Small Business Resources

SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING

If you are a Small Business Owner (SBO), you are to be congratulated as you are what drives our country’s economy.  But have you taken the time to develop a Succession Plan?  According to a Washington Post article (June 3, 2008), only 33% of SBO’s have a Succession Plan.  When you are no longer in your business, have you considered the following:

  • Will I provide income to myself or my spouse/family?
  • Will your family sell your interest?
  • Will potential estate taxes jeopardize its continuation?
  • Who will inherit you co-owner’s interest in your business if something should happen to him/her?

Without a plan for ownership succession, your departure may have a serious impact on your family, employees and surviving owners.  You should seriously consider a Buy-Sell Agreement.  We can work with you to establish a funded agreement.  Below are links to some documents that will assist you in understanding the basic concepts.

Family Business Succession Planning
Business Succession Planning
Funding a Buy-Sell Agreement with Life Insurance
Business Applications of Life Insurance

RETAINING KEY PERSONS

As a SBO, you realize the importance of retaining your Key Persons.  This is an important consideration in your future growth plan.  Many SBO’s want to establish an effective Key Person Compensation Plan that helps recruit, reward and retain key employees while maintaining control over benefits.  Life insurance is a tool that is commonly used for this purpose and affords benefits to the SBO as well as the employee.  Below are some articles that will further explain these advantages.

Life Insurance for Key Employees
Business Applications of Life Insurance
Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans

 RETIREMENT PLANS

Retirement plans are great ways for a Small Business Owner and employees to save for the future.  There are several types of plans for Small Businesses:

  • SEP
  • SIMPLE
  • 401k

Working with our professional advisors can assist you in weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each type of plan.  Here is a link to a summary of the types of plans that can be offered by Small Businesses:

Retirement Plans for Small Businesses

If you already have a plan, good for you!  As a fiduciary, you should review your plan periodically to ensure that it serves both your business and the participants effectively.  At CWM, we can offer a comprehensive 401k plan review that includes the following:

  • Benchmarking against plans of similar size
  • Plan design
  • Investment and participant behavior
  • Plan oversight

The link below is our CWM Service Model which we use to communicate our Small Business 401k service promise.

401k Service Model