Business solutions tailored to your needs, no matter your size.
As a business owner, you face competing demands: growing your company, retaining talented employees, protecting your assets and planning for continuity. Afken Advisory Services manages your business and personal finances as two parts of one integrated whole.
Employee Benefits
Have you reviewed your company's benefits package lately? It's one of the best culture-defining, recruiting and retention tools you'll ever have. Your employees are your business's biggest asset — providing benefits recognises their value and makes their futures more secure.
- Group life, disability and funeral cover scheme design and provider selection
- Group retirement annuity / provident fund structuring and ongoing administration
- Annual scheme benchmarking against market alternatives
- Staff communication support so employees actually understand their benefits
Keyman Cover
Many employers in small to medium-sized businesses are great at looking after everyone except themselves. Keyman cover protects the business against the loss of a key person whose absence would significantly impact revenue or operations.
- Valuation-based cover sizing tied to the keyperson's actual contribution to revenue or operations
- Policy structuring to ensure proceeds are paid to the business, not the individual's estate
- Annual reviews as the business grows or key roles change
Buy-and-Sell Agreements
Without the correct corporate structures and agreements, the ownership interests of a business can be disrupted on the death or disability of a partner. A properly funded buy-and-sell agreement ensures continuity and eliminates the need to sell assets to meet obligations.
- Drafting of buy-and-sell agreements aligned to your shareholders' agreement
- Life and disability cover funding structured to match each partner's share value
- Regular share valuation reviews to keep funding accurate as the business grows
Succession Planning
Many owners trade as sole proprietors or in partnerships without guaranteeing that the benefits of their business interests will flow to the right people. The correct corporate structures, owned by trusts, coupled with the necessary agreements must be implemented to ensure continuity.
- Ownership transition structuring for family businesses and management buyouts
- Integration with personal estate and retirement planning for exiting owners
- Funding mechanisms for gradual or lump-sum ownership transfers
Personal Financial Planning for Owners
The Afken Advisory Services range extends to assuring the business owner's personal finances — covering risk events, key persons, and making sure the owner's own retirement goals are met alongside the business obligations they carry every day.
- Business interruption cover sized against realistic downtime scenarios
- Professional indemnity and public liability tailored to your sector
- Office, equipment and stock cover with annual revaluation
Funding a buy-and-sell agreement for a three-partner practice
Three equal partners in a professional services firm had a shareholders' agreement but no funded mechanism behind it — meaning a partner's death would have forced the others to either find cash fast or accept a new, unplanned co-owner.
We valued each partner's share, structured matched life cover to fund a buyout at fair value, and built the agreement so a transition — should it happen — is automatic and pre-funded.
SME & Corporate FAQs
What business owners ask before restructuring corporate cover.
How is keyman cover different from regular life insurance? +
Keyman cover is owned by and pays out to the business, sized to the financial impact of losing that person — not to their personal estate, which is what standard life cover does.
We already have a shareholders' agreement — do we still need buy-and-sell cover? +
An agreement states intent; buy-and-sell cover provides the actual cash to execute it. Without funding, a shareholders' agreement can be aspirational rather than enforceable in practice.
Can you manage employee benefits for a small team? +
Yes — group schemes can be structured for teams as small as a handful of employees, and we benchmark pricing so smaller schemes aren't penalised on rate.
Do you work with our existing accountant or attorney? +
Always. Succession, buy-and-sell and estate matters require close coordination with your legal and accounting advisors — we work alongside them, not around them.
One busy person can't address all these needs alone. We can help.
A first consultation costs nothing and commits you to nothing — just a clear view of where you stand today.