By Anthony Nasca, CEPA and Brad Stanek, CFP, financial advisors with Morgan Stanley
Many of our financial planning conversations focus on a dealer’s business and real estate. While these conversations are important, they often overlook a critical piece of the bigger picture – the personal financial planning moves every owner should be considering right now.
In this article, we will shift the focus from the showroom floor to your own personal net worth statement, highlighting timely strategies that can help protect your wealth and align your personal and family goals.
Boat dealership owners often have the majority of their wealth tied up in the dealership itself – real estate, inventory, and goodwill. While this concentration can drive growth, it also leaves your personal finances vulnerable if market conditions shift.
Stress testing your investment portfolio and liquidity – by modeling scenarios in poor, average, and strong market conditions – can identify possible gaps in cash flow and reveal whether you have enough readily available assets to sustain your lifestyle and obligations.
Unfortunately, we see this story play out all too often. As recently as Covid-19, when uncertainty struck, dealers were forced to scramble to find solutions to stay afloat. By proactively addressing liquidity today, you can avoid these costly mistakes and be better positioned to weather downturns and capitalize on opportunities.
When we sit down with marine dealers, we often find they’re not fully capitalizing on the small, incremental moves that, when compounded over years, can make a significant difference for their long-term wealth and their families.
Simple steps like maximizing contributions to the dealership’s retirement plan (whether a Simple IRA or 401(K)), taking advantage of the expanded 529 provisions for education savings, exploring whether new ‘Trump Accounts’ apply to your situation, and leveraging Roth contributions (or backdoor Roth strategies, depending on income) can all add up.
The goal is to intentionally build a mix of tax-deferred, tax-free, and taxable assets giving you more flexibility and efficiency when drawing income from your portfolio in the future.
If you heard our team speak before, you know we’re passionate about dealers having a strong advisory team in their corner. This isn’t just critical in the year of a dealership sale – it matters ever single year.
One of the most effective steps you can take is scheduling a call with both your tax advisor and your financial planner in the third or the fourth quarter. In just an hour or two, you can review your estimated income and tax liability, and more importantly, explore proactive strategies to manage the year (especially in a year like 2025, where we’ve seen new tax legislation).
The call may include considerations like bunching deductions or how impactful charitable donations can be from both a personal fulfillment and tax advantage stand point, and review strategies like tax loss harvesting before year-end.
A short, focused conversation with your team can uncover valuable opportunities to help you get ahead of your taxes – not react to them after the fact.
At the end of the day, protecting your personal wealth as a marine dealer requires the same discipline and foresight you bring to running your dealership. By stress-testing your liquidity, making small intentional financial moves, and surrounding yourself with a strong advisory team, you can make a meaningful difference for your future.
A dealership is often your largest asset, but your financial security goes beyond the showroom – it’s about aligning your business success with your family’s future.
Anthony Nasca, CEPA (anthony.nasca@ms.com), is a certified exit planning advisor and financial advisor with Stanek-Haack Group at Morgan Stanley in Chicago, and Brad Stanek (brad.stanek@ms.com), is an executive director and financial advisor with The Stanek-Haack Group at Morgan Stanley in Chicago.