An Introduction

In 2014, Michael was introduced to us by John, a long-time client of The Ferrucci Company.  A few years prior, we had helped John navigate the sale of his business successfully, and he thought we could help Michael, who was, at the time, considering retiring from the manufacturing firm he owned and built over the previous three decades.

Our Process

We met Michael, recently widowed, in his home for a Discovery Meeting - our chance to learn about the people, places, and things most important to him. Through our discussion, Michael shared with us his personal and financial values, accomplishments, and goals. Despite having accumulated significant assets, Michael shared with us that, in some ways, he worried about money.  He also expressed what he saw as potential challenges and obstacles to realizing his goals and vision for not only his future, but also how his wealth might best help his adult children and young grandchildren.

Based on everything Michael expressed in our Discovery Meeting, we drafted a Statement of Financial Values and Goals, which, to this day, serves as a guidepost for Michael and us. Michael's Statement of Financial Values and Goals is inclusive of three overarching objectives:

• His desire to not only sustain cash flow through retirement, but to also enhance his lifestyle with more travel, golf, and time spent with children and grandchildren.
• His wish to help fund his grandchildren’s education expenses.
• His commitment to those charitable organizations most important to him and his family.

Our Recommendation

As Michael's four children were neither involved nor interested in becoming involved in his company, we helped Michael evaluate various succession options. Ultimately, he decided to sell the business. In advance of the sale, we identified and coordinated a team of experts in mergers and acquisitions, taxation, estate planning, and other related areas. Together, we outlined strategies aimed at maximizing Michael's opportunity for a successful sale, thus providing him the best opportunity to achieve his near- and long-term financial goals. Equally important, we gave careful, ongoing attention to Michael's core values, as outlined in his Statement of Financial Values and Goals. 

Key Achievements

• Updating Michael's trust and estate documents, prior to sale, to account for changes in tax laws.
• Establishing consistent cash flows to Michael, following the sale, as a means of replacing income and profits previously derived from his business.
• Establishing and funding trusts for future education expenses of immediate and extended family.
• Establishing and funding a private, family-directed foundation.
• Protecting Michael's wealth from any possible third-party litigation, both during and after his lifetime.

Additional emphasis was placed on the minimization of taxes, with our team planning successfully for the:

• Reduction of capital gain taxes upon the sale of Michael's company.
• Reduction of income taxes during Michael's lifetime.
• Reduction of estate taxes not only upon Michael's passing, but also through future generations.

Prior to the sale of Michael's company, investment strategies were developed for each of the trusts created. When the company sold, cash proceeds from the sale were deployed across diverse holdings among various asset classes.

Success

Nearly a decade removed from the sale of Michael's company, he continues to meet each of the three aims articulated in his Statement of Financial Values and Goals:

• Reliable cash flows from Michael's investment portfolios enable him to enjoy and enhance his lifestyle throughout retirement. (Michael recently took his children and grandchildren to the Galapagos to celebrate his 75^th birthday!)
• Ample resources are available via Michael's Education Trust to provide support for the education expenses of his grandchildren. (The first of Michael's grandchildren finished her first semester of college in 2019!)
• Michael's private, family-directed foundation provides significant, ongoing financial support to numerous charitable organizations. (All of Michael's children and grandchildren are active participants.)

Michael remarried recently and is enjoying life fully with his new spouse!