– Or –
“What do you think my company is worth?” As a firm that provides both business appraisal and M&A advisory services that is the twenty-four thousand dollar question that we get asked all the time. And why not? It’s pretty important in any context.
As a firm that often works closely with entrepreneurs in the transition of their business, be it through a long range exit planning exercise or within the context of a sell-side M&A transaction, we are acutely aware of how complex and nuanced the sale process has become. Owner-operators, management teams, Boards, and more generally, the principal stakeholders need to wrestle with a host of issues. The laundry list includes establishing valuation expectations, defining strategic and cultural fit, securing livelihoods for their valued employees, determining what kind of process they want (auction or otherwise), formulating a buyer universe, pre-transaction due diligence, post LOI due diligence, reps and warranties within the P&S, and so on and so forth.
Your grandparents may have purchased a permanent life policy, put it in a drawer and forgotten about it—and that might have been okay—but today’s life insurance policies are complex financial instruments and need to be monitored like any other asset in your portfolio. A permanent life insurance policy can be one of your most important financial assets and you want it to be there for your beneficiaries when it’s needed the most, or perhaps for your own retirement, if you purchased a cash accumulation contract. The best surprise is no surprise and a life insurance policy surprise is almost never good. A policy audit can tell you if your policy is in trouble or headed for it, and what corrective action may be possible.
