In my many years of helping families explore transitioning their family business to the next generation, there is always an element of fear.
This fear is multi-faceted. Fear of losing control of the company, fear of the next generation doing things differently, fear of not being needed; and a special one shared with me numerous times…a fear of being home too much! ?
How do we alleviate these fears that dominate one’s thoughts during succession discussions?
I know that what has worked best with my clients is to go “old school” and start with a list of individual concerns. This list is always interesting in that it starts with 3 to 4 items that everyone would expect and often grows to 10+ items with the concerns getting more and more specific.
The list usually starts with the critical issues such as financial, family harmony, and future success then leading to “what the hell am I going to do with myself” and “my wife/husband is going to get sick of me.”
There are so many reasons to talk about succession planning and many of them revolve around effective tax planning and estate planning.
My process is all about the soft side. Pay as little tax as possible; do the very best estate planning you can do, but more importantly maintain the best possible family harmony throughout. The goal is to have true harmony among all of the people affected by your planning and to be very clear on your WHY!
If these fears are stopping you from beginning these critical discussions with your family and your advisors, let’s have a chat where I will show you how facing this fear is the ultimate gift you can give to your family and the next generation.
You will realize that you had nothing to fear at all! ?
