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Business Exit Planning


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Business Exit Planning For Owners Selling The Company

Business exit planning covering pre-sale tax positioning, deal structure, and the post-sale wealth plan. The exit's the easy part. What you do with the proceeds is the rest of your life.

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Fiduciary CFP® Pre-Sale Tax Positioning Post-Sale Wealth Plan Attorney-Coordinated

WHY CLIENTS CHOOSE US

The financial plan for the years after the sale matters more than the sale itself.

Pre-sale tax positioning

Roth conversions, charitable structures, gifting strategy, and entity-level decisions in the 12 to 24 months before close. Most of the tax-savings opportunity is in this window.

Deal structure consultation

Asset sale vs. stock sale, earnouts, seller financing, rollover equity. Each structure has different tax effects. We work with your attorney and CPA on the personal-side math.

Concentration risk management

Sale proceeds often arrive as a concentrated payment. We plan the diversification, the tax timing, and the investment allocation that fits the new wealth position.

What comes after

Most owners think about the sale. Few plan for the years after. The investment strategy, the new tax bracket, the time horizon, and the lifestyle decisions all need a plan.

Long-term, not transactional

We meet on a real cadence, usually quarterly. The plan flexes as your life and the tax code change. Most relationships span decades.


South Florida-rooted, nationally licensed

Offices in Boca Raton and Plantation, plus licensed in all 50 states. Existing clients keep us when they move.


The work that has to happen before close.

Charitable structure setup. Donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, or other structures funded with appreciated business interests before the sale closes. Once the sale is signed, this opportunity is gone.

Gifting strategy. Lifetime gifts of business interests to next-generation family members at pre-sale (lower) valuations. Coordinated with your estate attorney.

Roth conversions. If a low-income year is coming, the pre-sale year may be a strong Roth conversion window.

State residency. For owners considering moving to a no-tax state (like Florida) before sale, the timing and documentation matter. Florida residents already get the benefit; clients relocating need to plan it carefully.

Trust structure review. Existing trusts may need adjustments to hold the sale proceeds correctly.

OUR APPROACH

How Business Exit works at Intercoastal.

Three things that shape how we deliver business exit for South Florida clients.

1 Coordinated, not siloed

Business Exit doesn't sit alone. The investment plan, the tax plan, and the estate plan reference each other. We coordinate all three so decisions match.

2 Personal, not templated

No off-the-shelf model portfolios or boilerplate plans. The recommendations match your specific income, tax bracket, family situation, and timeline.

3 Ongoing, not transactional

We meet on a quarterly cadence to adjust the plan as your life and the tax code change. The relationship is long-term by design.

The work that has to happen after close.

  • Concentrated cash management. Sale proceeds usually arrive as a large amount of cash all at once. We plan the deployment, the tax timing on any short-term yield, and the gradual movement into long-term investments.
  • Investment plan for new wealth. The portfolio that fits a post-sale owner is usually different from the portfolio they had as a business owner. Risk tolerance changes. Income needs change. Time horizon changes.
  • Earnout coordination. If the deal includes an earnout, we coordinate the tax planning for the deferred consideration over the earnout period.
  • Lifestyle and income planning. The personal cash flow plan for what life looks like without the business as an income source.
  • Estate plan update. The estate plan that worked when the assets were illiquid business equity is usually not the right plan once the same value is in liquid form.

For owners in active sale discussions, the pre-sale tax positioning work should ideally start 12 to 24 months before close. The earlier the conversation, the more levers we still have. Once an LOI is signed, the window for some of the planning closes fast.

What this is not.

We don't run the sale process. We aren't the investment banker, the broker, or the M&A attorney. We're the personal financial planning piece, coordinated with the team that does the deal work. Our job is to make sure the owner ends up in the right place financially after the dust settles.

RELATED SERVICES

Where exit planning fits.

Business exit planning ties to several other areas:

Business Succession Planning

The sibling page. Family transitions, internal sales, ESOPs.

See business succession planning →

Financial Planning for Business Owners

The audience-parent page. Full-picture work with business owners.

See financial planning →

Tax Planning

Pre-sale tax positioning is often the single highest-value planning event in an owner's life.

See tax planning →

Charitable Giving

Charitable structures funded with appreciated business interests pre-sale are extremely tax-efficient.

See charitable giving →

Investment Management

The post-sale portfolio. Usually a meaningful shift from how the owner was invested before.

See investment management →

Estate Planning

The estate plan changes when illiquid business equity becomes liquid sale proceeds.

See estate planning →

Who This Is For

Best-fit situations.

Business exit planning matters most for:

Owners 12-24 Months From Sale Founders Selling To Private Equity Pre-Retiree Owners Widows Selling Family Business Inheritors of Sale Proceeds

What we don't do.

Contact Us Today

We don't lead with proprietary products, structured notes, or non-traded REITs as a portfolio building block. We don't take custody of your assets. We don't promise market-beating returns. The honest answer is that nobody who has to tell the truth to a regulator can.

RELATED READING

More From The Business Exit Blog

Posts our planning team has put together on this topic.

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QUESTIONS, ANSWERED
Common questions about Business Exit

  • Ideally 12 to 24 months before close. The pre-sale tax positioning, charitable structures, gifting strategy, and entity-level decisions all benefit from runway. Once an LOI is signed, some of the planning windows close. Even 6 months out, meaningful work can still happen.
  • It varies, but for many owners the largest single opportunity is funding a charitable structure (donor-advised fund or charitable remainder trust) with appreciated business shares pre-sale. This avoids the capital gains tax on the shares used to fund, generates a charitable deduction, and keeps the charitable intent intact. The math often dwarfs every other tax move.
  • An asset sale transfers individual assets and liabilities, with the buyer often able to step up the tax basis of the assets and the seller potentially facing ordinary income treatment on some pieces. A stock sale transfers ownership of the entity, usually qualifying for long-term capital gain treatment on the entire purchase price. Buyers usually prefer asset sales for the step-up; sellers usually prefer stock sales for the cleaner capital gains treatment. The actual structure is negotiated and matters a lot to the tax outcome.
  • Earnouts (deferred consideration paid based on post-sale performance) come with their own tax planning. We coordinate the timing of when earnout payments hit, how they're treated for tax purposes (capital gain vs. ordinary income depending on structure), and how they fit into the post-sale investment plan.
  • Florida has no state income tax, which is a meaningful advantage for owners selling here. For clients considering a residency change to Florida (or another no-tax state) before a sale, the planning around when and how to establish domicile matters. We coordinate with your tax counsel on the timing.

Serving

South Florida cities and neighborhoods

Palm Beach County

Boca Raton Highland Beach Delray Beach Boynton Beach West Palm Beach Palm Beach Palm Beach Gardens

Broward County

Plantation Fort Lauderdale Coral Springs Weston Cooper City Parkland

Ready to talk about Business Exit?

The first meeting is a conversation, not a sales pitch. We'll talk about where you are, what you're working through, and whether Intercoastal is the right fit. In person in Boca Raton or Plantation, or by video from anywhere.

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