The Practice Built for the part of a sale most owners do not see clearly enough, early enough.
Owner Exit Studio is designed to help private business owners understand what a sale, transition, recapitalization, or ownership change may actually leave in their hands after debt, fees, structure, and taxes are considered.
The goal is not just to model a headline number. It is to clarify the personal after-tax outcome while there is still time to improve it. For many owners, that means identifying the gap between enterprise value and usable family capital before a process begins and before key planning decisions are harder to change.
It is a guided discovery tool using directional modeling. It is not a full financial plan, not legal or tax advice, and not a full M&A model. Its role is to help you understand the likely owner outcome early enough to know what needs deeper work next.
Bongard Wealth Advisory Group, part of BMO Private Wealth, is led by Deborah Bongard, Christopher Bowlby, and Mark Parent, combining portfolio management, financial planning, and owner-transition perspective for business owners facing one of the most consequential financial decisions of their lives.
CFA CFP CIM CEPA
Who is this review designed for? +
It is designed for private business owners who are approaching a possible sale, transition, recapitalization, or other major ownership decision and want a clearer view of what the business may actually deliver personally after debt, structure, timing, and tax are taken into account.
How early should I do this review? +
The earlier the better. This work is often most valuable before a process starts, while there is still time to improve tax positioning, ownership structure, documentation readiness, and the way the eventual proceeds will support your next chapter.
What will this review actually show me? +
It helps translate a possible transaction into something more useful: what may be left after debt repayment, transaction costs, holdbacks, taxes, and deal structure, compared against what the sale needs to fund for your family and future plans. In many cases, that number is materially different from the headline value.
Is this a self-serve calculator or a guided review? +
It is a guided review. The tool supports the conversation, but the value comes from interpreting the result properly, identifying where the gap is coming from, and clarifying which planning decisions may still improve the outcome before a transaction moves forward. It is directional modeling, not a self-serve calculator or a full standalone plan.
I already have advisors. Where does this fit? +
This review addresses a different question: how a possible sale may translate into your personal after-tax outcome. Your accountant, lawyer, commercial banker, M&A advisor, and wealth team each have important roles, but that full picture is not always being modeled in one place early enough. This review is meant to clarify that outcome while there is still time to act on it. It usually sits upstream of a live process and ahead of deeper tax, legal, and deal execution work.
What happens after I request a review? +
We begin with a short conversation to understand your ownership structure, timing, priorities, and the kind of transition you may be considering. From there, we determine whether a fuller review makes sense, identify the most important issues first, and map the next advisor conversations required if there is a real gap to close.