About Us

Pass It On, Inc. may be one of the best-kept secrets in Colorado Springs, if not the entire country. We do not advertise, send mailers, work trade shows, hand out business cards at social gatherings or call your home at dinnertime. Yet, for nearly 60 years either Les Sletta or I have had the privilege of helping families answer some of the most difficult financial and family relations questions they will ever face. Who takes over when it’s time for the current owner to move on? How do we protect the assets we’ve built over a lifetime? Who takes over managing them in the end?

Why families? I was told by a prospective client, “We’re owned by three partners, so we’re not really a family-owned company. We didn’t think you would help us.” My response, “Your company is owned by three families, so you have at least three times the confusion in trying to work out a plan.” For our purposes, any closely held company is a candidate for what we do, and will someday face the problems we solve. Our current mailing list is comprised of nearly 1000 client businesses, professional advisors and personal planning accounts, and I personally manage over 200 family business accounts in 36 states and 4 foreign countries.

The professional lingo for what we do is Business Succession Planning and Estate Coordination for Family-Owned Businesses. Basically, we design plans and funding arrangements to protect family businesses from the many financial disasters that can jeopardize their survival. Our strategies protect the business during the building phase, accumulate money on a tax-favored basis during the profit phase, and transfer the business at the eventual retirement of the owner.