X

Sign up for news alerts.

We update our financial wellbeing resources regularly to help people build their financial literacy. If you would like to be notified of these updates please submit your email address below, you can opt out whenever it suits you.

Square icon-style image overlaid on the hero banner

Business continuity and legacy planning

Whether you are just getting started or you have built a successful business and are ready to take a step back, it is vital that you think about what you want to happen to your company in the future. Will it be sold? Planning on going public? Or might you pass it down to the next generation? Our advisers will help you find the best route for business asset management and legacy planning. Contact our business legacy planning team

What is business continuity planning?

As business owners, we know that continuity is a key element for any company to survive. Business continuity planning aims to prevent potential threats to a business and plans for recovery from those threats so that your business can continue to operate at all times. Additionally, you might not have thought about what will happen to your business if you are no longer there. Running a business is hard work. In the midst of the day-to-day, it is not easy to find time to think about when you might be ready to take a step back or ask yourself important questions like who is going to run your business when you can’t be there. When working on business continuity planning with Unividual, we help you weigh up all possible situations so that you can move forward with confidence. 

How does business legacy planning work?

If you run a successful business you will want to ensure it stays that way, so it is vital you make plans for how it will continue to develop and grow without you. Business legacy planning looks at the life of a business after its owner has left. If you want to pass the business on to family, or potentially to people already helping you run the organisation, there are a lot of things to consider. Unividual specialise in working alongside businesses and our advisers take a lot of time to understand what you want. Most importantly, they know the most important questions to ask to be able to give you the best advice for corporate asset management and legacy planning.

Plan your business legacy strategy with us

Retirement & business exit

At some point business owners will be thinking about the long-term profit of growing a company. Selling your business whilst planning for retirement is a lot in one go and it is important to decide whether to treat them as separate projects or not. You might be exiting a business before retirement and might not have the motivation to plan because you don’t know what you are retiring to.  Planning for this kind isn’t definitive it is evolving as you and your business grows. You could start to create an overarching retirement plan which can be moulded around your life as your hobbies, family situation and circumstances grow.

To find out more about business exit planning check out our ultimate guide

Finance Podcast on Business Exit Strategies and Planning

Have you seen our finance podcast on business exit planning? Here we cover the importance of legacy and continuity planning, different business exit tips and how to protect your business from risk. Managing risk is especially important to those nearing retirement who might be linking income from a business exit with their retirement planning. You could also read our free guide on long-term business exit planning which will give you all the questions you need to ask yourself when starting to compile your own business exit plan, whether that be a management buy-out, passing your business down to family, or a business sale. Alternatively, you could form a support team of an accountant, financial adviser and solicitor to work on this for you.

How to plan business continuity

For a lot of business owners, they see their business as their pension. However, it is important to start at the begining, by thinking about ownership and control, including leadership and board succession. Then there is income, cash flow and tax responsibility to consider. If the business is passing onto family members you will need to decide how this will work, which can often be emotional. With the right advice and support, you can shield your family from the pressure of making these decisions. Additionally, business legacy planning needs to be carefully considered and integrated with the overall business plan because this financial strategy also allows you to pass on your assets. Together with your adviser, you need to understand the different priorities you have for the business and your next of kin. Succession planning identifies and develops people that you have already hired, trained and invested in who could potentially take over the business from you should something happen that stops you from running it yourself. Sound business legacy planning is key to a successful transfer of ownership and control in any business, not just family businesses. Without this it will impact you, your family, the people who have worked so hard for you over the years and, just as importantly, all the clients or customers who rely on your business’s support.

A collaborative approach for business leaders

Business legacy planning can be emotional and put extra pressure on a lot of people involved with the business. At Unividual, we spend a lot of time really listening and getting to know people so that our financial planners can help you to release some, if not all, of that pressure. For the last twenty years we have been working with a diverse group of businesses in lots of different industries. Our success stems from the collaborative approach we apply to financial advice and it is one of the key reasons why business leaders choose to invite us into their trusted advisory team. For advice on business asset management, legacy and continuity planning, get in touch with Unividual today.

Start planning your business legacy

Exit Strategies, Legacy Planning & Business Continuity Planning are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Ask us about business legacy planning

    Return to Business advice areas

    Get in touch

    Close
    Next

    The information collected will be used solely for the purposes of providing background information when contacting you to arrange an appointment.