A Powerful Aide to Succession Planning

Succession and Estate Planning

I lumped these two together because they are inseparably intertwined in each other.

I’m not suggesting that your peer group will offer specific advice on either, but it will offer you a sounding board against a backdrop of the experiences of the individual members.

For example, you might want to invite people who have been in your shoes in the past and are already where you are heading.

They will be able to tell you how their decisions are panning out and what other things they’d consider strongly if they had it all to do over again.

The elements of a succession plan have to do with “who’s going to run the place” in the next generation, as well as how the ultimate ownership is to be divided.

In the universe of privately held family owned businesses and farms, typically, the vast majority of the senior (operating) generation’s assets are tied up directly or indirectly in the operation.

So, the people chosen to run the business must be equipped to do so, since the financial security of the senior generation and the inheritance of their siblings (assuming that the next generation are members of the family), all depend on them.

If I were you, I would seek out people as members for your group, people whose opinions I trust and people with whom I can speak honestly.

Often we are overwhelmed with the impossibility of a situation we have never encountered before – which, when described in all its gory details to a seasoned veteran, we expect that person to be as stumped as we are, only to have him provide the simple answers that have alluded us.

And if I am the person who has successfully battled my way through the succession planning process, someone whose next generation is in place and who has worked out (usually working side by side with my advisors) an estate plan that will meet my family’s needs rather than the government’s – I would love to be asked to participate in a peer group where my hard won battles can benefit to others.

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