal Transfers: Fair Market Value Standard of Valuation. External Transfers: Value of Transferring to Financial Buyers and Competitors. Rreview. Notes. PART TWO: KNOWING YOUR OPTIONS. Chapter 5: Selling the Business. Selling is Not the Only Exit Option, But It may Be For You. Process of Selling a Business. Marketing the Business. The Economy Matters. How to Achieve Maximum Value from the Sale of Your Business. Valuation. Getting the Highest Price. Improving Jim's Offer. Lessons Learned: What Did Bill Do Right This Time? Further Notes on External Transactions to Industry Buyers. Restating Earnings to Reflect the True Profitability of the Company. Taxes and Fees. Review. Notes. Chapter 6: Private Equity Group Recapitalizations. Explosion of Private Equity. Capital Flow Towards Opportunity. What Is a Recapitalization? Value Measurement. Liberator or Occupier of Your Business? Market Realities and Your Exit Strategy Planning. Which Companies Qualify for a Recap? Review. Notes. Chapter 7: Employee Stock Ownership Plans as Exit Vehicles. Using an ESOP in Your Planning. ESOP Basics. Application of ESOP to Bill's Exit Strategy Planning. Customized Exit Strategy Using an ESOP. Fair Market Value Standard. Why ESOP Planning Works Despite the Lower Initial Value and Discounts. Review. Notes. Chapter 8: Sale versus Recapitalization versus ESOP. Bill's Three Choices. Issues Surrounding Management Buyouts and Gifting Programs. Valuation of Internal Transfers. Notes. Chapter 9: Management Buyouts. Management Buyouts. Common Denominators. Caveat About Management Buyouts. Little Cash at Closing. Deferred Payments. Valuation Metrics. Investment Decision. Accelerating Your Grooming Process. Ultimate Impasse. Entrepreneurs' Triangle. Leap: Empowering Your Management Team. Management Buyouts and Financial Backers. Business as Collateral. Seller Financing. Exit Over Time: Low Mental Readiness. Tools to Assist with a Management Buyouts. Application of a Management Buyout to Bill's Situation. Review. Notes. Chapter 10: Gifting Strategies for Exiting Owners. Execute Your Estate Tax Plan, Not the Governments'. High Financial Readiness. Flexibility. No Cash for Your Shares. Tax Benefits. Gifting to Family, Employees, and Charities. Fair Market Value Standard. Planning Over Time, Using Discounts. Lifetime Exclusion. Annual Gifting Programs. Application to Our Exiting Owner, Bill. Review of parts I and II. PART THREE: PLANNING YOUR EXIT, PROTECTING YOUR WEALTH. Chapter 11: Deal Structuring and Taxes: It's Not What You Get, But What You Keep that Counts. Will Uncle Sam Kill Your Exit Strategy Plan? Four Steps to Understanding Deal Structuring and Taxes. Case Study. Beyond the Basics: More Thoughts on Taxes and Deal Structuring. Internal Transfers and Smaller Deals. Deferred Payments as a result of "Buyer Protection". Application to Management Buyouts. A Note on Goodwill. Review. Notes. Chapter 12: Exit Strategies and Estate Tax Planning: Protecting Your Wealth with Some Estate Planning Strategies. The Government Has an Estate Plan for You; You Probably Won't Like It. The Basics. Applicable Exclusion Amount. State Exclusion Amounts. Too Many Incomplete Plans. Business Valuation. What Does All This Have to Do With Exit Strategy Planning? Three Steps to Addressing Estate Tax Issues. Other Solutions that Incorporate Exit Strategy Planning: Lifetime Transfer by Gift. Review. Notes. Chapter 13: Legal Agreements that You Need To Know: You Will Sign Agreements; Know Them Before You Sign Them. Letter of Intent. Purchase and Sale Agreement. Noncompete Agreement. Seller Financing Agreements. Earn-Out Agreements. Practical Tip on Choosing Legal Counsel. Review. Chapter 14: Forming an Exit Strategy Advisory Team: Your Agenda Comes Ahead Of Your Advisor's. Don't Go It Alone: Find Experienced Exit Advisors. Who Do You Need on the Advisory Team? Who's Agenda Rules? Team Meetings. Assign a Quarterback. Case Study. Review. Chapter 15: Pulling It All Together. Follow the Steps. Step 1: Planning the Exit--Bill Writes Down His Exit Goals. Step 2: Financial and Mental Readiness. Step 3: Exit Quadrant Chart-Identify What Type of Exiting Owner You Are? Step 4: Learn and Choose Your Optimal Exit Option. Step 5: Understand the Values of the Options You Choose. Step 6: Execute Your Exit Strategy Plan. Conclusion. Index.

About the Author :
John M. Leonetti, CFP, CM&AA, is the owner of Pinnacle Equity Solutions, an exit strategies firm specializing in exit strategy design and execution services to advisors and their privately held business owners. In addition, he is the former owner of Beacon Hill Equity Group, an advisory business that provided comprehensive exit strategy planning and investment advisory services to high-net-worth business owners (he followed his own instructions in successfully exiting that business). He also teaches private finance to MBA students as an adjunct professor at Suffolk University; has been a financial consultant with Smith Barney; a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch Pierce, Fenner & Smith; a mergers and acquisitions associate; and a manager in his family business.

Review :
"Examines how to protect illiquid business wealth when owners of privately held businesses exit their companies. Discusses exiting as a process not an event; setting exit goals; whether you are ready to leave-the mental game of business exits..." (Journal of Economic Literature, June 2009) "With considerable experience in the realm of exit planning, author John Leonetti helps business owners assess their exit readiness in order to choose the option best suited for their level." (Journal of Accountancy, April 1st, 2009)