What to Expect When You Sell Your Business
Selling a business, in any industry, is a major endeavor with far-reaching implications for a wide variety of stakeholders. The first question for most owners is timing – “When should I sell my business?” This is both a personal and financial decision. If your intent is to sell to an internal successor you have or will groom, you will need significantly more time and resources than a sale to a peer/competitor. Internal transitions should start planning at least five years prior to the owner’s planned retirement, where a sale to a peer might only require 3 to 5 years of transition time for optimal results (from start to finish). Regardless of who you sell to, and when you decide to do it, here are a few important items, that if you keep in mind throughout the process, will produce a better result for everyone:
Succession Planning Help Is On The Way
Change is hard. No one likes it. So it is no surprise that so many advisers avoid the subject of succession planning. Both a Cerulli Associates study and polling by the Financial Services Institute found that almost 60% of advisers have not yet identified a successor. Yet every year more advisers get closer to their inevitable transition. An estimated $2.3 trillion in assets is controlled by advisers over the age of 60.
