Page 42 - midJersey Business - July/August 2015

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Finance

DON’T WORK YOURSELF TO DEATH

Five questions small-business owners must ask before retirement |
Special to MIDJersey Business

Readiness Study from Guardian found
that many small-business owners plan

to sell their businesses to get the money

needed in retirement. Thirty-ive percent
of respondents are counting on the sale of

their business to be inancially prepared
for retirement. The problem is that few—

only 17 percent—have identiied potential
buyers for their business.

All small-business owners can do more
to prepare for retirement and feel coni-

dent in their future plans. However, the
study uncovers that female small-business

owners are more likely to acknowledge
that they are not as conident and inan-

cially prepared for retirement as their male
counterparts (45 percent vs. 56 percent).

Overall, if you own a small business and
are starting to think about retiring, there

are several things that should be addressed
now to successfully prepare for your

golden years.
Dubitsky suggests you start by asking

these questions:

1
WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR RETIREMENT?
Take some time to thoroughly think

about what you would like for your

retirement years. How do you want to live
and what do you value most? There are
S
several questions you need to ask yourself
as you prepare for this journey. On myre-

mall businesses are the Although it takes long hours and extreme tirementwalk.com, you can take a “Vision
backbone of the American dedication, it’s very fulilling to build test” to assess how you may approach plan-

economy.
something from the ground up,” says ning for this long-term journey.
In fact, the number of Douglas Dubitsky, vice president of Guard-

small businesses in the ian Retirement Solutions. “That being
United States has in-
said, even the most devoted small-business If you own a small business

creased 49 percent since 1982, according owner wants to retire eventually, and the and are starting to think
to the U.S. Small Business Administra- process requires a lot of planning that is
about retiring, there are
tion, and the 23 million small businesses unique to being an independent worker.”
in America today account for 54 percent What is the main strategy small- several things that should be

of all U.S. sales.
business owners are using to fund their addressed now to successfully
“For many people, owning a small retirement?
prepare for your golden years
business is part of the American dream.
The Small Business Owners Retirement

40 midJersey business.com