James Hendries Wealth Management

James Hendries Wealth Management I Help Business Owners Build the Plan Before the Exit, Not After. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident of any other state.

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he financial professionals associated with LPL Financial may discuss and/or transact business only with residents of the states in which they are properly registered or licensed.

06/02/2026

“If you could buy any commercial property today, anywhere, any asset class, any structure, would you buy the one you are about to sell?”

Long pause.

I asked a client that question this week. Stopped the conversation cold.

He owns the building his business sits in. Bought it 25 years ago. Paid off. Great decision at the time. Now he is selling the business and thinking about how to handle the building. Lease-to-own. Spread the payments. Lower the tax hit.

All good strategies. But nobody had asked him whether this building is the right asset for the next chapter of his life.

He is in his final chapter before stepping back. His wife is still working. They do not need to be landlords. They do not need to be tied to this location. And if something goes wrong with the buyer, he does not want the building back.

So why are we optimizing the sale of this building when we could 1031 exchange into something that actually fits what he wants his life to look like?

Different region. Different cash flow. Different management structure. Maybe something he would actually enjoy owning instead of something he is just trying to exit efficiently.

The tax strategy matters. But the life strategy matters more, and it has to come first.

What is one thing in your business or your finances that made sense when you started, but might not be the right fit for where you are headed?

Nobody is asking you the most important question about your building.Your CPA can tell you the tax consequences of selli...
06/02/2026

Nobody is asking you the most important question about your building.

Your CPA can tell you the tax consequences of selling it. Your real estate broker can tell you what it is worth. Your attorney can draft the documents.

But none of them are asking: Is this the building you would buy today if you were starting fresh?

I am working with a client right now who is looking at selling his commercial property as part of his business exit. He has owned it for 25 years. Paid off. Low basis. It has been great for him.

But the question is not whether it was great. The question is whether it is the right asset for the next chapter.

If he could 1031 exchange into any property, different location, different asset class, different cash flow structure, would he pick this one again? Or is he defaulting to what he has always known?

That is not a real estate question. That is a life design question.

And it needs an answer before any paperwork gets signed.

What is one asset you are holding, building, investment, structure, not because it still fits, but because it has always been there?

There is a conversation your spouse has never had with you.And if something happened unexpectedly, she would likely have...
05/31/2026

There is a conversation your spouse has never had with you.

And if something happened unexpectedly, she would likely have it with your business partner instead.

The conversation is about what your business interest is worth, and how that value is determined.

Most buy-sell agreements say the remaining member determines fair market value. In practice, that means your spouse may be stepping into a process where the valuation method, timeline, and inputs are already defined by the agreement, and by the other party involved.

Your spouse holds an illiquid interest she cannot easily sell. The business continues to be operated by others. And the valuation process is something she may not have been part of setting up.

That is not unusual. Many agreements were written that way with good intentions at the time.

But it means the structure is doing one job, transferring ownership, while the economics depend heavily on how that transfer is valued in practice.

Those are two different parts of the same document.

And they do not always operate the way owners assume they do.

The question is not whether the agreement exists.

It is whether the valuation framework inside it reflects what you actually intended for your family.

If you have not looked at that section in a while, it may be worth another review.

05/29/2026

A client asked me last month who would decide what his family gets paid if he died tomorrow.

The answer was in his buy-sell agreement. He had signed it thirteen years ago. He had never actually read it.

Good relationship with his partner. Eighteen years. Trust on both sides. No drama. The agreement was drafted by a reputable attorney. Looked fine on the surface.

Then we got to the valuation clause. It said the remaining member would determine fair market value within ninety days of the triggering event.

I asked him: “Where in this document does it say your interest gets appraised?”

He reread the clause. He went quiet.

Then he said something I hear all the time: “I assumed that’s what would happen.”

Your family cannot operate on assumptions. They need language. They need process. They need a methodology that does not require your business partner to be generous.

Because even the best partner is sitting across the table from your spouse with a financial incentive to value your interest as low as possible. That is not villainy. That is economics.

The gap between what you assume your buy-sell does and what it actually does is where your family loses. Not because anyone intended harm. Because the document was never stress-tested for the scenario it was designed to cover.

We rewrote his agreement. Defined the methodology. Locked in third-party valuation. Built in a dispute process. Two weeks. Less than most owners spend on a single tax strategy.

His family is protected now. Not because his partner changed. Because the language changed.

If you have a business partner and a buy-sell agreement, when was the last time you actually read the valuation clause?

05/28/2026

Your business partner is not your enemy. Your buy-sell agreement might be.

The ones I review were drafted with good intentions. Solid attorney. Standard language. Signed years ago. And buried in the middle is a clause that says something like this: “fair market value as determined by the remaining members.”

That sentence means your business partner decides what your family gets paid if something happens to you.

Not a third-party appraiser. Not a predetermined formula. Your partner, the same person who has every financial incentive to value your interest as low as possible.

Your family holds an illiquid interest they cannot sell. They have no control over operations. And the person negotiating against them controls the entire valuation process.

I have seen this play out.

The surviving spouse gets a number. She has no idea if it is fair. She has no leverage. She has no process for disagreement. And the business keeps running without her while she tries to figure out what her husband’s twenty years of work was actually worth.

That is not what you intended when you signed that document. But that is what the language allows.

The fix is not complicated. Define the methodology now. Lock in the formula. Require a third-party valuation or use a multiple of trailing EBITDA. Build in a dispute resolution process. Make the economics clear before the event happens.

Your partner is not the problem. The ambiguity is.

And ambiguity always favors the person still sitting in the operator’s chair.

If you died tomorrow, would your spouse know what she is entitled to, and would she have any power to enforce it?

That is the question your buy-sell agreement is supposed to answer.

Does yours? Yes or no, drop it in the comments.

You have not looked at your buy-sell agreement since the day you signed it.You know where it is. You know you have one. ...
05/26/2026

You have not looked at your buy-sell agreement since the day you signed it.

You know where it is. You know you have one. You have no idea what it actually says.

Here is what most of them say: “Fair market value as determined by the remaining members.”

Read that again. Your business partner decides what your family gets paid if something happens to you. Not an appraiser. Not a formula. Not a process. Your partner, the person with every financial reason to lowball the number.

Your family holds an illiquid interest they cannot sell and cannot control. And the person negotiating against them wrote the rules.

That is not protection. That is a time bomb with your spouse’s name on it.

I see this in nearly every buy-sell I review. Good attorney. Good intentions. Standard language. And a paragraph that quietly hands the entire negotiation to the person sitting across the table from your family.

You assumed it protected them. It does not.

It protects the business. Those are not the same thing.

You built something valuable. Your family deserves to know what they would actually receive for it, not someday, now, while you can still fix it.

Have you read your buy-sell agreement in the last three years? Yes or no, drop it in the comments.

The 2 AM question is not “Am I working hard enough?”It is “Does this all add up to enough?”And you cannot answer that qu...
05/24/2026

The 2 AM question is not “Am I working hard enough?”

It is “Does this all add up to enough?”

And you cannot answer that question when the pieces are in different places.

Business value over here. Personal assets over there. Tax assumptions somewhere else. Family timeline unspoken. You are doing the mental math to figure out if any of it connects to the life you are trying to build.

That is not crisis. That is not failure. That is fragmentation — and it is the weight most owners at this stage are carrying alone.

Your CPA is optimizing taxes. Your wealth advisor is managing investments. Your attorney is drafting structure. All smart. All doing their jobs.

But no one is defining the target those decisions are supposed to hit.

I sat with an owner recently — solid business, good advisors, financially disciplined his entire career. When I asked him what the number was, he went quiet. Not because he hadn't thought about it. Because no one had ever made him put it on paper.

That is the gap. And it is fixable.

Not with more complexity. Not with another spreadsheet. With one integrated view — business value, personal assets, liabilities, tax reality, timing assumptions, and what “enough” actually looks like after everything is considered.

Because once everything is on one page, the mental load lightens. You stop running the calculation at dinner. You stop second-guessing in meetings. You stop wondering at 2 AM if you are missing something.

The number does not free you. The definition does.

And until that definition is in place, even good decisions can pull you in the wrong direction.

Quick check: Does someone currently have your whole picture — business, personal, taxes, family timeline — in one integrated view?

05/22/2026

Your advisors are doing their jobs. You are doing theirs too.

CPA optimizes taxes. Wealth advisor manages investments. Attorney drafts documents. All working. All in separate lanes.

And you are the one trying to figure out if any of it actually connects to the life you are trying to build.

That is not a gap in competence. That is a gap in integration.

Because no one is asking the question that matters most: What does this all need to produce for your life?

Not “what is the business worth?” Not “what is the tax strategy?” Not “what does the portfolio look like?”

What does this need to do for you, for your family, for your timeline, for your definition of enough?

I sat with an owner last year — business doing $8M, solid team, three good advisors. Couldn't tell me what the number was. Not because he hadn't thought about it. Because no one had ever asked him to put it on paper.

That is the gap. And it is avoidable.

The shift happens when everything gets put on one page. Business finances. Personal finances. Family timeline. Tax reality. Timing assumptions. And the definition of what “enough” actually looks like after all of it is considered.

Because once you see the whole picture, the conversation changes. It stops being “how do I optimize this piece?” and becomes “does this actually get me where I want to go?”

You can't optimize toward a target you haven't defined. And until someone puts it all on one page, you are not running a strategy. You are running a guess.

Quick check for the owners reading this: Are your advisors working in separate lanes — or does someone have the whole picture in one place?

“Separate lanes” or “integrated” — drop it in the comments. Genuinely curious where most of you are.

The calculation never stops. Not at dinner. Not in meetings. Not at 2 AM when your brain finally goes quiet and starts d...
05/20/2026

The calculation never stops. Not at dinner. Not in meetings. Not at 2 AM when your brain finally goes quiet and starts doing the math anyway.

That's not a discipline problem. That's a definition problem.

Not because the business isn't doing well. Not because your advisors aren't smart. Because no one has put everything on one page and asked the question that actually matters: What does this need to produce for your life?

Your CPA is optimizing taxes. Your wealth advisor is managing investments. Your attorney is drafting documents. All doing their jobs. All working in separate lanes.

And you're the one stitching it together in your head.

Business value here. Personal assets there. Tax assumptions somewhere else. Family timeline floating around unspoken. You're trying to mentally calculate whether any of it adds up to the number that lets you say yes to what comes next.

That's not a strategy. That's fragmentation — and fragmentation doesn't just feel heavy. It costs you.

Here's what I've seen change things for owners at this stage: one integrated view.

Not more complexity. Not another spreadsheet. One page — business value, personal assets, liabilities, tax reality, timing assumptions, and what “enough” actually looks like after everything is considered.

Because once everything is on one page, the conversation shifts.

It stops being “how do I optimize this piece?” and becomes “does this actually get me to the life I'm trying to build?”

That's where clarity shows up. Not from more information. From definition.

Still running the calculation in your head, or do you actually have it on paper?

05/19/2026

Proactive looks different than you think.

A client is working on his business exit. Five-year buyout. Building sale. Spouse still working. Three income streams converging.

His CPA is ready to calculate the taxes on whatever he decides.

But here's the thing: that's reactive, not proactive.

Proactive isn't running the numbers on the decision you've already made. Proactive is asking: What are the different scenarios we haven't even considered yet?

What if we 1031 exchanged the building instead of selling it outright? What if we used a charitable remainder trust to offset some of the income and create a legacy at the same time? What if we structured the business buyout differently to spread the tax load more strategically across the years when his wife is still working versus when she's retired?

These are stress tests. Different routes. Different outcomes.

And the only way to know which one actually serves his goals is to run them side by side and see what each one looks like, not just on a spreadsheet, but in his actual life.

Does he want to be a landlord? Does he want to leave something to his daughter? Does he want to simplify or stay involved? Does he have charitable goals?

Those answers change which strategy makes sense.

Proactive means defining the target first, then stress-testing the routes to get there. Reactive means picking a route and hoping it gets you somewhere good.

Most people are working with professionals who are really good at executing the plan. But nobody's asking whether it's the right plan.

If you're planning a business exit, are you stress-testing different scenarios, or just optimizing the one you landed on first?

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