Owner resources

What to Do After Selling a Business: Investing Sale Proceeds in the First 90 Days

A seven-figure wire (or any large closing deposit) does not create a portfolio by itself. In the weeks after closing, owners tend to take one of two paths. Some park cash with a written purpose. Others invent an investment story under adrenaline. This page covers the personal-finance sequence for the first 90 days after the sale. It does not promise returns.

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 a transition. Vital coordinates with legal, tax, and valuation professionals and does not provide those services.

Bridge from the multi-year exit

If you treated the exit as a multi-year project, the wire should not be a surprise. Several things should already exist:

• Taxes estimated with your CPA
• Debt paid or refinanced
• A written picture of household spending

If the LOI was your first real planning conversation, the weeks after closing will feel louder than they need to. Before you force every dollar into a long-term sleeve on day one, re-read these guides:

• Exit as a multi-year project
• Selling your business to an employee
• Transition and succession guide

What to do after selling a business: the short version

The first 90 days after selling a business are mostly about sequence, not speed. A reasonable order looks like this:

1. Confirm which dollars are actually yours to invest.
2. Park proceeds in a written, temporary holding plan.
3. Raise tax, charitable, and estate questions with your CPA and attorney.
4. Write an investment policy for the long-term money.
5. Move into that policy in stages, on a schedule you set in advance.

None of these steps requires a market forecast. Each one requires a decision you can write down.

Days 1 to 30: confirm, separate, and hold

Confirm the cash is yours to invest. Several items can still claim dollars that look "free" in the checking account:

• Escrow holdbacks
• Indemnities
• Working-capital true-ups
• Estimated taxes

Separate operating leftovers from personal proceeds. Company cash and personal sale proceeds are different piles with different jobs. They should not share an account or a spreadsheet tab.

Write down near-term cash needs. Set these aside in a reserve before any long-term investing:

• Taxes due
• Note payments you still owe
• Healthcare bridging
• Living expenses for the next twelve to twenty-four months

Slow the first permanent decisions. A temporary, high-quality cash or short-duration sleeve is a policy choice. It is not a failure to "get invested." No return is promised either way.

Schedule the first CPA meeting. Bring the closing statement, the purchase agreement summary, and a list of any amounts still in escrow or subject to adjustment.

Where your sale proceeds sit in the meantime

While the long-term plan is being written, proceeds usually sit in a mix of the following:

• A household cash reserve. This is checking, savings, or money market funds covering living expenses and near-term obligations. Ask your bank or custodian how deposit insurance or account protections apply to your balances. Coverage rules and limits vary by account type and institution.
• A tax reserve. Money set aside for estimated payments your CPA identifies, kept separate so it is not accidentally invested or spent.
• Short-term U.S. Treasury bills or a short-duration sleeve. These hold larger amounts that are earmarked for long-term investing but not yet deployed. Maturities can be matched to known dates, such as an estimated tax payment or the end of an escrow period. Treasury securities still carry risks, including interest-rate changes and reinvestment at different rates. Current yields change often and are not projected here.

Give every dollar a written purpose

The difference between "parking" and "drifting" is a short written memo. For each bucket, write down:

• What it is for. Examples: taxes, living expenses, an escrow contingency, or future long-term investing.
• How the amount was set. Example: "estimated tax figure from our CPA" or "eighteen months of household spending."
• What releases it. Example: "escrow period ends," "CPA confirms final tax figure," or "investment policy signed."
• Where it is held. List the account, custodian, and owner or titling.

A memo like this keeps a temporary decision from quietly becoming a permanent one. It also gives your CPA, attorney, and spouse or partner the same picture.

Days 31 to 60: questions to raise with your CPA

Your CPA owns tax reporting and estimated payments on the sale. Vital does not prepare tax returns. The list below is meant to help you walk into that meeting prepared. It is not an answer key.

• How was the sale structured for tax purposes (asset sale, stock sale, or a mix), and how does that affect what I owe and when?
• What estimated payments should I make this year, and on what dates?
• If part of the price is a seller note or earn-out, how will those payments be reported, and in which years?
• How might Colorado and federal taxes each apply to this sale?
• Do any additional federal taxes on investment income apply to me now that my income profile has changed?
• Are there retirement plan contributions I can still make for the final business year? (Contribution limits change yearly, so confirm current figures.)
• If I sell low-basis investments to diversify, how should those sales be timed against the sale-year income?
• Does a charitable gift this year change my picture, and which types of gifts should I consider?
• What records should I keep for escrow releases, true-ups, or post-closing adjustments?

Bring the answers back to your written memo. Updated tax figures often change the size of the tax reserve and the amount available for the long-term portfolio.

Charitable and estate touchpoints after the sale

Charitable planning

Much of the charitable planning around a business sale happens before the letter of intent. Gifting ownership interests after a deal is signed can raise issues your CPA and attorney should review. After the close, owners who want to give still have options to discuss, such as these:

• Gifting cash or appreciated investments
• Opening a donor-advised fund
• Setting up a multi-year giving plan instead of a single large gift

Whether any of these fit the sale year is a question for your CPA. Vital can help you decide how much of the portfolio to earmark for giving and how a giving plan fits your spending needs.

Estate planning

A sale changes what your estate is made of. A business interest becomes cash, securities, and possibly a note. Topics to raise with your estate attorney include:

• Whether wills, trusts, and powers of attorney still reflect what you own and what you want
• How new investment accounts should be titled (individual, joint, or in a trust)
• Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and any transfer-on-death registrations
• Whether any buy-sell, operating agreement, or business succession documents should be retired or updated
• Who your family should call if something happens to you during the transition

Vital coordinates account titling and beneficiary details with your attorney's plan. We do not draft legal documents.

Days 61 to 90: building a post-sale investment policy

Once reserves and known tax payments are set aside, the remaining capital needs a written investment policy. It should cover:

• Your time horizon
• Your spending needs
• The risk you can actually live with when markets fall
• How concentrated any single stock or note still is (including seller financing)

Asset location across taxable and tax-advantaged accounts matters. So does coordinating sales of low-basis positions with your CPA. Diversification and a spending plan matter more than a story about "putting it to work" this week.

Past performance does not predict future results. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. This page does not project returns, income yields, or a "required" portfolio size.

Moving to a long-term portfolio in stages

Many owners move from the temporary holding plan into the long-term portfolio in stages instead of all at once. A staged approach is a behavioral and planning choice. It does not guarantee better results than investing at once, and in some markets it may produce worse ones. What it can do is make the process predictable. A written staging plan usually states:

• How much will move, based on the investment policy rather than headlines.
• On what schedule, such as set dates or tranches tied to Treasury maturities.
• Into what, meaning the target allocation in the signed policy.
• What would pause or change the schedule, such as a revised tax estimate, an escrow claim, or a change in household plans. Market moves on their own are not a trigger.

Write the schedule before the first tranche moves. A plan you set in advance is easier to follow than a decision you make each month.

Seller notes and unfinished concentration

If part of the price is a promissory note, you still carry business risk after closing. Treat unpaid principal as concentrated credit exposure, not as a diversified bond portfolio. Household spending should not assume every installment arrives on time. The same caution comes up in employee-buyout and succession conversations.

Coordinate the team

Each professional has a clear role:

• Your CPA owns tax reporting and estimated payments on the sale.
• Transaction counsel owns the purchase agreement and any post-closing claims.
• Your estate attorney owns wills, trusts, and related documents.
• A valuation professional may still be involved if earn-outs or adjustments remain.

When you engage the firm, Vital sits on the personal planning and investment-management side. We coordinate with those specialists rather than replacing them.

Related reading

• Exit as a multi-year project
• Selling your business to an employee
• Transition and succession guide
• Wealth outside the company
• Business transition services
• Tax-efficient investing for Colorado owners
• Tax-coordinated investing with your CPA
• Pre-sale tax and charitable planning
• Colorado taxes when selling a business
• What fee-only investment management costs

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