Blogs

What do insurance agents and rock stars have in common? About Michael Ross Michael Ross is a 30+ year veteran financial advisor. After 30 years with Morgan Stanley, he is now an independent financial advisor who specializes in helping business owners exit their businesses and move to the next phase…

Current Client Conversations & Revocable Living Trust Two key conversations this week worth talking about.    The first involved a client in Tennessee with whom we are working with her estate attorney on getting some estate planning done.  No, this doesn’t involve the sunsetting for the TCJA’s high lifetime gifting limit. …

Current Client Conversations & Presediantial Politics This is my reflection on conversations that I have had with clients over the past week that I believe gives you a grasp of those relationships with roughly 120 clients we work with.   One topic that came up multiple times is how people are…

Current Client Conversations & Difficult Moves About Michael Ross Michael Ross is a 30+ year veteran financial advisor. After 30 years with Morgan Stanley, he is now an independent financial advisor who specializes in helping business owners exit their businesses and move to the next phase of their lives. I…

Current Client Conversations Managing Expectations Each week I summarize the central themes of conversations I am having with clients lately for you, simply to give you sense of how these dialogues go; to give you a flavor of how I work with clients.  Right now I am trying to set…

The best bang for your investment advice buck is a financial advisor and (any kind of) tax professional collaborating! The best advisors routinely pull the CPA into the conversation to confirm the tax rationale on their advice.  Recently, I had a client moving from one state to another, dealing with…

Why finding the right Financial Advisor is harder than finding the right Doctor “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong”. –Thomas Sowell Reviewing multiple internet…

While my list is likely incomplete, these are issues we are involved with when working with a business owner anticipating a business exit. 1) Enforce discipline.  Many, many people employ coaches to learn to play the piano, keep them exercising, dieting, or growing their company.  Yet, when it comes to…

When you buy a car, you have some idea of what you want. Coupe, sports car, SUV, compact.  You see all of the different types when you are driving and researching.  It’s said now that 90% of car buyers have all of their research done online before they enter a…

As you prepare for a liquidity event, SBA Link the financial advisor is generally the hub of the wheel.  Like the hub, he or she is not “where the rubber meets the road.”  Rather, they are making the wheel turn and supporting all the spokes meet the road. Who are…

When choosing a financial advisor, the public faces a challenge many are simply unaware they are facing.  There is no standard solution to any investment need! To help people in this process, I have come up with four very simple questions that will give the interviewer a window into understanding…

Tax Preparation usually doesn’t mean tax planning. Preface: My experience is that most tax-preparing CPAs and EAs look backwards, at the previous year’s tax experience.  It takes overt client requests to have them do forward tax planning.  As such, the more advanced financial advisor with a good understanding of the…