How we make money

We make money in one way today: the $99 Full Report, which you can buy after your free estimate if you want the detail. Two more lines are planned and are described below with their status. None of them depends on whether you sell your company, who you sell it to, or for how much. If you are reading this because you searched "retirefromtrades reviews" and wanted to know the catch, this page is the whole answer.

RetireFromTrades is an educational valuation tool for owners of roofing, plumbing and HVAC companies. We are not a business broker, M&A adviser, CPA, lawyer or financial adviser. We do not list, market or negotiate the sale of businesses, and we do not take part in any sale.

Every revenue line, with its status

The Full Report: $99, one time

The free estimate gives you an illustrative value range and the top things holding your number back. It asks for your email on the last step so we can send you the result. The estimate never asks for a phone number. We only ask for a phone number if you request a broker introduction, and it is optional. We never call you for marketing.

If you want more, the Full Report costs $99, paid once. There is no subscription and nothing renews. It is a web page and a printable PDF built from your answers: your SDE and how the multiple was built, factor by factor, what buyers look at for each factor, a 90-day plan to raise your number, and a checklist of documents buyers will ask for. It uses the same illustrative numbers as the free estimate, so it will not change your range, and it is not an appraisal. If it is not useful to you, ask for a refund within 7 days of buying it and you get the full amount back, no reason needed. The details are in our refund policy.

Payment is handled by our payment provider. We never see or store your card number.

The Sale-Ready Review call: $149, planned

We plan to offer a 45-minute call where we go through your numbers and your report with you. The price will be $149, paid once. It is not live yet. When it launches we will add the date to the change log below. The call is education about how buyers read your numbers. It is not tax, legal or investment advice, and it is not a pitch to list your company with anyone.

Service partner introductions: planned, flat fees only

Many owners getting ready to sell or retire need a CPA, an exit planner, a wealth manager or an SBA lender. We plan to offer an introduction to one of these professionals, but only once we have signed our first written agreement with a partner. No agreement is signed today, so no partner pays us anything today.

When this starts, it will work like this:

1. You tick a box that asks for that specific introduction. The box is unchecked by default and is separate from every other choice.
2. We email you the partner's name first, so you can say no before we pass on anything.
3. The partner pays us a flat fee for the introduction. The fee is never a percentage of your sale price and never depends on whether you sell.
4. We name the fee type on this page and next to the box before you tick it.

Broker introductions: no referral fee today

On your result page there is a box that says you would like an introduction to an independent licensed business broker. It is unchecked by default. If you tick it, we email you within 2 business days and introduce you to one broker. That is all we do: we do not broker, negotiate or take part in the sale.

Today we take no referral fee from any broker for these introductions. Some sites take a share of the broker's commission when a deal closes. We have not set up anything like that, and we will not until a lawyer has checked that it is allowed in each state where it would apply. If that ever changes, we will update this page before it does and tell you next to the box, so you always know before you ask for an introduction.

Why we stay away from fees on your sale

A fee that is paid when your company sells gives the person who earns it a reason to push you toward selling, toward a particular buyer, or toward a fast close. It is also how brokers are paid, and published fees are large: one trades broker, Brentwood Growth, lists $300,000 on a $5M deal. We would rather earn a small, flat amount from owners who find the report useful and stay neutral about what you do next. Keeping your company, handing it to family or staff, or selling in five years are all fine outcomes for us.

The legal context, in plain words

This section explains why we set things up this way. It is not legal advice. If you are deciding whether to pay or take a fee for an introduction, ask a lawyer in your state.

• Business broker licensing. BizBuySell lists 17 states where business brokers need a real estate license, with Illinois requiring registration with the state securities regulator instead. A fee paid to someone who is not licensed, for helping a business get sold, can be treated as unlicensed brokerage in those states. That is a big reason we only introduce owners to licensed brokers and take no fee on the sale.
• Securities rules. Selling a company's stock can count as a securities transaction. A federal exemption for M&A brokers took effect on March 29, 2023 and covers companies under certain size limits, but it comes with conditions, and regulators take the view that pay tied to a transaction generally requires broker registration. We do not want to sit anywhere near that line.
• Wealth managers. Under the SEC's marketing rule, a paid referral to an investment adviser needs clear disclosure of the payment and a written agreement. If we ever introduce you to a wealth manager for a fee, you will be told about the fee in writing.
• SBA lenders. Fees paid to anyone who helps with an SBA loan, including referral fees, must be disclosed on SBA Form 159. Any lender introduction we make would follow that rule.
• CPAs. The AICPA code generally lets CPAs receive referral fees, with extra care for CPAs who do audit work. State boards can add their own rules.

What we do not do

• We never sell or rent your data for money. If you accept advertising cookies, ad networks like Google, Meta and TikTok receive information about your visit, which some state laws call 'selling' or 'sharing'. You can say no in the cookie banner, and we honour Global Privacy Control.
• We never pass you to a buyer, a private equity firm or a broker unless you tick the box for that specific introduction.
• We only ask for a phone number if you request a broker introduction, and it is optional. We never call you for marketing.
• If you opt in, we send at most one marketing email a week (usually about once a month). Unsubscribe any time. The email with your result is separate.
• We never fire advertising pixels before you agree to them in the cookie banner.
• We never ask for your SSN, EIN, tax returns or bank logins.
• We are not paid by any buyer, platform or private equity firm we write about.
• We never present our multiples as market facts. Until a trade's numbers are verified, every multiple on the site is labelled illustrative. You can see how the number is built on how we calculate value and every source on where our numbers come from.

For how we handle what you type into the quiz, see our privacy policy. For who runs the site, see about RetireFromTrades.

Change log

• November 9, 2026: Wording on data, phone numbers and marketing email aligned with our privacy policy after a legal review. Nothing about how we make money changed.
• November 5, 2026: Page published. Full Report price set at $99, one time, with a 7-day refund. Sale-Ready Review call set at $149, planned and not live. Service partner introductions planned with flat fees, no agreement signed. Broker introductions: no referral fee taken.