As your business grows, moving from your start-up phase, through to scale-up and exit planning and beyond, there are considerations to be made for you and for your business. Our JC Wealth team have extensive experience across all aspects of financial planning.
Here we have outlined the key considerations for you and your business that you might take at various stages of growth. Whilst there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to seeking support for each of these areas, our expert team will explain why you should consider these key decisions and why some stages of growth are a better time to consider them, than others. Let’s look first at some areas that you might benefit from considering, as founder/owner of the business.
Founders / Owners
Personal Financial protection
A key area to consider as early on in your business growth journey as possible. This is an area we would focus on, if we can, at start-up phase and our support will include financial protection for you and your family in the event of death or a serious illness, including lump sums or replacement income, depending on your needs. Not always, but it is often the case that a business founder has given up employment elsewhere to start their own business, and with that, possibly losing any previous finance protection / insurance for the family.
- Life Insurance
- Critical illness cover
- Income protection
Pensions Advice
An area of consideration that we would also encourage at the start-up phase, especially where a founder has given up employment and stopped paying contributions into a company pension. We look at tax efficient means of extracting profits while accumulating personal assets out with the business.
- Personal pensions
- SIPPs/SSASs
- Group pensions
Cashflow Planning
As your business is scaling-up, our team will look at bespoke, personal financial plans which use your income, expenditure, assets, and liabilities to map out your financial future and help you to make decisions about what to do with your money today.
Personal Investments
If you consider moving into an exit phase and beyond, it’s important to consider personal investment recommendations for money extracted from the business. These can be in the form of:
- ISA’s
- Investment bonds
- Multi Asset portfolios
Business
Equally, there are several considerations to be made on behalf of the business and its employees. Some of these areas cross-over into the above, especially where a business is family based and may only employ family members, for example. Once again, our team highlight the key areas where they can support.
Business Protection
Certainly at the start-up phase of the business, you need to consider
- Shareholder Protection – Life assurance to provide fellow shareholders with the means to buy a deceased business partner’s shares from their estate.
- Keyperson Insurance – Protection, normally in the form of a lump sum, to enable the business to cope with the loss of a senior manager or director.
Employee benefits
Meet your statutory obligations and be an employer of choice to help recruit and retain the best talent in your industry. This is especially important at scale-up phase as you grow, with talent recruitment and retention becoming essential to your growth.
- Auto enrolment pension
- Death in service benefit
- Medical insurance
Business Investments
As your business matures, the future direction is a serious consideration. This includes such areas as investment options for businesses with surplus capital and covers
- Multi Asset portfolios
- Investment bonds
