Business Exit Planning: A Unique Opportunity

Business Exit Planning has become quite a catchphrase.  Because business valuation and business exit planning are such a natural and powerful combination, Gryphon is in a unique position to help business owners (our clients) do more than simply understand the value of their business today.  This is part one of a three-part series that focuses on looking beyond the numbers and diving deeper into the benefits that exit planning services can provide–both to our clients and our practices as financial and legal professionals.

The following was sourced from an article by Richard Jackim author of The $10 Trillion Opportunity: Designing Successful Exit Strategies for Middle Market Business Owners, published by the Exit Planning Institute

Part I: Setting the Stage. Within the next twenty years, more than 90 million people in the United States and Canada will be retiring.  Due to this population influx, the particular needs of baby boomers have dictated the marketplace in respect to needs.  For example, as baby boomers passed from birth through infancy, sales in the prepared baby food industry skyrocketed from 270 million jars per year to 1.5 billion jars.  In early childhood years, toy companies made billions by providing tens of thousands of brand-new playthings to educate and entertain the boomers.  As they hit their teenage years, companies such as McDonald’s and Burger King became the leaders in a brand-new industry specifically designed to cater to the first generation to spend a good deal of its life in a car.

Entire communities were changed to address this generation’s needs. Architects, engineers, and builders saw their businesses jump as roads, housing developments, and schools were built at breakneck speed to accommodate this unprecedented growth.  Now, as the most affluent and influential population group in our economic history begins to approach retirement, their needs are creating another tremendous opportunity.

Economist and demographic expert Robert Avery (Cornell University) predict that baby boomers will transfer $10 trillion to later generations – the largest generational transfer of personal wealth in history.  Even more compelling is that the vast majority of this wealth is tied up in more than 12 million privately owned businesses.  During the next ten to fifteen years, more than 70% of these companies are expected to change hands.[1]

This unprecedented transfer of wealth presents a unique opportunity for financial and legal advisors to take their practices to the next level by addressing the compelling needs of these retiring baby boomers.  If you want to ride this trend to build your practice, you must have an understanding of exit planning and the important role that you can play in the process.  Read Full Article

Next up… Key Elements of a Successful Exit Strategy – Defining an “Exit Plan”

[1] MassMutual & Raymond Institute, American Family Business Survey.