Why business owners anticipating exits should care about baby boomer demographics

Guest post by J. Christopher Cuneo 

Solid transition planning necessarily includes consideration of external as well as internal variables. Baby Boomer demographics constitute a major external variable whose effects are just beginning to be felt. Consider these important facts:

• Since January 2018, more workers have been leaving the U.S. workforce than are entering it. That trend will continue for years.
• Four million Baby Boomer-owned businesses of a size sufficient to justify reasonable owner expectations of a final “harvest event” are estimated to be changing hands in the next 10 years. That’s believed to be 65 to 75 percent of all U.S. businesses in that category. If you include businesses with annual revenues of $5 million or less, the total number of businesses transitioning to new ownership within this limited time period may climb as high as 12 million.

The potential “life-after-business” effect of the Silver Tsunami on Baby Boomer business owners who do not anticipate and position their businesses for this predictable external variable can be devastating.

To learn more on the subject, download “The Numbers Don’t Lie: Why You Should Care About Baby Boomer Demographics When Thinking About a Successful Exit From Your Business” at www.ballardspahr.com/omb/baby-boomer-demographics.

J. Christopher Cueno, Senior Counsel
Ballard Spahr