The Wealth Gap | Bright Forecast Financial

~80%

of a business owner's net worth is typically locked inside the business — a single, illiquid, undiversified asset.

That's not a problem until the business has to come out. The Wealth Gap is the simplest answer to one question: will what you have today, plus what the business eventually delivers, fund the life you actually want?

The calculation

Three steps. Five minutes.

Step 01

Write down your Wealth Goal.

What annual income would you need to fund your ideal life — housing, healthcare, travel, family support, the things you actually want to do? Be honest. Estimate generously where you're not sure.

Target annual income $ ____________

Divide that number by 4%.

Target ÷ 0.04 = your Wealth Goal — the invested-asset balance you would need to fund that income indefinitely without touching principal. The 4% rule is a long-standing safe-withdrawal benchmark; a real financial plan tightens this against your tax picture, time horizon, and actual risk profile.

Your Wealth Goal $ ____________

Step 02

Add up your investible net worth — excluding the business.

Cash, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, real estate equity outside the primary home, other investments. Do not include the business itself. The point is to figure out what the business needs to deliver.

Investible net worth (ex-business) $ ____________

Step 03

Subtract. That number is your Wealth Gap.

The amount the after-tax proceeds from your business — whether sold, transferred, or harvested over years — need to cover for the math to work.

Wealth Goal − Current Net Worth = Wealth Gap

Your Wealth Gap $ ____________

Worked example

A concrete case in point.

Numbers chosen to be illustrative, not prescriptive. Your situation will differ.

Item	Amount
Target post-exit annual income	$400,000
Wealth Goal ($400,000 ÷ 4%)	$10,000,000
Current investible net worth (excluding business)	$2,000,000
Wealth Gap	$8,000,000

This owner's business needs to net them roughly $8M after taxes and transaction costs to fund the stated life. If a sale produces $12M gross, federal and state capital gains plus transaction fees can take 30–45% — leaving roughly $6.6M to $8.4M in their pocket. Tight to the gap. That's the conversation the Wealth Gap is designed to start.

What this number tells you

Three answers most owners never see.

Whether your timing works. If the realistic after-tax sale value of your business doesn't close your gap, "I'll sell when I'm ready" is not actually an option. The math forces a decision that owners often avoid.
How much value-creation work you have ahead. If the gap is large, you have a runway question to answer — how much do we need to grow the business, or how much do we need to lift the multiple, before a sale (or transfer) closes the gap with margin?
Whether your plans line up. Most owners have a financial plan that ignores the business, a business plan that ignores the family, and a personal plan that exists only in their head. The Wealth Gap forces all three onto one page.

If you stopped working tomorrow,
would your money carry the life you want?

Three steps. Five minutes.

A concrete case in point.

Three answers most owners never see.

Want a real number,
not a back-of-envelope estimate?

If you stopped working tomorrow,would your money carry the life you want?

Three steps. Five minutes.

A concrete case in point.

Three answers most owners never see.

Want a real number,not a back-of-envelope estimate?

If you stopped working tomorrow,
would your money carry the life you want?

Want a real number,
not a back-of-envelope estimate?