It’s our business to know your business

If you are a small business owner you would know the importance of having a good team behind you. That includes a team that can help look after your finances, talk to you about appropriate business insurance and discuss succession planning for when you decide to wind up the business, or you are forced out due to ill health or death.

A professional Financial Adviser is ideally placed to have these discussions with you, and with any other business partners or family members, who may be impacted by the decisions you make.

In a time when many businesses, particularly small to medium businesses, have taken a hit with the COVID lockdowns and restrictions, now is the time to get your business plans and finances in order so you can move forward with growing your business and servicing your clients.

Contingency plans to protect you and those you love

When you are busy running your business and things are going relatively smoothly it’s easy not to think about what would happen if you hit a rough patch. This could be a downturn in business, illness, injury or death of yourself or your business partner. There are many unexpected things that could stand between you and a successful transition of ownership once you are ready or forced into removing yourself from your business.

A Financial Adviser can talk you through some of the unexpected events that may occur, and the plans you can put in place to deal with them.

The importance of business insurance

There are a few different types of business insurance policies every business owner should consider – key person insurance, buy/sell insurance, business continuance insurance, professional and public liability insurance. A Financial Adviser can discuss the type of cover you may need, the different insurers on the market and any possible tax implications that you can further discuss with your accountant so you get appropriate insurance cover in place.

Tax implications

Fully understanding the tax implications of a business and business insurance policies is complex and requires specialist tax advice to ensure you end up with the optimum structure for your business ownership and policy ownership. It’s critical to get professional assistance so that you understand the benefits and the tax implications now, and for future successors in your business.

Your business is not your superannuation plan

We live in a time of unprecedented change when businesses that were thriving yesterday find themselves in difficulty today – struggling to keep up with technology, superseded by more agile newcomers, impacted by recent business shutdown periods or they just plain run out of steam.

If that happens to your business, or simply your business does not yield enough profit at sale to fund your retirement, you’ll need something substantial to fall back on. That’s why your business and your superannuation should be separate. This may be a standalone superannuation policy in your name, or a self-managed super fund. There are pros and cons with both that a Financial Adviser can discuss with you.

With a proper superannuation policy in place for your retirement, you can rest easy that no matter what happens with your business, your hard work, the long hours, the stress and the strain on your family will all be worth it because you can retire with sufficient funds to keep living your life to the fullest.

Life beyond work – your transition plan

When the time comes for your succession to happen – and this may not be in your control – who’s going to take on the day-to-day running of your business, potentially at short notice, until the transition to the new owner is complete?

Having a solid transition plan in place and ensuring all the key parties who will have a role to play are across the plan is critical to ensure the smooth transition of your business and minimal disruption to your clients. Having a third party professional, such as your Financial Adviser, to assist in these discussions and the formulation of the plan can help everyone to feel comfortable that business will continue, even if you are not around.

Talk to us about your business

If you do not have a solid business insurance policy, superannuation fund and transition plan then it’s time to book a meeting with a Financial Adviser and get one. We can guide you through the process – the planning and the implementation – safely and successfully.

Source: IOOF