So you’re a business owner looking to sell the company — what’s the game plan? Whether you want to retire and cash out, pass on to a new generation, or realize the industry just isn’t lucrative anymore, there are sound strategies for exiting ownership of a business.
Mark Kravietz, CIMA, CFP, CEPA, and managing partner and founder of ALINE Wealth, offered his advice for business owners formulating an exit plan during a recent Schneps Media webinar, “Thinking of Selling Your Business?” on May 25.
“Exit planning is a business strategy,” Kravietz said. “You’re looking to try to create, harvest, preserve your family’s wealth not only for yourself as a business owner but hopefully for many generations to come.”
Kravietz explained that exit planning is a multi-faceted process that includes minimizing taxes, maximizing the value of the business, and taking care of all legal, personal, and internal business and financial issues. At ALINE Wealth, Kravietz consults entrepreneurs looking to sell their business and helps them put all these pieces together, acting as a “general manager” of sorts, he said.
“There’s many different people that help,” he said. “I like to say that it takes a village to sell the company, so we sometimes act as a GM there.”
Kravietz also told personal stories about his father’s unpreparedness to sell his business, as well as the importance of having family conversations about passing on a company to a new generation, which he sometimes helps facilitate.
“I think conversation is a very important thing — true, deep conversation, not just on the surface,” he said. “That’s not gonna work. Really get into it, and see what the next generation wants to do, if they really want to be in the business.”
Other topics discussed included the timing of an exit plan, tax strategies, and other logistical considerations for selling a company.
To watch the full webinar, click here.
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