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How to get ready for retirement if you own a business

Retiring can be one of the biggest life changes you will ever experience. To make it successful, it needs a lot of careful thought and planning.

That’s even more the case if you’ve spent years devoting your time and energy to building and running a successful business. Yet planning for retirement is something many business owners fail to do, perhaps because they’re too busy or it’s been put in the too-hard basket.

Whatever the reason, factoring your business into your retirement plan is too important to delay any longer.

Why you need to plan your business exit well ahead of retirement

Building sufficient assets to fund the retirement lifestyle you aspire to takes time. While you may have earmarked the sale of your business to fund your retirement, there are other aspects to consider.

For business owners, planning your retirement means ensuring you can maximise the value you achieve when it’s time to exit. That often means your business will need to be restructured so it can continue operating successfully without you. Changes may also be necessary if you want to take full advantage of the generous capital gains tax (CGT) concessions and super contribution rules on offer for business owners.

This 10-point checklist is designed to help get your business – and yourself – ready to take the plunge into retirement.

10-points to consider when getting your business (and yourself) ready for retirement

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