For owners of established businesses who want to sell, step back, retain control or reduce financial dependence on the company — without relying on a perfect exit.
The personal wealth and income needed to make work optional.
What to keep in, extract, or invest — and roughly when.
Salary, dividends, pension, benefits — properly sequenced.
The Plan B wealth outside the business, built deliberately.
The routes modelled — so the exit is about timing, not necessity.
Specific decisions in a defensible order — not a wish-list.
Exact scope depends on your situation. Some clients need every part in year one; others build it in over eighteen months.
If most of your wealth, income and future choices still depend on the company, you are still financially dependent on the business.
At some point, the question changes from "how do we grow it?" to:
A business sale should be about timing and price, not necessity. If you have to sell, you have less control.
Most owners have a number in mind. It is often based on what they hope the business might sell for, rather than what the household actually needs.
I calculate the personal wealth and income required to make work optional. I call that your Freedom Number.
Once it is clear, you can compare the real options: sell, step back, extract more, appoint leadership or keep going because you choose to.
A practical framework for turning business success into personal financial independence, whether you sell, step back or keep going.
Work out the personal wealth and income needed to make work optional. This anchors every other decision.
Decide what to take from the company, when to take it and which route makes sense for the household and the business.
Pensions, ISAs, GIAs and corporate accounts each have a job. Use the right one at the right time.
Create diversified personal wealth outside the trading business, so your future does not depend on one company or one sale.
Review life cover, shareholder protection, key-person cover, income protection, wills, LPAs and cash reserves.
Model the real options: sale, partial sale, management buyout, senior hire, retain and step back, or keep going.
The work usually includes:
The aim is simple: move from "we should probably do something" to a clear sequence of decisions.
A business owner aged 49 wants the option to step back at 56.
The company is profitable and holds £500,000 of cash, but most of the family's wealth is still tied to the business. Personal pensions and investments total £650,000.
The planning work is to:
The aim is not to predict the perfect sale price. It is to make sure the owner has choices if the sale is delayed, the valuation disappoints or they simply decide to keep the business.
Illustrative only. Actual planning depends on individual circumstances, tax rules and business structure.
For a business owner, the first decisions are often about company cash, extraction, pensions, debt, protection and building wealth outside the trading business.
Only then do we decide how the money should be invested.
Because my fee is fixed, I can recommend holding cash, repaying debt, funding pensions, making gifts, leaving money in the company or investing — whichever best fits the plan.
You already plan for the business. My job is to plan for the family that owns it.
Investments still matter. They are simply one part of the wider plan.
A practical guide to the six decisions that matter most before a sale, step-back or move towards financial independence.
It covers your Freedom Number, profit extraction, pensions, Plan B wealth, protection and the routes available when the business no longer has to carry the whole plan.
A 30-minute call is usually enough to work out whether the Business Freedom Plan is relevant to your situation and whether there is enough value in working together.
Book a 30-minute introductory call