The most valuable planning for a business owner often has to happen before the sale completes. Once the deal is done, several doors quietly close.
Most owners think of financial planning as something that happens after a sale, once there is a lump sum to invest. By then, some of the most valuable options have already closed.
Share structure, the timing of disposals, who owns what and through which vehicle, the use of pension contributions to reduce a corporation tax bill in the final trading years: these are decisions with real value, and almost all of them have to be made while you still own the business. After completion you are working with what is left.
We would rather meet an owner two years before a sale than two weeks after. That window is long enough to structure ownership sensibly, to make sure a spouse's allowances are not wasted, to align the corporate lawyer and the tax adviser around the same plan, and to decide what the proceeds are actually for before the money lands.
None of this is about rushing a sale or manufacturing complexity. It is about making sure that the once-in-a-lifetime event at the centre of your financial life is planned for, rather than reacted to. The 3Ls gives us the frame for that conversation: what the proceeds need to do for your liquidity, your lifestyle and your legacy, decided before, not after.