From entrepreneur to investor

How to make your wealth work for you

06 Feb 2024

How to make your wealth work for you

In the latest report from our award-winning Chief Investment Office, discover how your investment strategy can become an invaluable tool for successful planning and managing of assets, even as these priorities shift over time.

So the fruits of your labor won’t just last for your lifetime – they’ll live on for generations to come.

Wherever you are in your entrepreneur journey, we can help you find the right investment strategies for you. Find out more in our ‘From entrepreneur to investor’ report and contact us to arrange a personal consultation.

The best ways to create wealth are not necessarily the same as those to preserve it.

I’m an active entrepreneur

Our insights

  • Active entrepreneurs typically focus their efforts and finances on growing their business, risking their wealth should the company suffer a downturn.
  • These entrepreneurs often hold a large part of their wealth in illiquid shares in their company.
  • They can overestimate the risks and underestimate the potential returns of investing in a range of assets. The result? A portfolio that is over reliant on the success of a small group of similar assets and which misses out on opportunities to grow and protect wealth.
  • Focusing exclusively on their businesses can lead entrepreneurs to hold excess liquid assets as a safety net. These cash-based assets would have more opportunities to beat inflation and grow in a diverse investment portfolio.

Some questions to ask yourself

  • How do you currently evaluate investment opportunities?
  • How familiar are you with approaches like diversifying investments to protect your wealth?
  • Do you run the risk of asset concentration?
  • What are your thoughts on diversifying your investments beyond your business – or even selling it?
  • How much liquidity do you feel you need to meet your spending needs?

Your to-do list

Read our report for your to-do list to help active entrepreneurs stay prepared and avoid common pitfalls.

I’m thinking about selling my business

Our insights

  • Entrepreneurs’ financial situations and needs change after exiting their business. They might focus more on preserving their wealth and ensuring they have enough cash to meet their spending plans.
  • Entrepreneurs don’t just exit their businesses: they leave certain values and behaviors behind. For example, taking risks often comes naturally to them but when exiting, they may feel cautious about investing the proceeds.
  • Entrepreneurs are typically used to controlling every part of their business. After all, it fueled their success. But it may not serve them so well as investors, where it pays to work with experts and delegate.

Some questions to ask yourself

  • How can you find the right buyer – and the right partners - for a successful sale?
  • What expenses do you foresee over the next three to five years?
  • What do you want to accomplish in life and what legacy would you like to leave?
  • What are your biggest financial concerns?
  • How do you feel about delegating investment tasks?

Your to-do list

Read our report for your to-do list to help you stay prepared and avoid common pitfalls while you’re thinking about selling your business.

I’ve already exited my business

Our insights

  • Entrepreneurs who have exited their business might fail to ensure they have enough liquidity to meet expenses – forcing them to sell assets at a discount.
  • Entrepreneurs can feel unsure about whether to invest the business-sale proceeds partially, gradually or all at once.
  • The UBS Wealth Way framework – see below – can help ensure they have the finances to meet their short-term costs, cover long-term expenses and achieve goals beyond their lifetime.

Some questions to ask yourself

  • How do you plan to meet your short-term and longer-term expenses?
  • What would you like your wealth to achieve beyond your lifetime?
  • How much of your sales proceeds would you feel comfortable investing?
  • Would you prefer to invest the proceeds in stages or all at once?

Your to-do list

Read our report for your to-do list to help you stay prepared and avoid common pitfalls when you’ve exited your business.

Our UBS Wealth Way approach

From running to selling your business and beyond, it’s vital you start the conversation early on about protecting the wealth you’ve created. Our framework can help you formulate a wealth plan that meets your financial objectives wherever you are in your entrepreneur journey.

UBS Wealth Way looks at wealth through three lenses: liquidity for short-term expenses, longevity for lifetime goals and legacy for goals that go beyond.

Contact us to find out more and arrange a personal consultation based around your investment needs.

Connect with us

See how we’ve helped clients around the world

The owners of a successful company preferred to invest in one area: new business properties in their region. But a business downturn, geopolitical tensions and unexpected regulations caused the company’s value to plummet almost 30% in one year.

Because the family focused purely on its business, it had no alternative sources of income. And with its asset concentration on property, the family had no liquid assets to see it through tough times.

By working with advisors, the family was able to avoid this pitfall by diversifying its investments and ensuring it had enough liquidity.

A UK entrepreneur was considering exiting his business to pursue other interests, spend more time with his family, and move abroad.

He engaged with advisors on financial topics like tax planning, asset structuring and investments. Risk tolerance and planned spend modelling revealed that his wealth wouldn’t generate the returns required to achieve his medium and long-term goals.

Together, they created a financial plan aligned to his goals and focused on protecting his wealth.

A US founder started a company in the clean beauty space eight years ago and is now in the earn-out phase of her exit.

Before selling, she met financial advisors to review her situation in light of her upcoming lump sum and interim earnout structure. This enabled her to structure her wealth and tax in the right way.

The UBS Wealth Way framework also helped her create the right investment strategy and reviewing it regularly with her advisors provides peace of mind that her plans are on track.

Access the report for a deeper dive into these client case studies, including financial illustrations.

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UBS Wealth Way is an approach incorporating Liquidity. Longevity. Legacy. strategies that UBS Financial Services Inc. and our Financial Advisors can use to assist clients in exploring and pursuing their wealth management needs and goals over different timeframes. This approach is not a promise or guarantee that wealth, or any financial results, can or will be achieved. All investments involve the risk of loss, including the risk of loss of the entire investment.  Timeframes may vary. Strategies are subject to individual client goals, objectives and suitability.