Click here to get a FREE copy of Eric’s Book ‘How To Scale or Sell Your Closely-Held Business’
Click here to get a FREE copy of Eric’s Book ‘How To Scale or Sell Your Closely-Held Business’
Ask most business owners when they plan to step away, and they’ll give you a number. Ask whether the plan is written down, and the room gets quiet.
Three out of four business owners want to exit within the next ten years, and nearly half within five. Yet only 42% have a written, formal transition plan. For most of those owners, the business makes up 80% or more of their net worth.
After decades of working with closely held business owners and their families, I’ve learned that this gap is rarely about a lack of financial intelligence or resources. It’s about the psychology behind letting go of something you’ve spent a lifetime building.
If you’ve put off succession planning, you’re in good company. The feelings behind the delay aren’t a flaw. They’re a natural response to one of life’s biggest transitions. In my experience, three reasons come up again and again:
Identity. Whether our clients built a medical practice, a professional services firm, a real estate portfolio, or a manufacturing company, the business is woven into who they are. Imagining life without it can feel unsettling.
Fairness. Many owners have one child who works in the business and others who don’t. Leaving the company to the child who runs it can feel unfair to the others, but splitting it equally can hand ownership to children who aren’t involved. When no option feels fair, it’s natural to delay the decision to protect family relationships.
Loss aversion. A loss feels roughly twice as painful as an equal gain feels good. Stepping back can feel like an immediate loss of control, routine, and purpose, while the benefits of planning feel distant. It’s no surprise the conversation keeps moving to next year.
These feelings don’t need to be resolved before you begin. In our experience, planning is often what helps ease them, because the unknowns become decisions made on your own terms.
Waiting is understandable, but it isn’t without cost. Consider how exposed many owners are:
When the business is most of your net worth and your retirement income, delay isn’t neutral. The most effective transfer strategies work best over years, not months. Start late, and those options narrow. Start in a crisis, and the decisions get made for you.
At Rigby Financial Group, we believe succession planning starts long before an owner is ready to retire, pass the business to the next generation, or sell to an outside buyer.
It begins with a conversation about your personal goals, family circumstances, and vision for the future, whether that means transitioning the business to family, selling to key employees, or selling to a third party.
From there, we build a multiyear strategy to prepare both the business and the owner. That includes evaluating the company’s financial performance, quality of earnings, financial reporting, and internal controls, and strengthening the factors that drive its value to prospective buyers. We also help owners understand what the business is worth today and map out what an eventual transaction might look like, including its timing, structure, financing, and tax implications.
When the time is right, we work alongside your legal counsel and other advisors to prepare for due diligence, analyze offers, and evaluate deal structures. We focus not just on the headline price, but on how much you’ll actually keep after taxes, transaction costs, and debt.
Just as important, we plan for life after the transaction. We integrate tax, investment, retirement income, risk management, and estate planning so the sale or transfer supports your long-term financial security and family goals. And our involvement doesn’t end at closing: we continue advising you as you move from running a business to managing the wealth you’ve built.
Few owners ever feel completely ready, and that’s okay. The ones who make this transition well simply start with the human questions:
Letting go of a business you built is one of the most emotional financial decisions you will ever make. It deserves an advisor who understands both sides of it. If this is a conversation you’ve been meaning to have, reach out to us today. We’ll start with a conversation, not a spreadsheet.
And if you know a business owner or family approaching this kind of transition, we would be honored to be part of that conversation.
The information provided in this blog is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute, and should not be relied upon as, financial, accounting, tax, or legal advice. Cash flow forecasting and financial planning involve inherit risks and uncertainties, and results may vary significantly based on a variety of factors. By reading this blog, you acknowledge and agree to this disclaimer.
We hope you enjoy this edition of The Prosperity Briefing. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a consultation, feel free to email us or use the form below. If you found this helpful we encourage you to share it with a colleague or business owner who may benefit as well.
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