Multi-partner professional services firms — law, consulting, healthcare, agencies, tech-services — build extraordinary client and operational discipline. They almost universally don't apply that same rigor to the firm's internal structure: how partners get paid out at exit, who owns what when a partner dies or leaves, how the business owner's personal wealth ties to the entity's tax structure, and what the firm is actually worth on the morning a buyer asks.
This is the Good Deals playbook for owners who want their personal financial outcome to match the size of what they've built.
Almost every multi-partner firm we engage with has the same three structural gaps. The firm operates around them and has for years. They become acute only at moments — partner death, sale, buy-out, divorce, regulatory event — when there's no time to address them properly.
Most multi-partner firms either don't have a written buy-sell, or have one that was drafted at founding (revenue 10×-100× smaller) and never updated. When a partner exits, dies, divorces, or is forced out, the firm's exposure isn't capped. We help structure the buy-sell, the funding mechanism (term life, key-person, sinking fund), and the valuation method that actually works at today's revenue.
S-Corp election, QBI optimization (§199A), §280A Augusta Rule for home-based meetings, Solo 401(k) / cash-balance plan stacking for the owner — most $5M-$50M firms leave $50K-$200K/yr of structural tax savings on the table. Their CPA does compliance, not strategy. Their wealth advisor doesn't see the entity side. We work the boundary.
The owner's personal Net Worth, Investment Policy Statement, retirement runway, and estate plan are typically disconnected from the business they own. Distributions are taken reactively. The "exit" is hypothetical. We integrate the personal financial picture with the business structure — same planner, same playbook, same model.
Six calculators that map the highest-leverage decisions for $5M-$50M revenue owner-operated firms. All free. All cite their sources to IRS / Cornell LII / SEC.
Should you elect S-Corp status? Models the FICA savings on profit distributions vs reasonable comp requirement. Includes state-tax adjustments (CA, NY, etc.).
Run the calculator → §280A(g)Rent your home to your business up to 14 days/year — tax-deductible to the business, tax-free to you personally. Substantiation matters. Calculator + template.
Run the calculator → §199AFor pass-through income (S-Corp, LLC, partnership): the 20% Qualified Business Income deduction phases out at higher incomes. SSTB rules differ. Calculator surfaces the bracket lines.
Run the calculator → Owner planFor owner-operated firms with no rank-and-file employees beyond family: Solo 401(k) lets the owner contribute $69K+ ($76K+ over 50). Models employer profit-share against W-2 comp.
Run the calculator → WalkStructural walk through the Critical Four (entity election, retirement plan, owner comp, Augusta) plus 16 owner-specific moves. Archetype-filtered.
Start the walk → GovernanceInvestment Policy Statement for the owner's personal wealth + the entity's reserve cash. The governance layer that ties business cashflow to personal-wealth allocation.
Build your IPS →Modeled examples, not historical client outcomes. The figures below are projections built from the same source-cited math behind the calculators, applied to representative owner situations. Your numbers will differ based on your firm's specific structure, revenue, partner mix, and timing.
A hypothetical 4-partner litigation firm. Buy-sell agreement from founding tied valuation to a 1998 multiple of book value — current formula values each partner share at ~$280K against actual market value of ~$2.1M. One partner with terminal illness, expected to be out within 18 months. No funding mechanism, no current valuation method, no transition plan.
A 4-track plan modeled here: (1) commission a 2025 valuation by an independent firm, (2) coordinate buy-sell rewrite with a separately-engaged business attorney (we don't draft), (3) structure term-life policies through BackNine to fund the buyout at the new valuation (~$8M across all four partners), (4) integrate the departing partner's expected payout into the personal estate + Roth conversion plan to minimize heirs' tax exposure.
A hypothetical digital agency owner, sole shareholder, S-Corp already elected, ~$2.8M annual revenue, $900K profit historically taken as distributions, $180K in reasonable comp. CPA doing compliance well but the cash-balance defined-benefit plan, Augusta substantiation, and QBI SSTB-rule phase-out check have never been modeled.
Three changes modeled for 2026: (1) cash-balance plan layered on top of Solo 401(k) allowing $250K+ annual employer contribution into a tax-deductible vehicle for the owner alone, (2) Augusta Rule properly substantiated with comp board minutes + 14 documented day-rentals at market rate = $42K tax-free to owner, (3) reasonable-comp study to nudge the W-2 down to $145K + careful QBI optimization to capture the full 20% deduction.
| Approach | Your existing CPA | Wirehouse / private bank | Good Deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax compliance (returns) | Yes — they own this | No | No — we coordinate with your CPA |
| Tax strategy (modeling) | Often partial | "Talk to your CPA" | Year-round modeling: entity, owner comp, plan stacking, exit |
| Owner wealth integration | No | Personal only | Personal + business tied to one planning model |
| Buy-sell + succession analysis | No | Rare | Buy-sell math + funding analysis + attorney coordination |
| Public-company-grade reporting | No | No | 10K narrative, 10Q quarterly, board pack templates |
| Compensation model | Per-return fee | Commissions + AUM + product spreads | Flat-fee engagement. No product commissions. |
90 minutes with Andrew + a written report walking your firm's specific situation against the full business-owner playbook. Entity structure, owner comp, retirement-plan stacking, Augusta, QBI optimization, buy-sell gap analysis, owner-wealth integration.
The deal: If we don't surface at least $5,000 of structural annual or one-time savings during the session, your $500 is refunded in full and you keep the written report.
Book the Foundation Review →$500 · 90 minutes · Credited toward a Business Engagement if we work together. Refunded if not a fit.
50+ moves for owner-operated businesses, walked through the structural playbook: entity election, retirement-plan stacking, Augusta, QBI, owner-comp optimization, buy-sell funding, exit-readiness planning. PDF. We email it.
We do strategy, not compliance. Your CPA owns tax returns, payroll filings, and books. We model the year-round structural decisions: entity election, owner comp, retirement-plan stacking, QBI optimization, Augusta substantiation, buy-sell funding, exit-readiness. Then we hand the implementation back to your CPA + attorney with a written report. Most engagements work alongside an existing CPA — we don't replace them. If you don't have a CPA who handles strategy well, we can refer.
The $500 Foundation Review is the 90-min depth session + written report covering the structural moves available to your firm. It surfaces the major opportunities and shows the math. The $15K Business Engagement (Fractional CFO) is full execution: Business Plan, 10K-style Annual Report, 10Q-style quarterly template, board pack template + first month's issue, 12/24/36-month forecasts, plus the owner's personal Engagement deliverables (Financial Snapshot, IPS, FutureGuide, 90-day implementation). Range $10K-$50K depending on scope (multi-entity, exit prep, M&A coordination).
Especially for you. The 2-5 year window before exit is where exit-readiness work pays back at 5-20× the engagement cost. Common gaps we surface: stale buy-sell, weak Quality-of-Earnings track record, missing financial-statement discipline, owner-comp structure that hurts EBITDA, partner-comp asymmetries that complicate the deal. The $35K-$50K custom Business Engagement is structured exactly for this window.
No. Flat fees only. We've made it explicit because the industry pattern of "we'll take 10% of the savings we surface" creates incentives that distort the planning. You pay a flat fee, you get the playbook, you decide what to execute. If you bring us back for ongoing planning, that's also a fee — quarterly retainer or AUM if we manage personal investment assets. Never a percentage of business value or exit proceeds.
We do structural and planning work — not interpersonal mediation, not HR, not regulatory defense. If a partner dispute is already active, you need an attorney, not us. We can help structure prevention (buy-sell, partnership agreement updates, comp clarity) before disputes ripen, and we coordinate with attorneys when financial structure intersects legal questions.
Most owners prefer a brief no-pitch conversation first. 15-minute Discovery Call — we talk through your firm's situation, you ask questions, and we decide together if the Foundation Review or Business Engagement fits.
Book a free 15-min call →Good Deals is the planning workbook + advisory practice of Andrew Escher, based in Austin, TX. Independent stack: Altruist for investment custody, BackNine for insurance placement, Good Deals for the planning + Fractional CFO layer. We work specifically with multi-partner professional services firms, HNW executives, and pre-retirees on structural tax + business + wealth planning. No product commissions, no proprietary funds, no hidden incentives.