The In-Crowd is searching for Vacations, Golf Packages and the NFL Playoff Schedule and not Baby Boomer Issues or Business Exit Planning

The In-crowd is searching for vacations, golf packages and the NFL Playoff Schedule and not Baby Boomer Issues or Business Exit Planning. On this day, 30 December 2007, GOOGLE TRENDS reports that the number one inquiry on their global search engine is for information on the possibility that Paris Hilton has been disinherited. High on the list of the top one hundred search words or phrases is “[the] NFL Playoff Schedule.” Additionally, when one searches GOOGLE for GOLF VACATIONS one will receive 5,120,000 links; 314,000,000 links will appear should one search for VACATIONS.

With approximately 78,000,000 baby boomers, 12,000,000 of whom own companies and are dying at the rate of 1000 per day, one might think there would be more inquiries on Baby boomer issues, exit planning or retirement. When this author did a search on GOOGLE for the phrase business exit planning only 381,000 links were delivered. One might deduce that private company owners are not planning to exit their companies even in the face of the economic facts that a sell-off tsunami is in progress.

Financial Advisor Magazine recently reported that 12,000 people are retiring every day. Their report goes on to say that the retirement of the Baby Boomers will continue at this level for the next seventeen years. Keep in mind that Financial Advisor does not make the distinction between those who are retiring from a corporate position and those who are selling a company to retire.

The author of the book The Number, which addresses the question of how much money one needs to retire, Lee Eisenberg was quoted by Financial Advisor Magazine as saying, “. . . boomers are starved for financial information and advice that they can trust.” Mr. Eisenberg’s opinion is not supported by the search engine evidence of interest and inquiry. Baby Boomer private company owners are not, in substantive numbers, neither seeking out the financial information nor trustworthy advice. This is not a surprise to this author as many past posts illustrate that only twenty percent of private company owners plan their exit.

Mr. Grover Rutter penned an article titled Ground Rules for Successfully Selling Your Business. Mr. Rutter cautions private company owners that they best begin planning their exit/sale before they are ready to retire. While he does not specifically mention the potential loss of selling price, he does highlight the possibility that if the owner is forced to sell for some unanticipated reason it could be costly.

Rutter’s article provides a list of the top nine reasons why owners sell. One will immediately notice that retirement is number four and not number one. The most common reasons are: Burn-out, this is the number one reason for selling; Health Issues; Personal Diversification; Retirement, Semi-Retirement; Death; Divorce or Partner Disputes; Business Growing Too fast; Second Generation Not Up To The task; and Loss of Market Share.

This author suggests that private company owners begin to explore an exit plan strategy for their business. The process may create an asset value increase that was not anticipated. Additionally, the power derived from planning your future will provide peace of mind for you and your family. You may even be able to take more and longer vacations or have the time to find out whether Paris Hilton was disinherited by her family.

Happy New Year!