If you’re a business owner or partner, it is likely your business represents a substantial part of your wealth.  And taxes are likely one of your top concerns.

Unfortunately, many business owners don’t employ accountants or estate planning attorneys early enough to get the most benefit.  This can result in higher taxes and unwanted consequences down the road.  With Paradigm Financial Advisors, you get the right advice so you can take advantage of all opportunities.

Business Transaction Tax Planning

When the time comes to sell all (or part) of your business, you’ll want to maximize your net proceeds.  So getting good tax advice is critical.

At Paradigm Financial Advisors, when you become a client, you’ll be assigned a team that includes a financial planner and also able to take advantage of the seamless access to our in-house estate planning attorneys and our CPAs.

As this team gets to know your personal financial situation, we become the ideal partner to help you make the most of your transaction.

We’re skilled in analyzing potential transactions and recommending structures that will help you minimize your tax liability.

Business Succession Planning

As a business owner, you need to make sure your company continues even if something happens to you.  That means you need a clear and effective succession plan.

Our expert team will help you design a plan that makes sense for you and your business.  We can assist you with buy-sell agreements or other structures.

Company Sponsored Retirement Plans

As a business owner, you are naturally concerned with retaining your valued employees.  There are few better ways to do that than by providing a high-quality retirement plan.

Paradigm Financial Advisors can also assist you in managing your existing plan, or we can work with you to start a plan from scratch.

Most importantly, we can help you reduce your fiduciary liability.

Helping Reduce Your Potential Liability

Over the past ten years, there have been a large number of lawsuits filed by employees against their employers for breach of fiduciary duty.  Many of these cases claimed the employer failed to properly monitor the performance and fees of the plan’s investments. In the case of Tibble v. Edison International, the Supreme Court ruled that plan sponsors have an ongoing fiduciary responsibility to put the financial interests of plan participants above their own.

The Court also ruled that a plan sponsor is required to select the plan investments with the same skill, care, and prudence that a person who is experienced and knowledgeable of investment management.  The court also made it clear that if the Plan Sponsor and its employees that administer their retirement plan don’t have this specialized knowledge and experience, then the Plan Sponsor is required to hire a Registered Investment Advisor that is qualified to serve as a fiduciary and to select the menu of funds and monitor their performance and fees.

You Face Personal and Business Liability

As a business owner, it is critical to understand that along with business liability, you may face personal liability if your company’s plan is not administered according to all regulations.  (In the case of Tibble v. Edison International, for example, one of the Human Resources executives of the company was found to be personally liable.)  For most business owners, it makes sense to hire an expert to make sure details are not overlooked.  

Paradigm Financial Advisors can act as a full 3(38) fiduciary, which means we can take responsibility for selecting and managing the plan’s investment options.  By delegating these critical tasks to our experienced team, you can reduce your potential liability while saving you significant time.

Here’s what you can expect:

• We select plan investments and create a diversified menu of low-cost ETFs or mutual funds that reduce the risk of losses for participants.
• We select the Qualified Default Investment Alternatives (“QDIAs”) as required by ERISA for participants that do not make an investment election.
• We can also create professionally managed investment portfolios that participants can choose from based on their risk tolerance level.
• We develop an Investment Policy Statement for the plan that documents the process for selecting plan investments, monitoring fund performance and benchmarking fees.
• We take care of all investment monitoring and quarterly fiduciary reporting.
• We provide annual benchmarking reports that compare all of the plan’s fees to the fees other plans are paying to determine if they are reasonable.

Our complete scope of service helps ensure that your retirement plan is managed with industry best practices…saving you time and worry.