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December 17, 2025
The Business Owner’s Journey to Exit: How M&A and Wealth Planning Work Together
For many business owners, an exit is the single most significant financial event of their lifetime.
Years, sometimes decades, of effort, risk and sacrifice crystallise into one moment. Yet despite the scale of the opportunity, many founders underestimate how complex, emotional and far-reaching the journey can be.
A successful exit is rarely just about securing the best headline price. It is about ensuring the outcome genuinely works for you, your family and your future life.
That is where the combination of high-quality M&A advice and joined-up wealth planning becomes essential.
The exit journey starts long before the deal
Well before a business is marketed or a buyer is approached, owners begin asking big questions:
- What might the business realistically be worth?
- How much is “enough” for the next chapter of life?
- What would life look like after an exit?
- How exposed am I to tax, concentration risk or poor timing?
At this stage, experienced M&A advisers help founders prepare the business: strengthening the commercial story, identifying risks, and positioning it for the right buyers.
In parallel, wealth planning brings clarity on the personal side. By mapping assets, liabilities, income needs and future ambitions, owners gain confidence that a sale, at a given level, will genuinely support their long-term goals.
This early clarity often leads to better decisions, less pressure, and stronger negotiating positions later on.
During the deal: clarity matters most when pressure is highest
Once a transaction is underway, the pace and intensity increase quickly.
Due diligence, negotiations, shifting timelines and complex deal structures can place significant emotional and mental strain on business owners. It is not uncommon for founders to feel pulled in multiple directions at once – balancing the needs of the business, buyers, advisers and family.
Strong M&A advice is critical here: managing the process, protecting value and navigating complexity.
At the same time, personal wealth planning plays a stabilising role – helping owners understand cash flows, tax outcomes, retained equity, and short-term liquidity, while ensuring that major financial decisions remain aligned with the wider plan.
Having both perspectives working in tandem helps reduce stress and avoid costly, reactive decisions at exactly the wrong moment.
After the exit: the part few founders fully prepare for
Once the deal completes, many owners are surprised by how disorientating the aftermath can be.
Alongside the practical task of investing and structuring the proceeds, there are deeper questions:
- What does “work” look like now?
- How should capital be invested to support long-term security, flexibility and family priorities?
- How do you balance enjoyment, reinvestment, gifting and legacy planning?
This is where wealth planning often becomes most valuable – helping former owners transition from business capital to personal wealth, diversify risk, plan for tax efficiency, and shape a meaningful next chapter.
For serial entrepreneurs, this phase can also include assessing new opportunities while ensuring the original exit proceeds remain protected.
Working with trusted M&A advisers
At Brighton Capital Management, we work with a limited number of trusted M&A advisers, selected based on deal size, complexity, sector expertise, and geographic reach.
Where appropriate, we can introduce experienced advisers who are well-matched to a client’s circumstances. Equally, we regularly work alongside existing M&A teams, integrating our planning with the commercial advice already in place.
Our role is not to replace specialist M&A expertise, but to complement it, ensuring that the personal, financial and lifestyle consequences of an exit are fully understood and planned for at every stage.
A joined-up approach leads to better outcomes
The most successful exits tend to share a common theme: collaboration.
When M&A advice and wealth planning are aligned – before, during and after the transaction – business owners gain clarity, confidence and control. The result is not just a successful deal, but a future that feels intentional, secure and rewarding.
If you are beginning to think about an eventual exit, even if it feels some way off, early planning can make a significant difference.