Lumpy income, concentrated equity, and big liquidity events.
Whether you work in M&A or you’re going through a deal yourself, the financial planning question is the same: how do you turn variable, concentrated, deal-driven wealth into a durable long-term plan — without losing too much of it to tax along the way.
Deal-driven wealth doesn’t fit standard advice.
A base salary that barely covers life. Then a year-end bonus. Then a deal closes and the cheque is several multiples of everything else combined. Or you’re a founder sitting on equity that’s about to become liquid — with carry, earn-outs and deferred consideration to navigate.
The standard financial planning model — steady salary, steady contributions, steady growth — assumes none of that. It also misses the planning windows that matter most: the year before a deal closes, the tax year of a big bonus, the moment before vesting starts.
The right planning here is about preparing for the lumpy years before they arrive: pension carry-forward used at the right moment, ISAs filled in the years that allow it, diversification away from concentrated single-stock or single-fund risk, and a clean post-event plan ready before the cash lands.
The cost of standard advice in non-standard situations.
Deal-driven income compounds advantages when planned for — and compounds tax bills when it isn’t.
With specialist planning
- Pension carry-forward used in big-bonus years to absorb peak income
- ISA allowances filled in flat years so cash isn’t sat idle waiting for a deal
- Diversification plan in place before concentrated equity becomes liquid
- Tax planning around carry, deferred consideration and earn-outs
- BADR/Entrepreneurs’ Relief tested and protected pre-completion
- Post-event investment policy designed before the cash hits the account
Without it
- Big bonus or carry distribution taxed at 45% with no AA carry-forward used
- Pension allowance unused in flat years, then locked out by tapered allowance
- Concentrated equity held all the way through vesting with no de-risking plan
- BADR lost on technicalities that proper pre-deal planning would have caught
- Proceeds sat in cash for 12–18 months while a plan gets written reactively
- Family wealth concentrated in the same employer, sector or single deal
Strategy, not product pushing.
A four-step process that’s the same for every client — though the conclusions never are.
Understand the deal cycle
How your income lands, what equity you hold, vesting schedules, expected liquidity timelines, family circumstances.
Build a flexible plan
Pension and ISA usage flexed to the income pattern, diversification roadmap mapped against vesting, tax planning windows identified.
Act in the right windows
Contributions made when allowance is available, equity sold or hedged in line with the diversification plan, BADR-style reliefs protected.
Adjust as deals move
Deal pipeline shifts, exit timelines move, equity gets repriced — the plan needs to flex with what’s actually happening, not what was forecast.
Things people often ask.
Do you work with M&A professionals specifically?
Yes — the planning shape for dealmakers, M&A advisers, investment banking and PE professionals has enough in common that it benefits from a specialist approach. Variable comp, concentrated equity, deal-cycle taxation and long-horizon liquidity are the recurring themes.
What about founders going through their first sale?
Yes — this is also where this service sits. The financial planning around a founder’s liquidity event (pre-deal BADR planning, post-deal diversification, the personal income plan for the years after) is its own conversation, distinct from the corporate finance work the deal team is doing.
How do you manage planning around variable income?
By treating it as a multi-year picture rather than a tax year at a time. Pension Annual Allowance carries forward three years. ISA capacity rolls. The lumpy income gets absorbed across the windows it’s allowed to use — provided the planning is done before each window closes.
What about carry and deferred consideration?
Both need their own tax treatment understood and planned for. Carried interest has specific rules; earn-outs and deferred consideration affect when CGT crystallises. We coordinate with your tax adviser to plan around these rather than discover them at the end.
How do you handle concentrated equity risk?
With a written diversification plan that runs alongside the vesting or lock-up schedule. When equity becomes sellable, it’s sold in line with the plan rather than impulsively — or impulsively held. Stop-loss and rebalancing protocols agreed in advance, not in panic.
How does this fit with my accountant and tax adviser?
Cleanly. The deal team and tax adviser focus on the transaction; this service focuses on the personal financial plan that sits behind it. I co-ordinate with whoever you’re already working with rather than asking you to switch.
Let’s start with a conversation.
An initial chat is without obligation. Whether your next big income year is six months or three years away, the planning windows are easier to use when they’re known in advance.