They say there are two constants in business and in life: Death and Taxes.
As a business owner we’re pretty well prepared for taxes. Everyone talks about it, you plan for it and (hopefully) you save for it. If you’re not saving for it then let’s talk… I have a great framework for savings for taxes.
What about death?
No one likes to talk about death… I certainly don’t like to… but the reality is that we’re all going to die. The only problem is that we don’t know when…
Which is a BIG problem… especially as a small business owner.
So you must make contingencies.
It took me 9 years being in business to FINALLY get my estate in order. Don’t get me wrong, I plan on living until I’m 146 years old… (what? I want to accomplish a lot… and I can be a little slow.. So I need more time!)
It actually was an emotional process for me putting together my will and other estate planning tools. Most importantly, I took out a “key man” life insurance policy and stipulated in my will how the money in that policy would be used to continue my business in case of my death.
You must also have filled out all beneficiary designations. This is CRITICAL. If you don’t then your heirs have to spend a lot more money to get access to your money then they should.
If you have a key employee in your business, you may also want to take a life insurance policy on them. The money would be paid out to your company in the case of their death. This is often used when their skill set is so unique it would take a lot of money to fill in the gaps. This may seem a bit morbid, but it’s all to protect your business and the smooth running of your business.
In the end there are only two things which are for certain: Death and Taxes As much as we’d like to think we can escape either one of those… we’d be dead wrong.
Send me an email at tom@tomjackobs.com and let’s chat about any questions about your business and how I might be able to help you protect it.
