Most business owners think about exit planning only when a deal is already in motion.

But by the time a letter of intent is signed, the majority of your tax position is already locked in. The strategies that protect the most wealth at exit require years of lead time. Not months. Not weeks. And most founders don't realize that until it's too late to act.

In this session of Ask the CFO, Lowell Mora will be joined by Chris Clepp, ChFC, Wealth Management Advisor at Building Towards Wealth, to walk through the seven most common exit tax mistakes founders make before they sell, and what business owners can do now to protect what they've built.

The conversation will explore:

• Why your after-tax proceeds may look very different from your sale price
• What deal structure means for your tax outcome, and why most founders don't understand it until they're already negotiating
• How Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) treatment works, and why missing it could cost you six figures or more
• Why your CPA's annual tax strategy and your exit tax plan are probably not as connected as you think
• Why waiting until you have an offer to think about taxes is one of the most expensive assumptions a founder can make
• What prepared owners do differently, and when they start doing it

This will be a practical, numbers-grounded conversation for business owners who are thinking about a future exit, even one that's still a few years away. The decisions that matter most can't be made at the closing table.

As always, Ask the CFO is interactive and conversational, with plenty of room for questions and discussion.

About Chris Clepp

Christopher Clepp, ChFC, is a Wealth Management Advisor at Building Towards Wealth, where he works with business owners and founders to protect and grow what they've built. With 24 years of experience in financial services and firsthand experience as a business owner himself, Chris brings a perspective most advisors don't have: he's been on both sides of the table. His focus is on long-term relationships, clear thinking, and planning that connects a client's financial goals to the life they're building.

buildingtowardswealth.com