Building the Family Business to Last Forever
Action-oriented and down-to-earth story telling, Mike Henning's seminar addresses the special concern of family business owners, spouses, and key employees. It emphasizes the need to understand the unique pressures on the family-business owner and the process by which both management and ownership transition can take place smoothly between generations. It is an opportunity for participants to explore the key areas of business planning and to understand better many of the basic management concepts of organization, personnel, finance and accounting that are needed for successful growth and continuity in a privately-owned business.
Your Final Test for Success
In most family-owned businesses neither the value of family first nor business first is the basis for answers to policy making, decision-making or setting direction. Families typically find that a more balanced approach is best for the long-term interests of both the business and the family. Achieving balance requires the overlapping relationship between the family and the business be managed, not left to chance. This seminar will provide participants with a greater understanding of the three-circle concept (family, business, ownership), why the three common reasons for failure are family based and thoroughly explain the seven overlapping areas within the circles and how they can produce positive energy.
Unlocking the Secrets to Tax-Free Succession Planning
Economists refer to the current federal income and transfer tax systems as "progressive taxes." A progressive tax is based upon multiple tax-rate brackets that start low and move higher as your "ability to pay" increases. Needless to say, to beat the IRS tax machine, you must develop a "tax strategy." Mike will discuss these tax strategies and how to beat the IRS at their own game. He will address income taxes, estate taxes and transfer taxes. The purpose and basis of his discussion will include families in business who wish to transfer the company from one generation to the next, at the same time retaining as much wealth for the family as possible while divorcing the IRS.
Fairness, the IRS and Family Feuds
Problems arise when inheritors are of the opinion that it is their right to pick and choose exactly what they should inherit. What is "fair" is not always what is best for the business. We all know it's the intense emotion that fuels the violent struggles over inheritable property. This seminar is designed to address the ultimate and universal challenge of "fairness vs. equal" What does equal treatment really mean? Learn the process used for decision making about this issue:
When to address the issue with your family and how to conduct the meeting.
Opportunity versus money.
How to create two estates.
When and how the subject should be approached.
How to deal with the easiest to the most complicated situations.
I'm Retired, More or Less
Parting patriarchs of family firms prefer the best of both worlds - drop in on the business and straighten things out when they feel like it, and lead the life of leisure when they feel like it. The successor is eager to lead the company, but how can he or she know whether Dad is in control or not? Authority is open to question at any time, without notice. Letting go is a complex and difficult process. Owners who lack other interests or whose parents had a brief or unhappy retirement are most likely to have trouble. The purpose of this presentation is to help owners and heirs sort out their feelings through this difficult time.