Your business is your biggest asset. Is it treated like one?

Self-employment is exactly when planning matters most, because nobody is doing it for you. There is no HR department enrolling you in a 401(k), no employer paying half your Social Security taxes, and no benefits package protecting your income. An advisor who understands self-employment builds the structure an employer would have provided, tailored to your business.

It depends on your income, whether you have employees, and how much you want to contribute. A SEP-IRA is simple to set up and administer. A Solo 401(k) often allows larger contributions at the same income and can include a Roth option, but it comes with more administration. We compare both against your actual numbers before recommending either.

Substantially more than a standard IRA allows. Both SEP-IRAs and Solo 401(k)s have generous annual limits that adjust each year, and a defined benefit plan can allow far larger contributions for high and stable incomes. The right answer depends on your net self-employment income, so this is one of the first things we calculate together.

It is a pension you create for yourself. For owners with high, reliable income who are behind on retirement savings, a defined benefit plan can allow very large tax-advantaged contributions each year. It carries real commitments and administrative costs, so it fits a specific situation, and we will tell you honestly whether that situation is yours.

If your business has more than one owner, a buy-sell agreement decides in advance what happens to an owner's share at death, disability, or departure, and how it gets paid for, often with insurance. Without one, your family could end up in business with your partner's family, involuntarily, at the worst possible moment. If you have a partner and no agreement, this belongs near the top of your list.

Coverage the business owns on the person it cannot function without, which in most small businesses is you. If that person dies or becomes disabled, the payout gives the business cash to survive the transition: replacing revenue, hiring, or winding down in an orderly way instead of a fire sale.

Insurers can underwrite self-employment income using tax returns, typically averaging recent years. It takes more documentation than a salaried application, and the definitions in the policy matter enormously for owners. This is one of the most commonly missing protections we find, and one of the most important, since your household and your business usually both depend on your ability to work.

Enough to cover your fixed obligations through a realistic rough stretch for your industry, which is often two to six months of operating expenses, alongside a separate personal emergency fund. The right number depends on how volatile your revenue is and what credit you have available. We set both reserves deliberately instead of letting the checking account balance decide.

It depends on how your business is structured, and it affects taxes, retirement contribution limits, and even how lenders view your income. This is a decision we coordinate with your CPA, because the right answer sits at the intersection of tax strategy and personal planning.

It is risky to assume so. A business is a concentrated, illiquid asset whose value depends heavily on conditions at the moment you sell, and many owners find buyers offer less than they expected. The business can absolutely be the biggest part of your retirement. It should not be the only part, and building wealth outside it is how you take the pressure off the eventual sale.

Through a valuation, which can range from an informal estimate based on industry multiples to a formal appraisal. Knowing the number matters for retirement planning, insurance amounts, buy-sell funding, and estate planning. Most owners have a number in their head; fewer have one on paper. We help you get the real one and build the plan around it.

Without planning, it usually lands on your family to figure out while grieving: employees, obligations, and an asset losing value by the week. With planning, the answer is written down: who steps in, what gets sold or continued, and where the money comes from. The Protect stage of our process exists for exactly this question.

Years before you want to leave, ideally three to ten. Businesses sell best when they can run without their owner, and building that takes time. Starting early also opens tax and transition options that disappear when the sale is rushed. If you are within a decade of wanting out, the planning should start now.

Yes, and we prefer to. Your CPA knows your taxes and your attorney knows your documents; our job is the overall plan that their work plugs into. Owners get the best results when all three are pointed at the same goals, and we are glad to be the one coordinating.

No. Genesis has no portfolio minimum, and owners are a big reason why. Your wealth living inside the business rather than in an investment account does not make planning less important. It makes it more important.

Yes. Irregular income does not prevent planning; it just changes the design. We build around your baseline, create rules for the strong months, and size reserves for the weak ones, so saving and investing happen on purpose instead of only when there happens to be extra.

What you can find of both worlds: personal account statements, your latest personal and business tax returns, insurance policies, and any agreements among owners. If your records are a mess, come anyway. Sorting the mess is part of the work, and you will not be the worst we have seen.

Completely. Solo operators have most of the same needs, retirement structure, disability protection, tax coordination, and reserves, with none of the infrastructure a bigger company would provide. Some of the most valuable plans we build are for a business of one.