Estate Planning 

For many business owners, the company represents the largest portion of personal wealth. Estate planning helps ensure this value transfers according to your wishes while protecting family members and minimizing disruption to the business. 

Without a clear plan, the death or incapacity of an owner can create uncertainty for family members, employees and business partners. Ownership may pass in ways not intended, taxes may become due without sufficient liquidity and the business itself may face operational challenges during an already difficult time. 

A thoughtful estate plan coordinates personal wishes with the realities of business ownership. This often includes wills, powers of attorney and strategies designed to transfer ownership efficiently while managing potential tax exposure. 

For business owners, estate planning also involves preparing the business itself for transition. This may include succession planning, buy sell agreements and the use of insurance to provide liquidity when ownership changes occur. 

The goal is clarity and continuity. Intent Planning can help you craft a well structured estate plan helps protect family interests, supports business stability and preserves the value built over many years of ownership.  

Personal insurance 

For many owners, life insurance plays an important role in funding buy sell agreements. A buy sell agreement outlines what happens to an owner’s shares if a partner dies, becomes disabled or leaves the business. When funded with insurance, the agreement ensures funds are available to purchase the departing owner’s shares. 

Without insurance funding, surviving partners may struggle to complete the purchase. This can create uncertainty for both the business and the owner’s family. Insurance funding provides immediate liquidity, allowing the transaction to occur as planned while protecting the financial interests of all parties. 

Protecting personal finances and ensuring the business can continue if something unexpected occurs is equally important. 

Personal insurance provides financial protection for the owner and their family while supporting stability within the business. Illness, disability or premature death can create significant financial strain if planning is not in place. Insurance helps provide liquidity, replace income and protect long term financial security. 

A coordinated insurance strategy helps protect family financial security, supports business continuity and preserves the value owners have worked hard to create. Proper planning ensures both the business and the owner’s family remain financially stable when unexpected events occur. 

Value acceleration 

Building transferrable value can be slow and steady or rapid and aggressive. Either way requires focused efforts for success. 

Value building focuses on improving the inherent value drivers within your business and eliminating or mitigating the value killers found in your business. Building value today brings immediate improvements to your business today allowing you to reap the rewards today and put yourself into the driver’s seat for the future. 

No matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, you have expectations for your business. The team at Intent Planning has helped business owners at all stages increase the value of their businesses. 

Intent Planning can help you increase the value of your business by at least 10% in just 6 months. 

Tax Planning 

Commercial Business Owners

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Employee Benefits 

Perhaps one of the largest investments and most impactful decisions a business owner makes has are those that impact the people who work in their organization. Maintaining and increasing the value of this investment means ensuring the people on the team stay on the team and are committed to the growing value and success of the business. 

Maintaining and growing the highest level of intellectual property comes down to hiring and retaining the best people available.  

A comprehensive, flexible and cost-efficient suite of employee benefit solutions is one key element to attracting, securing and retaining top talent. Retention and recruitment can be supported with a well thought out employee benefits suite. 
 
In today’s competitive environment, you need to make sure your business is as attractive as possible to the talent available. 

Exit planning 

Small to medium businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy. Intent Planning and our Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) believes business owners need dedicated, knowledgeable professionals to help them develop an exit plan that covers all contingencies with the highest valuation possible. 
 
Exit Planning allows a business owner to get their business to a state of optimal value to receive top dollar when they decide to sell or transition their businesses. Our value acceleration technique focuses on identifying, growing and harvesting the value of your company when the time is right. 

No matter when you plan to exit your business, a well-crafted plan can help you:  

• Control how and when you exit 

• Maximize your company’s value 

• Minimize taxes 

• Ensure you achieve your business and personal goals 

• Build strategic options for your exit 

• Reduce uncertainty for your family and employees 

We work with business owners and their team of professionals and advisors to facilitate the best results for each unique situation. Many owners are faced with exiting their business for a reason they didn’t choose- death, disability, divorce, distress or dissention.  

It is critical to maintain your business at top dollar value so no matter what the reason, you are able to capitalize on your hard work and investment. 

Wealth management  

Business owners often spend years building their company. For many, the majority of personal wealth is tied to the business itself. In practical terms, the business becomes both the largest asset and the least liquid one. 

Like any investment, there will come a time when its value must support the next stage of life. Ensuring the business has sufficient transferable value to fund life after ownership is an important part of long term planning. 

The first step is understanding what the business is worth today and what it needs to be worth in the future to support personal financial goals. The difference between these two numbers is often called the wealth gap. 

Closing this gap typically involves two efforts working together. The business can become more valuable and transferable through risk reduction and value acceleration strategies while personal investments are structured to support long term financial needs. Let Intent Planning help you identify your wealth gap and help you bridge it. 

Risk management  

Many business owners focus on growth, revenue and profitability. Fewer consider how unmanaged risk quietly reduce the value of the business they built. 

Risk management plays an important role in value acceleration and exit planning. Buyers, lenders and investors look beyond financial performance. They evaluate how exposed a business is to operational disruption, leadership dependence, customer concentration, legal issues and other vulnerabilities, presenting as risk. 

When risk is unmanaged, perceived value declines. When risk is identified and addressed, confidence increases.  

Managing risk is not about avoiding growth. It is about strengthening the foundation of the business so value is durable, transferable and defensible when future opportunities arise.