7.7 Million Private Business Owners at Risk

Chicago, IL, July 26, 2005 --(PR.com)-- John Tierney never saw it coming. He had built a very successful business. He had planned for every contingency. Then one day, John was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was a wreck.

"I thought I had done a pretty good job of planning. I had a business plan. I had life insurance. I had an estate plan. But," according to John, "I never gave any thought to what would happen to my business if, for some reason, I wasn't there everyday to manage it." Within six months John's business was in trouble. Within a year John had to close it down. In the end John ultimately received virually nothing for a life time's worth of hard work.

According to Richard Jackim, experienced investment banker, former Wall Street attorney and author of The $10 Trillion Opportunity: Desiginng Successful Exit Strategies for Middle Market Business Owners, "Every business owner will exit his or her business - one way or the other. The only thing an owner can control is the timing and terms of that exit."

The lack of exit planning, as in John's case, often results in a business owner leaving hard earned wealth on the table, paying too much in capital gains, ordinary income, and estate taxes, and ultimately failing to accomplish the owner's personal or business objectives. A recent PriceWaterhouseCoooper's study showed that 75% of former business owners regretted selling their businesses because they did not accompish their personal goals in the process.

This story is likely to be more and more common. As the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, an unprecedented 7.7 million business owners will be at risk of suffering the same fate as John. Studies show that one out of two business owners plan to exit his or her business in the next 15 years. Unfortunately, other studies show that most of them have done little or nothing to prepare for this important event. These businesses represent an estimated $10 trillion in personal wealth and it is at risk.

But according to Jackim, this demographic trend also represents a tremendous opportunity for business advisors to provide a significant and valuable service to business owners. Jackim's new book, The $10 Trillion Opportunity: Designing Successful Exit Strategies for Middle Market Business Owners, shows financial advisors, insurance professionals, attorneys, accountants, estate planners, and other buisness advisors how to provide exit planning services to their clients. Jackim shows advisors how to develop comprehensive and intergrated exit plans that ask and answer all of the personal, business, financial, legal, tax, insurance and estate planning issues that are involved when an owner exits a privately owned business.

According to Jackim, "The goal of The $10 Trillion Opportunity is to teach business advisors how to help clients take control of how and when they exit their businesses so that business owners can protect and preserve the wealth they've created for themselves and their loved ones."

To request a review copy of The $10 Trillion Opportunity please call 847-303-6554 or send a message to jackim@christmangroup.com.

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