July 6 , 2020 First, the good news. We often look to the housing market as a good indicator of consumer sentiment. Consumer confidence appears to be growing as mortgage applications for Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
June 15, 2020 Recently, we upgraded our Black Diamond Portfolio reporting system and can now make it available for your personal use. The initial reviews from clients have been universally positive. The Dashboard contains tabs for: Total Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
June 8, 2020 Everyone knows that under perfect circumstances, investing in the stock market by seeking opportunities to buy low and sell high is ideal. However, as I have discussed in previous Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
June 1, 2020 Thirty-three years ago, my wife and I decided to move out of NYC as we began to plan for starting a family. We wanted to locate within a reasonable commuting distance, as we were both working in the city at the time. Our real estate Read More...
Tuesday Update by Kevin Ellman
May 26, 2020 Listen to the related podcast. I grew up in the restaurant business with my father. In the 60's he owned The Cattleman restaurant in midtown Manhattan. At the time, it was the most successful restaurant in the Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
May 18, 2020 Listen to the related podcast. Before the lockdown, I was taking our new dog Tuck for long walks in the morning. After mid-March, we decided it wasn't safe to walk along the street. So we would chase the dog around the Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
May 11, 2020 Allow me to be a proud parent for a moment. My son Liberty Ellman is now 48. When he was born I was living the full New York City Rock and Roll Lifestyle. I had a giant Loft in SoHo long before it was fashionable. If you can Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
May 4, 2020 We have now been working from home since March 16, 2020. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I have to say "Darn we are so lucky!" There are currently 22 million people unemployed. 7.5 million small Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
April 27, 2020 Compared to what so many people are going through, we are being mildly inconvenienced. I start each day with a moment of gratitude. Thank you! Between Zoom, GoToMeeting, Facebook Messenger, and FaceTime, we are able to stay in Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
April 20, 2020 This past Saturday I drove down to Washington DC to pick up our daughter Rebekka. She is the manager and head coach of a CrossFit gym in the middle of DC. As you know, gyms were closed pretty early on to limit the spread Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
April 13, 2020 Video Conference Like everybody else in the world, I am Zooming with my siblings, FaceTiming with my children and now I'm learning to use GoToMeeting to communicate with my staff and my clients. Starting this week, I'm going Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
April, 6, 2020 We have been working from home for a few weeks now, and it is starting to feel normal. I am beginning to wonder if I really need an office! We have actually been surprisingly productive. Paul and I have finished the Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
March 30, 2020 We are now entering our third week of lockdown. I hope you are healthy and safe, and not suffering from too much cabin fever. The good news is that our office continues to function at almost full Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
March 24, 2020 To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.” — Oscar Wilde Today will be another challenging day for the stock market as we continue to grapple with the Read More...
Monday Update by Kevin Ellman
March 16, 2020 Our test of our Business Continuity Plan was successful. We all worked from home on Friday. We were able to access all of our client files and all of our reporting systems. All the information and capabilities that are available to Read More...
The Problem with ‘The 5-Year Exit Plan’
Most business owners who are asked about their exit plans will reply that they want to exit their business ‘in about 5 years’. Often times, 5 years later, the same owner will give the same answer to the same question. In reality, the 5-year window Read More...
Recent Business Owners Survey Tells a Steady Story, My Mental Readiness for an Exit is LOW
A recent release of findings from an ongoing research effort being conducted by Pinnacle Equity Solutions, Inc., a national leader in the emerging field of exit planning, reveals that 85% of business owners who are considering a future exit from Read More...
Owners Surveyed Cannot Afford to Exit and Do Not Want To
In a recent release of findings from an ongoing research effort being conducted by Pinnacle Equity Solutions, Inc., a national leader in the emerging field of exit planning, it was revealed that 58% of business owners who are considering a future Read More...
Advisor Collaboration is Core to A Successful Exit
Many business owners today are thinking about an exit from their privately-held business and are trying to figure out how to begin this seemingly-overwhelming task. Like most owners who are in need of some guidance and advice, you may be looking to Read More...
Seeing the Big Picture with Your Exit
The success of exiting a business depends greatly upon the mental perspective and preparation of an owner during the exit process. Business owners tend to fixate their thoughts only on running and growing their business. However, there is a Read More...
Insuring Your Future Exit
Business owners are risk-takers by nature. Interestingly, however, is the fact that these same owners are often-times not risk averse. What this means is that owners will assume risks in one area of their lives, but not necessarily work to mitigate Read More...
The Myth of Easy Exits
Business owners who are thinking about exiting their business will often want to compare their potential exits to other owners who have been through an exit. A potential problem in trying to analyze someone’s exit process is that the results, not Read More...
Exit Planning is a Complex Decision and a Complex Transaction
How to master both for a successful result. When considering an exit from your privately-held business, there are a number of obstacles that can get in the way of success. It is easiest to view your business exit in two (2) distinct parts – first, Read More...
Golden Handcuffs
Make sure your most talented key executives don’t leave when you need them most. Introduction: Joe Smith had built a successful business over a 40-year working career and was now ready to cash out and enjoy his Golden Years. He envisioned Read More...
Avoid The Most Common Business Succession Planning Mistake
An incomplete plan is worse than no plan. A few years back, a business owner came in to see me with a problem. He and his brother owned a landscaping and excavation business. He had been Mr. Outside, working in the field, supervising all the Read More...
The Importance of Estate and Business Succession Planning
Estate Planning and Business Succession Planning are two separate yet intertwined processes that dramatically impact each other. The care you take in analyzing and implementing each can have a significant effect on your financial life. In the Read More...
Estate Tax and Succession Planning After the Cliff
After much political bargaining, federal legislation has been enacted to address, among other things, the expiration of numerous tax provisions passed under the Bush and Obama administrations. Far from the “grand bargain” originally contemplated, the Read More...
How To Avoid One Of The Biggest Retirement Planning Mistakes
Don’t Run Out Of Money Before You Run Out Of Life. A critical component of any solid financial plan is preparing for the future. This is why one of the first things I want to understand, when I speak with clients about their retirement plans, is Read More...
Why An "I Love You Will" Is Not Enough
If you are like most people, you have the most common type of will, the “I Love You Will.” It says, “I leave all my assets to my spouse, and upon the death of my spouse, our assets go to our lovely children.” This seems straight forward and Read More...
How To Avoid The Fear, Hope and Greed Cycle of Buying Stocks
Most people are generally familiar with the basic rule of investing, which is to buy low and sell high. Yet, few follow this guideline. Why? It is too easy for well-meaning investors to fall victim to their own emotions, thereby succumbing to the Read More...