Business Planning 

Buy-Sell Agreement

Make sure your business has a plan to withstand hardships such as the disability or death of a partner or owner. This plan can also include a tax-advantaged cash component to help fund your retirement when the time is right.

Even if you have a buy-sell agreement in place, it may not be enough. To find out, start with a comprehensive review. Does your buy-sell agreement include a funding vehicle to help with a buy-out? Does it reflect what your business is worth in today’s market? If not, Alliance Financial is here to guide you through the process. We offer a free buy-sell review and informal business valuation to help you protect your business, your family and your retirement.

Key Person Insurance

As a business owner, you probably didn’t think twice about insuring your building, inventory and equipment. However, you may not have protected your business against the loss of its most valuable assets—its key people. It’s the skills, abilities, knowledge, talents and experience of your key people that makes it possible for your business to succeed. The loss of key employees or owners can financially cripple a company. Alliance Financial Services can assist in creating a customized plan for your business’s most important assets—its key people.

Executive Bonus Insurance

Do you want to want to elevate your compensation package to attract or retain key employees? Offering an executive bonus plan (sometimes called a Section 162 Plan) is a great way to enhance employee compensation without hurting your bottom line.

With an executive bonus insurance plan, an employer takes out the policy and provides the employee with a bonus large enough to pay for the policy premiums. The employee is the owner of the policy—determining the beneficiaries and managing the funds within the policy. The employee can access the cash value for extra income. Or, if the employee dies, the death benefit goes to the beneficiaries.

401(k) Plans

Your retirement plan is only as strong as your plan design and ongoing management. In today’s environment of rapidly changing regulation, it’s important to work with a company dedicated to the qualified plan market that knows how to develop and maintain a solid retirement plan. As an independent consulting group, Alliance Financial Services can provide an independent benchmark review to minimize fiduciary risk and ensure plan success.

Our investment professionals work with your retirement plan committee to develop and maintain the plan’s investment strategy. We provide regular enrollment meetings and ongoing education materials that lead to higher participation levels for your company.

If you are self-employed, we also offer retirement plan options to help you save for retirement while minimizing your tax burden.

Succession Planning

Succession planning is about much more than choosing a successor. A carefully crafted succession plan promises a graceful, controlled exit. It allows you to obtain the greatest value for your business, and the greatest benefit for you and your family. A carefully crafted succession plan can reduce capital gains and estate taxes and safeguard employee security. An exit plan takes into account when you want to leave the business, how you’ll finance your retirement, and how your departure will affect others. We can assist in the process through education around alternative concepts and planning techniques as well as connecting you with resources to document your strategy. From concept to education and implementation we can provide a helping hand.