You’ve built something real.
Now build a plan that keeps up with it.
Fee-only financial planning for business owners who are serious about protecting what they’ve built and exiting on their own terms.
Align your business finances and personal finances into one coherent plan
Build toward an exit that funds the life on the other side
Protect what you’ve built — from taxes, from concentration risk, from the unexpected
You’ve built something real. Now build a plan that keeps up with it.
Fee-only financial planning for business owners who are serious about protecting what they’ve built and exiting on their own terms.
Align your business finances and personal finances into one coherent plan
Build toward an exit that funds the life on the other side
Protect what you’ve built — from taxes, from concentration risk, from the unexpected
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You earn well.
You save well.
And you still can't tell if you're on track.
The business is the asset. You know that. What’s harder to know is whether your personal financial plan actually reflects that — or whether it’s just sitting beside it, disconnected.
You’ve reinvested. You’ve taken risk. You’ve made it work.
But the closer you get to thinking about an exit, the more you realize how much depends on decisions you haven’t made yet. Sale structure. Tax exposure. What happens to your income when the business isn’t writing your paycheck anymore.
If that’s where you are, you’re in the right place.
You've run the numbers more times than you'd like to admit. FIRECalc says maybe. The Monte Carlo says probably. But probably isn't the same as knowing — and you're too close to your own spreadsheet to trust it completely.
You're smart. You're also dealing with real complexity: RSUs vesting at different prices, a 401(k) that's grown faster than your strategy for it, a tax bill that seems higher than it should be, and a retirement target that keeps moving.
What you need isn't more information. You need someone who can help you see your financial life clearly — and build a plan around the life you actually want to live, not just the numbers on the page.
We work with business owners at two distinct moments.
The questions are the same. The timeline is different.
Building and protecting
· $2M–$5M revenue · strong personal income but most wealth is tied up in the business · 5–10 years from a potential exit.
Not actively planning to sell — but starting to think about what that would look like. Needs a financial plan that accounts for the business as the primary asset, not as a separate thing.
Building clarity before the window opens
Exit horizon is real
· $5M+ revenue · 3–7 years from exit · has had preliminary conversations with a broker or M&A advisor.
The exit is becoming concrete. Needs to understand sale structure options, tax exposure, and what the number actually needs to be to fund the life on the other side.
The decisions made now define what the exit is worth
The questions we get asked most.
Most business owners keep these worlds separate — one set of books for the company, one for the household. But the business isn't just an asset on your balance sheet. It's your income, your identity, and for most owners, the majority of their net worth, all in one place. When we plan, we look at both together: how much the business needs to retain to grow, how much it can safely distribute to you, and how your personal goals — retirement, kids' education, the next chapter — depend on decisions you're making inside the company right now. Separate books. One plan.
This starts with the life you want on the other side, not a valuation multiple. We work backward from your retirement income needs — factoring in taxes on the sale, what you'll owe on the proceeds, healthcare before Medicare, and how long that money needs to last — to arrive at your number. Then we look at where the business actually stands today, using EBITDA and industry multiples as a starting point, and identify the gap. Sometimes the answer is grow the business. Sometimes it's adjust the life plan. We'll tell you which.
The structure of your sale can be worth more to you than the negotiation over price. Asset sales and stock sales are taxed differently, allocate risk differently, and often become the real point of tension between buyer and seller. Depreciation recapture, goodwill allocation, Section 1202 qualified small business stock exclusion, installment sale treatment — these aren't fine print, they're where real money is won or lost. We work through the structure alongside your CPA and attorney, with your after-tax outcome as the goal, not just the headline number.
If the business stops, does your life stop with it? For most owners, the honest answer is yes — and that's the risk we work to unwind well before any sale is on the table. That means building outside assets deliberately: retirement plan contributions structured around your business's cash flow, deferred compensation where it fits, and a personal balance sheet that doesn't rely entirely on a future liquidity event. The less your life depends on the business, the more leverage you have when it's time to sell — or not.
This is the question owners put off longest, and the one with the highest stakes if it's left unanswered. A buy-sell agreement — properly funded, not just drafted — determines whether your partners can afford to buy your share, whether your family gets paid fairly and promptly, and whether your employees have continuity or chaos. Key person insurance, succession provisions, valuation methods agreed on in advance: these decisions are much easier to make calmly today than urgently during a crisis. We help you put them in place while it's still just planning.
On paper, you may look wealthy. In practice, most of that wealth is locked inside a business you can't sell tomorrow — which makes traditional financial planning, built around liquid, diversified portfolios, only partly useful to you. We plan around the asset you actually have: using business cash flow and distributions to fund liquid savings over time, stress-testing what happens if the exit is delayed, and building a bridge so your life isn't waiting entirely on one future transaction. The business is the engine. It shouldn't be the whole plan.
Why Stone Steps for business owners
We start with your life, not your balance sheet. Money is a tool. The life you're building is the point. Our job is to help you get the most out of your money while you live a life in which you flourish.
Fee-only and fiduciary — always. We get paid by you to give you advice that's in your interest. No commissions. No products. No conflicts.
Deep experience with the complexity you're actually dealing with. Business valuations, asset vs. stock sale structures, buy-sell agreements, illiquid net worth — this isn't edge-case territory for us. It's the work.
Comprehensive planning that holds it all together. Investment management, tax strategy, equity comp planning, and life planning — not as separate services, but as one coherent plan built around your life.
