The Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston and the Greater Houston Retailers Association (GHRA) hosted a Wealth Management and Business Succession Panel discussion on January 29th at the GHRA warehouse. Tajddin Momin, GHRA President and Firdous Ali GHRA ,Senior Vice President talked about their organization. IACCGH President Swapan Dhairyawan in welcoming the speakers and guests lauded the Ismaili community efforts for the cooperative ownership with a vision for collective bargaining. Executive Director Jagdip Ahluwalia was the emcee for the event.

Eric Merchant from BBVA Compass led the dialogue with Scott Zindler CFP® BBVA Compass Financial Advisor, Randall Bond BBVA Compass Chief Fiduciary Officer, and Jamie Klosterman Sanders, CPA Tax Partner at RSM.

They spoke about the importance of having a financial plan to insure day to day continuity of our members’ operations as well as the steps necessary to take to insure wealth transfers are as smooth as possible.

Some key takeaways:

Things to Do

• Discuss your goals with your spouse, children, and business partners. Make sure everyone is on the same page.
• Work with your financial, tax, and legal advisors to devise a plan for how you want your assets, business, real estate, and other property to transfer to the next generation.
• Review your existing operating agreement (if more than one owner)
• Review your revocable trust or will (or have one drafted if you don’t have one)
• Provide in-force insurance policies to your financial advisors to determine if still appropriate for you.
• Consider a one-way/buy-sell agreement with key employee or friendly competitor (if single owner business)
• Update your financials and discuss your balance sheet and cash flow statements with a CPA (third party purchasers notice!)

Things not to Do

• Don’t assume that your spouse will have the time, energy or desire to assume operations beyond a short period of time.
• Don’t conclude that a son or daughter who is presently in the business has a long-term plan to remain in the business after your death.
• Don’t Limit your considerations to the event of death, but extend your planning to disability and incapacity.

Everyone on the panel offered to visit with individual members and their families to help them customize a plan that addresses their unique situation. Any business owner interested in contacting the speakers can contact them through Scott Zindler at  scott.zindler@bbva.com.