
Defenders of Business Value · 2026-05-20 · 32 min
Owners fixate on the purchase price of their exit, but the bigger loss to long-term income can come from how Social Security is handled. Get it wrong, and you can quietly lose six figures. Thomas Drapala , Director of Strategic Partnerships at Registered Social Security Analysts (RSSA) , explains why 96% of Americans leave money on the table when they treat Social Security as an afterthought. Drawing from his client work, he discusses how self-employment tax, entity structure, and "reasonable compensation" influence Social Security benefits. Thomas also walks through how RSSA's analysis helps owners save thousands of dollars a year in taxes, protect future benefits, and make Social Security a strategic part of their exit plan so it isn't ignored.