Author: Steve Zeller

Life Lessons, Retirement Planning

How To Set Goals for Yourself That You’re Passionate About Accomplishing 

Whether we set New Year’s resolutions at the beginning of the year or any other point during the year, we often desire to challenge ourselves and set goals for personal growth and achievement. Too frequently, goals are established and later abandoned as we shift our focus to other priorities and distractions. How do we set goals for ourselves that we are genuinely excited about pursuing and accomplishing and that motivate us to stay focused on reaching them? Over the years,…

Life Lessons

The Hierarchy of Life Fulfillment and Purpose 

Life is full of experiences. It is a treasure trove of ups and downs, excitement, happiness, sorrow, disappointment, joy, milestones, emotional bottoms, accomplishments, setbacks and challenges, suspense, anticipations, friends, foes—the list goes on. But throughout all of it, certain longings exist in all of us: the desire for happiness and living a life of fulfillment, significance, and meaning. Many authors have written about life’s meaning and purpose. Victor Frankl discusses life’s purpose in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Friederich…

Business Exit Planning, Retirement Planning

A Cash Balance Plan May be a Great Tax- Reducing Benefit to A Business Owner 

By: Steven E. Zeller CFP, CExP, AIF Like most business owners, you’re likely exploring ways to strategically grow your revenue, increase profits, and minimize taxes. This is a common goal. As your cash flows increase, you may find yourself seeking ways to reduce your growing tax burden. Often, we explore sensible capital expenditures or business reinvestments that align with your strategic goals, which is a healthy exercise. But sometimes, business owners could benefit from strategies to accumulate personal assets and…

Business Exit Planning

Build a Successful Business Exit Plan by Using a Planning Process 

As a business owner, planning the exit from ownership of your business is probably the single most important decision you will make.  When to exit, how much to walk away with, who to sell it to, what’s the most tax efficient strategy in your circumstance, what timeline is most suitable, and what are the areas of business that need to be improved upon to make it marketable, etc.?  Those are just some of the things that need to be considered….

Family Legacy Planning

The Family Meeting Series: Discussion of a Shared Value – Gratitude 

Gratitude – What a powerful yet simple thing in our lives; to have a mindset of gratitude – We can all benefit from a continued effort to master it. Experts have concluded that it is vital for a happy life and a healthy family. It’s a wonderful value to share within a family. In the past, I have written articles about Family Legacy Development for families with significant wealth. Family Legacy Development is vital if a family wishes to preserve…

Family Legacy Planning

Family Values: A Critical Component of Family Legacy Planning 

There are many things to consider when families invest their time, emotions, and effort into the development, success, and sustainability of their family legacy. Please reference my previous articles: Preserving Family Wealth is a Generational Effort; Begin the Journey of Developing a Family Legacy with a Family Retreat; Family Legacy Development: The Anatomy and Importance of Family Meetings. There are many elements that contribute to the family dynamics which may help unify the family, or create roadblocks that members will…

Retirement Planning

What’s Your Purpose in Retirement? 

Retirement can be an exciting milestone. It’s also a major lifestyle change. Oftentimes, your daily workday tasks (professionally or if you run your own business) will likely no longer exist. Transitioning into retirement for some is an easy process. Perhaps their profession is not their absolute passion, and they always had other pursuits and hobbies they are ready to explore once exiting from their day job. But for others, their profession or business is their passion. They put all their…

Business Exit Planning

How a Business Owner Can Utilize an ESOP to Exit Their Business 

One of the more challenging steps for a Business Owner in planning their exit is determining the best option for selling their business, which is often based on their personal situation, goals for the company, employees, and family members. However, one of the more tax-efficient strategies and options for the sale of the business is the Owner selling to an ESOP or an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. An ESOP is a tax-qualified retirement plan (profit sharing and/or money-purchase plan) that…

Business Exit Planning

How Business Owners Can Increase Value in An Economic Downturn 

Economic downturns can be stressful for business owners. It’s great riding the waves of increased business revenue and profit during economic upswings, but being prepared for downturns are just as important, if not more, for a few reasons: The first is that you want your business to be able to weather the storm and survive with minimal sacrifices and while not becoming more vulnerable to competition. The second is that during a downturn your business can become “leaner and meaner”…