Business owners are unique. It takes an entrepreneurial mind and a desire to control your own destiny to take the leap of faith and become a business owner. As a business grows, it demands considerable time, mental energy and the reinvestment of significant financial resources, often well before an owner is in a position to extract wealth for themselves.
Principal and Senior Wealth Adviser Steven Boyce has interviewed and assisted some of Western Australia’s most successful business owners. Through those conversations, Steven found that the ones with the most success, and the most peace of mind about their financial affairs, had three things in common: a vision, a plan, and a financial adviser.
We asked Steven to reflect on a time he helped a business owner client achieve financial freedom through clearer, more informed decisions.
Strategic Financial Planning for Business Owners
Undoubtedly successful, in just ten years one of Steven’s clients grew the family business to a turnover of tens of millions of dollars. In recent years, they had been in a position to extract significant dividends annually.
Like many business owners, the family had prioritised their business affairs above their personal financial affairs. They were not taking full advantage of the financial planning strategies available to them, and they realised they did not have the time or expertise to implement and manage a comprehensive investment strategy effectively.
Steven explains that, like many families, his client benefitted significantly once the right advisers were engaged. Previously, this business owner had relied on their accountant, who lacked a complete picture of their affairs and was not licensed to give financial planning advice. They then tried to manage the investment strategy themselves, before engaging a stockbroker who offered only limited investment advice, without looking at how it could add value holistically across their entire financial position.
This resulted in time lost and increased stress for the family. Ultimately, no one was accountable for building a long-term family investment strategy that aligned a suite of investments to their family goals, and too many opportunities were slipping through the cracks.
Steven emphasises that a competent accountant and an independent financial adviser, working together to holistically manage a plan, make a powerful team. They bring context and insight to inform the family’s key decisions, and take care of the finer details needed to implement the family’s vision.
Tax Planning and Structuring for Business Growth
Only once a family has a clear vision can a financial adviser help build an optimal financial plan and support genuinely great decisions around the options available.
Steven highlights that one of the immediate benefits for his client was paying less tax, thanks to better-coordinated tax planning conversations between the adviser and the accountant. Investors are typically hardwired to focus on the fees they are paying. Fees matter, but taxes usually create a much larger drag on how quickly wealth accumulates, with a similar but negative compounding effect on investing over time. Steven believes business owners should be more deliberate about how they invest and the tax structures they invest through, to minimise long-term tax obligations.
Exit Planning and Succession
Our role doesn’t stop at investment strategy and tax structuring. Business owners eventually reach a point where the business itself needs to be part of the plan, whether that means preparing for an eventual sale, handing over to the next generation, or simply making sure the business is not the only asset the family’s future depends on.
Bringing succession into the conversation early, well before an owner is ready to sell, gives a family time to align the business exit with their personal and financial goals, rather than scrambling to make decisions under pressure. Business owner wealth management works best when succession is planned years, not months, in advance. For a closer look at what this involves, see our guide to business succession planning.
Managing the Gap Between Business Wealth and Personal Wealth
We provide strategic advice, engage the entire family, and help build future-proof estate and legacy plans. When large amounts of capital are involved, we become invaluable in simplifying the complex and acting as an advocate for our clients. This is what effective business owner wealth management looks like in practice: not a single transaction, but an ongoing, coordinated plan.
To achieve true success, you need to trust others and accept that you cannot do it all yourself. We’re here to help. If you or someone you know could benefit from advice, get in touch or learn more about how our business owner specialists can support you.
For a deeper look at balancing business reinvestment with your own financial security, read our related guide on financial planning for business owners.
