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Imagine building your business over several decades, starting to plan your business exit, then dying unexpectedly before you can implement your plans. Business owners rarely think about how an unexpected death or permanent disability can derail even the most carefully created plans. When you think about it, this makes sense: if you were always worried about what could go wrong, you probably never would have started your business in the first place.

Do you find it difficult to find the right candidates for your company's open positions? Well, you're not alone. Finding the right talent can seem like you're on the losing end of a never-ending battle because you're competing against comparable businesses looking for the best talent and other larger corporations that have more resources to utilize in the quest to find the perfect employee. But, by evaluating a few hiring tactics within your business, you can increase your chances of finding top-notch job candidates.

Sexual harassment in the workplace is nothing new, but with the recent focus on the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements brought front and center to the internet, television, and social media platforms, many companies across America are more aware about this sensitive topic and the impact it can have on their employees and customers. According to a 2017 study conducted by CNBC, at least one in five Americans has reported experiencing sexual harassment in their place of work, with women alleging incidents more often than men, 27% to 10%, respectively¹. If you haven’t already taken a good look at your own company’s sexual harassment policy, training, and insurance coverage, or lack thereof, now is a good time to take a look to ensure you and your employees are properly protected.

As you probably know, one of the most valuable and popular benefits you can offer employees is a company-sponsored retirement plan. Assuming you provide your employees with the opportunity to save for their future through a corporate retirement plan, there’s just one problem: according to the Pension Rights Center, only about half of American workers are participating in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Unfortunately, many U.S. workers feel so overwhelmed by existing debt, bills, and household financial obligations that they are unable to find funds to save in their company’s retirement plan.

If you're like most business owners, you're probably looking for some tax planning methods that will reduce your annual taxes. Here's an example that shows how using multiple entities in a business transfer of ownership can lower your tax burden.

Running a small businesses can be tough. Between staffing, compliance, policy creation, managing payroll, financial reports, and the 2,000 other things you have on your plate, sometimes the time you have “left over” (if there’s even such a thing) is marginal, at best. Consider the ins and outs of your responsibilities as an employer which include ever-changing regulations as they pertain to employee benefits, and well, you have yourself a recipe for stressed-out-losing-sleep-can’t-concentrate-on the-big-picture disaster. Welcome to running your own business!

Your business relies on its leaders to drive performance and achieve company goals. With the unemployment rate low and job opportunities plentiful, right now your key executives are especially at risk of getting poached by another company. To ensure you retain the employees most responsible for your company's success, you need a top-notch mix of rewards and benefits. One smart and valuable benefit to offer your company's executives is executive financial planning that addresses the unique financial needs and requirements of highly compensated executives.

With all the investments you're making to establish and maintain a thriving business, it can be easy for retirement savings to fall down on the list. If your retirement savings are a little weak or sickly, you can correct that retirement savings deficiency by using a cash balance plan and a health savings account (HSA), which help you aggressively build retirement savings while trimming your tax bill.

During any given year, plan sponsors engage a variety of service providers to perform various services for their retirement plan. It’s easy to allow inertia to take over and to approach these relationships with a mindset of “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” While that’s good advice and it’s not reasonable to make a change just for the sake of it, sometimes it helps to take a moment to ensure those you’ve tasked with helping you run an effective retirement plan continue to offer current and relative services.