More than 90 percent of all North American businesses are privately owned. Business owners need to plan for the preservation of assets as well as business continuation. As a financial adviser, you are often called upon to explain the realities of business and succession planning to business owners who may fear the loss of control. This offers you the opportunity to guide the client, along with his or her other advisers, in three distinct areas: creating a workable buy-sell agreement, obtaining an accurate business valuation, and choosing appropriate funding strategies.
Adopting a suitable buy-sell arrangement sets forth the manner in which the business will be disposed of in the event of retirement, disability, or death. Maintaining an up-to-date value of the company assures that the retiring owner or heirs will receive a fair value. Funding strategies that include tax and legal considerations promote a more successful business plan.
Using lecture, panel discussion, and Q&A, a team of experts will explore the challenges and opportunities in buy-sell planning. After completing this program, you will be able to:- Explain the fundamentals of buy-sell planning
- Define different methods of evaluating a business
- Identify the triggering events for buy-sell agreements
- Determine the options available for business succession
- Identify suitable funding strategies and investment choices to offer clients
- Incorporate the tax and legal considerations of buy-sell arrangements into your client discussions
Team of Experts:
Moderator: Richard M. Weber, MBA, CLU, is president of The Ethical Edge, Inc., a company providing training and consulting services that help empower both agents and their clients to explore and view life insurance in the broader context of financial planning. With 25 years’ experience in insurance sales and a 20-year life member of the MRDT, Weber is known as one of the industry’s leaders for his work in insurance company and product due care. He is a frequent speaker at meetings of various professional associations and has represented the Society of Financial Service Professionals in many educational sessions.
Philip E. Levin, JD, CFP, AEP, is a Senior Advanced Sales Consultant with the corporate office of Nationwide Financial Network. He is responsible for providing tax planning and advanced underwriting counsel to field associates and home office in the areas of estate planning, business succession, and executive fringe benefits. Levin has conducted numerous estate and business planning seminars around the country. He has published many articles on the tax and legal considerations of the use of life insurance in estate, business, charitable and retirement planning
Cynthia A. Crino, CLU, is AVP of Operations in the Advanced Markets unit at John Hancock. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the Advanced Marketing Consultants, who provide case consultation support and presentation preparation. Crino’s 13 years of experience in the industry has left her well-versed in both estate planning and corporate owned life insurance. She has worked for many familiar names in the industry, such as Manulife Financial, Paul Revere Insurance Group, and Sapers & Wallack Insurance Agency.
Dennis C. Reardon, JD, LLM, CLU, ChFC, is the principal of Reardon & Associates, a law firm in Wayne , Pennsylvania . He specializes in tax matters related to estate, business and compensation planning. Additional areas of specialty include: estate administration, representation regarding severance and employment agreements, retirement plan distributions, buy-sell agreements, S corporation matters, and life insurance planning. Reardon has spoken and written extensively on these topics for numerous organizations and publications.