Diss Inheritance: What if Your Kids Don’t Want the Family Business?

From business.com

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Diss Inheritance: What if Your Kids Don’t Want the Family Business?

In the coming decades, some $53 trillion in assets are expected to be passed down from baby boomers to their heirs, including family businesses — think restaurants, retail, and local services — that younger generations may not necessarily be interested in taking over.

“Young people want to be YouTube influencers and crypto traders, not run their dad’s pool cleaning biz,” says Brian Prince, a serial entrepreneur who’s sold off two internet-based businesses, Hotel Hotline and Best of the Web.

That might sound harsh, but Prince isn’t wrong: 1 in 4 Gen Zers plan to become social media influencers.

Families have until the end of 2025 to maximize the amount of wealth that can be tax-efficiently passed to heirs, notes accounting firm BDO. So, business-owning parents have a big incentive to sell now.

As such, these “boring” mom-and-pop businesses have become hot opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to avoid the stress and trial and error of starting a business from the ground up. Small business acquisitions grew 10% between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, according to BizBuySell’s Insight Data.

Existing businesses most likely to sell have paying customers, existing cash flow, contracts/leases in place, and relationships with vendors or suppliers. “The right people can update and digitize these legacy business models for continued growth,” says Prince.

And the proceeds from a sale could even float an aspiring influencer until they reach stardom.