A retirement plan can help reveal operational weaknesses that can be fixed in time to maximize value before retirement. Retirement planning can also become a "second vision" for your business, asking extra-long-range strategic questions such as:
What is the future direction of the business?
What products or services will we sell in 10 years? 20 years?
How will our markets change in that time?
What types of people and resources will we need to be competitive?
Who are the key people to develop and nurture for the future?
By its nature, a retirement plan needs the support of the future leaders, who must work with you to implement. In the end, the strategic advantages of retirement planning can include:
motivating key employees or family members to educate, train or otherwise prepare for future roles;
aligning the needs of the company with available resources;
helping the company recruit and retain better people;
encouraging new ideas to improve internal processes and outside opportunities; and
clearing the air, lessening disappointment and possible departures of key people.
