"It was a fascinating challenge to have a business with great products, a great board and great employees up there really hustling to grow the business," he said.Having a pile of money in place of a company, with all of its stress and complications, would seem like a relief. But a company often holds families together by giving members a shared identity and conferring a status in the community established by previous generations.
"The key to doing it successfully is how you prepare yourself and how you prepare your family. It's really a lifestyle choice." Owners are putting their businesses on the block or receiving unsolicited offers, often for more than what the families thought their company was worth, Mr Simonetti said, citing an increase in referrals from bankers working to sell family businesses.
But some families focus more on the money than the traits that made the business successful, and fail to grasp the difference between an operating business and financial capital. Even if the proceeds from a sale are invested prudently, returns will hit a ceiling, Mr Simonetti said. An approach like this, she said, also misses the importance of talking about family values."People tend to think the answer is in the money when usually it's not," she said.
But years before the sale, the family had been formulating a plan for its wealth that focused on family values but also held the members accountable. A family scorecard, for example, tracks their progress on 40 items that the family has deemed important, including working hard, investing wisely and the protecting its legacy.