When you’re running a successful business, personal financial planning often takes a back seat. The business demands your time, your capital, and your attention, and personal wealth building may get deferred, sometimes for years. It happens often, and that deferral can compound in ways that take years to reverse.
Women own 15.7 million businesses in the U.S., generating $2.8 trillion in annual revenue.1
Yet financial planning for women who own businesses involves challenges that standard frameworks don’t address: variable income, limited access to capital, and personal wealth concentrated inside a single, illiquid asset.
The good news is that you can build personal wealth alongside your business, not instead of it.
Why personal planning gets deprioritized — and the real cost
Many women business owners don’t deprioritize personal planning because they want to. They deprioritize it because the business always feels more urgent. Every dollar seems to do more inside the company than outside it. But when every dollar goes back into the business, personal wealth building may never start.
This could create a concentration trap. When most of your net worth sits inside one illiquid asset, your financial future depends on a single outcome.
A slow market, a health event, or an industry shift could affect everything. Diversification — not putting all your eggs in one basket — can apply to your total financial life, not just your investment portfolio. Financial planning for women business owners should address both balance sheets at the same time.
Women also face a retirement savings gap.
The median total household retirement savings for women is $56,000, compared with $92,000 for men.2 And women hold only about 60% as much in retirement account balances as men.3
For business owners who’ve reinvested every dollar back into the company, that gap can be even wider.
Building personal wealth while running the business
Pay yourself reliably
Set a salary and stick to it. Even a modest, regular paycheck has the potential to create the foundation for personal investing, retirement account funding, and emergency savings. The key is reliability: paying yourself the same amount on the same schedule, regardless of how the business performed that month. This discipline separates your personal financial life from the business’s ups and downs, and it’s one of the first steps in financial planning for women who own businesses.
Use retirement accounts designed for the self-employed
A solo 401(k) lets you save money as both the employee and the employer. With 2026 IRS tax changes, you can defer up to $24,500 as an employee and add up to 25% of your salary as the employer, with a combined maximum of $72,000. If you’re age 50 or older, additional savings push that ceiling higher. A solo 401(k) also allows Roth savings, which a SEP-IRA may not offer depending on your custodian.
A SEP-IRA offers similar limits — up to $72,000 in 2026 — with more streamlined administration and the flexibility to fund as late as your extended filing deadline. That flexibility suits income that swings year to year.
If your business has higher, steadier profits, a cash balance plan can push tax-deductible savings even further.
Solo 401(k) vs. SEP-IRA
| Solo 401(k) | SEP-IRA | |
|---|---|---|
| Employee deferral | $24,500 | Not allowed |
| Employer savings | Up to 25% of pay | Up to 25% of pay |
| Total annual limit (under age 50) | $72,000 | $72,000 |
| Additional savings (age 50-59, 64+) | $8,000 | Not allowed |
| Additional savings (age 60-63) | $11,250 | Not allowed |
| Roth option | Available | Limited by custodian |
| Plan setup deadline | By Dec 31 | Any time before filing |
| Funding deadline | Employee: Dec 31 Employer: tax filing date | Tax filing date (incl. extensions) |
| Both Plans cap at $72,000 – but solo 401(k) lets you save more at lower income levels | ||
Build a taxable investment portfolio outside the business
Retirement accounts are essential, but they’re not the whole picture, especially if you want options. Traditional retirement accounts generally come with a 59 ½ rule, meaning withdrawals before that age can trigger taxes and penalties. That works well if your path is a straight line to a traditional retirement age. For many women, it isn’t. Career breaks for caregiving, a sabbatical, a season of rebuilding after selling a business, or a decision to retire earlier than planned are all real possibilities, and they’re the moments when access to your money matters most.
A taxable investment portfolio, funded by your salary and business distributions, could give you that access. It can bridge the years before retirement accounts become available, help support you through a pause in income, and keep you from having to choose between your timeline and your tax bill. It also adds liquidity and diversification beyond the business. Over time, redirecting profit into a diversified portfolio helps reduce your dependence on a single asset and puts more of the decision about when and how you step back in your hands.
Coordinating tax strategy with your personal plan
Entity structure and tax efficiency
If you operate as an S corporation, you can split income between salary and distributions. This structure can help reduce self-employment taxes while keeping your retirement savings strategy on track. The key is coordinating with a tax professional to find the right balance, since your salary determines your retirement savings limits.
A coordinated approach to tax planning and investment management can help optimize both sides of your financial life — a core part of financial planning for women business owners.
Preliquidity tax planning
If you’re considering selling your business someday, tax planning before a liquidity event may be far more valuable than after. Strategies like qualified small business stock (QSBS) exclusion, which lets certain C corporation shareholders exclude up to 100% of capital gains at exit, can require planning years in advance. After July 4, 2025, new QSBS rules offer tiered exclusions starting at three years of holding, with a higher $15 million per-issuer limit.
Protecting what you’ve built
Key person insurance
If your business depends on you — and most women-owned businesses do — key person insurance can provide funds to keep the business running if you can’t. The business owns the policy and receives the benefit, which can cover operational costs, debt service, or the cost of finding a replacement.
Disability income protection
Without employer-sponsored benefits, your income is your most valuable asset. Disability insurance for the self-employed replaces a portion of your income if illness or injury prevents you from operating your business.
For women business owners, this protection is especially important because women are more likely than men to experience a work-limiting disability.4
Business continuity planning
What happens to your business if you step away? A documented continuity plan — including buy-sell agreements, key employee provisions, and operating procedures — can help ensure the business survives a transition, whether planned or unexpected.
Business overhead insurance can also cover ongoing expenses during a disability.
Planning for an exit — even if it’s years away
You don’t need to be ready to sell to start planning for a business exit. In fact, the strongest outcomes usually belong to the owners who start early. Business valuation, buyer expectations, tax strategy, and estate planning all benefit from years of preparation, and many of the most valuable options narrow or disappear when a deal is on the table. Entity structure, ownership transfers, and the timing of a sale can all shape what you keep after taxes, and they’re far easier to adjust three to five years out than three to five months out.
A successful exit requires more than market timing. It requires a coordinated plan that aligns your business strategy with your personal financial goals. What do you want life to look like after the business? How much do you need to walk away with to get there? Who do you want to benefit from what you’ve built? Those questions should shape the plan from the start, not show up at the end.
This is where we specialize. At Mercer Advisors, our Women & Wealth practice works with women business owners well before an exit, helping them understand their full range of options and prepare to take advantage of them. That can mean identifying ways to strengthen the value of the business, coordinating tax planning ahead of a liquidity event, and building the personal financial picture that gives you real choices about when and how to move on. The goal is to help you be as prepared as possible so that when the opportunity comes, you’re deciding from a position of strength.
An additional consideration is estate planning. When your business is your largest asset, it introduces additional complexity, and trust structures, succession plans, and tax-efficient transfer strategies all need to coordinate with your personal financial plan.
A comprehensive approach — one that integrates financial planning, tax planning and preparation, estate planning, investment management, and insurance solutions — can help you transfer your wealth efficiently and design a legacy that reflects your values.
The integrated approach
As a women business owner, you don’t need another spreadsheet. You need a coordinated plan that addresses both sides of your financial life — the business and the personal.
Our dedicated Women & Wealth practice at Mercer Advisors understands the unique challenges women entrepreneurs face, from variable income to concentration risk to the dual planning challenge of managing both a business and a personal balance sheet. The wealth advisors in the practice have extensive experience helping women navigate complex aspects of financial planning.
1“The Impact of Women-Owned Businesses.” Wells Fargo.
2“25 Facts About Women’s Retirement Outlook.” Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, November 2025.
3“Women and Wealth.” U.S. Department of Labor, January 2025.
4”People with Health Conditions or Difficulties that Limit Work Summary.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sept. 30, 2025.
All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the author as of the date of publication and are subject to change. Some of the research and ratings shown in this presentation come from third parties that are not affiliated with Mercer Advisors. The information is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed or warranted by Mercer Advisors. Content, research, tools and stock or option symbols are for educational and illustrative purposes only and do not imply a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell a particular security or to engage in any particular investment strategy. All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Hypothetical examples are for illustrative purposes only.
For financial planning advice specific to your circumstances, talk to a qualified professional at Mercer Advisors.
Mercer Advisors is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice to clients. All Estate planning document preparation and other legal advice are provided through select third parties, with which Mercer Advisors has a contractual relationship. Tax preparation and filing services are provided by Mercer Advisors Tax Services, LLC. Clients will sign a separate agreement when engaging Mercer Advisors Tax Services that defines the services provided and any additional fees that may apply. Insurance products are provided by Mercer Advisors Insurance Services, LLC (MAIS), which places individual life, disability, long term care coverage, and property and casualty coverage through select insurance companies. Trustee services are offered through select third parties with which a client would sign an additional agreement, and additional fees may apply.
