- Author Chris Hadjiyianni
- Year Date 2020
- Location Winnipeg
- Category Business
Introduction
Both business owners and non-business owning parents want to transfer a monetary legacy to their children, if possible. However, business owners are different in the tools they can use to transfer wealth.
Whether you own a business or not, the fundamental questions are the same:
1. How much wealth do you want to keep?
2. How much wealth do you want the kids to have, and how much is too much?
3. Which tools minimize the estate- and gift tax consequences of transferring wealth?
Business owners have to put those questions in the context of their Exit Objective: “How much money do I wish to have after I exit my business?”
Once owners establish their financial Exit Objective, they can answer the universal questions above and design a transfer mechanism that will pass their wealth to their children with minimal tax impact.
This white paper discusses the following three-part process:
1. Fix the owner’s financial objectives before considering a wealth transfer.
2. Determine the amount of wealth to be transferred (and determine how much is too much).
3. Design a wealth transfer strategy that keeps the IRS from becoming the largest beneficiary of the owner’s hard-earned cash.
To illustrate how one fictional business owner answered these questions, let’s look at the case of Doug Joyce, a composite of a number of successful business owners.
