The Decision Catalyst: Examining Keep-or-Sell Frameworks in Family Enterprise

Welcome to Legacy Builders, strategies for building successful family enterprises. Brought to you by Beacon Family Office at Assante Financial Management Limited. I’m your host, Cory Gagnon, Senior Wealth Advisor. And on this show, we explore global ideas, concepts, and models that help family enterprises better navigate the complexities of family wealth.

Today, we welcome Paul Hood, a Purposeful Planning Educator at Paul Hood Services and Ambassador at the Purposeful Planning Institute who brings decades of expertise in tax law and estate planning. Paul has established himself as a trusted voice in the industry, being featured in Forbes magazine, USA TODAY, and The Wall Street Journal, while serving as a founding contributor to Leimberg Information Services, Inc. Known for his ability to make complex subjects both understandable and entertaining, Paul combines deep technical knowledge with an insightful sense of humor to deliver clear, actionable insights. Drawing from his diverse experiences as a father, trustee, professor, and expert witness, he continues to guide others through the intricacies of purposeful planning with clarity and confidence.

My goal is to be the most curious person in today’s conversation with Paul, as we explore his excellent work at the intersection of family business decisions and succession planning. We’ll delve into his innovative approach to family business meetings, including his powerful “keep or sell” framework that helps families make authentic, forward-looking choices. Through Paul’s unique lens as both advisor and experienced professional, we’ll discover fresh perspectives on how families can navigate their most significant business decisions together.

Now, let’s dive in!

Cory: Welcome, Paul. We’re excited to have you here today to share your wealth of knowledge and experiences with us. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Paul: I’m happy to be here, Cory!

Cory: Now, Paul, imagine you’re delivering the commencement speech to the graduating class of 2025, and you have the chance to inspire them with your story. How would you begin this speech to convey the incredible lessons and expertise that you’ve gained along your career?

Paul: Well, I have a standard, and have for about fifteen years, a standard graduation gift that I have given to many college graduates, grad school, medical school, law school, other schools, and it is the Doctor Seuss book called, The Places You’ll Go. And I give this book, and I would always base a talk on a book like this to basically say the world is yours; it’s your opportunity, but there are no shortcuts to quality. And you have to be honest, and you have to be forthright enough to withstand the temptations of a quick fix or a quick buck. I said because it’s easier said than done. But it’s all in a positive way. There’s tons of opportunity.

When a person says, hey. I’m thinking about going to law school. And I I ask them, okay. Well, what do you want to do with that? And they look at you, and I’m like, I said, if you have to borrow money to go to law school, and it’s harder to repay money with after tax dollars than it is to to borrow it. I said, the world always needs another good lawyer. But if that’s not what you want to do, and you don’t foresee yourself doing whatever lawyers do, and we do a lot of different things, so you better think twice about that. And it’s just all about being honest with yourself and transparent too. I always encourage people, there are just no shortcuts to quality.

Cory: Now, Paul, as you say, there’s so much opportunity. And in the work that you’ve done and all of the different situations that you’ve been in where you’re working with families, maybe there’s a business. Maybe there’s not. And there’s a decision. Like, that crossroads is there where they’re making that decision and having to be honest with themselves. How do you really filter those decisions?

Paul: Well, I believe in being real with clients. I am the antithesis of the Freudian, you know, blank screen. I am real, and I have had good things and really bad things happen to me as a lawyer, as a father, and everything else. And if I can offer my vulnerability, that resonates with clients because too often, we’re dispassionate, and we lay out, well, you got these options. Like, which one do you want me to do? Then they hem and haw. They said, well, it’s not really our job. We’re not really here to tell you what to do.

Let me  tell you, Cory. When I was a trustee, a client may be the trustee, and I served for about ten years of a very big trust. And it wasn’t a trust full of marketable securities. It was partial interest in closely held businesses around The United States. But it was a couple hundred million dollars. And I used to hire between fifty and seventy five lawyers a year from SEC lawyers to, you know, environmental to employment. And the lawyers who could not give me their best hunch or could not put things on a page, they didn’t work well with me. Because I was like, no. I’m not asking you. And finally, one of the lawyers got frustrated and said, Paul, you’ve perfected your client skills. And I took that as a compliment.

Cory: That’s great! And so oftentimes, people want the quick answer. Like, as you said, that that temptation for the quick buck is that temptation for the quick answer. How do we get to the answer fast without taking shortcuts?

Paul: Well, first is thinking about it for what the situation actually is. Now, look, feel good, get rich quick schemes. Remember, this has been going on since time immemorial. You know, there have even been songs, popular songs, you know, Dr. Feelgood’s, Ocean. Love Potion No. 9 by The Clovers was The United States and maybe a hit in Canada and and elsewhere. But, you know, it’s all about that. People selling salvation. It goes back to Elmer Gantry and before. The Catholic Church was selling indulgences, and that’s what robbed Martin Luther. So we are always looking for the quick fix.

But the truth is, in most situations in life and particularly in a family business, there are no quick fixes. What you need are real serious decisions that actually will move the needle and solve the problem rather than just try to throw something up against the wall and hope it sticks. And that’s what I really tended to do best, Cory, with clients who were very successful but very low key. No news was good news. If they weren’t in the newspaper or on television, that was good. And then you didn’t tend to do well with the high flying Rolex president. Usually, most of those people are highly leveraged. Down south, we would call that “all hat and no cattle.” That’s exactly kind of what it was.

So I didn’t do well with the blustery. I was the “no news is good news under the radar screen.” Let’s keep our heads down, stay busy, and just do what we need to do to get it done. We don’t need to make a bunch of fanfare about it. So, again, in a family business, there are almost no simple answers.

Cory: Right! And, Paul, the serious decisions. To me, the power to have that autonomy to make those decisions is extremely important. As the family thinks of, you know, what is it that we’re deciding here and how are we moving the needle? Some of those conversations that you had, where were the big ones, the big decisions and conversations that really mattered?

Paul: Well, the biggest one that we regularly had, and one of my mentors Cory in family business succession planning, was a Louisiana lawyer and law professor named Jerry Levin. Jerry’s deceased now, but I ended up editing his books. But one of the most important things Jerry taught me was the importance of having a family keep or sell decision meeting every three to five years. And I have conducted over the years, both when I was a practicing lawyer and as a non-lawyer family business guy, Those keep or sell meetings, and my rules are real simple. Inlaws are allowed, and children down to age eight. They’re eight years old. They can participate. And people say, that’s just going to be a distraction. Let me tell you something. I can recall two meetings where a nine year old and an 11 year old, separate meetings, change the whole meeting by what they said. Out of the mouths of babes often come, you know, just absolutely majesty.

But, you know, adults don’t like to talk. They don’t like to talk with children. They like to talk “at” children. Well, I’ve never been like that. My goal Cory in every meeting is to be the best listener in the room. Because most of the meetings I’m in are with really smart people. Because most of the time, I’m just meeting with other professionals. So I’m like, I’ll never be the smartest guy in the room. But I’ve been the best listener in the room, and that resonates with people. People want to be listened to, especially by their professional advisers.

But that keep or sell meeting is a real powerful meeting, and they’ve come out a lot of ways. Maybe we should expand this way. Maybe we should consult somebody about doing a Dutch auction or something for the comp you know, just sell the company. And when people are able in a safe place to be authentic and to say what they’re really thinking, you have the best chance for success in this, and maybe you still don’t succeed, okay? But you have your best chance if everybody is on the same page, and everybody is being forthright and authentic.

Cory: Right! Now, Paul, you describe this as a family keep or sell meeting. Typically, when we think of having a meeting like this, we have to define who is family. And you mentioned inlaws are allowed. And so in this case, you’ve decided or made the suggestion.

Paul: Yeah. Because you get pushback on that.

Cory: Of course. So tell me about that in the who’s in the room and that inclusion. Because as you said, people need to be open and feel heard. And sometimes families don’t want to hear those voices. So how have you found that pushback?

Paul: Let me start with this. When Jerry Levin was asked, what is the level of disclosure that we should give? Jerry used to say, start with the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States, disclosure and then disclose more. Because what ends up happening is people who don’t get the information because they don’t have an opportunity to talk go off half cocked and do crazy things because the parade of horribles in their mind tells them that they are being adversely impacted by whatever’s going on. So with that level of of disclosure, when people say, don’t want those in-laws there. And it’s usually, you know, a g one, doesn’t like one of the kids’ spouses. And I say, well, it’s better to have them in the room and giving if we make it a safe enough place for them to talk, I said, because there’s conversations going on outside of this room that are impacting you. And you have a better chance of knowing what those issues are because we can take a look at them.

I mean, I have identified probably eight or ten or so that’s a gold digger. And sure enough, they didn’t tend to be a good spouse, and they were divorced. Not you know, I didn’t say that was what would trigger the child’s divorce, but I could just watch the body language and say, this is going to be a perpetual problem.

Cory: Yes. And so it’s better for your child’s spouse to hear it in the room than your child to go play telephone, and their interpretation of what they heard.

Paul: It’s pillow talk. And what ends up happening is right before a meeting, spouse, they’re going to do this, they’re going to do that, and put on a parade of horribles that I talked about. Now the child is in the meeting, and the child is like, “Well, my mom and dad are not gonna jail me.” Are they? Maybe? Then they start doubting, and it’s just a missed opportunity, is what I’ve told people.

I said, you can keep these people out all you want. You know, when they’re not in the estate plan. I said, well, that’s fine. And I said,  I don’t have any problem with that. Because they’re almost always going to have to sign the buy-sell agreement. Well, since they’re doing that, we need to communicate with them. But you get pushback.

But let me tell you something, Cory. I haven’t practiced law since Katrina in 2005. Since then, I have received phone calls out of the blue from three former clients in Louisiana who I had forced their spouse to be a party to their buy-sell agreement, who called me to thank me because when they got divorced, the spouse tried to contest the buy-sell agreement. And because I had insisted on them being a party and having opportunity to review it in advance and be represented by counsel, every single one of them lost. And these were the big  three, I thought one of them was going to fire me. I’m just certain. Not doing that. Well, he finally did, and he was the first one to call. I’m trying to do what’s best for them sometimes in spite of them.

Cory: Yes. Well and that’s what I’m hearing, Paul, is you make it a little awkward now to save a lot of awkward later.

Paul: Exactly. Like the old Fram auto filter. You know, you can pay me now or you can pay me later when that engine burns up.

Cory: Right! Now let’s go back to those miners. I want to talk about creativity and some of the outcomes that you mentioned, it’s not just the “are we keeping or are we selling.” There’s a lot of different outcomes that these meetings can create. So what are we doing to set the stage to allow that to come about?

Paul: Well, the way that I normally would set it up, and I didn’t set off exactly how Jerry did. But I always started with who we are and a brief history of the company and the ownership, especially if it’s a family, and all that. So who we are, history. What that does is that ties everybody. Now we know, “oh! that’s how that happened”. Especially because remember, I’ve dealt with several companies that are in their fourth, fifth, sixth generations. I mean, a lot of times, they don’t know the whole story. So “who we are” is first.

And then secondly, it’s essentially an appreciative inquiry approach because I’m all about, I’m a mentor to about a half a dozen people around the country, mostly lawyers. And I’m a firm believer in positive psychology. And my mentor mantra is, and when I was a baseball coach, is catch them doing something right. The appreciative inquiry to me is far superior to a SWOT analysis. You know, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. But we end up covering that. And really it is a brainstorming session about our future. And a lot of times, I will call it the overall meeting, dreaming about the business name. So that on the PowerPoint on the screen, dreaming about our family business, but having the name in it. And that kind of sets you over because what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to access all of our regular intelligence, but we need to think about the emotional impact of all of this to come up with the best, because like I said, I’ve had families have decided, you know, we should buy that company because they were talking about a competitor. We should buy them. And I’ve had where that has happened a year or two later.

Michael Gerber wrote a book years ago that resonated with me called The E-Myth. And Michael Gerber’s main message to business owners is you should spend as much time working on your business as you spend working in your business. And this is on your business time.

Cory: Absolutely!

Paul: We’re not thinking about what we’re going to do next quarter, and we don’t have to lay anybody off, or do we need to hire people? That’s for management to handle. We were thinking big. We’re dreaming.

Cory: Right! And so that emotional impact of the decisions that are being made. So we’re taking a setting, and you mentioned management and, the decisions that need to be made. And as much as laying people off, some people think that it’s being done without emotional consideration, but it all has an emotional impact. As the family is in this room and they’ve thought about the history of the company, and they brought it back to great, great grandparents and what they were doing, and the challenges and the triumphs. And now they’re thinking about the future. And so you said three to five years that we’re doing this, every three to five years.

Paul: I had some families that started well, we’ll do this every five. As soon as they ended the first one, it’s like, we’re gonna do this in three. And they did!

Cory: And so they’re really thinking about what is the next few years for ourselves in this room, the people who we employ, the communities in which we’re a part of. And what sort of implications, like the. “Hey. we should go buy them. What else is coming up?” Because I I think that, with all those people in the room, depending on how big the family is.

Paul: I’ve had a couple meetings, had a hundred people there.

Cory: And so, what sort of things are people pulling out, what else?

Paul: Well, I will tell you one of the most common. I’ll give you one example from a G1 situation and then a different example for a business that it may be in G4 or 5. That G1, one of the most critical things, is they almost always assume that their children want the business. When not all of them work in the business, you’re like, “how are we going to do that?”

And do we want non-employee or non-worker owners? When it’s getting time, about retirement age, a lot of times, they aren’t sure if a child is interested enough to do this or has the ability to run it. So that is one of the issues that often comes up is, how committed are you kids to stay in here? You know, what I slaved over this company. I’m just channeling a dad talking. But how committed are you to staying? And when it’s done in the right way, and the facilitator is important now because we don’t want dad squelching the conversation. But when kids would say and this is much more easily determined in the G3 or 4 situation, I will tell you in a minute, I’ll tell you why there’s a difference. The G2s, it’s almost been like you have no choice. You have to work here. And especially under you know, I don’t know how I represent several, Italian, Sicilian, grocery store owners. And those kids get pressed into doing work in the grocery store when they’re eight or nine years old. The late child labor laws would be damned, they don’t care about that. So it’s that “are you as committed as I am to this business?”

And when the kids aren’t, the best advice I often give people is you need to sell this business while you’re alive. You will get more for it. You will get about it, probably on average, a two year consulting rate. So what’s going to happen if you don’t and you die with it? The kids are going to get it. They’re not going to want to run it or not know how to run it, and it’s going to languish. It’s going to lose thirty, forty percent of its value, and then the kids will sell it. And then they’ll blame the lawyer. So now on the G3 to 4, where G3 is running things. Now they didn’t found the company. They see themselves more as stewards. Some of them are Machiavellian and really control-oriented because some of the worst are. But all of a sudden, and I saw this probably more prevalently when I moved to Toledo. Because Toledo, Ohio, of course, was where the windshield was developed that cars use. So Libby, it was a big lot of wealth, and there were a number of automotive based publicly traded companies that were here in that were well, I’m not in Toledo anymore. But when I was there, that came up. But as the company’s age, the kids left Toledo. And how did that impact me? Well, their parents supported the University of Toledo. The kids didn’t go to Toledo. They went to Harvard or University of Virginia or Stanford. They live on the coasts, and they’re not interested.

So a lot of times, those G3s and fours now they’re usually more amenable to non-family management. And that’s usually where that issue is. The royal line died out, and now we need to go get an unrelated person to run our company? Because the owners now have so much money that they don’t really want to fool with it. You run into this too, Cory, with family foundations. Families don’t want to fool with them.

Cory: Yes. And so these conversations and, of course, from a legal background, you see it from your perspective. But you made comment of the shareholder agreement. And having those parties in the room, are there certain decisions as it relates to those agreements that are being made here, or is it really the strategic direction?

Paul: Really the agreements, I never and I I don’t, I can’t take credit for this. I think it would have been a mistake had I combined a dreaming meeting with a fact meeting where we’re reviewing the documents. I’ve taken many families through their documents. Like I said, I just never did it, but I never articulated why I never did it until just now when you sort of pushed it out of me.

Cory: And so that might be a next step. So as far as the “now what?” You know, we have a great dreaming session. Hopefully, the facilitator really created that environment for the family to be able to speak up. A lot of creativity, and some really good things came of it. Maybe it was a decision. Maybe it was an inquiry of let’s go investigate this. And so there’s a multiple things on our list now to go forward. So how do we take this and really make sure that there’s momentum, that it sees its way through, that the family actually wants to come back in three years rather than, yeah, that was fun, but a little bit of a waste of time.

Paul: Your question is an excellent one, and you have to give them, and everybody who attends gets it, a summary of the main points. Again, an appreciative inquiry is, you know, what’s really good about what we do. We’re not trying to nick ourselves and give ourselves demerits and and and bad grades. Well, we don’t do this very well. That’s okay if we’re in a corrective mode, but that’s not what we’re doing. We’re dreaming. And dreaming a negative dream is called a nightmare. You don’t want to do that. You may want to dream about throwing a no hitter in the World Series. But the bottom line is this is a dreaming meeting. And it has to have a deliverable. Because let me tell you, when they come back, about at least half of them have it. And it’s important. It’s an opportunity for the family to enjoy themselves and their success. 

This is who we are, here’s our history, here’s why we’re so important. You know, we may be the second largest employer in Louisiana. We had parishes not counties. The second largest employer in the parish, the third largest payer of sales tax, you know, all these things. These are all important things, but they speak. It’s part of the pride of seeing the family’s name on the trucks, on the building, and on billboards. It’s all part of the positive thing. So I try in those meetings things that need to be discussed that don’t fit because this comes up a lot.

Cory: Yep. So we’ve got a parking lot.

Paul: And that’s where the facilitator is important. And, usually, there’s somebody taking notes because it can get tricky. But that’s where as soon as somebody brings up something, like, well, the bio-Soviet, it’s an offline discussion. We’re not talking about that. That’s not what we’re doing today. But we’re going to discuss it with you, and you have to. That’s part of being transparent and authentic. If you tell them you’re gonna talk about it with them, you have to. But not there. And not in front of this whole group. That is all part of it. Is that kind of controlling? Yes, I guess it kind of is. But it’s not really negative controlling. It’s trying to maximize the benefit of a short period of time. Because you can’t take all day to do this. I mean, this has got to happen, I would say, and the length of them has varied. I usually do it if the meeting is going to be longer than ninety minutes, and I can’t think of one that wasn’t. I break them up into segments. Maybe the first one and with a break. And I like because we start with who we are, and it’s a celebration of who we are. And at the break, they talk. 

Cory: Yes, more stories come up.

Paul: To pat themselves on the back and do high fives and feel good about being a family, then you go back. But as I said, when we get, you know, when we’re brainstorming,  mom’s trust said… take that now. We’re going to talk to you about that later, but you got to keep them focused.

Cory: Yes, and we’re talking about possibilities here, not limitations.

Paul: That is exactly right. I don’t know if I’ve ever articulated it that way. Thank you. I’ll put that in the quiver of options. But that’s right. That is exactly right. This is about who we are, and then we finish with who we want to be in the future. And who do we want to be? Do we want to be in business together as a family? Is everybody tired of it? Sometimes people run into fatigue, and a family business starts operating on inertia. Well, that’s usually a slow road to, you know, slow boat to China. I mean, there’s one you don’t want to take. So there’s a method to the whole thing, but it’s worked very well, but it’s not because it has any type of magical design to it. It just meets the family where they are. And I’m not talking “at” them. I’m having them talk amongst themselves.

Cory: Now, Paul, celebrating getting to that destination where the decision is to sell rather than succumbing to the pressures, and I guess this is our only option. I think oftentimes there’s an underlying feeling of selling is a failure, and it so isn’t that way. Before we transition, I just want to cover that, you know, celebrating we’re going to sell this thing. What sort of celebrations have you witnessed?

Paul: Well, I will tell you. I’ve had meetings where it was the unanimous consensus that a sale was a good idea. But I would say the far more common situation is where a minority group of the owners want to continue. And then, we’re like, okay. We will meet again in a factual meeting, lay out what those options are. Now invariably, one of them is those people can buy the family out. And then sometimes people just go out and start their own. They had that happen too. But it’s a decision, or it’s a factual meeting where if they have a division, and if a business can be divided. In The United States, we got to deal with the income tax. If it’s a corporation, there’s a code section that can make it tax free if you do a split off, a split up, or one of those. But you have to know how that is. But that was the far more common. And most of the time and people when they realize what it would take for them to buy the business to continue it, they usually are reluctantly onboard with the sale.

Cory: And so, as we talk this through, creating that safe environment, that buy-sell agreement, that having those agreements in place that people feel like they have safety. There’s mechanisms in place so that somebody’s not coming in feeling like they could be blindsided. And even if that minority does say something different than the rest, there’s options where we can go. We’ve got time. We’ve got professionals. We’ve got people who can deal with the facts of how do we execute because that’s not what we’re here in this meeting for.

Paul: That’s exactly right.

Cory: I love it, great! Well, Paul, as we near the end of our conversation, there are a few questions that I ask each guest before we wrap up. Are you ready for the tough ones?

Paul: Lay ’em on me!

Cory: Alright! What is one key strategy you believe is most essential for building a successful family enterprise?

Paul: Trust and a willingness to do what it takes. Again, it’s about the footwork. When going back to the book, all places you’ll go, but there are no shortcuts to quality. And the opportunity’s there, but you got to do the footwork. So that would be what I would say is most important.

Cory: Great! And what is the most common challenge that you’ve seen family enterprises encountering when it comes to wealth transition and generational continuity?

Paul: Looking themselves in the mirror and being honest with who they are and what their business is. People have either grandiose ideas, or are they undercut? If it’s a family that’s got kind of a low differentiation or somebody who makes a lot of noise is a low differentiated person, it’s all negative. And that is not helpful. You have to acknowledge that the family’s there, but you have to be honest. And families, as you know, and particularly, like, in an area like addiction. You have that happen. I have been in rehab myself, and families, when this comes up, okay, here’s what the issues are. And when you tell them that you’ve been there yourself, they look at you like, “you didn’t have to tell us that.” But you become, I believe, a most trusted adviser by being vulnerable enough to be real.

Cory: Being honest, when you look in the mirror, is so important. And, Paul, in your experience, what are the top three key qualities that successful family enterprise leaders possess?

Paul: I believe that they are good listeners. And by listening, I include the, “the wise husband knows everything his wife doesn’t say?” So what people didn’t say, I believe that transparency is equally important. And I believe, consistency and, forthrightness. When you say you’re going to do something, you need to do it.  You need to follow through. And following through is a big thing that a lot of people miss. They’re good at starting. They’re not so good at finishing. But it’s important.

Cory: Great! And before we conclude our discussion today, Paul, I’d like to highlight where our listeners can engage in more of the conversations that you’re having. Could you kindly provide us with where guests can find you and any other resources on the conversations that we had today?

Paul: Yeah, my website, www.paulhoodservices.com. I have many under the resources tab and the books and articles tabs. I have a number of books as well. And I have links to some of my latest articles and a number of forms, and questionnaires, and things like that, that people can use as well as the books that I have. I’m on LinkedIn. I sent you my LinkedIn.

Cory: We’ll include i t in the show notes for sure. And, Paul, I’d like to make sure that we covered everything today. Is there anything else that you’d like to share with our audience that we didn’t get a chance to touch on?

Paul: No. I’ll just tell you to keep dreaming.

Cory: Love that! Well, thank you, Paul. Thank you for sharing your time, your experiences, and expertise with us today. Your insights have been incredibly valuable to me on my journey, and I’m very grateful for your contribution to the episode, and I know that our listeners will as well.

Paul: The pleasure was all mine. I enjoyed it!

As we wrap up this episode, we invite you to reflect on Paul’s insights about creating inclusive family business meetings and the power of listening authentically to all voices in the room.

Whether you are part of a family enterprise or provide consulting to family businesses, his emphasis on focusing on possibilities rather than limitations offers a fresh perspective for fostering meaningful discussions about your company’s future.

Throughout our discussion, we explored Paul’s innovative approach to the “keep or sell” meeting, where his unique perspective as both advisor and experienced professional illuminates the path for family business succession. His views on positive psychology and inclusive decision-making demonstrate how families can make authentic, forward-looking choices while honouring their heritage. These perspectives offer valuable guidance for family enterprises navigating their most significant business decisions together, creating spaces where relationships flourish alongside strategic planning.

For those seeking expert guidance on family business meetings and purposeful planning, Paul Hood is ready to assist. We’ve included Paul’s contact information, along with links to his resources in the show notes to support you on your journey.

Disclaimer: 

This program was prepared by Cory Gagnon who is a Senior Wealth Advisor with Beacon Family Office at Assante Financial Management Ltd. This not an official program how Assante Financial Management and the statements and opinions expressed during this podcast are not necessarily those how Assante Financial Management. This show is intended for general information only and may not apply to all listeners or investors; please obtain professional financial advice or contact us at [email protected] or visit BeaconFamilyOffice.com to discuss your particular circumstances before acting on the information presented.