Ethos Business Law

Looking for a way to increase your retirement savings? Still trying to catch-up after the “Great Recession?” Worried about your increasing tax bills that may become even more onerous over the next couple years? If so, Cash Balance Plans may be something to look at.

Some of the interesting attributes of Cash Balance Plans include:

• Are a type of defined benefit plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

• May be well-suited for high income-earning professionals and owners of small, closely-held businesses.

• Feature deferral of more pre-tax income than 401K or profit sharing plans.

• Can often be layered on top of a 401K or profit sharing plan.

I recently saw a research article here that provided a great summary of Cash Balance Plans.  This was put together by Bernstein Global Wealth Management and was sent to me by Paul Borowski, one of their advisors (Paul.Borowski@bernstein.com).  Take a look and see if this might be right for you.

Recently, I was working with a client looking at a potential investment.  As I was pouring over the diligence, I noticed some interesting and unfortunate trends.  By using quick and simple ratio analysis, I was able to determine that the business was not as healthy as initially thought, nor as the sellers portrayed.  A few simple calculations saved my client significant purchase price dollars and buyer’s remorse once they acquired a business in serious trouble.

I think it is important that all business people (including lawyers) be able to understand, digest and interpret basic financial statements.  If you are not familiar, I have set forth below a few key financial ratios that you can use to assess the financial health of a business: (more…)

A bill has been introduced in the Senate known as the Hedge Fund Transparency Act.  While directed at hedge funds, it is drafted very broadly and if passed in its proposed form would require private equity funds, venture capital funds and other private investment vehicles with more than $50 million under management to register with the SEC. 

More information can be found at bloomberg.com.