Three Important Questions Before Retirement

I've been thinking a lot about business owners considering retirement who will be selling their business. There are, to me, three key questions that every business owner needs to address for their retirement to be successful:

1. Will I have the money I need to support the life I want to live after I retire? That involves money I have saved and invested, my retirement funds and the proceeds from the sale of my interest in the business.


2. Have I built a strong sustainable company that will continue after I move on? Have I developed the people with the passion and the competence to lead the business and hold to the values I instilled?


3. Have I chosen a meaningful life after work that I will move into? I know that successful retirement is not an ending, It's a transition into a different 'venue' - one that will give me satisfaction because I am doing something I love to do. To be successful I need to prepare for the 'Third Phase' of my life.

People who have answered these questions in a way that matches their aspirations can move on knowing that they can make a successful transition and leave a successful business as their legacy.Those who haven't are in danger of holding on too long and destroying the very business they spent their life to create.

What about you? Are your prepared for retirement? If you are in your late fifties or early sixties think long and hard about these questions as if your life depended on it. Because it does!