Don’t let the thing you didn’t do be the one you wind up regretting most, Forbes Finance Council member Patrick Gallaher warns. Fear and hesitation to sell your company or to seek an outside investor for growth is often cause for missed opportunity, Gallaher observes…Having helped Indiana businesses start off on the right foot, the attorneys at Geyer Law understand the importance of creating thorough succession plans, discussing these upfront with clients. At the same time, as both the business climate and personal circumstances undergo changes over the years, those early agreements may not be in accordance with today’s realities. Gallaher names factors that can significantly impact the prospects of a business and its value in a sale:
- increased competition
- regulatory changes
- economic fluctuations
- technological advances
- industry changes
In addition to all these outside influences, our business owner clients make the decision to sell for personal reasons:
- health concerns (of the business owner and/or spouse or relative)
- “burnout” – the owners feel ready to retire and pursue travel or other hobbies and interests
- desire to spend more time with grandchildren
At Geyer Law, we often work in cooperation with clients’ business broker or franchisor, helping owners judge the timing of the transaction and helping to structure “the deal”. Since the valuation of the business has been an important factor in the client’s ongoing estate planning decisions, once the sale is complete, a whole new planning phase will have begun:
Now, post-sale, our planning discussions with the client will entail creating a new “inventory” of assets (including cash, investments, real estate, art, etc). The beneficiary designations on all trusts, accounts, and insurance policies may need updating to reflect the new reality. Once we’ve helped a business client figure out whether – and when – to “say when’, our mission becomes helping them make new decisions about “who”.
Ronnie of the Rebecca W. Geyer blog team
