Retirement is creeping up. Are you ready?
Baby boomer business owners are heading for the exit door, but not all of them are finding a willing successor to take over or buy their businesses.
For our Wealth Management and Retirement issue, Senior Writer Renee Cordes talked to business owners and senior managers about how they’re handling succession.
Only 17% of owners have a written business-exit plan, even though most want to leave within the next decade and three out of four would do so today if their financial security were assured, according to a report by Denver-based Business Enterprise Institute cited in Renee’s story.
In the case of one business owner she spoke with, a handshake agreement to sell the business fell through — and, with it, the “retirement plan” dissolved.
“This is the second time I’ve been burnt and I should have known better,” the owner told Renee.
Generally for small businesses, it’s a challenge. They’re making a salary they’re living off comfortably, and when they stop working, that salary stops. Even if they sell their business to someone else, the return they get will be far less than their salary.
— Pete Ventre, financial consultant
Even with the growing popularity of Employee Stock Ownership Plans, many owners of family businesses and privately held companies struggle with the succession issue.
“Generally for small businesses, it’s a challenge,” says financial consultant Pete Ventre of Carrot Seed LLC in Portland. “They’re making a salary they’re living off comfortably, and when they stop working, that salary stops. Even if they sell their business to someone else, the return they get will be far less than their salary.”
Elsewhere in the issue, Senior Writer Laurie Schreiber talks with employers about efforts to get employees into retirement plans.
There are investment-related How To columns by Brien Walton of Acadia Capital Management, Sara Lewis at Spinnaker Trust and Michelle R. Santiago and Molly C. Reinfried of H.M. Payson.
In a Q&A, Tom Manning, CEO of F.L. Putnam, talks about why the firm needs a strong Portland presence.
R.M. Davis Inc. tops the list of “Largest investment advisors.”
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