Your Business and Your Life Deserve One Connected Plan
A business can take every hour and dollar you’ve got — and in the meantime, your own life goals quietly slip down the list. But you didn’t build the business to serve it forever; you built it to serve the life you want. LifeWise Wealth Advisors helps business owners give both sides the attention they deserve — so the company grows while your financial and retirement goals stay on track.
The Questions Business Owners Bring Us
Sooner or later, a question comes up that can’t wait — and it usually sounds like one of these:
- How do I start planning for exiting my business, and what are my options?
- What is my business worth, and what would it take to be ready to sell or transition it?
- So much of my net worth is tied up in the business. What can I do to diversify?
- Could I actually afford to retire if I wanted to, and how would the income work?
- Who takes over the business if I exit, and how do I prepare them?
- Am I paying more in tax than I need to, between the business and my personal return?
- How do I take care of my employees with a retirement plan without creating a headache?
Here’s the catch: you often can’t answer these questions from inside the business. They need someone standing where the business and your life overlap — and that’s exactly where we work.
How is Business Owner Financial Planning Different?
Business owner financial planning treats your company and your personal finances as one connected system. It coordinates how the business funds your life today and into the future, how you build wealth and retirement security outside the business, and how you will eventually transition or sell it — so each decision strengthens the others.
Caleb Smoes, CERTIFIED EXIT PLANNER, CExP™
What Is a Certified Exit Planner — and When Might You Need One?
Most financial advisors can manage a portfolio, but very few are trained in the single largest financial event of a business owner’s life: the exit.
That’s why our team includes a Certified Exit Planner (CExP™) alongside three CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals. For you, that means the questions most advisors can’t answer — what makes your business more sellable, how to structure a transfer to family or key employees, what a sale means for your taxes, and how the proceeds fund the rest of your life — get answered by someone trained specifically to help with these topics.
Your business exit isn’t an afterthought bolted onto a retirement plan. It’s built in from the start.
How Do Our Financial Advisors Help
Business Owners?
We help you plan for the business, your personal life, and the transition between them.
Building wealth and retirement savings outside the business — and answering the real question: can you afford to step back, and on what timeline?
Preparing for a sale, a family transfer, or a handoff to partners or key employees — led by our Certified Exit Planner (CExP™), and planned so a liquidity event actually lasts.
Entity-level and personal tax strategy, coordinated with our affiliated firm, LifeWise Tax Advisors.
Guidance on 401(k) and retirement plan design, fiduciary support, and employee education for your team.
Sound Like You? You're in the Right Place
We work with established and growing business owners across a range of industries and stages.
We can help you…
Build personal wealth alongside the company and avoid over-concentration.
Get retirement-ready and start preparing the business for transition.
Understand business readiness, plan the financials, and prepare for life after the sale.
Coordinate the transfer of your business and the next generation’s readiness.
Coordinate planning and tax work through our affiliated firm, LifeWise Tax Advisors.
Whether your exit is twenty years out or already on the calendar, the best time to start planning is well before you need to.
Let’s Plan for the Business AND the Life You Want
Your company and your future are connected. Your planning should be too. Schedule a complimentary, no-obligation consultation, and we’ll talk through where you and your business stand and what a connected plan could look like.
Financial Planning for Business Owners FAQs
When should I start exit or succession planning?
Earlier than most business owners think — ideally several years before you plan to step away. The actions that make a business more valuable and transition-ready take time to put in place, and early planning gives you more options and usually a better outcome.
What is a Certified Exit Planner (CExP™)?
It’s a professional designation focused entirely on business transitions — building transferable value, structuring a sale or succession, and turning business value into personal financial security. Most advisory firms don’t have one on the team; LifeWise does. Our CEO and financial advisor Caleb Smoes is a Certified Exit Planner and also works alongside our three CFP® professionals.
My wealth is mostly tied up in my business. Is that a problem?
It’s common — and it’s exactly what we help with. Concentrating most of your net worth in one asset carries real risk. We help you build wealth outside the business over time so your financial security doesn’t depend entirely on it.
Can you help me figure out if I can afford to retire?
Yes. For owners, retirement readiness depends on the value of the business, your savings outside of it, and the income plan that ties them together. We model those pieces so you can see your real options.
Do you help with selling the business?
We help with the financial planning around a sale or transition — understanding readiness, planning for the proceeds, and making sure a liquidity event supports your long-term goals. We coordinate with the attorneys, CPAs, and transaction specialists involved.
Can you help set up a 401(k) or retirement plan for my employees?
Yes. We provide guidance on retirement plan design, fiduciary support, and employee education to help you offer a competitive plan without taking on the whole burden yourself.
Do I have to commit to an ongoing relationship?
No. You can start with a standalone, flat-fee financial planning engagement and decide what comes next.
Where do you serve business owners?
Our main office is in Champaign, IL, and we work with families and business owners throughout Central Illinois, with additional offices in Bethany, in St. Joseph, and in Paris, IL. We’re also happy to work with you remotely through video conference calls.
Are your financial goals on track?
Our FREE, no obligation consultation provides the answer.
