How Business Owners Can Build Toward a More Confident Retirement

If you’re a business owner, you already know the demands of running a company can leave little time for personal financial strategy—let alone preparing for retirement. From managing fluctuating income and tax obligations to navigating retirement plans and insurance needs, your financial picture likely looks different from traditional employees. This page offers insights to help you identify potential gaps, recognize opportunities you might be missing, and feel more confident about turning the business you’ve built into lasting financial stability.

Helping Business Owners Turn Hard Work Into Lasting Wealth

Running your own business takes focus, discipline, and long hours. Whether you own a professional services firm, construction company, or family-operated shop, it’s easy to stay caught up in the day-to-day and lose sight of the bigger financial picture. We help business owners bring strategy and structure to their financial lives. From saving on taxes and investing wisely to preparing for retirement or a business exit, our job is to make sure your personal and business finances are working in sync—not in silos.

Key Areas Where We Help Business Owners

Benefit Plan Optimization

Design cost-effective retirement and insurance plans for your team.

Business Continuity Planning

Ensure your company can operate through transitions or emergencies.

Risk & Insurance Coverage

Protect against liability, income loss, and gaps in coverage.

Tax Strategy Alignment

Use tax-efficient structures to support both business and personal goals.

Exit & Succession Planning

Explore options for selling, passing on, or phasing out.

Personal Retirement Planning

Coordinate business income with long-term retirement savings strategies.

Choosing the Right Retirement Plan

Offering a retirement plan can be a smart move—for both your team and your own financial future. But choosing the right type of plan isn’t always straightforward. Should you set up a Solo 401(k), SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, or a full employer-sponsored 401(k)? The answer depends on your business size, cash flow, and growth goals. We help you weigh the pros and cons of each option, from contribution limits and setup costs to eligibility rules and tax treatment. Whether you’re self-employed with no employees or leading a growing team, we can help you choose a plan that balances simplicity, cost-efficiency, and long-term benefits.

A Simpler Way to Offer Retirement Plans

One of the biggest reasons business owners hesitate to offer retirement plans is the administrative burden. From setting things up to tracking eligibility, onboarding employees, and keeping up with compliance rules—it’s a lot to manage on your own. We help streamline the process by working with providers who specialize in making retirement plans easier for business owners. Once your plan is in place, it can handle automatic enrollment, track employee eligibility, send important notices, and even offboard employees if they leave. That means no chasing paperwork or wondering if you missed a deadline. You’ll also have support navigating plan design, making employer contributions, and understanding how the plan fits into your own retirement strategy. Best of all, we’ll coordinate with tax professionals or payroll providers to help everything run smoothly. If offering a retirement plan has felt like too much work, it may be easier—and more affordable—than you think.

Common Planning Considerations for Business Owners

Through our work with business owners across various industries, we’ve seen common financial blind spots emerge—especially when juggling day-to-day operations with long-term planning. Every situation is different, but here are two examples that highlight how personalized guidance can help clarify important decisions.

Many business owners don’t realize they can contribute far more than the standard 401(k) limits by layering in profit sharing or defined benefit options. For the right business, this can increase total annual contributions well beyond six figures. We help assess what your business can support, compare plan types, and coordinate implementation—giving you a clearer path to long-term retirement savings.

Some owners pay themselves irregularly or structure compensation in ways that increase their tax burden without improving retirement outcomes. We help structure a tax-aware compensation plan—balancing W-2, distributions, and employer contributions—to align with both business goals and personal financial strategy.

It’s common for business owners to reinvest everything into the company, leaving personal finances underdeveloped and overexposed. We work to gradually shift wealth from business to personal holdings—via tax-efficient withdrawals, investment plans, and estate structures—so your future doesn’t hinge entirely on your business value.

Owners often set up a 401(k) but struggle with employee engagement and admin workload. We design simple, low-cost retirement plans with automatic enrollment, easy onboarding, and education—freeing you from day-to-day management while making the plan more valuable for your team.
Planning to sell your business or hand it off to a family member or partner? The earlier you begin planning, the more strategic your exit can be. We work with you to model possible outcomes, identify succession options, and make financial decisions now that support your long-term goals—both inside and outside the business.

These are simply common examples — additional opportunities often emerge through a more comprehensive review of your specific situation. If any of these concerns sound familiar, let’s have a conversation.

For Trades Professionals: Straightforward Planning from Someone Who Gets It

Running a business in the trades—whether it’s plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, or another hands-on field—means juggling a lot. You’re managing crews, dealing with unexpected repairs, navigating slow seasons, and chasing payments, all while trying to grow your bottom line.

We know financial planning can feel like just another task on a never-ending list. That’s why we focus on keeping it simple, practical, and relevant to how your business actually works.

We help trades business owners:

  • Set up retirement plans that are easy to manage and affordable—both for you and your team

  • Use strong income years to build personal wealth, not just pour everything back into the business

  • Coordinate tax, insurance, and investment strategies that make sense for your seasonality and risk

  • Create a clear, flexible plan for eventually selling or stepping away from the business

Our goal isn’t to bury you in jargon or spreadsheets. It’s to give you real answers and options that help you move forward—without the guesswork.

Potential Risks Without a Comprehensive Plan

Overpaying Taxes Every Single Year

Missing Out on
Retirement Contributions

No Exit or Succession Strategy

Personal Finances Tied
to Business

Vulnerable to Business Interruptions

Fequently Asked Questions About Marathon Petroleum's Benefits

Navigating Marathon Petroleum’s benefits can raise a lot of questions — and it’s not always easy to find clear answers. Over time, many employees wonder if they’re truly making the most of what’s available to them or if there are risks and opportunities they might be overlooking. Below are some of the most common questions we hear from professionals like you as they think about how their benefits fit into their broader financial plans.
There are several ways—some simple, some more advanced. Retirement contributions, strategic income deferral, proper entity structure, and proactive expense management can all play a role. We help you understand and implement the ones that actually make sense for your situation.
Yes. While selling your business can be part of your retirement strategy, it’s risky to rely on that as your only plan. A properly designed retirement plan helps diversify your future and adds flexibility, even if your exit goes differently than expected.

Choosing between a SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, or 401(k) depends on your cash flow, number of employees, and long-term goals. We help you evaluate the pros and cons—like contribution limits, cost, and employee eligibility—to determine what fits best now and can grow with your business.

Many business owners avoid 401(k) plans due to administrative headaches. We partner with providers to automate onboarding, contributions, eligibility tracking, and even offboarding. This takes day-to-day management off your plate and minimizes compliance risk.

Irregular income is common for business owners, especially in trades or seasonal industries. We help you build a flexible financial plan that adjusts with cash flow—so you can still save for retirement and make smart tax decisions in both good years and lean ones.

This is common—and risky. If your business suffers or doesn’t sell for what you expect, your personal retirement plan could be in jeopardy. We help you gradually diversify profits into investment accounts and structure a transition plan that doesn’t leave you exposed.

Offering a retirement plan can increase retention, especially for top-performing staff. We help design cost-efficient benefits like matching contributions or even key-person life insurance strategies that reward loyalty without breaking your budget.

Unexpected health issues or accidents can disrupt both your life and business. We help you evaluate insurance coverage (like disability, key person, or buy-sell agreements) to reduce the impact on your finances and your family if the unexpected happens.

Yes, but there are better and worse ways to do it. We help you understand options like 529 plans, employer education benefits, or business-paid tuition strategies—while avoiding tax surprises and ensuring the plan fits your overall goals.

Let's Talk Through Your Questions

If you’re looking for a clearer understanding of how your benefits and financial goals intersect, we’re here to help. A conversation can uncover whether additional planning might bring more structure, efficiency, or flexibility to your financial strategy—so you can move forward with greater clarity.

Our Business Owner Specialists

Financial Advisor

Kyle works with business owners across industries, helping them align their personal and business finances with long-term goals.

With a background in economics and licenses in investments and insurance, he assists clients with retirement plan selection, risk management, tax-efficient strategies, and exit planning.

Founder, Principal

Dan has over two decades of experience as a financial advisor and is also a business owner himself, running a commercial real estate company in Florida.

He helps entrepreneurs align their business and personal financial goals, offering guidance on retirement plans, risk management, and long-term wealth strategies.

Wealth Advisor

Josh Pisa is a financial advisor and founder of Base Tax, where he helps business owners integrate proactive tax planning with long-term wealth strategies.

With over 15 years of experience, he provides guidance on structuring entities, minimizing tax liability, managing business transitions, and aligning personal and business finances.

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2022 Tax Document Information

As a Base Wealth Management client, you should receive your paper tax documents via mail in the coming weeks. Or, if you previously had an online account with Pershing’s NetX360, you should be able to access your 2022 tax documents through that portal. 

If not, or if you experience any issues, please reach out to Tim O’Brien (tim.obrien@intervestintl.com).

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