Family Business: Preserving Your Legacy for Generations to Come

Your family-owned business is not just one of your most significant assets, it is also your legacy. Both must be protected by implementing a transition plan to arrange for transfer to your children or other loved ones upon your retirement or death.


More than 70 percent of family businesses do not survive the transition to the next generation. Ensuring your family does not fall victim to the same fate requires a unique combination of proper estate and tax planning, business acumen and common-sense communication with those closest to you. Below are some steps you can take today to make sure your family business continues from generation to generation.

  • Meet with an estate planning attorney to develop a comprehensive plan that includes a will and/or living trust. Your estate plan should account for issues related to both the transfer of your assets, including the family business and estate taxes.
  • Communicate with all family members about their wishes concerning the business. Enlist their involvement in establishing a business succession plan to transfer ownership and control to the younger generation. Include in-laws or other non-blood relatives in these discussions. They offer a fresh perspective and may have talents and skills that will help the company.
  • Make sure your succession plan includes:  preserving and enhancing “institutional memory”, who will own the company, advisors who can aid the transition team and ensure continuity, who will oversee day-to-day operations, provisions for heirs who are not directly involved in the business, tax saving strategies, education and training of family members who will take over the company and key employees.
  • Discuss your estate plan and business succession plan with your family members and key employees. Make sure everyone shares the same basic understanding.
  • Plan for liquidity. Establish measures to ensure the business has enough cash flow to pay taxes or buy out a deceased owner’s share of the company. Estate taxes are based on the full value of your estate. If your estate is asset-rich and cash-poor, your heirs may be forced to liquidate assets in order to cover the taxes, thus removing your “family” from the business.
  • Implement a family employment plan to establish policies and procedures regarding when and how family members will be hired, who will supervise them, and how compensation will be determined.
  • Have a buy-sell agreement in place to govern the future sale or transfer of shares of stock held by employees or family members.
  • Add independent professionals to your board of directors.

You’ve worked very hard over your lifetime to build your family-owned enterprise. However, you should resist the temptation to retain total control of your business well into your golden years. There comes a time to retire and focus your priorities on ensuring a smooth transition that preserves your legacy – and your investment – for generations to come.

 

 


Did you know?
We forget 90% of our dreams.

 

 

How to Avoid Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

You’ve probably heard of Carpal Tunnel before, and with the amount of typing and writing that the average American performs each day, you’ve probably had concerns about getting this debilitating syndrome. This nerve dysfunction affects millions of individuals and can cause excruciating pain even when performing the smallest everyday tasks.  The good news is that you can take some effectivepreventative measures with relatively effort little effort. These include the following:


1- Set up your work environment properly and ergonomically

  • Arrange your workspace such that it’s centered in front of your torso and at elbow-height so that elbows are bent at a 90 degree angle
  • Adjust your seat height so that your feet rest flat on the floor to reduce lower back strain
  • When talking on the phone, use a headset so your neck and head aren’t in awkward, twisted positions
  • Angle your keyboard by popping up its legs
  • Use an ergonomic V-shaped keyboard
  • Use a flatter mouse to help you avoid bending your wrist

2- Straight wrists are happy wrists

  • When you bend your wrists, the carpal tunnel constricts and puts pressure on the median nerve. That being said, computer-users should be conscious of mouse movement and move the device from the elbow—never use your wrist as the pivot point.
  • Because many blood vessels are at the surface of the wrist, putting pressure here will interfere with circulation and increase your chance of injury. Using a wrist rest does exactly that, doubling pressure inside the carpal tunnel. Wrist rests also encourage wrist movement as opposed to arm movement because the wrist sinks into the rest and locks your forearm into one position. Don’t use them!

3- Take breaks in 10-15 minute intervals and stretch every 20-60 minutes. Set alarms so you won’t lose track of time and forget to do so!

How do you stretch your carpal tunnel? Good question.

Take a break and stand up, put your palms together just below your chin (as if you were praying). Slowly lower your hands and arms to your waist level so that your arms make a straight, flat line and you feel a stretch in your forearms. Hold this position for 15-30 seconds and repeat several times.

If you can’t stretch in such fashion, clench your fists and extend your fingers a few times and shake out your hands.

For the more paper-and-pen-reliant folks, we encourage you to use big pens with oversized, soft grips and ink that flows easily. This prevents you from holding the pen too tightly or pressing too hard on paper. The general rule is less pressure, less strain.

If you ever start to sense a kind of tingling or numbness on the inside of your wrist, see you doctor—Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is serious business.