You’ve built your business and you’re looking forward to retirement. But before you sell or pass it on, there are important considerations that will affect your future and your legacy. Also, like many business owners you may be wondering if you will have enough to retire on, or if there are things you can start doing today to improve your financial future.
White LeBlanc Wealth Planners is offering a free workshop that will address these key questions and may more, plus give some useful insights on a number of topics of interest to business owners.
White LeBlanc co-owner Colin White will facilitate the session. He says the information is relevant to established enterprises, as well as businesses that are still building their value.
“There’s a lot we can do if you don’t have the assets built up yet, but you’ve got the means to accomplish your goals,” he says. “And if you’ve got a going concern business and you’ve got questions about how you’re going to turn it into a retirement or your succession, we can help with that too.”
They certainly have the team in place. White will be joined by his associate Richard Fewell at the workshop. Both are CPAs, and each has nearly 30 years of experience working with business owners. Fewell is also a Chartered Business Valuator who has sold many businesses in various industries on behalf of the owners.
“We’ve got a lot of credentials and experience,” White says. “And we’ve got a very deep team behind us who help us deliver solutions for small business owners and companies.”
Why is succession and retirement planning important? White says a good plan puts money in your pocket and helps protect the future of your employees after you sell. It can also ensure that when your heirs are ready to take over, there is actually something there for them.
“Tax rules change regularly,” he says. “We’ve seen family businesses that were lost because of the tax situation when the owner died. The intention was to leave it to the family but that was unsuccessful because they weren’t properly set up from an estate planning and tax perspective.
“So, it could be anything from not getting as much out of your business as you want or losing the business altogether because of poor or no tax and estate planning.”
“There’s no time like the present to start planning”.
“If somebody comes to me five or 10 years before they retire, that’s all kinds of time,” White says. “We can organize their affairs and help them get ready. If you come to me in the year of retirement we can still help, but there’s fewer things we can do.”
The workshop is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday September 10, at the Adventure Hotel in Nelson. RSVP to Sadie at sadie@wlwp.ca or 250-352-3621 to confirm your attendance.
“You’ll learn a lot, and our goal is to make it an entertaining evening – it won’t be dry as toast,” White says.