Financial

The Gucci family feud is arguably one of the most famous family feuds of our time. Gucci is one of the most iconic and successful luxury fashion brands in the world today. However, there was a time in the 1980s and 1990s when the brand was on the brink of bankruptcy and its reputation was severely damaged. One of the key factors contributing to Gucci’s decline was the bitter family feud that erupted over control of the company.
The
Continue Reading The Gucci Family Feud: What Family Businesses Should Know

Successful business succession planning is an essential part of ensuring the long-term success of any business. It’s important to take the time to make well-informed decisions when it comes to your succession plan. A successful business succession plan includes identifying and preparing a successor to take over the leadership of the company when the current owner or CEO retires or leaves the business. Choosing a successor for your business can be challenging, but it’s important to start early so
Continue Reading Successful Business Succession Planning in 5 Steps

Changes are being made to what can be included in severance agreements. If you are an employer, you need to be aware of recent decisions made by the National Labor Relations Board.
What’s the Purpose of a Severance Agreement?
A severance agreement is a contract between an employer and an employee that outlines the terms of the employee’s exit from the company. Typically, this agreement is offered to employees who are terminated, laid off, or whose employment is ending
Continue Reading Updates to Severance Agreements That Employers Need to Know

Minimizing conflict when exiting a business is always the main goal of an exit strategy. From choosing the right successor, to avoiding other challenges that come with succession planning, minimizing conflict goes hand in hand with an effective plan. Learn how to keep your business running smoothly, even after you’re gone. Even if you aren’t close to retiring or leaving your business, you never know when you may need to initiate a plan due to an emergency.
Minimizing
Continue Reading Minimizing Conflict When Exiting a Business

How to choose the right successor for your business means having the right process and plan for your business. You don’t typically go into business considering how you’ll exit that business, but starting your succession plan early can help you with the best plan for how to choose a business successor. Giving yourself time can bring not only peace of mind that your business will be in the right hands, but can guarantee the continued success of your business
Continue Reading How to Choose the Right Successor for Your Business

Challenges of business succession planning shouldn’t keep you from having a plan for your business. A bad business succession plan is a plan that fails to effectively transfer ownership or management of a business from one generation to the next. Business succession planning is crucial for the long-term success of a company, as it ensures a smooth transition of ownership or leadership and minimizes disruptions to operations. Businesses of all sizes need clear succession plans and we can learn
Continue Reading Challenges of Business Succession Planning

Selling a family business isn’t always an easy process…

You’ve worked hard to build your business, or to keep the family business you’ve been handed going, but what happens when it’s time for the next generation to take over? A family business, no matter how long it’s been in the family, has sentimental value that can make succession planning an emotional process. If you are running a family business, start early when it comes to figuring out your exit
Continue Reading Selling a Family Business

New year means new employment laws for 2023! If you are a business owner, now is the time to take a look at the new laws that went into effect at the beginning of the year. Here is a quick rundown of the laws you should know. 

Minimum Wage

  • Minimum wage in Illinois has increased to $13 per hour for non-tipped employees. The minimum wage for tipped employees is $7.80 for employers with 4 or more employees.

Employee Breaks
Continue Reading New Employment Laws You Should Know for 2023

One of the most common questions we get is “when should I start estate planning?”. The answer is if you’re asking the question then you probably need an estate plan. It’s a common mistake thinking that you aren’t “old enough” or “wealthy enough” to have a plan, but realistically everyone over the age of 18 can benefit from some sort of estate planning document.
When Should I Start Estate Planning?
An estate plan should be tailored to your life
Continue Reading When Should I Start Estate Planning?

Do you need to give up control of your assets with an irrevocable trust? A trust-based estate plan protects you in many ways, but knowing the types of trusts and how to use them to your benefit is the key to protecting your assets long-term. When estate planning, you’re not only planning for what happens to your assets once you die, you’re also considering what the best options are your future while you’re still here. A trust-based estate plan
Continue Reading When to Consider an Irrevocable Trust

Last month, President Biden signed the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) into law. Building upon the original SECURE Act passed in December 2019, SECURE 2.0 significantly changes laws governing retirement savings. The primary focus of both pieces of legislation is to help Americans better save for retirement. While a comprehensive summary of SECURE 2.0 is beyond the scope of this article, the provisions most pertinent to estate, tax and retirement planning are discussed in detail below.
Increase
Continue Reading SECURE 2.0 Act Brings Additional Estate Planning Opportunities

President Biden recently signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act) into law. The PWFA, which goes into effect on June 27, 2023, applies to employers with 15 or more employees and imposes obligations on employers with respect to pregnant employees and applicants. The PUMP Act, which went into effect December 29, 2022, amends the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) with respect to break time for nursing mothers
Continue Reading Employers May Have to Provide Reasonable Accommodations to Pregnant Workers

On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Omnibus Appropriation Act, 2023, which includes the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (the “SECURE Act 2.0”). The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Act of 2019 (the “original SECURE Act”) included a number of legislative changes designed to encourage retirement savings and expand employee participation in retirement plans. The SECURE Act 2.0 again modifies the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
Continue Reading The SECURE Act 2.0: What’s In It For You?

RETIREMENT PLAN DEVELOPMENTSYear-End Spending Package Includes SECURE 2.0 Act
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (2023 CAA), which includes the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0), building upon 2019’s expansive SECURE Act. SECURE 2.0 includes provisions that modernize the retirement system by encouraging additional retirement savings, ensuring greater access to workplace retirement plans and easing administrative requirements.
While most changes take effect in upcoming years, some changes became effective on the date of enactment, December 29, 2022, and others
Continue Reading Benefits Counselor – January 2023

Reasons to update your estate plan may not be as obvious as you think. While completing your estate plan brings peace of mind, don’t forget that your estate plan should change as your life changes. As you move through the different phases of your life, your plan should move along with you. There are many reasons that may seem obvious as to when your estate plan should be updated, but there’s also a few that may not trigger
Continue Reading Reasons to Update Your Estate Plan

In our prior alerts, we introduced the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0 or the Act), a portion of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. We discussed key provisions applicable to all qualified retirement plans, as well as provisions applicable to only defined contribution plans. This alert, the final alert in our series covering the retirement plan changes included in SECURE 2.0, summarizes provisions applicable only to defined benefit plan sponsors.Reasonable Interest Credit Under Cash Balance Plans. The
Continue Reading SECURE 2.0 Act and Its Impact on Defined Benefit Plans