Your Business Is Your Biggest Asset. Manage It Like One.
For most business owners, the business itself represents the largest single component of their net worth. Yet the personal financial strategy and the business financial strategy are rarely managed together. Decisions made on the business side affect taxes, retirement, estate planning, and personal wealth in ways that go unaddressed when nobody is looking at the full picture. At Animas Capital Management, we bridge that gap. We work with small business owners across Durango and Southwest Colorado to align business strategy with personal wealth management, bringing every dimension of your financial life into a single coordinated approach.
Business Structure and Tax Efficiency
The way your business is structured has a direct impact on how much you pay in taxes, how your assets are protected, and how efficiently wealth moves from your business to your personal finances. At Animas Capital Management, we work alongside your CPA and attorney to evaluate whether your current entity structure is serving your goals. Whether you operate as a sole proprietor, LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp, we help ensure your structure is aligned with your tax strategy, your retirement goals, and your long-term wealth building objectives. Small changes in structure can produce significant differences in lifetime tax exposure.
Business Owner Retirement Planning
Business owners face a unique retirement planning challenge. Without an employer-sponsored retirement benefit, the responsibility for building retirement wealth falls entirely on you. The good news is that business owners also have access to some of the most powerful retirement savings vehicles available, including SEP-IRAs, Solo 401(k)s, SIMPLE plans, and defined benefit plans that can shelter significantly more income than standard individual retirement accounts. At Animas Capital Management, we help business owners evaluate, design, and implement the right retirement plan structure for their business size, income level, and long-term goals, maximizing the wealth you build while minimizing the taxes you pay along the way.
Succession and Exit Planning
Every business owner will eventually exit their business, whether through a sale, a transfer to family, a partner buyout, or an unplanned event. The difference between a well-planned exit and an unprepared one can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in value, taxes, and security for your family. At Animas Capital Management, we help business owners think through succession and exit strategy well before it becomes urgent. We address business valuation, ownership transfer structures, tax-efficient sale strategies, key person planning, and how the proceeds of a business exit integrate into your personal retirement and estate strategy. The earlier you start, the more options you have.
When Your Business and Your Wealth Work Together, Everything Changes.
Most business owners spend years building a valuable enterprise while their personal financial strategy lags behind. By the time they start thinking about retirement, succession, or an exit, the window for the most impactful planning has already narrowed.
At Animas Capital Management, we work with business owners in Durango and across Southwest Colorado to make sure that window stays open as long as possible. We connect your business strategy, your retirement approach, your tax position, and your estate intentions into one integrated wealth management strategy that grows stronger as your business does.
We are not CPAs or attorneys. We work alongside yours to make sure every part of the strategy is coordinated, every question is asked, and every opportunity is captured before it passes.
How We Build Your Business Wealth Strategy
Understanding Your Business and Goals
We start with a conversation about both sides of your financial life: your business and your personal goals. We want to understand your business structure, your income, your timeline, how you envision eventually stepping away, and what financial security looks like for you and your family on the other side of that transition.
Identifying the Gaps in Your Business
We review your current business structure, retirement savings approach, insurance coverage, and estate documents to identify where the gaps are between where you are today and where you want to be. For most business owners, this review surfaces opportunities that have been sitting unaddressed for years.
Building the Integrated Strategy
We develop a coordinated business wealth strategy that addresses structure, retirement planning, tax efficiency, succession, and personal estate planning as a single integrated whole. We work alongside your CPA and attorney to make sure every recommendation is aligned across legal, tax, and financial disciplines.
Ongoing Management and Review
A business changes, and your strategy needs to keep up. We review your business wealth strategy every year as part of your comprehensive wealth management relationship, adjusting for changes in revenue, tax laws, ownership structure, and your personal timeline. Nothing falls through the cracks because we are watching all of it.
Built for Business Owners at Every Stage
Our business planning services are designed for:
- Established business owners in Durango and Southwest Colorado who have built significant value and need a strategy to protect and transfer it efficiently
- Growing business owners who want to make sure their personal wealth is building alongside their business, not lagging behind it
- Business owners approaching retirement who need a clear succession strategy, exit approach, and retirement income plan before they step away
- Business owners who have recently sold or are planning to sell and need to manage the tax and investment implications of a significant liquidity event
See What Our Clients Are Saying
What should a financial plan include?
A solid financial plan ought to cover a thorough look at your personal goals and aspirations, alongside an evaluation of your investment holdings. It should map out your expected income and expenses both before and after retirement, weigh the pros and cons of different retirement and investment account options, and outline strategies for retirement preparation, tax efficiency, charitable contributions, and safeguarding your assets through insurance.
On top of that, it should offer clear, actionable advice and steps to turn your goals into reality. To guide you toward the best decisions, a good plan will also lay out a variety of potential scenarios—plus some alternative ones—for you to consider.
Can you help me plan for retirement?
Planning for retirement is a crucial step in securing your financial future. At United Financial Planning Group, we offer comprehensive retirement planning services to help you achieve your retirement goals.
What is your investment philosophy?
We base our investment approach on evidence and decades of market history, not guesswork about the future. Research shows market timing doesn’t work. Instead, we focus on what you can control: risk, asset allocation, costs, and taxes. Emotional decisions often hurt long-term returns, so we aim to avoid those pitfalls.
Diversification lowers risk—not just by holding many assets, but by mixing company sizes, sectors, and balancing stocks and bonds. Risk can’t be erased, but it can be managed.
We keep expenses low with cost-effective mutual funds and ETFs, since high fees can erode even a well-diversified portfolio’s gains.
Taxes matter too. While unavoidable, they can be minimized with a smart, tax-aware strategy.
Will I have a dedicated advisor?
Yes, you will have a dedicated advisor. At Finovate, we believe in the power of a personalized, one-on-one relationship between each client and their advisor. We understand that your financial journey is unique, which is why we ensure that every client partners with a dedicated advisor, committed to understanding and achieving your specific financial goals.
What is Wealth Management?
Wealth management is a comprehensive financial service that goes beyond traditional investment management. It’s a holistic approach that takes into account all aspects of your financial life, including your investments, retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, and more. Read more about our wealth management services here.
What is Financial Planning?
Financial planning is a proactive and personalized process that helps you make informed decisions about your money and achieve your financial goals. It’s like having a roadmap for your financial future, guiding you through life’s milestones and unexpected events. Read more about our Financial Planning services here.
How do I get started?
Whether you are interested in having Finovate manage you investments, doing a financial plan, or are interested in our tax advisory services, we typically start with a quick introductory phone call. To schedule an intro call please click here.
Are you a fiduciary?
Yes, we are a fiduciary firm. This means we have a legal and ethical obligation to act in your best interests at all times, putting your financial well-being above our own. We are committed to providing you with unbiased advice and recommendations that are tailored to your specific financial situation and goals.
