Exiting Executive
You’re ready for a change. Time to decide the what, when and how.
Whether starting your own business or retiring for good, timing and planning are the keys to ensuring a smooth transition. Having a partner that knows the landscape ahead ensures you are prepared to take the leap.
Background
As a medical device executive, our client’s series of new job offers required her to move repeatedly. With every move, her husband and children cheered her on, but also missed that precious time spent away.
Enter COVID, and her workload only increased with no end in sight. It was time for a choice - family or work. We helped lay out all of her options so a sound decision could be made based on what she valued most.
Key Concerns
- Determine whether taking a sabbatical or fully retiring was in the best option for our client and her family.
- Time her departure to maximize her stock option, restricted stock, and cash award vesting.
- Evaluate options to continue providing healthcare for her growing family.
- Ensure that they could not only provide income in the short-term, but that their long-term goals would not be interrupted.
- Allow maximum freedom and flexibility so our client can actually be present and involved in the key milestones of her children's lives.
Client Priorities
- Create Clarity – Create a comprehensive analysis of two scenarios - retiring or simply taking a sabbatical - that factored in all sources of current and future income, family budget, pending expenses, employer benefits, healthcare continuation, and the impact on funding future goals such as private school and college.
- Cashflow – Analyze all forms of income from current and previous employers, pensions, and rental properties to determine the timing and stability of ongoing income to answer the looming question – can we afford it?
- Tax – Project state and federal income tax triggered by early vesting of stock plans and deferred compensation income to determine the best approach.
- Risk Mitigation – Protect their growing personal assets and primary home from the risk associated with owning and renting investment properties.
- Create Order – Once a decision was made, have a plan in place to seamlessly execute all aspects of the transition so our client had a smooth glidepath to her next phase in life.
The Results
Establishing a plan that puts family first
- We gathered, reviewed, and documented all employer stock plan, benefits, and compensation guides to determine the best timing and viability of our client’s options. We then ran multiple scenarios to demonstrate the impact on income, lifestyle, and goals under each option. By answering all the financial ‘what ifs’, our client could focus on making the decision that felt right for her and her family.
- Our team analyzed and structured all sources of income to create a sustainable budget to cover the household costs while continuing to save for her family’s future.
- We completed a tax planning analysis to forecast the impact of the early vesting of stock and cash plans combined with an early trigger of deferred compensation payments from multiple employers to identify proactive action needed to reduce the taxes our client paid.
- We developed a plan to move all personally owned real estate that was transitioning into rental property into an LLC to increase cashflow while shielding personal assets from legal exposure.
- Our team created a structured schedule and plan for executing employer stock plan vesting, transition of healthcare and related benefits, and setting up income payments to ensure a seamless transition from employment income to retirement income.
Ready to see what we can do for you?
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We understand how to navigate the complexities of being an executive because we've faced it first-hand
