Why female business owners often need a nudge when it comes to succession planning
Note to business owners, especially female ones: no matter how well you run your business, you are not going to live forever. So prepare in advance to pass it down, says Carol Schleif, chief investment officer at BMO Family Office.
“We did a survey earlier this year to evaluate planning, and it was about equally split between men and women,” said Schleif. “And the women business owners in particular were substantially less likely to do succession planning.”
The reason for that result for both genders, says Schleif, is that entrepreneurs and business owners tend to be in perpetual “growth mode.” They are so focused on growing the business that they neglect to think about (or perhaps simply accept) the fact that they are ever going to pass away.
Alas, they will, of course, which is why they need to be thinking of passing down the business even while its alive and kicking. That means creating a strategic plan to carry the business through not just the death of the founder and operator, but injury or incapacitation as well.
Schleif says it’s often the role of the financial advisor to force the client to consider these unpleasant realities to save them, or their families, additional heartache in the future.
“It’s one of those things where they are so busy starting a business and growing it and dealing with it on a day to day basis that it is hard for them to pull back and do that strategic plan,” said Schleif, adding it especially difficult when they “start small” and “wearing a bunch of hats” as entrepreneurs often do.
The key to alleviating the pressure on the client, says Schleif, is to break this long-term goal of succession planning into small, manageable pieces, as to one big mammoth sit-down. She also suggests
Read more on investmentnews.com
