Wealth Management for Business Owners & Founders
Wealth Management Services for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
Darrow Wealth Management offers financial planning and investment management services to entrepreneurs, tech founders, and business owners preparing for a business sale or startup exit. As sudden wealth management advisors, we know how to help entrepreneurs navigate the transition after a liquidity event. Through our ongoing partnership, we’ll help manage your new wealth strategically and tax-efficiently.
Liquidity Planning: Selling Your Business
We specialize in helping founders and business owners plan for liquidity events and sudden wealth transitions. After selling a business, entrepreneurs need a long-term financial advisory partner to manage cash flows, develop a strategy for new liquidity and taxes, and map the overall post-exit wealth plan.
Selling a business can feel like having another full-time job. Having the right team of business and personal advisors is essential to a successful exit. We’ll work alongside your deal team to help ensure alignment and communication. There are components of the sale process that will directly intersect with your personal financial and tax situation.
After the sale, it’s time for strategic wealth planning. We’ll talk about your goals and develop a long-term investment and financial strategy for the proceeds.
Supporting Business Owners Through Sales and Transitions
Whether navigating a full business sale, acquisition, internal succession, or IPO, entrepreneurs need a wealth advisor who understands the financial and emotional complexities of business transitions. As a business owner herself, Darrow Wealth advisor and President Kristin McKenna brings a rare combination of professional experience and firsthand knowledge to support business owners during their transition.
Having successfully navigated a company transition with her own father, Kristin understands the complex family and business dynamics, emotional challenges, and financial and tax implications that come with selling and transitioning a business.
Financial Planning and Investing After a Business Sale
What’s your plan for the proceeds? In this video, Kristin McKenna, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional, walks through post-sale investment strategy, major purchases, and liquidity planning for business owners and entrepreneurs.
Speaking Engagements
Kristin McKenna is actively shaping the conversation around business exits and succession planning. Her expertise includes exit planning for closely held businesses, founder liquidity events, and succession planning strategies. Kristin has shared her insights as a speaker, panelist, and moderator at leading industry events in Greater Boston, including:
- Speaker: Exit Planning for Business Owners: Navigating the Sale of a Business at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Forum of Estate Planning Attorneys
- Panelist: Keeping Clients Happy While You Transition Your Practice at the 2024 Exit Planning Exchange Boston Annual Summit
- Panelist: Proactive Planning: How to Transition Your Business Within the Next 5 Years at a virtual event hosted by Long Hagan Huff-Harris
- Moderator: How Advisors Can Work Together for Better Outcomes at the 2025 Exit Planning Exchange Boston Annual Summit
Beyond speaking engagements, Kristin serves as a Board Member for the Exit Planning Exchange (XPX) of Greater Boston, where she helps advance best practices in exit planning and business transitions.
Whether you’re just beginning to think about your exit strategy or are actively preparing to transition your business, we’re here to help.
Financial Advisor for Business Owners and Founders
While every founder’s journey is unique, we frequently work with high-income business owners and entrepreneurs preparing for exit events or scaling toward liquidity.
- Exit planning and liquidity strategy for founders
- Coordination with CPAs, exit planning attorneys, and M&A teams
- Pre-exit financial planning and tax mitigation
- Early retirement and cash flow planning
- Diversification of concentrated business or equity positions
- Estate planning considerations post-liquidity
Build Trust with a Fee-Only Wealth Advisor, Not a Broker
As a fee-only financial advisor, we do not sell securities, investment products, or receive commissions or compensation from 3rd parties.
Registered Investment Advisor and Fiduciary
As a fiduciary and registered investment advisor, we are legally bound to act at all times for the sole benefit and interest of our clients. This is the highest act of loyalty, trust and care under the law.
About Darrow Wealth Management
Darrow Wealth Management is a registered investment advisor with offices in Boston, MA and Needham, MA. As a SEC-registered investment advisor, we partner with executives and professionals across the United States. Established in 1987, we are proud to be a second generation family business.
The Darrow team has the financial, tax, and investment acumen necessary to advise clients on a wide range of topics and potential situations. We shine when advising founders and entrepreneurs navigating liquidity events and significant wealth transitions. Our team includes advisors with the following designations and credentials: CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, CPA, and Chartered Financial Analyst®. Learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions: Managing Sudden Wealth From a Business Sale
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What should I look for in a financial advisor after a business sale?
There isn't one best financial advisor after selling a business. Factors like the size of the sale and personality fit are personal and important. But for specialized advice and long-term guidance, consider firms like Darrow Wealth Management who:
- Specialize in exit planning and managing large sudden liquidity events
- Drive a comprehensive wealth strategy post-sale (cash flow, tax planning, estate coordination, tax-efficient portfolio management, long-term wealth preservation)
- Understand the specific complexities of selling a $10M+ business, such as qualified small business stock (QSBS), rollover equity, and earnouts
- Are independent, fee-only registered investment advisors with a fiduciary duty
- Emphasize the team approach and will coordinate with tax and legal advisors
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What type of professional can manage my investments after selling a business?
Although many types of professionals manage money, a fee-only fiduciary financial advisor is often best for handling sudden wealth after a business sale. Fee-only wealth managers don't sell financial products and a fiduciary must always work in the client's best interest. Darrow Wealth Management is an independent, fee-only registered investment advisor and full-time fiduciary.
Insights for Business Owners, Founders & Entrepreneurs
SEP IRA for the Self-Employed: Retirement Planning for Business Owners
Key Details on SEP IRAs The SEP IRA is a type of retirement plan for self-employed business owners (sole proprietors, partnerships, C and S corporations). Unlike most types of retirement plans, the SEP IRA is only funded by the employer. SEP IRAs are straightforward, inexpensive to set up and administer,
Solo 401(k): Self-Employed Retirement Plan
The Individual (or Solo) 401(k) plan is similar to a traditional 401(k) plan, but it’s specifically for business owners without employees. Compared to the other types of retirement plans typically used by self-employed individuals, the Solo 401(k) offers a higher contribution limit, tax-deferred growth, a wide array of investment options,
Can You Contribute to Multiple 401(k)s at Once?
Can I contribute to more than one retirement plan? This is a common question for individuals that have more than one job or run their own business part-time. Many workers in this situation wonder if they can contribute to two 401(k)s at once. In summary: yes, you can have multiple
Qualified Small Business Stock: QSBS Tax Exemption for Startup Shares
Key takeaway: If you have qualified small business stock you can exclude up to 100% of the capital gain from federal taxes. In most cases, QSBS eligibility depends on owning shares of a C corporation for five years, beginning before the company’s value exceeded $50M. There are other requirements and