succession planning

Sooner or later, everyone wants to retire. But you own a family business; retirement isn’t just a matter of deciding not to go into the any more. Besides ensuring that your financial resources are sufficient, the whole question of what happens to the business when you’re no longer running it becomes paramount. Who’s going to manage the business when you’re no longer work in the business? How will ownership be transferred? Will your business be able to carry on? To whom can you sell it?

Succession planning seeks to manage these issues, setting up a smoother transition between you and the future owners of your business. With family businesses, succession planning can be especially complicated because of the relationships and emotions involved – and because most people are not that comfortable discussing topics such as aging, death, and their financial affairs. But comfortable or not, succession planning should ne a priority for your family business.