The Time is Now

As baby boomer business owners, we have seen more innovation and change than any other time in history and have succeeded in creating wealth beyond measure for future generations to launch from.

Like everything in life, your relationship to your business has a life cycle. By starting, buying or owning a business you have set yourself on a path, which is ultimately leading you toward an eventual exit. There will come a time when one of your most valuable assets will change hands, you will cease to be the owner, the question is, will you exit your business on your terms or through an uncontrollable outside force?

You have the opportunity, right now, to unlock wealth in your business prior to you exit to ensure that when the time comes you have not left any chips on the table.

Businesses are not liquid assets, in fact, they are very illiquid, almost solid. Its value isn’t cash, nor is it tradable like shares or bonds, it’s value is not something you can get your hands on at a moments notice, unlike other assets like real estate or financial investments, it takes time, sometimes years to realize the true and full value of your business.

As much as we don’t like to think about the end game, we can’t fight mother nature or father time. You might outrun them for a while but in the end, they will catch up with you, aging is simply a part of life.

Today the youngest baby Boomer is 54, with the average age of a business owner in New Zealand now 57 years old. We all know we have an aging owner population, which of course means that over the next 5 to10 years we are going to see a significant number of business owners sell and transition into retirement.

Our goal is to help business owners, through a process of value creation, build enterprise value into your business, making it more profitable, more attractive to buyers and market ready so that when the transition day comes you exit on your terms at a time decided by you, for the maximum value.

Ross Peden
CEPA