Making decisions based on outdated thresholds.

 

The IRS updated key tax numbers for 2026, and those changes affect more than just your tax return.

They affect how much income is taxed, how much you can contribute to retirement, how much of your wages are subject to payroll tax, and how much you may be able to deduct for things like mileage and equipment purchases.

If you are still using last year’s numbers, you may be making decisions based on outdated limits.

Here are the 2026 updates business owners should pay attention to.

The decisions that cut next year’s tax bill happen right now.

Your CPA reported what happened last year. We analyzeswhat you can change this year, before the window closes on strategies that can’t be backdated.

Structure, retirement, deductions, credits—these decisions compound. Waiting until Q4 is how business owners end up overpaying by $30K–$80K.

We find missed strategies across retirement, entity structure, deductions, and insurance—with IRS calculations.

Your CPA’s job ended, our job starts now. See exactly what you’re leaving on the table.

Billionaires don’t have better CPAs.

They have a team actively reducing their tax bill — year-round, not just in April. That’s the real difference.

Wealthy taxpayers use planners who map out retirement, entity elections, and deduction timing before the year is over. Not after.

Stryde gives business owners the same AI-powered tax analysis.

What is a Buy-Sell Agreement?

While business owners hope to be successful enough that they have cash on hand to buy a partner’s interests out after an unexpected death, that’s not always the case. Even if it is, a lack of pre-planning can create an unfavorable situation when valuing the business and determining the method of payment.

Buy-sell agreements create a two-pronged approach to ensure the continuation of the business after the death of one of the owners. First, these agreements spell out the means by which the business will be valued at the time of an owner’s death. In addition to establishing

an easy to define valuation method, they also (when properly structured) provide the funding with which the surviving owner(s) can purchase the deceased owner’s

shares, thus allowing business and personal capital to remain untouched.

One of the ways that a buy-sell agreement can fund the purchase of the interests is by establishing the

purchase of a life insurance policy for each owner. All or a portion of the death benefit is then used to buy out the interest based on the valuation method chosen in the agreement.

Insurance isn’t the only way to fund a buy-sell agreement. Businesses can also choose to fund them with annuities, which may be preferred if one or more of the business owners happen to be uninsurable.

Control Is Costing You Growth

 

Most business owners start the same way.

You figure things out. You make it work. You get results.

So naturally, you trust your way.

And for a while, that works.

Until it doesn’t.

Because the same mindset that helped you build it… can quietly limit how far it goes.

If everything has to go through you, growth slows down.

And the people who could help you scale?

They start to feel it.

Not because they are not capable.

Because they are not being trusted to execute.

6 million businesses to hit the market by 2035.

A huge chunk of them are blue collar, like electricians, plumbers, HVAC.

Fortune reported 92% will close their doors permanently. That's 5.5 million businesses disappearing because nobody stepped up to buy them.

It's crazy to me most people will walk right past these goldmines because they think "I don't know how to run a plumbing company."

Maybe not. But you don't need to.

You don't need to fix pipes to own the business that fixes pipes. The team in place already knows how to do the skilled tradework.

You just need to know how to run the business.

Biggest mistake I see is people think they have to be the one doing the technical work.

Blue collar businesses are systems, not skills. Buy the system, keep the team, then get the hell out of your own way.

This is why these businesses sit unsold. Everyone's scared of what they don't know how to DO instead of focusing on what they know how to MANAGE.

Many who aren’t skilled tradesmen but they own HVAC companies, electrical contractors, landscaping businesses.

They didn't master the trade. Knowing it helps of course. But they learned how to buy cash flow and hire people who already know what they're doing.

The Businesses Everyone Is Ignoring

 

There is a massive shift happening right now.

Millions of business owners are getting older. Many of them are ready to step away. Most of them do not have a plan.

So what happens next?

The business either sells… or it disappears.

And a lot of them are disappearing.

Not because they are bad businesses.

Because people think they need to know how to do the work.

They don’t.

Owning the business and doing the job are two different roles.

The opportunity is not in the skill.

It is in the structure.