Convince aging biz owners to plan ahead

The 2008/09 recession prompted many Boomer entrepreneurs to delay retirement, says a new CFIB report called Passing on the Business to the Next Generation.

One of the main reasons is “small business owners decided to hold onto their businesses until their values returned to pre-recession values,” says Doug Bruce, CFIB vice president of research.

The report finds approximately a quarter (23%) have delayed the timing of their exit date between one-and-four years.

Regardless, Canadians can still expect see a massive transfer of small business assets in the next decade—of possibly more than a trillion dollars.

Read: Succession planning: Securing your future

And while the report finds almost half of small and mid-size enterprises currently have a succession plan in place, this isn’t nearly enough.

“Small business is the backbone of the Canadian economy, and succession planning is critical,” says CFIB president and CEO Dan Kelly. “Very few small business owners have a pension, so will have to rely on the value of their business to help fund their retirement.”

Read:

How to choose your successor

Passing the baton

Saving money on business succession

Beginning the succession discussion

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Business owners ignoring succession planning

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