FOR OWNERS AND ENTREPRENEURS
Turn what you built into what lasts
Retirement plan design, tax structure, and transition strategy work best when they're in place three to five years before any transaction.
Schedule a consultationGetting to know Arc Wealth Partners
We work with owners and principals building businesses that need to last. Our job is to help you turn business assets into long-term personal wealth using structure, tax efficiency, retirement design, and a transition path built well before any sale.
The story behind this practice
William Platt started his advisory career working with attorneys who were becoming their own bosses. When his clients left big law firms to open solo practices, they weren't just lawyers with paychecks anymore. They were business owners with payroll, entity choices, retirement plan decisions, and eventual exits. His practice grew to meet them there. The small business expertise at Arc Wealth Partners started with those attorney clients and has since expanded to owners in every industry.
How we work with business owners
William's four-step process. Services (401(k), profit sharing, SEP IRA, defined benefit, entity structure, exit planning) are baked into each step so a parallel services list isn't needed.
Set the goals
The intro call is where we get specific about what you're building the business toward. Sell in five years or hand it to your kids in twenty-five. Build for maximum lifestyle now or maximum enterprise value later. The answer shapes every downstream decision.
Build a team around the business
You need more than an advisor. We introduce you to a CPA, an attorney, and a bookkeeper who move at the same pace as your business, then run the coordination so you're not managing four professionals in parallel.
Set the structure
The business entity, the retirement plan menu (401(k), profit sharing, SEP IRA, or defined benefit), and the tax elections that support both. Each has trade-offs. We match the setup to your income, your team size, and your exit timeline.
Plan the exit years before you sell
The best time to plan an exit is three to five years before the sale. We work backward from the deal to set up the books, the reserves, and the tax profile so that when the offer comes in, you keep more of what you built.
Questions we get a lot
How do I maximize my exit package when I sell my business?
The single biggest lever is starting three to five years before the sale. That gives you time to clean up the books, structure the sale for capital gains treatment where possible, sequence the earnout, and reduce the tax leakage on the deal. The owners who get the strongest exit prices tend to plan the exit before they have to.
How do I make my exit the most tax efficient it can be?
There are several levers, and the right one depends on your entity structure, your state, and the deal structure. Common paths include qualified small business stock (QSBS) if you qualify, installment sales, entity conversions, employee stock ownership plans, and charitable remainder trusts. We evaluate them against your situation.
How do I keep and retain key employees and get tax benefits?
Retirement plans that reward tenure (profit sharing with vesting schedules, cash balance plans, and non-qualified deferred comp) work in both directions. They retain the people who make the business run and give you a tax-deductible way to reward them. Health benefits, phantom equity, and profit-participation plans are other tools.
How can I best defer income taxes?
Retirement plan contributions are the first place to look. Business owners have access to plan designs (defined benefit, cash balance, solo 401(k)) that can shelter significantly more than the standard employee options. Beyond that, timing income and expenses across tax years, entity structure, and deferred comp arrangements all play a role.
How can I diversify when my business is most of my net worth?
This is the concentration risk problem, and it's real. Options include partial sale of equity to a private equity partner or an ESOP, borrowing against the business to invest elsewhere, structured recapitalization, and pulling more excess cash out of the business into diversified investments year over year. The right path depends on your exit horizon.
The people behind your plan
Arc Wealth Partners brings three vantage points to financial advice: coach, player, and advisor. For owners, that means strategy shaped by what it takes to build something, win at it, and protect what comes after. You will always have a named, responsive point of contact.
Talk with the team
Tell us a little about your business and where you are in the transition arc.