Category: Funding your Buy and Sell

Why Use Non-Compete Agreements!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Funding your Buy and Sell, Income from your business, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Selling Your Business, Uncategorized, Valuation, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

Non-compete agreements (NCA) represent a separate agreement. They could be in an employment contract, or as a separate article in a buy and sell agreement. Sometimes they are referred to as “Covenants not to complete. “

This is based on the possibility that an employee can do harm to a company upon termination.  They could know sensitive information about the company’s operation, owners and employee’s personal information, special operations, and proprietary information to a competing advantage, along with so much more.

Picture a very long-term employee working side by side with the owners, for many years, and then leaving to work for the owner’s competitor.  Certainly, there can be issues.

No compete agreements (NCA), can be used to retain employees also.   It would be very difficult to change jobs within an industry or profession when the leaving employee is limited to compete in a geographic and specific industry for a period of time.  However, non-compete agreements are hard to enforce, because in many instances the agreement has overreached and is very broad in the definition of industry and geographic coverage.

Continue reading “Why Use Non-Compete Agreements!” →

Critical Questions That You Need To Answer If You Own A Business!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Funding your Buy and Sell, Inside Sale, Uncategorized, Valuation, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

Building a business is hard work. Protecting and preserving it is even harder and overlooked by business owners.

While many owners expect family members to take over the business (69%), very few have actually made plans to make sure their wishes are accomplished (26%), even though they realize the importance of estate and succession planning as is an integrated part of that planning.[i]

A succession plan is complex, time consuming and involves attention to details along with many hard questions which need to be answered for a comprehensive and effective succession plan.  It is also the key element in maximizing the return on the investment of your business. This is the big financial payout, the sale of your business.[ii]

SOME MAJOR QUESTIONS AND ISSUES TO ASK YOURSELF!

What if a shareholder wants to sell their interests?

  • Is there a right of refusal for the other owners?
  • What are the financing arrangements?
  • What are the recourses if you fund the buyout especially if the funding is over a long period of time?
  • What is the arrangement if the business fails, how will you get your money if you financed the sale?

 Who steps in your shoes if you want out? 

Not everyone has the luxury of leaving a business when and how they want to.  Things like death, disability, and situations are uncontrollable.

  • What are your contingency plans when a trigger occurs (death, health, non-voluntary situations)?
  • Do other members of the firm have access and authorization to use funds to keep the business going if there is such an event?
  • Does your family take on personal obligations for financial notes and loans you have signed personally to fund your business operation?
  • Do you have estate documents and health care directives, should you have a disability or become incapacitated?

Taxes- and the planning for them Continue reading “Critical Questions That You Need To Answer If You Own A Business!” →

The Story! The Cost of Funding Your Buy and Sell Agreement! Options!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Executive Benefits, Funding your Buy and Sell, Income from your business, Selling Your Business, Uncategorized

The Story! 

The Cost of Funding Your Buy and Sell Agreement! Options!

Over many years I have experienced many business owners in total denial about the cost of funding their buy and sell agreements, thinking they can come up with the liability when the trigger of death occurs.

The four listed ways are compared below.

  1. Cash
  2. Borrow
  3. Sinking Fund
  4. Life Insurance

Let’s take the one by one.

Cash: This is assuming the company has the cash at hand, idle. Rarely is this an option. Growing companies reinvest in their company and only keep enough cash reserve as needed.

Borrow: A company just lost a valuable member of the company. Most bankers would probably want to see how the company will fair after the death of a key person and would want to know how the liability which has just been created will affect the cash flow of the company before loaning more money. There probably is a good chance that outstanding line be pulled in by the bank (probably a covenant in the loan agreement).

Sinking Fund: Mostly just theory! In 48 years, I have never seen a company try to develop a sinking fund. If the company was putting money in the sinking fun, they are losing the opportunities this money could create by investing in the business rather than on the sidelines. Not reasonable as the actual amount of money needed is available should death occur prior to the target date of accumulation. The least appropriate method.

Life Insurance: At its simplest benefits, it is immediate, tax free and the funding level is immediately known. Also, the cost is only 17 cents on a dollar rather than the much higher costs of the other three options.

Summary: While we don’t know when a death or disabilitymay occur, the company should at least be prepared for this trigger. Today the price of life insurance is low-cost. There is no reason not to purchase at least temporary life insurance (10-30 years), such as term insurance. The cost of life insurance in the example is using cash value life insurance.  Increased Sales To Fund Cost: Another measure of effectiveness of funding the buy and sell is to measure how much more in sales the company has to do to pay for the funding method.

Costs:  Funding over 15 years. 

Cash; 1,039,464 Loan: 1,306,085. Sinking Fund: 901,613 Life Insurance:  171,512

Also, what do you need to have in sales to pay for the method: 

Example, with Life Insurance Cost, @20% profit, sales would be $857,560

With Cash: There would have to be $5,197,320

 

 

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