Fee-Only Financial Planning for Entrepreneurs | StandUP Advisors
Financial Planning · Entrepreneurs

Planning built around the business you're still building.

Most financial plans are written for someone with a W-2, a 401(k) match, and a 30-year career arc. Yours doesn't look like that. Your income spikes and stalls. Your largest asset is the thing you wake up worrying about. Your tax picture changes every quarter. The plan has to be built for the life you actually live — not for a template a software vendor sold to 50,000 other advisors.

Why entrepreneurs need different planning

The plan has to match the way you actually earn, spend, and decide.

One year you reinvest everything in growth. The next you take a distribution that puts you in a different tax bracket. You have S-corp distributions, K-1s, deferred comp, and a personal balance sheet tangled up with the business balance sheet in ways your accountant has tried to explain twice. Most advisors hand entrepreneurs the same plan they'd hand a corporate dentist. The business is your financial life — until the day you sell it. The plan has to be built that way.

What's in scope

Everything the W-2 plan ignores. Because that's where the money lives.

01
Cash flow & owner comp
Salary-vs-distribution structure, quarterly tax, reasonable-comp documentation, the rhythm that lets you reinvest without running personal lean.
02
Tax strategy across entities
Solo 401(k), SEP, defined benefit. R&D credits, QSBS, Section 199A. Coordinated with your CPA, not stepping on them.
03
Risk, estate, succession
Disability, key-person, buy-sell. Will, trust, beneficiary alignment, business continuity. The conversations most founders defer until they're urgent.
04
Exit & liquidity planning
Pre-sale tax positioning. Post-sale portfolio strategy. The "what do I do with the money" question that catches most founders flat-footed.
How we engage

Three ways in — depending on where you are in the build.

Modular Planning Specific engagement for a specific question. Exit prep, equity comp analysis, tax-year strategy, cash-flow restructure. Flat fee, defined scope, defined deliverable.
Comprehensive Planning Full-scope ongoing planning. Quarterly reviews, annual deep updates, all six scope areas above, integrated with investment management if you want it bundled.
Purpose Pit Stop Half-day or full-day intensive — usually before either of the above. Designed for founders who aren't sure yet what they want planning to solve. Details →
How the fee works

Fee-only. Transparent. One page, one number.

You see the fee. The fee is the fee. No commissions buried in expense ratios, no product kickbacks, no incentive on my side to recommend anything based on what pays me — because nothing pays me except you, directly. Modular work is flat-fee scoped to the project. Comprehensive planning is an annual retainer. Investment management, when bundled, is a transparent percentage. You'll know the number before you sign anything.

Integrity doesn't need a cop. The fee structure is built so I never have a reason to give you advice that isn't in your interest.

You built the business. Now build the financial life around it.

Start with the 10-minute Da Vinci Index, or book a 30-minute call. No pitch. No pressure. If we're not the right fit, I'll say so on the call.