A wave of business transitions is heading toward American families, and Michael Gold thinks most of them are not ready for it. Close to three quarters of privately held business owners expect to transition or exit within the next decade, according to figures Gold cites, representing an estimated $10 to $14 trillion in potential exit related wealth.
Gold, founder and CEO of Gold Family Wealth in Westport, Connecticut, says the obstacle is rarely a lack of expertise. It is a lack of coordination among the very professionals a family already hires.
Silos Slow Everything Down
“People do not think about the end in mind early enough,” Michael Gold Westport notes, describing situations in which business owners must delay a sale by a full year to re-characterize assets and avoid excessive tax drag. He traces these delays back to planning that happens in isolated silos, where an estate attorney, a CPA and an investment advisor never compare notes.
Gold has spent 25 years building his Westport based practice specifically to close that gap. His approach, which he describes as orchestration rather than accumulation of advisors, coordinates the specialists a family already has instead of adding new names to the roster.
Testing the Plan Before It’s Needed
Under Michael Gold’s model, structural issues that could derail a business exit are supposed to surface years in advance, not months before closing. Tax implications get tested across different liquidity scenarios. Family governance frameworks are checked against estate documents, and philanthropic vehicles are lined up with succession plans rather than bolted on afterward.
“You have to look under the hood. You have to look at every aspect to see if there are any gaps, and if so, how severe they are, and what are the solutions to address them,” Gold says. For families facing a possible exit within the next ten years, that kind of early diagnosis from his Westport office, he argues, matters more than any single piece of financial advice they could receive. Read this article for additional information.
View for more information about Michael Gold Westport on https://www.youtube.com/@goldfamilywealth