How to sell your business to fund your retirement

Business owners have the option to sell their business or at least a portion of their shares to fund their retirement.

10:58 08 August 2013

A lot of business owners do not pay attention to their retirement fund. Instead of putting a certain percentage of their earnings into a dedicated savings account to accumulate money they can use when they retire, many may decide to invest more money to grow their business.

However, just like anybody else, business owners need a retirement fund. It’s a safety net once you hit your golden years. It is your ticket to a comfortable retirement.

Selling your business is relatively easy. From the time that you’ve established your business, make it clear to your junior partners that buying the business or becoming a senior partner is something that they can look forward to. To give them assurance, set a retirement age for both you and other senior partners.

10-15 years before you retire, start mentoring your junior associates and make sure that they are equipped with skills needed to properly run your business once you retire.

Provide these people with resources and share with them your expertise. Invest in improving their knowledge through mandatory continuing learning programmes. By the time you’re ready to sell your business, you can be assured that you’ll sell it to people who are capable of managing it.