Effective financial planning for executives and entrepreneurs is complex, dense, and impossible to reduce to a single, easy-to-understand formula. Designed to emphasize the importance of successful, targeted financial planning, this book begins by telling a story about a fictional, but plausible, power couple and their family who (spoiler alert!) do pretty much everything wrong in securing their financial future. In most cases, they don’t do the things needed because they don’t know what they are. Using this story as a case study of an executive and an entrepreneur, the book breaks down the case into chapters and offers practical discussions of all the key financial planning components—investment planning, tax planning, estate planning, philanthropic planning, risk management, and equity-based compensation to name a few—with the tools needed to tailor a plan for virtually every circumstance and need. While there is no single plan that works for everybody, this book provides a guide, with technical information alongside general themes, focused on how to build an effective financial plan.

In addition to all the benefits of the first edition, this second edition provides significant new content and insights for the entrepreneur who is planning for a future liquidity event such as a sale. It also provides detail on how to manage concentrated ownership positions and on ESG investment strategies, a rapidly growing investment theme. Finally, the second edition includes tax, estate planning, regulatory, and other updates to reflect changes since the first edition was published.