Five Star award winner Eric Ashburn, CFP®, CEPA®, CDFA®

Running a Business? Don’t Miss These 5 Signs Your Finances Need Attention

Argent Bridge Advisors offers a curated collection of educational materials designed to help individuals and families make confident financial decisions. Our Insights Blog features guidance on retirement and inheritance planning, wealth strategies, divorce financial planning, and business growth. Each resource is created to help you connect clarity with confidence in your financial life.

Visit our website to explore more about Argent Bridge Advisors and the comprehensive planning services we provide.

When you're running a business, your own financial health can easily fall to the bottom of the list. Between managing your team, serving clients, and making big decisions every day, it's no surprise that personal planning gets pushed aside.

But your retirement strategy, investments, and business structure aren’t separate—they’re deeply connected. And when they’re aligned, they can unlock smarter decisions and a clearer path forward.

Ask yourself:

Are you using the right type of retirement plan?
Could you be paying more in taxes than necessary?
Is your business supporting your personal finances—or draining them?
Are you creating lasting value, or just staying busy?

You wouldn’t skip your annual physical. So why go years without checking on your financial well-being?

Here are five signs it may be time for a financial check-in:

Your retirement plan hasn’t been revisited in years. A plan that once fit your needs might now be outdated. As your business evolves, so should your retirement strategy.
You’re not sure if you’re optimizing for taxes. Small structural changes could significantly reduce your tax burden and increase what you keep.
Your business and personal finances feel disconnected. If these two areas aren’t working in sync, one could be quietly undermining the other.
You haven’t put protections in place for your business, family, or key employees. Whether it’s succession planning, key person insurance, or buy-sell agreements, not having the right safeguards can leave everything you’ve built vulnerable—or make it harder for your team and family to carry on without you.
You don’t know how your business stacks up. If you aren’t sure where you stand on profitability or business value compared to peers, it’s hard to plan confidently for the future—or recognize the opportunity that’s already there.

We help business owners bring clarity to their financial lives—without the pressure. Whether it’s identifying overlooked opportunities, rebalancing risk, or simply getting organized, we’re here to support your next step.

You take care of your business. We’ll help take care of the rest.

That support extends beyond traditional financial planning. Argent Bridge Advisors and Argent Bridge 2 Business Acceleration provides personalized strategies to help business owners align their financial lives with the companies they’ve built. As a leading financial advisory firm, we’re dedicated to helping clients achieve their goals through thoughtful planning and client-focused guidance. Our team of experienced Private Wealth Advisor professionals helps you navigate life’s financial complexities with clarity and confidence.

Back to Home Page

This award was issued on 10/15/2025 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 01/15/2025 through 08/01/2025. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 3811 Washington D.C.-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 156 (4 % of candidates) were named 2025 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2024: 3,408, 172, 5%, 10/16/24, 1/9/24 - 8/9/24; 2023: 2,627, 160, 6%, 10/17/23, 1/9/23 - 7/31/23; 2022: 2597, 159, 6%, 10/17/22, 1/10/22 - 8/26/22; 2021: 2091, 129, 6%, 10/17/21, 1/4/21 - 7/23/21; 2020: 2535, 115, 5%, 9/1/20, 1/27/20 - 8/21/20; 2019: 1956, 122, 6%, 10/1/19, 12/31/18 - 8/9/19; 2018: 1975, 100, 5%, 10/1/18, 2/1/18 - 8/24/18; 2017: 1417, 106, 13%, 10/1/17, 2/8/17 - 8/22/17; 2016: 1665, 208, 12%, 8/1/16, 3/2/16 - 8/30/16; 2015: 1837, 227, 12%, 9/1/15, 2/14/15 - 8/10/15; 2012: 449, 97, 22%, 10/4/11, 2/14/11 - 8/10/11.

Click to access BrokerCheck

Securities offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory Services offered through Osaic Advisory Services, LLC (Osaic Advisory). Osaic Wealth and Osaic Advisory are separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of Osaic Wealth and Osaic Advisory.

Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria - required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP's consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP's consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client's experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria - considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The award is not indicative of the wealth manager's future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients' assets. The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by FSP or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by FSP in the future. Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.