Selling a successful business can be the culmination of 20, 30 or even 40 years of work.
For many entrepreneurs, it will also be the largest financial transaction of their lifetime.
Yet there is a paradox I see repeatedly.
Business owners can spend years preparing their company for sale — improving margins, strengthening management, negotiating valuations and appointing corporate finance advisers — while spending remarkably little time preparing their personal finances for what happens afterwards.
That can be an expensive mistake.
Because selling your business isn’t the financial plan.
It’s the point at which one financial life ends and another begins.
If you’re considering an exit within the next five years, there are decisions that are often better considered before a buyer appears, before heads of terms are signed and certainly before the money arrives in your bank account.
Here are seven mistakes I believe business owners should try to avoid.
Key takeaways
- Start personal financial planning several years before a potential business sale, not immediately before completion.
- Don’t confuse the headline sale price with the amount you will actually have available to fund your future.
- Tax matters, but allowing tax — or speculation about future tax changes — to dictate an exit can lead to poor decisions.
- Business owners often reach exit with a highly concentrated personal balance sheet.
- Decide what you want the sale proceeds to achieve before deciding how they should be invested.
- Consider how much accessible cash you will need after completion rather than investing everything immediately.
- Your financial adviser, accountant, solicitor and corporate finance adviser should ideally be working together before the transaction completes.
Mistake 1: Waiting until the deal is underway to start financial planning
This is probably the biggest mistake of all.
A business owner tells me:
“I’m thinking of selling in five years.”
From a financial-planning perspective, that’s useful.
Another tells me:
“I’ve agreed the sale. Completion is in six weeks.”
That’s a very different conversation.
There may still be plenty we can do after a sale, but the range of options available before and after completion can be very different.
If an exit is potentially three, four or five years away, there is time to understand questions such as:
- What is the business realistically worth?
- How much might you receive after tax?
- How much do you need to retire?
- Have you accumulated sufficient wealth outside the business?
- Are your pension arrangements appropriate?
- What does your estate-planning position look like?
- Do you intend to help children or grandchildren?
- What happens if the sale price is lower than expected?
- What if you don’t sell at all?
That last question is important.
Good exit planning shouldn’t depend on the exit happening exactly as expected.
Deals fail. Timetables move. Valuations change. Buyers alter terms. Economic conditions change.
A five-year runway gives you something extremely valuable:
Options.
The UK tax landscape may not stand still
There is another reason not to leave exit planning until the last minute.
If you’re planning to sell within the next five years, the tax regime applying when you eventually complete may not be identical to the one that exists today.
We already know how quickly the position can change.
For qualifying disposals from 6 April 2026, Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) applies an 18% Capital Gains Tax rate, subject to eligibility requirements and the lifetime limit. The main individual CGT rates are currently 18% and 24%.
Inheritance Tax rules affecting qualifying business assets have also changed. From 6 April 2026, 100% Business Relief is generally limited to the first £2.5 million of qualifying business and agricultural property, with 50% relief generally applying to qualifying value above the available allowance.
What could change next?
As with most periods before a Budget, there will inevitably be speculation about further changes to taxation affecting businesses, investments, pensions and accumulated wealth.
It is important to distinguish speculation from confirmed government policy.
Nobody should make an irreversible decision about a business they have spent decades building purely because of a newspaper headline or prediction about what a future Chancellor might do.
But neither should an owner planning to sell within five years assume that today’s tax rules will remain unchanged throughout that period.
That’s where scenario planning becomes valuable.
Rather than trying to predict future tax policy, ask:
“Would my financial plan still work if the tax position when I sell were less favourable than it is today?”
You can model that without pretending to know what a future Budget will contain.
“You shouldn’t sell a business you’ve spent 30 years building because of a tax rumour. But neither should you build your retirement plan on the assumption that today’s tax rules will still exist in five years.”
— Paul Buckley
Mistake 2: Focusing on the sale price rather than what you actually keep
Imagine somebody offers £10 million for your business.
Have you become £10 million wealthier?
Not necessarily.
The headline valuation and the amount ultimately available to fund your family’s future can be very different numbers.
Depending on the transaction, there may be:
- Capital Gains Tax
- professional fees
- debt to repay
- deferred consideration
- earn-outs
- retained or rolled-over equity
- warranties or indemnities
- other transaction costs and liabilities
For disposals from 6 April 2026, qualifying gains eligible for Business Asset Disposal Relief are taxed at 18%. Eligibility conditions apply, and the relief has a lifetime limit. Gains outside available relief can be subject to the normal Capital Gains Tax regime.
But there’s a wider point.
Don’t build a £10 million retirement plan around a £10 million headline offer.
Build it around realistic scenarios for what you may actually receive.
I like to model several outcomes.
What happens at £10 million?
What happens at £8 million?
What happens if part of the consideration is deferred?
What happens if you retain equity?
What happens if tax rules change before completion?
And, crucially:
At what sale price do you already have enough?
Knowing that number before negotiations begin can change the psychology of a transaction considerably.
Mistake 3: Trying to predict the tax system — or ignoring it completely
There are two extremes I would avoid.
The first is ignoring tax until a deal is almost complete.
The second is allowing speculation about future tax changes to dictate major decisions today.
Tax matters enormously.
But tax planning and financial planning aren’t the same thing.
Your accountant and tax adviser may need to consider Capital Gains Tax, Business Asset Disposal Relief and the structure and timing of the transaction.
Your solicitor will have different considerations.
Your corporate finance adviser will be thinking about the deal.
The financial-planning question is different:
What does the eventual outcome need to achieve for you and your family?
The objective isn’t necessarily to pay the least possible tax.
It’s to achieve the best overall outcome within the rules.
That’s why I prefer scenario planning to prediction.
If you’re considering an £8 million or £10 million exit, model what happens if:
- the eventual valuation is lower;
- the effective tax burden is higher;
- part of the consideration is deferred;
- an earn-out doesn’t achieve its maximum value;
- you retain equity;
- or the sale takes two years longer than expected.
We plan because we don’t know exactly what will happen.
Mistake 4: Ignoring how concentrated your wealth has become
Concentration can make entrepreneurs extraordinarily wealthy.
It can also leave them extraordinarily exposed.
Imagine a 58-year-old business owner with:
- a company worth £8 million;
- a £900,000 home;
- £500,000 across pensions;
- and £300,000 in investments and cash.
On paper, this person is worth close to £10 million.
But look more closely.
The overwhelming majority of their wealth depends upon one company.
One sector.
One management team.
One eventual transaction.
That’s very different from having £10 million of diversified, accessible personal wealth.
For decades, concentration may have been entirely rational.
You knew your business. You controlled it. You could influence the outcome.
But as an exit approaches, the question changes.
Should the asset that created your wealth continue to represent almost all of your financial security?
There isn’t a universal answer.
But it’s a conversation worth having well before sale.
Mistake 5: Selling without knowing what the money is for
This is the mistake that fascinates me most.
Ask a business owner what they want for their company and they may immediately say:
“£10 million.”
My next question is:
“Why £10 million?”
Sometimes there is a detailed answer.
Often there isn’t.
Perhaps £10 million simply feels like success.
But financial planning should connect the sale value to a life, not an arbitrary number.
What do you actually want after the business?
Do you want to stop working completely?
Buy a second home?
Travel?
Help your children?
Invest in other companies?
Become an angel investor?
Take non-executive positions?
Give money to charity?
Create a particular level of annual income?
Preserve substantial wealth for your children and grandchildren?
These answers matter because two people selling businesses for exactly the same amount may need completely different financial plans.
One might want to spend significantly during retirement.
Another may prioritise intergenerational wealth.
One might never want commercial risk again.
Another might invest half the proceeds into their next venture.
Purpose comes before portfolio.
Before discussing investments, I want to understand what the capital needs to do.
Mistake 6: Investing the proceeds too quickly
After years of having most of your wealth tied up in a company, suddenly seeing several million pounds sitting in cash can feel uncomfortable.
There can be an instinct to “put the money to work”.
Quickly.
I would resist that instinct.
After a business sale, there can be enormous value in allowing yourself time.
You may need cash for:
- tax;
- a house purchase or renovation;
- lifestyle expenditure;
- family gifts;
- planned investments;
- another business venture;
- unexpected costs;
- or simply a period of adjustment while you decide what comes next.
That’s why liquidity planning matters.
The investment strategy for money you might need next year should not necessarily look like the strategy for money intended for your grandchildren in 30 years.
Different capital has different jobs.
One useful way of thinking about post-sale wealth is to divide it according to purpose and time horizon.
Short-term capital
Money required for known expenditure, tax and near-term commitments.
Lifestyle capital
Assets intended to support your desired standard of living throughout retirement.
Long-term capital
Money that can remain invested for future decades.
Legacy capital
Wealth you may ultimately intend for children, grandchildren or charitable purposes.
Those categories won’t be appropriate for everybody, but the principle is important:
Don’t invest £10 million as though every pound has the same purpose.
It doesn’t.
Mistake 7: Planning for the transaction but not the transition
The spreadsheet is often the easy part.
The emotional transition can be much harder.
For decades, you may have answered the question:
“What do you do?”
with the name of your company.
You built it.
People relied on you.
Your diary was full.
Decisions came to you.
Your identity, social network and sense of purpose may all have become intertwined with the business.
Then, potentially in the space of a few months, it isn’t yours anymore.
That transition deserves planning too.
Some entrepreneurs retire happily.
Others discover within six months that they are bored.
Some become investors.
Others mentor younger entrepreneurs.
Some take non-executive positions or become more involved in philanthropy.
Others simply want more time with their families.
None of those answers is inherently better than another.
But I believe an owner should spend as much time thinking about what they’re retiring to as what they’re retiring from.
A successful exit isn’t simply one where the money arrives.
It’s one where the life afterwards works too.
How much do you actually need to sell for?
This is one of the most valuable pieces of work I think an owner can do before entering negotiations.
Rather than starting with the business valuation, start with your life.
Suppose you are 58.
You want:
- £200,000 a year of household expenditure;
- a new property;
- regular travel;
- £1 million to help your children;
- a contingency for later-life costs;
- and significant wealth remaining for the next generation.
How much capital is required to make that sustainable?
That can be modelled and stress-tested.
What happens if inflation is higher?
What if investment returns are lower?
What if you live to 100?
What if you spend more during the first ten years of retirement?
What if you give your children more?
What if markets fall immediately after the sale?
Suddenly the conversation changes from:
“Can I get £10 million for the business?”
to:
“What amount gives my family financial independence?”
That is a much more useful number.
It may be higher than expected.
Sometimes it’s considerably lower.
Either way, knowing it before negotiations can be powerful.
Your business exit team should be talking to each other
For a significant transaction, financial planning shouldn’t happen in isolation.
The strongest outcomes often involve several professionals.
Corporate finance adviser
Helping prepare, position and negotiate the transaction.
Accountant/tax adviser
Understanding the company and tax implications.
Solicitor
Managing the legal structure, agreements and protections.
Independent financial adviser/planner
Understanding what the proceeds need to achieve for the owner and family over the following decades.
Each sees the transaction through a different lens.
The danger is when those conversations happen separately.
The corporate finance adviser may be maximising enterprise value.
The accountant may be optimising tax.
The solicitor may be managing legal risk.
But somebody still needs to ask:
“Does this outcome actually give the client the life they want?”
That is where I believe financial planning can add considerable value before an exit.
If your exit is five years away, what should you be doing now?
Five to three years before exit: establish the destination
Understand your personal balance sheet, likely business value, desired lifestyle, retirement objectives and family plans.
Work out what “enough” looks like.
Three to two years before exit: build resilience
Review how concentrated your wealth is, your pensions, investments outside the company, estate planning and personal liquidity.
Bring your professional advisers together.
Two to one years before exit: model the transaction
Run different sale-price, tax, earn-out and retained-equity scenarios.
Understand what each outcome could mean for your financial independence.
Final year: prepare for transition
Refine the post-sale investment and cash strategy, establish immediate liquidity requirements and decide which decisions can safely wait until after completion.
A five-year plan isn’t about predicting exactly when you’ll sell.
It’s about being financially ready if the opportunity arrives.
Paul Buckley’s perspective
Business owners spend their careers thinking commercially.
That skill doesn’t disappear when they sell.
But the financial problem changes fundamentally.
Before exit, wealth creation is often concentrated.
After exit, the priorities are more likely to become diversification, income, preservation, family and legacy.
I’ve found that some of the most valuable conversations happen several years before a transaction.
Not because we know exactly what the company will sell for.
Not because we know what tax rates will be in five years.
And not because we can predict markets.
Quite the opposite.
We plan because we don’t know.
A good financial plan allows us to test different outcomes before an owner is forced to make irreversible decisions.
For me, the objective isn’t simply helping somebody sell a successful business.
It’s helping them convert decades of business success into lasting personal and family financial independence.
Seven questions to ask before selling your business
If you’re contemplating an exit within the next five years, ask yourself:
- What do I realistically expect to receive after tax and transaction costs?
- How much money do I actually need to achieve financial independence?
- Is too much of my current wealth still concentrated in the business?
- Have I reviewed my pension, investment and estate-planning position before the transaction?
- What do I want the sale proceeds to achieve for me and my family?
- How much accessible cash will I need immediately after completion?
- What will give me purpose when the business is no longer mine?
If some of those questions are difficult to answer, that’s precisely why starting several years before an exit can be so valuable.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I start financial planning before selling my business?
Ideally, several years before a potential sale. A three-to-five-year planning period gives you time to understand your retirement requirements, tax position, pensions, investments, family objectives and how different sale outcomes could affect your future.
How much tax will I pay when I sell my business?
It depends on the structure of the transaction and your individual circumstances. Capital Gains Tax may apply to a business or share disposal, and qualifying gains may be eligible for Business Asset Disposal Relief. From 6 April 2026, the BADR rate is 18%, subject to eligibility requirements and the lifetime limit.
What is Business Asset Disposal Relief?
Business Asset Disposal Relief can provide a lower Capital Gains Tax rate on qualifying disposals. Specific conditions apply. For example, qualifying conditions for certain business and share disposals generally need to have been met for at least two years before disposal.
What happens if tax rates change before I sell?
Nobody can reliably predict future Budgets. Rather than making decisions based on speculation, owners can model different tax scenarios to understand whether a less favourable tax environment would materially change their ability to retire or achieve their other objectives.
What should I do with the money after selling my business?
There isn’t one answer. Before investing, establish how much you need for tax, near-term expenditure and other commitments. Then determine how much capital needs to support your lifestyle, longer-term investments and legacy objectives.
Can I retire after selling my business?
That depends less on the headline sale price than on your net proceeds, spending requirements, other assets, tax position, age and long-term objectives. Financial modelling before a sale can help establish the amount required to make work optional.
Do I need a financial adviser before selling my business?
A financial adviser has a different role from the corporate finance adviser, accountant and solicitor. For a significant exit, coordinated advice can help connect the transaction to retirement, investment, pensions, family wealth and long-term financial independence.
Final thoughts
If you are planning to sell your business within the next five years, don’t wait for a buyer before planning what happens next.
By then, some decisions may already have been made for you.
Use the years before exit to answer the bigger questions.
How much is enough?
What will you keep after tax?
How much risk are you still carrying?
What does the money need to do?
How much should remain accessible?
What do you want for your family?
And what comes after the business?
Because the objective isn’t simply to complete a successful transaction.
It is to ensure that the business you’ve spent decades building ultimately gives you the freedom, security and choices you built it for in the first place.
Planning an exit within the next five years?
The period before a sale can be as important as the transaction itself. If you’d like to understand what different exit values could mean for your retirement, family and long-term financial independence, speak to Paul Buckley.
Buckley Financial Services provides independent financial planning for successful business owners and their families across the UK. We help business owners prepare financially for exit, understand what they need for financial independence and plan how business wealth can support retirement and future generations.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute personal financial, tax or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. Business owners contemplating a transaction should obtain appropriate professional advice.
