Category: Passive Ownership

Where You Are – Where You Could Be!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Uncategorized, Company Wealth, Working On Your Business, Passive Ownership, Income from your business, Value drivers, Inside Sale, evaluations, Estate Planning, retirement, Life Insurance, Estate Costs, One Big Beautiful Bill

Why an Annual Review Is the Most Overlooked Step in Business Owner Planning

By Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC | Founder, New England Consulting Group of Guilford, Inc.

Ask most business owners how their planning is doing, and they’ll tell you it’s fine. They’ll say it with confidence, too — the same way most of us would say we feel healthy on any given day. But ask that question in the middle of a CT scan, and the confidence tends to disappear. The difference isn’t your health. It’s what you can’t see.

Business owner planning works the same way. The plans you built years ago may have looked airtight the day you signed them. But time passes, tax law changes, your business changes, and your family’s needs change — and none of that shows up on the surface. The documents still sit in the drawer looking just as official as they did the day you filed them. What they don’t tell you is whether they still fit.

We get the documents completed and executed, feel good about it, and then one morning realize it’s been five years — or more — since anyone looked at them again.

A Familiar Story

This pattern shows up constantly — with my clients, and with the professional colleagues I work alongside every day. The planning gets done. Everyone feels the relief of finally having “taken care of it.” Then life takes over, and the plan quietly ages in place while the world around it keeps moving.

The real risk isn’t skipping the planning altogether — most owners eventually get that part done. The risk is discovering, years later, that Washington has rewritten the rules, your business has grown or changed shape, your family situation is different, and no one ever flagged it. If any of those shifts would have changed your strategy, the only real question worth asking is: when would you have wanted to know?

Building the Fix Into the System

This is exactly the problem I built the GWT Planning System® to solve. GWT stands for Growth, Wealth, and Transition — the three areas every business owner’s planning needs to work together, not in isolation. But good structure alone isn’t enough. A plan that’s well designed on day one and never revisited is still a plan that goes stale.

So, from the very beginning, the GWT Planning System® was built with an automatic annual review woven directly into it — not an optional add-on, but part of how the system runs. Every year, that review happens. Sometimes it’s in person. Sometimes it’s a phone call. Sometimes it’s a Zoom conversation. The format isn’t the point. The consistency is.

That built-in review does three things for every client:

  • It catches tax and legal changes coming out of Washington before they quietly undermine a strategy that used to work.
  • It keeps the plan aligned with the business itself, which rarely looks the same from one year to the next — revenue, staffing, ownership, and value all shift.
  • It accounts for changes at home — a marriage, a health event, a child’s changing role in the business, a shift in retirement timing.

The Most Critical Part of Planning

Over more than fifty years of doing this work, I’ve come to see this as the most important part of what I do — not just putting the right plan in motion but making sure it stays right as everything around it keeps changing. A plan is not a document you finish once. a relationship you maintain.

If you can’t remember the last time your plan was reviewed against today’s tax law, today’s business, and today’s family circumstances, that’s worth changing before it becomes a costly surprise. The goal isn’t to redo the planning every year — it’s to know, every year, exactly where you stand and where you could be.

The goal isn’t to redo the planning every year — it’s to know, every year, exactly where you stand and where you could be.

If it’s been a while since your plan had a real second look, let’s put one on the calendar.

tperrone@necgginc.com

Questions? Call me.  My Calendar

Download Your Free GWT Report- Learn how the GWT Planning System® can be your pathway to solid up to date planning and help you with decisions for the future:  Click

Check this Article out:

Are you Building your Business by Design…or by luck?

THREE WAYS TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS WEALTH! 

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Executive Benefits, Income from your business, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, retirement

Business owners get confused as to the purpose of their business. They put most of their time into their business with the hope of good business growth and future security.  However, in many cases, they are not updated on the most effective way of using their cash flow to create outside wealth. There are three ways to use your business to create personal wealth and and economic future. 

Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC – NEW ENGLAND CONSULTING GROUP OF GUILFORD, INC

Growing value in your business can create tremendous wealth, however, only 15-30% of the small businesses will sell, which creates the “if factor”, the unknown.  

The percentage of sales is lower for the smaller owned business, more like 15%.  

Building your business to its highest potential value is possible by having guidelines of what must be done as you grow the business.  

To hedge the “what if’s” of selling it, you can use the cash flow of the business to create other assets such as executive compensation and qualified benefits and plans.   

Many owners neglect to consider these options and end up with too much wealth in their business, causing liquidity and tax problems when they leave, die or become disabled. This presents the problem of “how do you get your wealth out of your business on a tax advantaged method” when you want to leave the business and you need it?  

Building Your Business to Sell in The Future! 

Here is a list of strategies that will help in growing a robust business and greatest potential value.  

  • Develop value drivers  
  • Create a culture- employees come to you because of it 
  • Develop a middle management 
  • Systematize your business 
  • Customer diversification  
  • Avoid being dependent on a few customers for your sales  
  • Marketing plan- and always update it and analyze it 
  • Focus on growth of revenue, lowing of costs 
  • Protect yourself from litig 
  • Make sure you protect yourself such as  
  • Fund your Buy & sell agreements, bank loans, audit your liability insurance, protective documents, etc. 
  • Have a strategy to sell or transition your business, such as growing the middle management, and key people to step in and run the company, or even buy it. This is a long-term process, but you must put things in order and work on strategies to get the greatest potential value from the business.  

When Considering Using Your Business Cash Flow to Develop Executive Compensation and Other Benefits,  

Such as:  

  • Executive Compensation plans, where the company contributes to the plan, and you as owner pay as little as 2% in taxes on the contribution.  
  • Salary Continuation and deferred compensation arrangements for you.  
  • Deposit into your company’s retirement plan (like 401k, profit sharing, 403b, etc.). However, if you are a “high earning business owner”, do not load up on 401k contributions and other contributory plans as the tax consequences are severe.  
  • Make sure your buy and sell agreements are funded and updated. Make sure they cover at least the seven major triggers (death, disability, voluntary and non-voluntary termination, divorce, bankruptcy, retirement).  
  • Have critical illness plans set up such as medical reimbursement plans, disability, and health coverage.  
  • Tie your major Key group to your company as they are the value of the company and contribute to the cash flow of your company, allowing you to implement these strategies.  
  • Create vested benefit schedules to keep them with you  
  • Have a company evaluation /appraisal periodically.  
  • Focus your attention on growing sales, as all things point to sales revenue. 

Executive Compensation Is a Fantastic Way to Extract the Value of Your Company on a Tax-favored Basis, And Not Tie It Up in Your Company, Having It Available to You When Needed. 

Download the Jfk Era Benefit Report – Free- Learn how to create maximum benefits on a tax-advantaged strategy.  This is how savvy business owners use their business cash flow to create wealth! Download

Like to discuss:  Call me.  My Calendar

www.bpbpgrp.com/Tom

check this article out – When your Income Outgrows your 401k

When Your Income Outgrows Your 401(k): The Retirement Funding Problem for High-Earning Business Owners

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Estate Planning, Executive Benefits, Income from your business, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, Selling Your Business, Tax Free Income, Working On Your Business

Summary: Business owners can’t save enough for their retirement because of the cash flow demands. 401k, and profit sharing plans limit their contributions, consequently they don’t save enough for retirement and have to depend on the value of their company for their future security. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of companies sell. This creates the Gap in their retirement planning.

By Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC

One of the biggest retirement planning problems facing successful business owners is not earning enough money to retire.

It is the inability to put enough money into a traditional 401(k) or other contributory retirement plan to replace the income they are accustomed to earning.

For many business owners, this problem becomes especially important during the final three to five years before retirement.

The Contribution Limitation Problem

A business owner may be earning $250,000, $300,000, $400,000, or more per year. Naturally, as retirement approaches, the owner wants to accumulate enough retirement capital to maintain a reasonable percentage of that income.

The problem is that a traditional contributory retirement plan does not necessarily allow the owner to contribute in proportion to his or her income.

The amount the owner can contribute may be affected by the plan’s design, employee participation, employee compensation, nondiscrimination requirements, and applicable contribution limits.

This creates an important question:

How do you fund the retirement needs of a highly compensated business owner when the traditional retirement plan limits how much that owner can put away?

Consider a Simple Example

Imagine a business owner earning $250,000 per year.

Now compare that owner with an employee earning $100,000 per year.

Both may participate in the same 401(k) or contributory retirement plan. Yet the business owner’s retirement income need is substantially greater.

If the owner wants to retire at a level that is reasonably close to his or her final earnings, the amount that can be accumulated through the traditional plan may not be sufficient.

The employee earning $100,000 may have a much more manageable retirement funding objective.

The owner earning $250,000 has a much larger gap to fill.

And this becomes even more significant when the owner is only a few years from retirement.

The Last Three to Five Years Can Be Critical

Many business owners spend decades building their companies.

They reinvest profits.

They purchase equipment.

They hire employees.

They expand facilities.

They build working capital.

They grow the value of the business.

As a result, much of their wealth may remain inside the business rather than inside a retirement account.

Then, three to five years before retirement, the owner begins asking:

“How am I going to turn the value I’ve created in my business into retirement income?”

That is when the limitations of a traditional contributory retirement plan can become particularly apparent.

Trying to solve a lifetime retirement accumulation problem during the final few years with a plan that has contribution limitations may simply not work.

The Real Issue May Not Be Your Retirement Plan

This is why I believe business owners need to look beyond the question:

“How much can I contribute to my 401(k)?”

The more important question may be:

“How am I going to convert the wealth I’ve created in my business into the retirement income I want?”

Those are two very different questions.

A 401(k) is an important retirement planning tool. But for a successful business owner, it may be only one piece of the overall strategy.

The business itself may represent the owner’s largest asset.

The challenge is developing a coordinated strategy for:

  • Building business value
  • Protecting business value
  • Accumulating retirement assets
  • Creating additional sources of retirement capital
  • Reducing unnecessary taxes
  • Preparing the business for transition
  • Converting business equity into personal wealth

Don’t Wait Until Retirement Is Five Years Away

The earlier this issue is addressed, the more alternatives may be available.

If you are a business owner earning substantially more than your employees, don’t assume that maximizing your 401(k) contribution automatically means you have maximized your retirement planning.

Your business may be producing significant income today while simultaneously creating a retirement funding gap for tomorrow.

Most business owners don’t have a retirement savings problem. They have a business planning problem.

The goal should not simply be to put as much money as possible into a qualified retirement plan.

The goal should be to develop a coordinated strategy that allows you to grow, protect, and eventually transition the value of your business into the financial resources you will need after you stop working.

That requires looking at the entire picture—not just the retirement plan.

The Bottom Line

If you are a highly compensated business owner, especially one earning $250,000 or more, take a close look at the relationship between your current income, your retirement income goal, your retirement assets, and the value of your business.

If there is a significant gap, don’t wait until the final few years to discover it.

Your business may be your greatest retirement asset—but only if you have a plan for turning its value into personal wealth.

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE “JFK ERA BENEFITS REPORT FOR BUSINESS OWNERS” and learn how high earning business owners are creating tax advantaged retirement plans.

CLICK HERE

Video:  Endorsement RETIREMENT PLAN

If you have an interest in discussing your planning please call.

Tom’s Calendar

Seven Things Buyers May Pay More for When Purchasing a Business

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Business Growth and Transition, Buy and Sell Agreements, Company Wealth, evaluations, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, retirement, Selling Your Business, Strategies of growing business, Tax Efficient, Valuation, Value drivers, Working On Your Business


By: Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC

How to Build a More Valuable and Transferable Company

Many business owners ask:

What is my business worth?

That is an important question. But an even more valuable question may be:

What can I do today to make my business worth more in the future?

When buyers evaluate a company, they are not simply looking at past revenue. They are evaluating the company’s ability to generate future cash flow—and the risks that could prevent that from happening.

Businesses with dependable earnings, strong customer relationships, capable employees, effective systems, and less dependence on the owner may be more attractive to buyers.

Here are seven things buyers may be willing to pay more for because you build the business around strong value drivers. 

1. Predictable and Growing Cash Flow

Revenue is important, but consistent profits and reliable cash flow are often more meaningful.

A company with steady earnings may be more attractive than a company with higher but unpredictable profits. Buyers want confidence that the business can continue generating cash after the sale.

Business owners should focus on improving profit margins, controlling unnecessary expenses, and creating a history of dependable financial performance.

2. Recurring Revenue and Strong Customer Relationships

Recurring revenue can make future earnings easier to predict.

Service agreements, subscriptions, maintenance contracts, memberships, and repeat customers may provide greater visibility into future revenue.

Buyers may also look at customer retention and customer concentration. A company that depends heavily on one or two customers may present more risk than a business with a broad and diversified customer base.

An important question is:

Are customers loyal to the company—or primarily loyal to the owner?

Customer relationships that can continue after the owner leaves may increase the company’s transferability.

3. A Business That Can Operate Without the Owner

Owner dependence can reduce business value.

If the owner is responsible for most sales, customer relationships, major decisions, and daily operations, a buyer may question what will happen after the owner leaves.

A useful test is to ask:

Could the company continue operating successfully if the owner were absent for 30, 60, or 90 days?

transferable it may become.

4. A Strong Management Team and Capable Employees

Buyers are not only acquiring the company’s assets. They may also acquire the knowledge and experience of their employees.

A capable management team can provide continuity and help the business maintain its performance after a sale.

Business owners should identify key employees, develop future leaders, and create strategies that encourage important people to remain with the company.

A business with leadership depth may be less dependent on any one individual.

5. Documented Systems and Operating Processes

Businesses are often more transferable when important processes are documented and repeatable.

Written procedures for sales, employee training, customer service, pricing, quality control, and financial management can help a buyer understand how the company operates.

Strong systems may also improve consistency, reduce errors, and make the business easier to manage.

The goal is to build a company that operates through reliable systems—not simply through the owner’s experience and memory.

6. A Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Why do customers choose your company instead of a competitor?

Your advantage may be a compelling reputation, specialized expertise, proprietary technology, a recognized brand, a unique service model, or long-term customer relationships.

The key is whether that advantage is sustainable and difficult for competitors to duplicate.

A strong competitive position may help protect customer relationships, support healthy profit margins, and create greater confidence in the company’s future.

7. Clean Financial Records and Lower Business Risk

Buyers need to understand the company’s financial performance.

Accurate and timely financial records can make it easier to evaluate revenue, expenses, profits, cash flow, and future opportunities.

Buyers may also examine risks involving customer concentration, debt, legal issues, insurance, technology, employee obligations, and ownership agreements.

Reducing risks can be just as important as increasing revenue.

The Common Factor: Buyer Confidence

These seven value drivers have one important thing in common:

Buyers may pay more when they have greater confidence in the future of the business. 

They want confidence that:

– Cash flow will continue.

– Customers will remain.

– Employees and management can operate the company.

– Systems are documented and repeatable.

– The company has a sustainable competitive advantage.

– Financial information is reliable.

– Business risks are identified and managed.

Two companies with similar revenue and profits may receive very different valuations because one is more predictable, less dependent on its owner, and easier to transfer.

Build Value Before You Need to Sell

Business owners should not wait until retirement is approaching to begin building value.

Improving cash flow, developing management, documenting systems, reducing owner dependence, and strengthening customer relationships may take years.

These improvements can benefit the owner even if the business is never sold. A stronger company may produce greater profitability, reduce owner stress, improve operational efficiency, and provide more choices for the future.

Through the GWT Planning System®, Business owners can evaluate where their company is today, identify opportunities to build and protect value, and develop strategies for converting business equity into future financial security.

The goal is not simply to build a business that someone else wants to buy.

The goal is to build a business worth owning, worth protecting, and worth paying more for. 

tperrone@necgginc.com

Wish To Discuss Lets Talk:  Toms Calendar

203.530.6615

Website: www.bpbpgrp.com/Tom

Resources:

Free Download Business Building Guide Call “  Growing Your Business On Purpose”

Podcast: What Buyers Really Look For When buying Your Business!

How to Identify and Solve the Problems Holding Your Business Back

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Business Growth and Transition, Company Wealth, Income from your business, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, retirement, Selling Your Business, Strategies of growing business, Tax Efficient, Team

A Simple Business Planning Process for Growth, Value, and Future Freedom

By Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC

Most business owners are excellent at solving immediate problems — customer concerns, cash flow, staffing, vendor issues. What often gets neglected are the larger problems quietly limiting growth, value, and future options.

The greatest danger isn’t having problems. It’s failing to identify the ones that could affect your business’s future — and your own financial security.

That’s the purpose of the One Page Solution: a simple process for evaluating your company, identifying the most important issue, and taking manageable steps toward a solution — one problem at a time.

Growth and Transition Are Connected

Business owners tend to treat growth and transition as separate issues. They aren’t.

Growth is about the systems, people, and performance that build a stronger company. Transition is about your eventual exit — retirement, sale, family succession, or an unexpected disability or death.

The two are linked: greater profitability creates options for personal wealth and retirement security, while your personal goals (retiring in five years? reducing involvement? no clear successor?) shape the decisions you make in the business today.

The One Page Solution Framework

Start with one question: What is the most important problem that could prevent you from reaching your business and personal goals?

Then map it out:

  1. The problem — what needs addressing
  2. The consequences — what happens if it’s ignored
  3. The desired outcome — what success looks like
  4. The roadblocks — what could get in the way
  5. The action steps, owners, and timeline — who does what, by when
  6. The review process — how you’ll track progress

You don’t need to fix everything at once. One important problem. One practical solution. One step at a time.

A Job vs. a Business

Ask yourself: Could you leave your business for three months without checking in, and still expect it to run well?

If not, the company may depend too heavily on you — which means you’ve built a job, not a transferable business. A buyer doesn’t want to purchase your personal effort; they want a company with systems, culture, and a management team that can operate without you.

Identify Roadblocks Early

Every strategy has roadblocks — a management gap, an under-financed buyer, too much personal wealth tied up in the company. Naming these early gives you time to solve them before they become forced decisions driven by illness, a downturn, or an unplanned sale opportunity.

Small Steps, Coordinated Advisors

Building value and preparing for transition takes time, but the first step can be small: review your company’s value, document one key system, or schedule a meeting with your advisor team (accountant, attorney, financial advisor, valuation professional). Coordinating their efforts — not just having them — is what drives results.

Start With the Right Question

If you had to leave your business tomorrow, would it continue to succeed — and would you be financially prepared?

Your answer points to the one issue worth solving first. Identify it. Understand the consequences. Define the outcome you want. Then take the first step.

Ready to identify what’s limiting your company’s growth, value, or future options? Schedule a conversation to start building a practical strategy for building and protecting your business worth.

Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC is a business planning professional, author, and host of the podcast Building and Protecting Your Business Worth.

About the Author

Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC is a business planning professional, author, and host of the podcast Building and Protecting Your Business Worth. He works with business owners to help them build business value, protect the company from unexpected events, develop strategies for business transition, and convert business success into long-term personal financial security.

Ready to identify the problems that may be limiting your company’s growth, value, or future options?

Schedule a conversation to discuss your business goals and begin developing a practical strategy for building and protecting your business worth.

 

For A full Report Click Here:

tperrone@necgginc.com

www.bpbpgrp.com/tom

YouTube: THE THREE UNAWARE MISTAKES business owners make!

POdcast: Hidden Dangers Every Business Owner Needs to Address

Download your Free Report: Hidden Mistakes Business Owners Make

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Business Growth and Transition, Company Wealth, Passive Ownership, retirement, Selling Your Business, Strategies of growing business, Valuation, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

by Gino Wickman

Letting Go of the Vine

Get a Grip on Your Business

FROM GINO WICKMAN’S TRACTION

By Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC

Overview

Before Wickman introduces the Six Key Components of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), he uses to address a mindset barrier that stops many owners from ever adopting the system in the first place. The chapter’s central image is an entrepreneur clinging to a vine, unwilling to release it even though holding on is what’s limiting the business’s growth. Wickman’s point is that real progress requires a leap: letting go of old habits and control patterns so the business can reach the next stage, much as a person swinging through a jungle must release one vine to grab the next.

He frames this as a deliberate choice among three options available to any frustrated owner:

  1. accept the business as it is,

  2. walk away from it, or

  3. commit to changing it.

This article is written for owners who choose the third path.

One of the most important drivers of business growth is having the next level management team in place and a team that communicates with leadership, and sees the leadership vision. This sounds easier than it is. Without the next level management, the value of a company is tremendously discounted, if even a consideration on the market by purchasers.

I believe building the “team” is the most profitable task owners can engage in as it is their future profitability. It is also one of the most challenging task, but very doable.

Four Fundamental Beliefs

Wickman argues that before EOS tools can work, leadership has to internalize four beliefs:

1. Build and maintain a true leadership team. — A small group who together define and champion the company’s vision, hold clear accountabilities, and act for the good of the whole organization rather than just their own department.

2. Hitting a ceiling is inevitable. — Growth naturally creates limits — organizationally, departmentally, and personally — and those ceilings have to be anticipated and broken through repeatedly, not treated as failure.

3. Run the business on a single operating system. — Rather than stitching together a patchwork of borrowed management ideas, the organization commits to one consistent system, applied the same way at every level.

4. Stay open-minded and vulnerable. — Leaders need enough humility to admit they don’t have every answer, which is what allows new tools and honest feedback to actually take hold.

Five Leadership Abilities for Breaking Through the Ceiling

To act on belief #2 — pushing past inevitable ceilings — Wickman says leaders must build five specific abilities:

1. Simplify. — Strip unnecessary complexity out of the business so people and processes are easier to manage.

2. Delegate and elevate. — Hand off work you’ve outgrown so both you and your people can focus on the responsibilities that best fit them.

3. Predict. — Build the discipline of long-term and short-term forecasting instead of reacting to problems as they land.

4. Systemize. — Turn recurring work into repeatable processes so outcomes don’t depend on any one person’s memory or effort.

5. Structure the company correctly. — Design an organizational structure that fits where the business is headed, not just where it’s been.

Why This Matters

Wickman’s underlying message is that most owners aren’t held back by a lack of information — they already have what they need to change. What’s missing is the willingness to release direct personal control: to trust a real leadership team, commit to one system, and let go of habits that made sense at a smaller scale but now cap the business’s growth. This chapter functions as the mental preparation for the rest of the book, setting up why the Six Key Components (Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction) are worth the discipline required to implement them.

Video: Your Business Isn’t Worth What You Think-Here’s Why

Download Free Guide-Growing Your Business On Purpose

Questions, let talk: Tom’s Calendar

www.bpbpgrp.com/tom

Your Best Employee Is Being Recruited Right Now — And You May Not Even Know It.

Featured by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Business Growth and Transition, Buy and Sell Agreements, Company Wealth, Estate Costs, Estate Planning, evaluations, Executive Benefits, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, Selling Your Business

BY: Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC

Employee retention strategies are important and losing a key person isn’t just an inconvenience. When you factor in recruiting, training, lost relationships, and lost revenue, it can cost well into six figures. So, what’s the solution?

Phantom equity or ghost stock! A great tax strategy!

In this video, I break down exactly how phantom equity (also called phantom stock or ghost stock) works — and why it may be the most powerful retention tool available to closely held business owners today.

This video explains the “Phantom Stock Golden Handcuff” plan, a strategy for businesses to retain top talent without giving up equity. Learn how this plan, which involves a written agreement where key employees receive “phantom” shares, can significantly boost staff retention. We detail how the plan works, its benefitsas an employee benefits package, and its tax treatment within human resources strategies.

✅ What you’ll learn:

  • What phantom equity actually is — and what it isn’t
  • How hypothetical shares are granted, valued, and paid out in cash
  • Full Value vs. Appreciation Only — which design is right for your situation
  • How taxation works at distribution — for you AND your key employee
  • How to informally fund the obligation using tax-efficient financial instruments
  • Why this tool protects your ownership, preserves your control, and is.   fully deductible

No ownership given up. No ERISA compliance headaches. No complicated legal structure. Just a simple, flexible, written agreement that aligns your key person’s financial future with the growth of your business.

If you’re a business owner with 5 to 50 employees and you rely on key people

to drive your success — this video is for you.

📩 Questions about your specific situation? Email me directly: tperrone@necgginc.com

📞 Call: 203-530-6615

📞Or better yet, I would love to have a meaningful conversation with you of what you are thinking concerning your employees.

 Feel free to schedule a spot in my calendar;  https://fantastical.app/b5bhcvxwev-lPTY/call-meetings-general   

👍 If this was helpful, please like and subscribe. I publish new content regularly to help business owners build, protect, and transfer wealth —

https://youtu.be/kVXel27bAEc?si=vzy2R0siYfBvNcXH

Performance Management for Small Businesses: 5 Things Every Owner Needs to Know

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Business Growth and Transition, Company Wealth, evaluations, Income from your business, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, Team, Value drivers

From the Building and Protecting Your Business Worth Broadcast | Guest: Ken Somers

By: Thomas J. Perrone, CLU,CIC

Running a small business means wearing every hat — but one role too many owners neglect is that of a true people manager. On a recent episode of the Building and Protecting Your Business Worth Broadcast, hosted by Thomas J. Perrone of New England Consulting Group of Guilford, guest Ken Somers broke down five critical areas where small businesses can’t afford to fall behind.

1. Performance Management Isn’t Just for Big Companies

Even the smallest teams need structure around performance. Without clear expectations, feedback loops, and accountability, small businesses often lose their best people — or keep their worst ones too long. Performance management doesn’t have to be bureaucratic. Done right, it creates clarity, motivation, and a culture where people actually want to show up and do their best work.

2. Management Succession: Plan Before You Have To

Most small business owners have never thought about what happens if they step away — suddenly or by choice. A basic management succession plan doesn’t require an HR department. It starts with identifying who on your team could step up, what gaps exist, and how you’d develop them over time. Waiting until a crisis hits is the most expensive way to learn this lesson.

3. Rising Healthcare Costs? There Are Smarter Options

Medical insurance is one of the fastest-growing costs for small business owners, and many are still using outdated group plan structures. Two alternatives worth exploring: ICHRA (Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement) and QSEHRA (Qualified Small Employer HRA). Both allow employers to reimburse employees for individual health insurance, giving owners cost control and employees more flexibility — without the volatility of traditional group premiums.

4. Every Leader Needs a Coach

Small business owners tend to go it alone. But the most effective leaders — at every level — have coaches. Whether it’s a business coach, executive coach, or peer advisory group, outside perspective helps leaders see blind spots, make better decisions faster, and avoid the isolation that comes with being at the top. If you want your leadership team to grow, coaching isn’t a luxury — it’s infrastructure.

5. Culture: Why It Matters More Than You Think

Culture in a small business isn’t a ping-pong table or a mission statement on the wall. It’s the set of unwritten rules that determine how your team behaves when you’re not in the room. A strong culture attracts better talent, reduces turnover, and makes your business more resilient. Ignoring it doesn’t mean you don’t have one — it just means someone else is defining it for you.

Questions or comments from the broadcast? Reach out to Thomas J. Perrone directly at tperrone@necgginc.com. His book, “Unlocking Your Business’ DNA,” is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle — with profits going to Veteran Groups.

ken@somershrsolutions.com

(508) 507-1207

Buy and Sell Agreement Tutorial

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Business Growth and Transition, Buy and Sell Agreements, Company Wealth, Estate Planning, evaluations, Funding your Buy and Sell, Income from your business, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, retirement, Selling Your Business, Valuation, Value drivers

By: Thomas J. Perrone, CLU,CIC

and Sell arrangements that have emerged since the Connelly case.

The tutorial delves into the rationale behind the utilization of these arrangements and elucidates their advantages.

Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the funding costs associated with different Buy and Sell Agreement structures is presented.

FREE BOOK “UNLOCKING YOUR BUSINESS DNA” FREE DOWNLOAD

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An Insurance LLC

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Business Growth and Transition, Buy and Sell Agreements, Company Wealth, Estate Planning, evaluations, Executive Benefits, Funding your Buy and Sell, Inside Sale, Passive Ownership, Strategies of growing business, Uncategorized

By Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC

An Insurance LLC is a limited liability company (LLC) created to own and manage one or more life insurance policies to help meet the obligations under a buy-sell agreement. The Insurance LLC is a new business entity formed under local law, separate and apart from the business or businesses that are subject to the primary buy-sell obligations.  Since the Connelly ruling, Advisors are looking for ways to provide a funding arrangement for buy and sell agreements and the Insurance LLC is another way of providing for the buy and sell arrangements.  

GET YOUR FREE eBook, “Unlocking Your Business DNA”. My published book discussing 50+ years of strategies used to Protect, Create Wealth, Grow business, and Transition the business. Great strategies for advisor and business owner- yours free.

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