Nearly 70% of sole traders have no plans for their business should they not be able to run it themselves, according to a new study.
According to findings from Barclays Financial Planning, 67% of sole traders have not put a contingency plan in place for their business in the event of them becoming incapacitated or dying.
Barclays says the ‘findings highlight a stark lack of awareness amongst business owners of the complexities of inheritance tax planning’.
The research also found that a quarter of all business owners aged over fifty-five have yet to make any plans for the future of their business. Despite this, 66% of owners with no plans in place said they would not want the business to close should they die or be unable to work.
The most common excuse for not having a plan in place is that it is ‘too soon’ to think about, with 47% citing this reason. A further 45% said they wanted to see how the business fared before they decided.
“We have found that there is a real lack of awareness amongst business owners of the importance of putting the right plans in place in the eventuality that they die or become incapacitated,” said Stephen Ingledew, commercial director at Barclays.
“It is concerning that so many owners – and particularly those who work alone and have no obvious successor who could keep the business ticking over in their absence – are leaving the future of their business and that of their family or business partners to chance.”
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
