FAITH BASED
Business & Farm Succession Planning
Conveniently Located in Gap, PA, We Serve Clients In Lancaster County, Chester County, and Surrounding Areas
Pass Your Legacy Forward with Confidence
You’ve spent decades building something meaningful. Whether it’s a thriving farm that’s fed your community for generations or a business that bears your family name, what you’ve created deserves to continue making an impact long after you’ve moved on to your next season of life.
Business and farm succession planning in Lancaster, PA, is more than spreadsheets and legal documents. It’s about preserving what matters most—your values, your family relationships, and the legacy you want to leave behind.
Why Lancaster and Chester County Families Choose Bare Wealth Advisors
Based right here in Lancaster County, we understand the unique challenges you face. Many of our partners and lead advisors grew up on farms. We’ve walked the land, understood the early mornings, and experienced firsthand the weight of stewardship that comes with managing generational assets.
We know that in our community, hard work isn’t just a value—it’s a way of life. And we know that when you think about the future of your farm or business, you’re thinking about more than just financial security. You’re thinking about the people you love and the community you serve.
For families seeking business and farm succession planning in Lancaster, PA, we offer something different: advisors who share your values, understand your culture, and view your success as our own.
The Weight of Transition
Preparing the next generation to take over your business or farm is one of the most significant decisions you’ll ever make.
These questions keep you up at night:
How do I bless my children financially without ruining their lives?
You’ve worked hard for what you have. You don’t want wealth to become a burden that undermines their character or work ethic.
What is fair versus what is equal?
When one child wants to continue the farm, and the others don’t, how do you honor everyone while preserving what you’ve built?
Am I leaving them prepared or just leaving them money?
You want to pass along wisdom before wealth—to ensure they understand stewardship, not just ownership.
How do I afford to transition while maintaining my own financial security?
You’ve worked hard for a long time and are nearing the age where you would like to begin slowing down, but you also want to see the family legacy continue.
These aren’t just financial questions. They’re deeply personal, and they deserve thoughtful, biblically-grounded answers.
The Problems That Keep Families Stuck
Before we can design the right solution, we need to understand the common challenges that make succession planning so difficult:
The Income Needs Problem
Oftentimes, the income needs of the existing generation will be met by the business or farm they’ve invested their life in. Determining a fair price and structure is critical for generosity and tax planning, while maintaining affordability for the next generation and honoring children not involved in the business.
The “Who’s Next?” Decision
If you haven’t already determined who the next steward will be, the planning process can be frustrating. Without clarity on this foundational question, everything else becomes speculation rather than planning.
Assumptions and Expectations
Too often, things are thrown out haphazardly regarding price or structure. Family members make assumptions or hold expectations that were never meant to be commitments. This creates confusion, resentment, and conflict down the road.
The Communication Gap
Lack of communication is at the core of most frustrations in business transition plans. Parents struggle to articulate what they’re hoping to do. Children make assumptions about what they’ll inherit. Siblings harbor unexpressed concerns about fairness. Without intentional, facilitated communication, these issues fester.
The “Event” Mindset
Many families view succession planning as a single event—sign the documents, and you’re done. In reality, succession is a long-term partnership that requires ongoing maintenance and support. Treating it as an event rather than a journey leads to incomplete plans and unmet expectations.
Identity and Letting Go
For many business owners and farmers, their identity is deeply tied to their work. The thought of letting go feels like losing themselves. This makes the transition emotionally difficult, even when it’s financially sound.
We’ve seen these problems derail succession plans—and we’ve developed solutions to attempt to address each one.
Our Approach: Story, Values, and Purpose First
At Bare Wealth Advisors, our business and farm succession planning in Lancaster, PA, goes far beyond basic estate planning. We’ve developed a comprehensive process that addresses many aspects of your transition, from buyout structures to family meetings that prepare hearts as well as hands.
Starting with What Matters Most
Our approach begins with understanding the story, values, and purpose of each party in the family business.
Before we talk about numbers, structures, or legal documents, we want to understand:
- What do you want to be remembered for?
- What is most important as you consider family harmony?
- Who are you beyond what you do?
- What legacy do you want to leave?
The “Why” and “Who” you are are more important than the tactical plan. These must be foundational, or the technical solutions will lack meaning and may not achieve what truly matters to you.
Growing in a Stewardship Mindset
We also believe stewardship extends beyond portfolio management. We seek to help clients develop perspective around wealth, responsibility, and purpose—recognizing that financial resources are a tool, not an identity.
This perspective transforms the succession conversation from loss to legacy, from ending to new beginning.
The Bare Experience: Discovery, Design, Partnership
Discovery Phase
We start by listening. What matters most to you? What does success look like for your family? What keeps you up at night? We engage both spouses in the process, because getting both the husband’s and wife’s input is critical for understanding the priority of goals and how they relate to business children versus children not engaged in the operation.
Through our initial conversations, we clarify your situation, understand your unique needs, and identify the specific challenges you’re facing.
Design Phase
This is where our holistic succession planning unfolds. We move through a comprehensive financial plan with specific assessments and recommendations aligned with your goals and values. What if a generation passes unexpectedly? What if the incoming generation faces a health crisis? What protections need to be in place?
Investment Planning
We quantify your need for liquidity based on your overall net worth, review investment allocation and diversification options, and determine your appropriate risk tolerance for the next season of life.
Retirement Planning for the Exiting Generation
We strategize your financial security through income planning aligned with your goals, and we review Social Security strategies and healthcare options.
Charitable Giving Strategies
How can you maintain—or even increase—your charitable giving levels after you don't own the business anymore? We review and assist in implementing strategies for charitable gifting.
Estate Distribution Planning
We collaborate with the family attorney to implement what may be your biggest stewardship decision, the estate plan, where all of your assets pass to another.
Family Meetings and Communication
We facilitate goal-setting sessions for involved children, as well as the difficult but necessary conversations about fairness, expectations, and roles. Many of our clients struggle to put into words what they hope to do—we help translate heart desires into clear communication.
Partnership Phase
This is critical: succession planning isn’t an event—it’s a long-term partnership that requires ongoing maintenance and support.
Once your plan is in place, we become your ongoing partners. We provide continued guidance, help you navigate transitions, coordinate with your CPA and attorney, and adjust the plan as circumstances change. We organize your other professional partners and rally them to implement the plan effectively.
This is a long-term relationship built on trust, because your succession journey doesn’t end when documents are signed—it’s just beginning.
Beyond Lancaster: Serving Families Statewide & Nationwide
While our roots are deep in Lancaster County, PA, our reach extends throughout Pennsylvania and across the United States. We serve clients statewide who share our values and desire biblically-grounded financial wisdom. For ultra-high-net-worth families, we travel anywhere in the country.
Thanks to remote meeting capabilities, geography doesn’t limit our ability to serve you, and we bring the same values-aligned, relationally-focused approach that defines our work here in Lancaster County.
Real-World Scenarios: How This Plays Out
The Multi-Property Farm Transition
It’s very common in Lancaster County for farm succession planning to involve one or two businesses operating across many farm properties or locations.
This creates complexity around:
- Which properties go to which children?
- How do you value land that’s been in the family for generations?
- Should you sell the equipment and the business before the real estate, or vice versa?
- How do you structure buyouts when multiple parcels are involved?
We’ve guided families through these exact scenarios, bringing clarity to what initially feels overwhelming.
The Communication Challenge
Often, the current owner struggles to put into words what they hope to accomplish. They know what they want in their heart, but articulating it clearly—especially to adult children with their own families, perspectives, and assumptions—is difficult.
We facilitate these conversations. We help translate your heart's desires into clear communication. We engage both spouses, ensuring the husband and wife are aligned and that both voices are heard in the process.
Blessing Business Children and Non-Business Children Uniquely
This is one of the most emotionally charged aspects of succession planning. How do you uniquely bless children not involved in the business, both during your lifetime and in your estate plan, without creating resentment or destroying the viability of the business for the child taking it over?
We've developed strategies for structuring these transitions in ways that honor everyone while preserving family harmony.
Coordinating Professional Partners
We help organize other professional partners—CPAs, attorneys, bank lenders, business consultants—and rally everyone to implement the plan cohesively. Succession planning often involves advice from multiple professionals.
We help bring everyone together, create a unified plan, and manage things in an attempt so that nothing falls through the cracks.
What Makes Us Different
We're Not Here to Run Your Business
Let’s be clear: we’re not here to run your business or farm. You’re the expert in your operation, and you’ll continue leading it through the transition. Our role is to be a partner who brings clarity to communication and expectations, creates affordable structures for the next generation, and aligns everything with the values and goals of all parties involved.
Deep Agricultural & Business Expertise
We have experience in complex giving strategies and business succession planning for high-net-worth families in Lancaster, PA, and beyond. Our deep knowledge of the agricultural community—combined with decades of combined experience across our advisory team—means we understand the nuances of farm transitions that general financial advisors simply don’t.
We understand commodity price fluctuations, crop rotations, dairy markets, equipment depreciation, and the unique challenges of passing land from one generation to the next.
We Excel at Price and Structure
Establishing the right price and the right structure is both an art and a science. Too high, and the next generation can’t afford it. Too low, and the exiting generation doesn’t have security. We work at finding the sweet spot that blesses everyone while maintaining tax efficiency.
Expertise with Lenders and Financing
We’re experienced at structuring proposals for bank partners and lenders. We prepare comprehensive packages that demonstrate the business’s viability, the next generation’s capability, and the soundness of the succession structure. This often results in better interest rates and more favorable lending terms for the incoming generation.
Tax Planning
Should you do a 1031 exchange to save taxes? What about installment sales? How can charitable giving strategies reduce your tax burden while funding Kingdom work? We coordinate with your CPA to ensure every strategy is optimized.
Collaborative Approach
Whether we’re coordinating your entire succession plan or focusing on the personal financial planning piece while another advisor quarterbacks, we collaborate seamlessly with your professional team. We honor everyone’s expertise while ensuring the plan moves forward cohesively.
Biblical Wisdom Applied
We ground our recommendations in timeless biblical principles of stewardship. This means we help you think beyond just the transaction to the transformation you want to see in the next generation. We facilitate conversations about values, responsibility, and purpose—not just assets and tax strategies.
Relational, Not Transactional
We view you as friends and partners, not just clients. We celebrate your wins and walk alongside you through challenges. When you work with Bare Wealth Advisors, you’re not getting a one-time plan—you’re gaining a team committed to your family’s long-term flourishing.
Preparing the Next Generation for Stewardship
One of the most overlooked aspects of business and farm succession planning in Lancaster, PA, is preparing hearts and minds, not just paperwork. We offer family legacy and stewardship training to help the next generation understand the responsibilities they’re inheriting.
Through intentional family meetings—either parent-led with our guidance or facilitated by our team—we help you:
- Communicate your values clearly to your children and grandchildren
- Share the “why” behind your financial decisions
- Build understanding of biblical stewardship principles
- Create unity around the family vision
- Address difficult topics with grace and clarity
- Equip the next generation to manage wealth responsibly
We help you prepare the next generation so that wealth continues to be a generational blessing and world-changer, rather than a destroyer of family unity and character.
Who We Love to Partner With
Our business and farm succession planning in Lancaster, PA, is designed for families who are ready to make critical decisions about the future of their family business or farm.
You're Our Ideal Fit If:
You're Ready to Act
You’re ready to make decisions around who the next steward of your family business or farm will be. You want to put a roadmap together—whether your transition is happening now or in the future—so you can improve communication within the business and within the family.
You Know (or Are Discerning) the Next Steward
The first decision in any succession plan is determining who the next steward will be. Our ideal clients either already know who this is and need a partner to structure the plan, or they’re actively working through this discernment and need guidance on the process.
You Need a Strategic Partner
You need help determining how to structure the succession plan, establish a fair price, clarify the exiting generation’s financial needs, and uniquely bless children who aren’t involved in the business while maintaining family harmony.
You Have a Heart for Stewardship and Generosity
You recognize that you’re not the owner of what you’ve built—you’re a temporary steward. You won’t take anything with you when you die, and you take that responsibility seriously. You desire to make an impact in your family, your community, and the world through faithful stewardship.
You Want a Quarterback or a Partner
We can serve as the quarterback coordinating your entire succession plan, collaborating with your accountants and attorneys. Or, if one of your other professional partners is already coordinating the effort, we can focus on the personal financial planning piece. We adapt to what you need.
You Value Communication and Clarity
You understand that succession planning isn’t about running the business (you’ll continue doing that). Rather, it’s about bringing clarity to communication and expectations, creating an affordable structure for the next generation, and aligning everything with the values and goals of all parties involved.
If this describes your family, we’d be honored to start a conversation with you.
Resources: The Five T's of Wealth Transfer
We often recommend Ron Blue’s Splitting Heirs, which walks through the Five T’s of wealth transfer.
We’ve adapted these into Five T’s that form the structural foundation for how we approach succession planning:
- Transfer Decision – How to identify the next steward.
- Treatment Decision – Love your children equally and, as such, treat them uniquely.
- Timing Decision – Time your wealth transfer to maximize its use by you, your heirs, and other stewards.
- Tools and Technique Decision – Estate planning tools and techniques help you accomplish objectives; they are not the objectives themselves.
- Talk Decision – Communicate to align expectations with actual plans.
These principles guide our entire succession planning process.
A Word to the Temporary Steward
Since we are all temporary stewards and God is the ultimate owner, here’s the question that matters most:
- Do you have a plan to transfer your wisdom to the next generation?
- Do you have a plan for who will be the next steward of your assets?
Having a succession roadmap—and a partner that aligns with your values—can help bring clarity, vision, and freedom.
You don’t have to figure this out alone. You don’t have to navigate the complexity, family dynamics, financial structures, and emotional weight of this transition by yourself.
Take the Next Step
You don’t have to navigate business and farm succession planning alone. Whether you’re in Lancaster County, Chester County, elsewhere in Pennsylvania, or across the United States, we’re here to help shoulder the weight through intentional, biblically-grounded planning.
Schedule Your Complimentary Discovery Meeting
In this no-obligation conversation, we’ll:
- Listen to your unique situation and goals
- Understand where you are in the succession journey
- Answer your questions about the succession planning process
- Help you clarify your next steps
- Determine if we’re the right fit to work together
Living beyond abundance is a posture of confidence in God, acknowledging that He can richly provide for us beyond what we need so we can generously share with others. A “beyond abundance” way of living offers freedom and opportunities to live a life of fullness, to impact the world far beyond what we could hope or imagine.
Your business or farm represents more than financial value. It’s a platform for Kingdom impact. Let us help you pass it forward in a way that honors God, blesses your family, and changes the world for good.
Through intentional stewardship and extravagant giving, Bare Wealth Advisors helps generous people shift culture and change the world for the glory of God.