“Trust me that the most successful people don’t bother with retirement plans in their planning. By adopting innovative co-investment and partnership strategies with your people, you will create more engaged and more financially motivated people.’’
Options include a plan in which a company invests dollars at a potentially lower corporate tax rate with employees, who get all of the investment value during their lifetime and who direct investment proceeds.
Jarvis suggests that business owners and family offices create a paid advisory board of accountants, lawyers, insurance brokers and financial planners.
“Look for people who have personality tests to prove that they are innovative, creative disruptors. Get [your advisors] to become your partners in your nouveau family office structure so you can eliminate conflicts of interest,’’ he says.
Among his suggestions regarding leveraging a legacy are setting up “his-and-her trusts’’ at a cost of between $10,000 and $25,000, which provide access to money, asset protection and tax exemption; creating incentive trusts for children; protecting heirs’ money from divorce beyond the conventional pre-nuptial agreement; and creating a family foundation which qualifies for not-for-profit organization tax status.
6 Secrets to Leveraging Success: A Guide for Entrepreneurs, Family Offices And Their Trusted Advisors, by Chris Jarvis. Post Hill Press. 176 pages. $27.
Eleanor O’Sullivan is an award-winning journalist who writes for Financial Advisor.