Have you planned an exit date? Have you planned a successor? Some quick research on the Internet will quickly reveal the odds are about 9:1 you have not yet done these two essential tasks for accelerating and securing your financial success.
You’re in for a tumultuous experience if you’re thinking about selling your business in the next five to ten years. The Baby Boomers, and you may be one of them, will soon be trying to sell their businesses as they approach retirement. The first of these Boomers are now in their early to mid-60s, and will soon want to cash out and enjoy the next 20 years or so. The situation is, however, there will be a glut of businesses for sale resulting in the likelihood of more supply than demand.
It is very probable that most business people seeking retirement will be unable to sell their business at a price equaling the cash flow they are now able to draw from their business, which means they are stuck and have to continue working to maintain their current lifestyle, maybe for the rest of their lives.
An added complication is that there are likely to be even more businesses for sale than would normally be anticipated for a Baby Boomer retirement wave. Because of the economic setbacks due to the recent lengthy recession, retirement timing for many was delayed, and these businesses, that should have already been placed for sale, have been in abeyance and may be added to the already extraordinary number of businesses soon coming to the block. This circumstance will unquestionably have a deleterious effect on tens of thousands of families when there are no buyers to purchase the business at the price needed to assure a comfortable life in later years.
For those business people who can’t sell at the price they need, it will mean more years of ownership in an increasingly competitive environment. We don’t want this to happen to you!
More on this topic in our next blog post. Come back next week!
Excerpt from Exit Insight: Getting to “Sold,” pp. 17-19
Copyright © 2014 by Joseph M. Maas. All rights reserved.
For more information on the exit planning process, refer to author Joseph M. Maas’ new book Exit Insight: Getting to “Sold!” in which he explains how business owners can determine their firms’ worth and prepare for a successful exit.
To order your copy of the book, visit Merrell Publishing online or Amazon.com. Have questions about Exit Insight or Exit Planning? Want to schedule a call or plan an exit planning workshop with author Joseph M. Maas? Call Joe at 206-275-5455 or send him an email.
