M&A & Liquidity Event Planning

The 12 months around a liquidity event contain more high-stakes financial decisions than the prior decade combined. The decisions are largely irreversible, the tax exposure is significant, and the planning windows close fast.

Lake House coordinates the integration that most generalist advisors don't run:

Pre-close planning (90–180 days before): — 280G change-of-control payment analysis and structuring — Equity acceleration and modification election review — Concentrated stock and option exercise sequencing — Estate freezing strategies before valuation jumps — Charitable gifting using pre-IPO or pre-close shares — Coordination with M&A counsel, deal CPAs, and corporate development

At close: — Cash-out and rollover proceeds optimization — Section 1202 QSBS qualification and timing — Installment sale analysis (for rollover equity) — Multi-state and multi-year tax projection modeling — Section 83(b) elections on rollover equity grants

Post-close (12–36 months after): — Diversification strategy for newly liquid wealth — Concentrated successor-company stock unwinding — Restricted stock and lockup expiration planning — Multi-year tax-loss harvesting and Roth conversion sequencing — Family wealth transfer and trust funding

Where this work usually goes wrong: Most executives engage their wealth advisor after the deal closes. By then, the most valuable planning windows — pre-close tax structuring, 280G mitigation, Section 1202 qualification — are already gone. Lake House works alongside corporate counsel and the CPA from the 90-day mark, so the moment compounds wealth rather than evaporating it.