Click here for a link to the full article by BOK Financial Private Wealth, published in Denver Business Journal on November 4, 2021.

If you’re a business owner, your days are largely consumed with giving your enterprise its best chance at success, from identifying and capitalizing on growth opportunities, to wrangling challenges and threats of all sizes.

What usually falls off the radar? Planning for the future.

Foundational questions set the tone

Many see the planning process as a series of tactics, but much like a company’s strategy is built on thoughtful insights, a business owner’s financial plan is constructed around his or her goals and ambitions.

Agnes Ryan, Colorado market executive with BOK Financial Private Wealth, fleshes out such considerations in conversations with owners that delve into family priorities, philanthropic thinking and perspectives on a desired legacy. She also explores the owner’s preferences for the business’ future, including whether he or she wants to:

• Pass ownership to family members.
• Sell to employees or a third party.
• Stay involved in the business following the sale.

Ryan added that the long-range approach also allows business owners to diversify their personal balance sheets and mitigate risk. 

Overcoming inertia invaluable

While a financial plan may be on your long to-do list, it’s possible you’re waiting for the optimal moment to tackle it, given the multiple directions your life — and the business you own — are pulling you at any given moment.

But, given the variables and unknowns that abound in your professional and personal life, meeting with a team of professionals and putting together such a plan sooner rather than later should rank fairly high on your priority list.

"Be prepared for the next phase."
Steve Niehaus, MBA, CBI, CM&AP
[email protected]
239.565.3171