In addition to our wealth management services, we help business owners with exit planning.
Many folks have no idea what we’re talking about when we say “exit planning.” People ask us, “does that mean funeral planning?”
No — it’s not funeral planning. But I can understand the confusion and the connection people are trying to make with that.
When we talk about “exit planning” we’re talking about planning for an eventual exit from your business.
It’s not much fun to think about, but one day your business will change. One way or another we all move on. No one gets to control their business forever.
The essence of what we’re trying to do in exit planning is to help business owners make that transition on their own terms.
You do not want to be blindsided when the transition happens. You do not want your spouse/family to be blindsided.
It’s estimated that approximately 50% of all business exits are involuntary. And many times the cause is one of the 5 D’s (death, disability, divorce, distress, or disagreement).
If one of those 5 D’s had suddenly hit your business yesterday, would you have been ready?
In one survey from the Exit Planning Institute, almost 70% of business owners have no transition plan, much less a written one. Almost 80% have no advisory team helping them with their plan.
So, our work with business owners is in getting them prepared. We’re trying to help them answer questions like: “Who would take over business operations if something happens to me?”, “Will my family be taken care of?”, and “Do I want an internal or external succession plan?”
In the process of asking and answering good questions, we’re helping our clients close their 3 gaps: their wealth gap, value gap, and profit gap.
We want to try and reduce complexity, uncertainty, and volatility where we can. We hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
And, as it turns out, the things we do to get ready for an eventual transition generally make the business more valuable today.
You read that correctly — preparing today can be a wealth-building activity.
And it’s a beautiful thing since the average business owner has about 80% of their wealth tied up in their business.
So, one important thing to remember is that exit planning isn’t really about one event — an event that will happen ‘at some point’ in the future.
It’s about making moves today to make the business more valuable today. It’s about action. It’s about being prepared. It’s about building wealth and taking care of your family.
We also offer our personal wealth management services for business owner clients who are engaged in building/preserving wealth outside of their businesses.
For those clients, we work to come up with a customized plan that integrates personal, financial, and business priorities.
Don’t hesitate to text or call if you have further questions about what we do and who we help. And if you’re ready to book an intro call, you can text 469-200-2593 or click the button below.
