Busy By Design

Why We'd Rather Plan Your Year-End in September Than Rescue It In December

Why This Season Looks Different

This is one of the busiest times of the year for us. And strangely enough, that's exactly how we want it.

Every year around this time, we begin our corporate annual reviews with our clients. We look at their qualified plans, their advisors, their investments and benefits. We grade what's working, look for the "owies," and figure out what needs attention.

But some of the most important conversations have very little to do with financial products.

• How are you expecting to finish the year?
• Is business accelerating?
• Are you planning year-end bonuses?
• Is there an opportunity to structure some of that compensation more intelligently through the qualified plan?
• And maybe more importantly, how are you feeling about the first quarter of next year?

Because a business owner who finishes December with a great year behind them can still have a very different January, February and March ahead of them. Payroll still happens. Expenses still happen. Cash reserves matter.

Why We Give Clients a Three- to Four-Month Runway

We want to have those conversations now. Not in December. Not when a deadline is staring everyone in the face. And certainly not when somebody has to make an important decision quickly because we waited too long to bring it up.

We try to give our clients a three- or four-month runway. That's intentional. It also explains why our own business gets unusually busy this time of year. We've designed it that way. We work hard while our clients are in a position to think, plan and make changes. We get the recommendations on the table early. We help them determine what needs to happen before year-end and what needs to be ready when January arrives.

Then We Deliberately Slow Down

Then something else happens. Around October 15th, we begin slowing down. We still take care of our clients. We still meet with people who need us. We certainly welcome referrals. But we stop pushing. We generally don't want to begin major transitions late in the year anyway, so instead of manufacturing activity just to remain "busy," we let the business move into something closer to neutral. And we stay there until roughly the middle of January.

That's intentional too. It gives our team permission to be present for Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Year's. Family. Friends. Kids and grandkids. Traditions. Travel. Or simply a little breathing room. Then January comes, and we're ready to accelerate again.

Designing the Rhythm, Not Just Surviving It

I think too many businesses measure success by how continuously busy they can remain. I'm increasingly interested in something different: how intentionally can we design the rhythm? There should be times to accelerate. Times to execute. Times to prepare. And yes, there should be times to coast. That applies to our clients. It applies to our team. And it applies to me.

We call our philosophy Simple. Elegant. Functional. To me, that increasingly means designing the business and the life together, not trying to squeeze a life into whatever space the business happens to leave behind.

So yes, this is our busy season. By design. And pretty soon, we'll slow down. Also by design.

Note to Advisors

If you're the kind of advisor who also gets slammed every fourth quarter, I'd ask you the same question I ask our clients: is that busy season happening to you, or did you design it? A lot of the year-end scramble we all deal with is really a planning-window problem. The conversations that matter, comp structuring, plan reviews, cash flow for the first quarter, don't have to wait until the pressure is on. If you've got a client whose year-end planning keeps landing in December out of habit rather than intention, I'd welcome bringing them in earlier next cycle. It changes the whole tone of the conversation.

— Larry Stiver
Founder, Stiver Financial Services

The Business Un-Complicators

P.S. Ask anyone on our team and they'll tell you October through mid-January looks different around here than July through September. That's not an accident, and it's not us slacking off. It's the same discipline we ask our clients to apply to their own businesses, just pointed inward for a change.

Schedule a conversation | Learn more about how we work