The Best Time to Plan for a Liquidity Event Is Before It Happens.
For business owners and executives approaching a sale, merger, or transition. We work alongside your legal and tax advisors to help prepare your financial plan before decisions become irrevocable.
The sale of a business or a significant equity event is often the single largest financial transaction in a person's life. And yet many owners begin planning for the financial implications after a letter of intent has already been signed. By then, the most powerful planning strategies may be limited. Pre-transaction planning is about creating options before the clock starts. At Tierney Wealth, we help business owners, founders, and executives think through the financial structure surrounding a liquidity event while they still have the flexibility to shape the outcome.
How We Approach Pre-Transaction Planning
Start Two to Five Years Before the Event
The most impactful strategies, such as trust structures, charitable vehicles, and entity restructuring, require time to implement. We work with you well in advance of any transaction to help consider the available planning opportunities and, where appropriate, put them in place.
Tax-Aware Transaction Planning
Once a sale price is agreed upon, your tax liability is largely fixed. Pre-transaction planning focuses on restructuring ownership, gifting interests, and establishing vehicles that can help manage the taxable impact of the event, not just the aftermath.
Coordination With Your Deal Team
We work alongside your M&A advisor, attorney, and CPA to help align the personal wealth dimensions of your transaction are addressed with the same rigor as the deal terms. Too often, personal financial planning is an afterthought in a deal process. We make it a parallel workstream.
Post-Transaction Vision
A successful transaction is not just about maximizing proceeds. It is about positioning those proceeds to fund the life you want to live next. We help you think clearly about post-exit goals, income needs, philanthropy, and legacy before the adrenaline of the deal takes over.
Scenario Analysis Across Deal Structures
Not every deal is a clean all-cash sale. We model the financial implications of different structures, including earn outs, seller financing, equity rollovers, and installment sales, so you understand the after‑tax implications of each option over time.
“A strong exit plan is one where every decision was made before it needed to be.”
Ben Minifie, Financial Advisor, Tierney Wealth
