You advise companies on strategy. Your own financial structure is a single-member LLC.
Published IRS data shows that consultants netting over $150K as an LLC overpay self-employment tax by $20K or more every year. You optimize everyone else's operations. Time to optimize your own.
Based on typical client scenarios. Individual results vary depending on your specific situation.
The problems hiding in plain sight.
These are the issues we see most often with management consulting businesses. Most owners don't know they have them.
You Pay More Self-Employment Tax Than Your Clients' Employees
A consultant netting $250K as an LLC pays roughly $35K in self-employment tax. The same income through an S-corp with reasonable compensation pays roughly $18K. That's $17K a year — every year — because of entity structure alone. The IRS publishes guidance on this. It's not aggressive planning. It's using the structure the tax code was designed for.
Your Professional Liability Coverage Has Gaps You've Never Checked
Standard E&O policies for consultants often exclude specific deliverable types — data breaches from your recommendations, regulatory penalties from your advice, intellectual property disputes. The Insurance Information Institute publishes data showing that professional liability claims in consulting have increased 40% since 2020. When was the last time you actually read your policy?
You're Maxing a SEP-IRA When a Solo 401(k) Lets You Save More
A SEP-IRA limits contributions to 25% of compensation. A Solo 401(k) allows both employee deferrals ($23K, or $30.5K if over 50) AND employer contributions up to 25% — for a total of $66K+ per year in 2026. These are IRS-published limits. The Solo 401(k) also allows Roth contributions and loans against the balance. Most consultants have the wrong retirement vehicle.
You Have Partners But No Operating Agreement
Industry surveys consistently show that over 60% of small consulting firms operate without a written operating agreement. That means no defined terms for what happens if a partner wants out, becomes disabled, or dies. No valuation method. No non-compete. When partnerships dissolve without written terms, state default rules apply — and those rules almost never match what the partners intended.
Want to see what you're leaving on the table? A 30-minute Foundation Review built specifically for management consulting.
Book Your Management Consulting Review →What management consulting owners get wrong.
And what to do instead.
Running a consulting business as an LLC past $80K net income +
Using a SEP-IRA instead of a Solo 401(k) +
No written operating agreement between consulting partners +
Not tracking deductible expenses properly as a consultant +
Where the money actually is.
Opportunities we typically identify for management consulting businesses — and coordinate with your tax and legal professionals to capture.
What a Foundation Review actually looks like.
An anonymized engagement from our work with management consulting businesses.
Management Consulting Firm
$2.8M annual revenueA three-person consulting firm — one founder and two senior partners with verbal equity arrangements — had no formal operating agreement, no life or disability insurance on any partner, and a SEP-IRA that was costing them compared to better options. The founder assumed their E&O policy covered everything they did.
- No life or disability insurance on any of the three principals — a death or disability would trigger a chaotic dissolution with no buyout mechanism and no income replacement for the affected family
- Verbal equity arrangements with two senior partners meant no funded succession plan — and no insurance to back it up
- SEP-IRA was limiting retirement contributions: a Solo 401(k) would allow an additional $40K+ per year per partner in tax-deferred savings
- E&O policy excluded data analytics work and cyber-related claims — the firm's fastest-growing service lines
The Foundation Review formalized the partnership with a buy-sell agreement funded by cross-purchase life and disability insurance (placed through Ash Brokerage), upgraded each partner's retirement plan to a Solo 401(k), and requoted E&O to cover their actual service lines. Total new coverage: $3.6M in life insurance and disability protection across three principals.
Details anonymized and modified. Individual results vary — your Foundation Review will be specific to your situation.
We've sat in your chair.
Not just advisors — operators.
Most financial advisors look at your business from the outside. Our team has actually been inside — as internal CFOs, management consultants, and business operators. We've built the financial models, managed the cash flow cycles, and navigated the entity structure decisions firsthand.
That means when we look at your situation, we're not guessing. We've seen the patterns from the operator's seat — and we know which moves actually move the needle.
Good Deals is an independent fiduciary. We don't work for an insurance company or a wirehouse. We work for you. No proprietary products, no sales quotas — just the best path forward for your specific situation.
- CFA charterholder — one of the most rigorous credentials in finance
- Internal CFO experience — we've managed P&Ls, cash flow, and entity structure from the inside
- Management consulting background — financial modeling, growth strategy, and M&A advisory for businesses from startup to $50M+
- Licensed insurance professionals — life, disability, and commercial coverage, not just referrals
- Independent and fiduciary — legally required to act in your best interest
- Austin, TX based — we know the local market, the tax landscape, and the business community
Ready to keep more of what you earn?
30-minute conversation built for management consulting. No pressure. We'll look at your specific situation and identify the highest-leverage opportunities.
The concepts behind your financial strategy.
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