This is the second in a two-part series: Where Do You Want the Ownership of Your Company to be in 3, 5, or 10 Years? In this first post, we introduced the Ownership Transfer Matrix. In the this concluding post, we dive deeper into the ownership question.
This is the first in a two-part series: Where Do You Want the Ownership of Your Company to be in 3, 5, or 10 Years? In this first post, we introduce the Ownership Transfer Matrix. In the concluding post, we dive deeper into the ownership question.
Recently I spoke with a business owner who had almost sold about half of his company to a private equity investor a few years ago. The facts will be changed in this story so that neither he nor I should be able to recognize his company. However, the conversation highlights a potential opportunity for owners […]
This post introduces the concept of “interim time,” which is the easily lost time between two critical goal posts in the life of a business owner, his or her current status quo and their business end game. It is, after all, what we do during this interim time that prepares us not only for our inevitable business end games, but also for the rest of our lives.
The issue of whether private companies should pay dividends is an important one. Many private company business owners (and boards) resist paying dividends because they desire to retain flexibility at their companies and do not desire to incur risk from leverage (or slower ability to repay debt). The interesting thing about this position is that it creates polar opposite effects on private companies and their shareholders. What follows are ten good reasons to consider paying private company dividends and five things that some folks say represent the downside.
Announcing a new Ownership Transition Bundle for business owners and advisers.
My book, Buy-Sell Agreements for Closely Held and Family Business Owners, has been available since 2010 and has sold thousands of copies. The book sells for $25 (plus shipping).
My latest book, Unlocking Private Company Wealth, was released in late 2014, and is selling at much higher rate than the buy-sell agreement book. This new book deals with managing private company wealth in ways you likely have not thought about. This book sells for $25 (plus shipping). That makes $50 for the two books.
We are now offering an Ownership Transition Bundle, consisting of both books for only $35 (plus shipping). As they say on selling TV networks, “But wait, there’s more!”
In addition to both books, you will receive immediate downloads of our very popular checklists, the Buy-Sell Agreement Review Checklist, and the Promissory Note Checklist. The review checklist is by far my most downloaded resource, so this is quite a package!
If you are interested in ownership transition for closely held and private companies, the Ownership Transition Bundle will tell you a great deal about managing private company wealth in the process of thinking about ownership and management transitions.
The buy-sell book will tell you about the unexpected consequences for ownership transition, often quite adverse, when poorly written buy-sell agreements are triggered. The free resources are available to help discuss and plan for important aspects of transitions.
Buy it now: The Ownership Transition Bundle.
Baby Boomers own a disproportionate number of the private businesses in America. They are turning 65, or reaching the so-called “normal” retirement age at an astounding rate. Generation X is smaller than the Boomer generation by a significant amount and that means there are fewer of them to take the place of retiring Boomer business owners.
Following the smaller Generation X, the Millenials will exceed the Baby Boomers in numbers by 2016 or 1017. While they are the largest generation in the workforce today, they may not yet be likely purchasers of businesses from Boomers.
So what’s an aging business owner to do? Is the glass half empty and this situation is all bad?
Think of where you are now in your business life. This is the present, now, or your current status quo. Now think about where you want to be in the future with respect to ownership and management transition. The future time may not be clearly defined in your mind. But that future is your business end game. It is okay if the business end game is unclear, but it is not okay for it to stay unclear for much longer. You see, our business end games set us up for the rest of our lives, and that can be a very long time for most of us. Consider some of these questions to help begin the discussion about your business end game.
Owners of successful closely held and family businesses need to focus attention on the management of all of their wealth. For most owners, wealth comes from two primary sources: The value of your interests in closely held or family enterprises. This wealth is, by definition, illiquid, for there are no well-organized markets for the sale […]
Begin with the assumption that one of the primary purposes of closely held and family businesses is to create wealth for their owners. Despite this driving purpose, the owners and managers of many private businesses engage in strategies that actually destroy wealth for their owners.
