Owner resources

How to Choose a Financial Advisor as a Business Owner

Business owners have a different financial life than most households: irregular income, a large asset you cannot easily sell, company cash that needs a plan, and an eventual transition. This page answers common questions about what an advisor can do for an owner and how to compare advisors, including a section for owners in Fort Collins, Loveland, and the rest of Northern Colorado.

Educational only. Not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Vital Investment Management, LLC is a fee-only fiduciary and SEC-registered RIA (CRD #300811). Dillon Goodman, CPA, CFP®, works with Northern Colorado owners on the household side of planning. Vital does not prepare tax returns, does not draft legal documents, and does not broker business transactions; it coordinates with the owner's CPA, attorney, and valuation professionals.

What does a financial advisor do for a business owner?

An advisor who works with owners usually looks at the business and the household together. Common areas include:

• Personal financial planning: cash flow, retirement projections, insurance review, and education goals.
• Treasury and cash management: a written plan for operating cash and reserves. See treasury cash for growing owners.
• Owner retirement plans: comparing plan types with your CPA and third-party administrator. See business retirement plans.
• Investment management: building savings outside the company and managing personal portfolios. See wealth outside the company.
• Transition planning: preparing the household for a sale, family transfer, or step-back. See the transition and succession guide.
• Estate coordination: working with your attorney so ownership, beneficiaries, and documents fit the plan.

An advisor is not a substitute for your CPA or attorney. Vital, for example, does not prepare tax returns, draft legal documents, or broker business sales.

Comparing advisors in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Northern Colorado

If you search for a fee-only financial advisor in Fort Collins or a financial advisor for business owners in Colorado, you will mostly find directory listings and individual advisor profile pages. Those can be a useful starting point. The hard part is comparing them, because listings rarely explain how an advisor is paid, whether they work with owners regularly, or how they coordinate with the professionals you already use.

The framework below is one way to compare any advisor you find, local or not.

Step 1: Understand how the advisor is paid

How an advisor is paid shapes the conflicts of interest you should ask about.

• Fee-only advisors are paid only by clients, for example through an asset-based fee, a flat fee, or an hourly fee. They do not receive commissions from selling products.
• Commission-based professionals are paid by product providers when you buy an insurance policy, annuity, or investment product.
• "Fee-based" can mean a mix of fees and commissions. The names sound alike, so ask directly which one applies.

Any compensation model can be appropriate for some needs. What matters is that you understand it before you decide. A registered investment adviser describes its fees and conflicts in Form ADV Part 2A and Form CRS, which you can read at adviserinfo.sec.gov.

Step 2: Compare fee structures, not just fee levels

Fee-only advisors use a few common structures. None is right for everyone, and each fits some owners better than others.

Asset-based fee (often called an AUM fee)

• The fee is a percentage of the assets the advisor manages, usually billed on a regular schedule.
• The cost rises and falls with the account value, so the advisor's revenue moves with yours.
• For owners, one question matters most: which assets count? If most of your wealth is inside the company, an asset-based fee may cover only a small slice of what you actually want help with. Ask what planning is included regardless of account size.

Flat fee

• The fee is a set dollar amount, sometimes annual or quarterly, that does not depend on account balances.
• It can be easier to budget for and may suit owners whose planning needs are larger than their investment accounts.
• Ask exactly what the flat fee covers, how often it is reviewed, and what triggers a change.

Hourly or project fee

• You pay for a defined piece of work, such as a one-time plan or a review before a big decision.
• It can be useful for a specific question. It is usually less suited to ongoing portfolio management or a multiyear transition.

Combinations

• Some firms combine structures, for example a planning fee plus an asset-based fee. Ask for a written estimate of your total annual cost, including underlying fund expenses.

Vital publishes its fees and has no account minimums. See what fee-only investment management costs for how Vital's pricing works.

Step 3: Ask the owner and local questions a listing will not answer

A detailed list of questions about fees, fiduciary status, minimums, and tax coordination is on questions to ask a fee-only financial advisor. The questions below focus on what is specific to owners and to working with someone in Northern Colorado:

• How many of your clients own businesses, and what do you typically help them with?
• Do you help with company cash and reserves, or only personal investments?
• What happens to our relationship if I sell or transfer the business?
• Can we meet in person when it matters, such as before a sale or a major decision, and virtually the rest of the time?
• Have you worked alongside CPAs and attorneys in Larimer and Weld counties, and how do you divide responsibilities with them?
• How do you handle Colorado items on the planning side? (For example, how state income tax may affect the timing of a business sale or a large distribution. These are questions to raise with your CPA, and your advisor should help you frame them.)

Step 4: Check the background

You can look up registered investment advisers and their representatives on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site and look up brokers on FINRA BrokerCheck. These show registrations, disclosures, and any reported disciplinary history. Do this for any advisor you are considering, including us.

What to bring to the intro meeting

You do not need everything on this list for a first conversation, and nobody moves assets in a first meeting. Bringing what you have makes the time more useful.

About the business

• Entity type (for example, S corporation, LLC, or sole proprietorship) and your ownership percentage
• A recent profit and loss statement and balance sheet, or just a rough sense of revenue and operating cash
• How you pay yourself today: salary, distributions, draws, or a mix
• Any existing company retirement plan and who administers it

About the household

• Recent statements for personal investment and retirement accounts
• A general sense of monthly household spending
• Any major goals or deadlines, such as a planned sale, a home purchase, or college costs

About your team

• Your CPA's name and contact information
• Your attorney's name, if you have one for the business or your estate plan
• Any questions you want to raise with your CPA later, such as how K-1 income affects your personal taxes or which retirement plan types fit your business. Contribution limits change yearly, so your CPA is the right source for current numbers.

Your questions

• Print or save the questions to ask a fee-only financial advisor page and bring the ones that matter most to you.

Local advisors in Northern Colorado

If you own a business in Larimer County, these pages describe how Vital works with owners in each community: Loveland, Fort Collins, and Berthoud.

Vital's office is at 4045 St. Cloud Drive, Suite 220, Loveland, CO. Meetings can be held there or virtually.

Related reading

• What fee-only investment management costs
• Questions to ask a fee-only financial advisor
• Treasury management services
• Business transition services
• Investment management services
• Business exit planning in Northern Colorado
• How we work

FAQ