Kevin was proud of his business — and rightly so.
It was successful by every measure. It gave him a great lifestyle: several holidays abroad each year, a beautiful country home, and the means to support his children through university.
“The best part,” he told me once, “is that when I sell the business in a few years, it’ll fund my retirement too.”
I wasn’t so sure.
Because while Kevin had built a strong business with loyal clients, every month he was taking hefty dividends.
And any potential buyer looking at those accounts would ask a simple question: has all the value already been taken out?
Here’s the truth: you can only take the value out of your business once.
Either as you go — through salary and dividends…
Or at the end — in a lump sum when you sell.
There’s no right or wrong choice here. Kevin was entitled to enjoy the fruits of his hard work along the way. But he hadn’t grasped that it was an either/or decision — and that misunderstanding could have cost him dearly when the time came to sell.
This is why exit planning matters.
If you intend to sell your business one day — or hand it over to a family member, or even step back into a different role — those choices affect how you run your business today.
How and when you extract value is one piece of the puzzle. Another is how dependent the business is on you. If you want to sell, but you’re still the person clients insist on dealing with, the business is worth less to a buyer.
That’s why you can’t leave exit planning until the last minute. You need to know where you’re headed — both personally and for your business — and make sure the way you operate today supports that vision.
That’s where we come in. At Insight Associates, we help business owners make smarter financial decisions, map out their long-term plan, and ensure they’re building the business in a way that maximises options for the future.
So when the time comes to move on, you’ll be doing so on your terms — under the best possible conditions.
If that strikes a chord, let’s talk.
Email garry@insightassociates.co.uk or call us on 01279 647 447 to arrange a no-obligation consultation, with myself or with one of our specialists.
We’ll get to know how you’re managing your finances today and what your goals are, and share how we typically help clients in your position. If it feels like there’s a good fit, we can then arrange a further call to explore working together in more detail.
Warmly,
Garry
You might also like: The surprising truth about selling your company – Insight Associates Limited
