Financial Planning for Business Owners & Executives

What We Can Help With

Planning your exit

We help you work out how many more years you need to work before a sale or handover would let you retire on your terms, and what the proceeds would need to be to achieve. This usually means translating a likely sale price into an actual, ongoing income and lifestyle, factoring in tax, reinvestment, and how the money is drawn down in the future.

Extracting value tax-efficiently

Extracting funds from the business and managing remuneration tax-efficiently is usually more beneficial well in advance of a sale. Once a sale process has started, many of the more tax-efficient structuring options may become unavailable, which is why this is one area where early advice has a genuinely measurable financial impact.

Protecting the business

Keyman insurance, shareholder protection and income protection cover the financial impact of losing an owner, director or key employee to death or serious illness, protecting the business itself, not just the individual. For businesses with more than one owner, shareholder protection specifically ensures the surviving owners can buy out a deceased or critically ill shareholder’s stake without being forced to sell the business or take on an unwanted new co-owner.

Pensions, incentive plans and wealth management

Business owners often under-fund their own pension while reinvesting in the business and can miss out on maximising pension contributions and other allowances as a result. We also advise on managing proceeds from incentive plans and RSUs in a structured, tax-efficient manner, and provide wider wealth management for business owners. That means investing surplus funds, whether within the company, in your pension, or from sale proceeds, so money that isn’t working for the business is still working for you.

A common misconception: “My business is my retirement plan”

Treating the business itself as the entire retirement plan is a common assumption, but it concentrates all your risk in a single, illiquid asset whose eventual sale price and timing are both uncertain. Personal pension contributions, protection, and a plan for extracting value along the way (not just at the point of sale) give you options if the business sells for less than hoped, takes longer to sell than planned, or doesn’t sell at all.

This matters even more for owners who haven’t yet had a formal valuation. A realistic, professionally informed view of likely sale proceeds, built into a cashflow model alongside your personal pension and savings, gives a far clearer picture of when retirement genuinely becomes affordable.

How We Work With Business Owners

Business owner planning tends to run in parallel with decisions your solicitors are also advising on, so timing and sequencing matter.

1. Understanding the whole picture: your business plans and your personal goals, since for an owner these are rarely separate questions.
2. Building a plan: covering extraction, protection, pensions and investment, sequenced against your likely business timeline.
3. Coordinating with your other advisers: your accountant and our own Corporate, Employment and Commercial Property teams, so decisions align rather than conflict.
4. Reviewing as the business changes: annual reviews keep the plan current as the business, and your role in it, evolves.

This is an ongoing relationship rather than a single piece of advice. Informed and detailed advice for a business owner in their forties planning to grow the business for another decade looks very different for the same owner five years from a planned sale.

Why Choose Nelsons for Business Owner Financial Planning

• Sector experience: Our team has worked with business owners and executives across a wide range of industries, from owner-managed businesses to larger corporates, and understands that a business owner’s personal and business finances are rarely separate questions.
• Holistic Advice and Collaboration: As part of a full-service law firm, we seamlessly integrate both the financial and legal aspects to create comprehensive solutions, saving you valuable time. We can also work with your existing accountant, solicitors or other advisers if you wish.
• Unbiased Expertise: As independent financial advisers, we are not tied to any product providers or banks, which allows us to offer you truly unbiased and objective advice, meticulously tailored to your specific needs.
• Advice with genuine technical depth behind it: several of our advisers, including Zoe Till, who heads our team, hold Chartered Financial Planner status through the Personal Finance Society, the industry’s recognised marker of technical depth and professional standards.
• Our charges aren’t linked to your investments: we charge a fixed fee for our services, based on the complexity of the work involved. You’ll receive a fee quote before we undertake any work, so you know exactly what to expect.
• Determining the right fit: The initial consultation allows us to understand your needs and objectives in greater detail, while giving you the opportunity to decide whether our service and expertise are aligned with what you are looking for.
• Rigorous Investment Oversight: Our investment committee meets on a regular basis to diligently review and research our model portfolios. You can rest assured your investments are in capable hands.
• Local and Ongoing Support: offices in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham mean we are available for face-to-face conversations. You can also contact your adviser and our support team at any time and review your finances via our dedicated Portal.
• Real protection if something goes wrong: we are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 523173).  This means you have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme which is, protection you don’t get from unregulated advice.

Ready to Talk to Us About Your Business?

Now you understand how we can help, take the next step and speak to our team today.

• Call: 0800 024 1976
• Online: our enquiry form