Excel Legacy Group, LLC

Excel Legacy Group, LLC I am a consultant with three decades of experience buying, selling and running businesses. WHAT IS AN ESOP? ESOP TRANSACTION VS.

This expertise developed over time has allowed me the ability to assist and give the small business owner options for retirement or exiting their business. An employee stock ownership plan (“ESOP”) is a qualified, defined contribution, employee benefit plan. ESOPs are "qualified" in the sense that the ESOP's sponsoring company, the selling shareholder and
participants receive various tax benefits.

An ESOP is very similar to other qualified retirement plans, like a 401(k) plan, with two very significant
differences: (1) the ESOP is designed to invest primarily in the stock of the sponsoring company and (2)
employees don’t use any of their money to acquire any shares. The first ESOP was created in 1957, the tax benefits which make the ESOP so popular were introduced in
1975, and today there are thousands of companies with ESOPs in the U.S., benefitting millions of employees. A leveraged ESOP (“LESOP”) is simply an ESOP that has obtained financing to purchase shares of the
company from existing shareholder or from the company itself. POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF ESOPS
If structured properly, a leveraged ESOP can provide the following benefits:
Customization of many of the transaction terms to fit the situation. For example, each shareholder can sell any
interest they wish to sell – from a minority interest (the ESOP trust must own at least 30% percent of the
Company for favorable tax treatment discussed below) up to 100%, i.e., some shareholders can exit and
others can stay. Contrary to popular belief, for whatever shares are sold to the ESOP, the selling shareholders can receive fair
market value for their shares. Selling shareholders can receive significant cash at closing (amount will be determined by ability of company
to obtain financing). Selling shareholders can permanently defer capital gains taxes on the transaction (i.e., keep the part of the
sale price (usually over 25%, depending on state of residency) that would have to be paid in taxes in a
normal third party sale) if they elect IRC § 1042 treatment and take other appropriate steps discussed herein. Regardless of the amount of interests sold by the selling shareholders they can retain control of the business
post – closing, or vest control in a management team (which could even include next generation family members). The post-closing ESOP company receives significant tax deductions enabling it to pay little or no corporate
taxes and, potentially, to receive refunds of any taxes previously paid. If the ESOP owns 100% of the capital
stock after close, the company becomes what is essentially a for-profit, tax exempt entity.
“Second bite of the apple” for the shareholders or for others the shareholders care about, typically equaling
30-40% of the equity value of the business, consisting of the seller financing warrants and nonqualified
management incentive plan. Employees get a retirement benefit windfall (i.e., not using any of their own money to fund the plan) and they
can defer taxes to later in life when their tax bracket will likely be lower. SALE TO A THIRD PARTY
Due diligence process is less disruptive to business
Transaction is typically handled much more quickly than sale to a third party
Holdbacks, earn-outs and indemnification claims common in third party sales are much less likely in ESOP
transactions
Confidentiality of business operations and trade secrets can be maintained (i.e., no competitors looking at
sensitive Company information)
Purchase price is stable throughout transaction (i.e., no “deal creep”). ESOP transaction can be customized to meet the goals of the selling shareholders. Company culture unchanged in an ESOP transaction
Legacy goals of shareholders can be achieved in an ESOP transaction

SOME ESOP MISCONCEPTIONS
Selling shareholders will lose control to employees
Management or employees will have to fund the purchase
You have to be a particular entity type (e.g., C corp/S corp)
Employees will have access to sensitive company financial information
Sellers will not receive a fair purchase price
An ESOP will prevent a subsequent sale of the company
ESOPs are expensive to set up and/or administer post-closing
To have an ESOP companies need a large payroll
It only works for certain types of businesses

07/13/2025

If you're a business owner with 15+ employees and a remarkable story, I'd love to feature you as a guest on my podcast.

New Video from the ESOP Evangelist ShowEnjoy.
06/07/2024

New Video from the ESOP Evangelist Show

Enjoy.

ESOP Benefits with Haydee

Come see our virtual exhibit at the Lions Den DFW on April 18th. Below is  a coupon code for you to register for Virtual...
04/16/2024

Come see our virtual exhibit at the Lions Den DFW on April 18th.
Below is a coupon code for you to register for Virtual Exhibit Day on the 18th ($35.99 value)

Link to VED: Virtual Exhibit Day - Lion's Den DFW (oneplusoneproductions.com)
Link to Register: Virtual Exhibit Day Registration (thelionsdendfw.org)

Exhibit Page:
Excel Legacy Group - Lion's Den DFW (oneplusoneproductions.com)
Coupon Code: ELG2024

Scientific Death of JesusFor the next 60 seconds, set aside whatever you're doing and take this opportunity! Let's see i...
03/30/2024

Scientific Death of Jesus
For the next 60 seconds, set aside whatever you're doing and take this opportunity! Let's see if Satan can stop this.
At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to death.
At the time, crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus. Unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.
Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.
The nails were driven into His wrist, not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist, that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support Himself so that He could breathe.
Both of His feet were nailed together. Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support Himself with His legs because of the pain so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using His legs just to continue to breathe. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage.
Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.
Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering? A few minutes before He died,
Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water from his wounds.
From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side... But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body. A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even larger nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. But before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp. Most men would not have survived this torture.
He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds. The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood.
Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood; He had three nails hammered into His members; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest..
All these without mentioning the humiliation He suffered after carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, where His hands were nailed).
Jesus had to endure this experience, to open the gates of Heaven, so that you can have free access to God.
So that your sins could be "washed" away. All of them, with no exception! Don't ignore this situation.
JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU!
He died for you! It is easy to pass jokes or foolish photos by e-mail, but when it comes to God, sometimes you feel ashamed to forward to others because you are worried of what they may think about you.
God has plans for you, show all your friends what He experienced to save you. Now think about this! May God bless your life!
If you are not ashamed to do this, please, follow Jesus' instructions. He said (Matthew 10:32 & 33): "Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge
before My Father in heaven; but whosoever denies Me before others, I will deny before My Father in heaven."🙏

As I gazed into the faces of my grandchildren at our annual Christmas cookie making event. I couldn’t help giving them a...
12/21/2023

As I gazed into the faces of my grandchildren at our annual Christmas cookie making event. I couldn’t help giving them a hug and whispering, “I love you.” It was a special moment coming face to face with a life, a life that was clearly only able to be created by the power of God to create from nothing.

To the best of my knowledge, Cadence, Jeremiah or Liam's parents had no angel appear in their room, saying that important line angels say, “Do not be afraid!” You might recall the angel also proclaimed that Mary would give birth to the Son of God.
Does the baby born thousands of years ago matter today as we hustle to buy one last Christmas gift to put under the tree?

What will you do with Jesus this Christmas? Who will you tell about his life? There’s no better time than Christmas!

03/11/2023
12/20/2022
Do you have a library?
11/14/2022

Do you have a library?

Read through books printed on paper or using digital versions. No matter how you do it, the important thing is that you do it. Never forget the importance of reading.

Address

Milwaukee, WI
53021

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+14147502901

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Excel Legacy Group, LLC posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Excel Legacy Group, LLC:

Share