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Your business is your life's work

From protecting your assets to building for your future, we're with you every step.
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We help with it all, for your business and your family

Business owners face a uniquely complex financial picture, one where personal goals and business decisions are deeply intertwined. Our team of financial advisors, tax professionals, and estate planning specialists works as a coordinated unit to align your business strategy with your personal wealth plan. We manage the complexity, so you can focus on running your business.

Wealth management designed for business owners

Business Exit & Succession Planning 

Whether you plan to pass the business to family, sell to a third party, or transition to management, the time to plan is years before you're ready to step away. We help coordinate and assist the financial, tax, and legal complexity of a business exit so you can maximize the value you've built and transition confidently into the next chapter.

  • Business valuation and readiness assessment
  • Succession planning: family transfers, management buyouts, third-party sales
  • Stock option planning
  • ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) structuring
  • Pre-sale tax minimization strategies
  • Transaction advisory and deal coordination
  • Post-exit wealth management and income replacement planning
Learn more

Business Planning & Strategy 

Your business decisions and your personal financial plan don't exist in separate worlds, every major move you make as a business owner has financial implications for your family. We provide strategic business planning guidance that connects the dots between your business structure, growth plans, key-person risks, and personal wealth goals.

  • Business valuation (formal and informal)
  • Entity structuring and governance
  • Key-person risk planning
  • Retirement Plan Consulting
  • Buy-sell agreement review and structuring
  • Growth strategy and capital structure guidance

Wealth Planning

As a business owner, your personal finances and your business finances are deeply connected. We build a comprehensive financial plan that accounts for both, aligning your business cash flow, compensation structure, and growth goals with your personal wealth, retirement timeline, and family needs.

  • Retirement planning
  • Tax planning & optimization
  • Estate planning including trust administration
  • Investment management for your personal finances
Learn more about our personal wealth planning

Business Exit & Succession Planning 

Business Exit & Succession Planning 

Whether you plan to pass the business to family, sell to a third party, or transition to management, the time to plan is years before you're ready to step away. We help coordinate and assist the financial, tax, and legal complexity of a business exit so you can maximize the value you've built and transition confidently into the next chapter.

  • Business valuation and readiness assessment
  • Succession planning: family transfers, management buyouts, third-party sales
  • Stock option planning
  • ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) structuring
  • Pre-sale tax minimization strategies
  • Transaction advisory and deal coordination
  • Post-exit wealth management and income replacement planning
Learn more

Business Planning & Strategy 

Business Planning & Strategy 

Your business decisions and your personal financial plan don't exist in separate worlds, every major move you make as a business owner has financial implications for your family. We provide strategic business planning guidance that connects the dots between your business structure, growth plans, key-person risks, and personal wealth goals.

  • Business valuation (formal and informal)
  • Entity structuring and governance
  • Key-person risk planning
  • Retirement Plan Consulting
  • Buy-sell agreement review and structuring
  • Growth strategy and capital structure guidance

Wealth Planning

Wealth Planning

As a business owner, your personal finances and your business finances are deeply connected. We build a comprehensive financial plan that accounts for both, aligning your business cash flow, compensation structure, and growth goals with your personal wealth, retirement timeline, and family needs.

  • Retirement planning
  • Tax planning & optimization
  • Estate planning including trust administration
  • Investment management for your personal finances
Learn more about our personal wealth planning

The business partner you need

Running a business is demanding. Your financial life shouldn't add to that complexity. When you work with us, you'll have one trusted team coordinating every aspect of your financial picture — working hand in hand with your CPA, attorney, and other trusted professionals so every part of your plan stays connected.

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Coordinated Expertise

Your advisor will work alongside our in-house tax, estate, and investment specialists, along with your existing CPA, attorney or other professionals so every decision is connected.

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Comprehensive Wealth Planning

We understand that your business is your most valuable asset and that personal and business finances are inseparable. We'll create a holistic plan that combines investment management, tax strategies, estate planning, and more to help you protect what you've built.

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Business Owner Specialists

We understand the unique challenges that come with being a business owner and will help you every step of the way - from your first hire to your retirement and everything in between.

What to expect in your first meeting with us 

 In your first meeting, we will... 

  • Review your current financial picture: business structure, personal assets, key goals

  • Understand where you are in your business journey and what matters most to you

  • Identify your most pressing planning needs (tax, exit, estate, retirement)

  • Share more about our process and what a partnership with us looks like

Common Questions

The honest answer: earlier than most business owners do. Many wait until they're approaching a sale or transition to get serious about planning and by then, some of the most valuable strategies are no longer available. The best time to start is when your business is growing and the financial decisions are getting more complex.

Tax structure, retirement planning, estate planning, and exit strategy all take time to put in place properly. We work with business owners at every stage, from the early growth years through transition and beyond.

Your CPA and attorney are essential, and we work closely with them. The difference is that Manning & Napier coordinates the whole picture. Your accountant files your taxes. Your attorney drafts your documents.

Our team makes sure every piece of your financial life, investment management, tax strategy, retirement planning, estate planning, and business planning, is connected and working together. We fill the gap between advisors and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. 

Yes, and this is one of the most common situations we work with. Many business owners have built significant net worth, but the majority of it is illiquid and concentrated in one place, their business.

We help you think through what that means for your personal financial plan, your retirement security, and your estate. We can also help you understand your options for creating liquidity, whether that's through a gradual transition, a third-party sale, an ESOP, or a family transfer. 

Succession planning is more than deciding who gets the business when you're ready to step away. It involves understanding what your business is worth today, determining what it needs to be worth for your retirement to be secure, identifying the right transition strategy for your situation, and putting the legal, tax, and financial structures in place well in advance.

Our experts will collaborate with the rest of your team, including CPAs and attorneys, to help coordinate this process. The earlier we start, the more options you have. 

Yes. We can review your existing retirement plan design, identify whether it's the right structure for your business and your employees, and help you implement a better solution if needed.

We can also sit down with your employees to provide education on retirement savings, which is something many of our business owner clients find genuinely valuable for recruiting and retaining good people. 

Resources for business owners

exit-planninng
Guide

Exit Planning

Get a practical framework for planning for your next step, as well as a helpful checklist to help you navigate the process.

Download now
2026-wm-tax-guides-lp
Guides

Tax & Planning
Guides

Everything you need to know about taxes - including the One Big Beautiful Bill - Medicare, and Social Security for the current tax year.

Download now
retirement-hub-retirement-cheatsheet-t-2
Cheat Sheet

Planning for Retirement

Get tips and to-dos to help you begin planning and ensure you’re on track to live the retirement you've been dreaming of.

Download now

Get started today

Schedule a complimentary, no-obligation consultation with a Manning & Napier financial advisor to get started on a personalized plan for your business and personal wealth.